DefunctTV: The History of Muppet Babies

[Music] Cody come here yeah boys you need to use a VPN went online you could have let monsters find us really Oh No [Applause] in the summer of 1983 the third feature film starring the Muppets was beginning production and Frank Oz was in the director's chair while he had co-directed the Dark Crystal with Jim Henson just two years prior this would be his first time directing a film alone ASSA desperately wanted to enter the world of entertainment beyond the Muppets and the chance to direct the film could be huge for his future career Jim believed in his friends talent and was happy to let him shoot the film it didn't hurt that Jim was also juggling many other projects and was more than pleased with serving as a mere performer for the production the film entitled the Muppets Take Manhattan had been rewritten by oz removing much of the trademark Muppet mayhem in favor of more subtle character moments in the same vein oz would require retake after retake of each scene demanding near perfection from the muppet performers and human actors Oz was making mistakes and frustrating his friends even Jim grew tired of Oz's directorial style although he would retain his typical silence even when stewing despite the difficulty Jim was right to have given the film to Oz it was a learning experience for him and the Dark Crystal and the Muppets Take Manhattan would be just the beginning of his prosperous directing career while the third Muppet features seemed to lack the expected Muppet energy it featured an unexpected hit a hit that would become one of Henson's most profitable commodities the showstopper in the Muppets Take Manhattan was surprisingly Muppet Babies [Music] hello there my name is Jim Henson and I'm a puppeteer I'm called a puppeteer because I work with puppets okay you're gonna love this for you greatest story in the world [Music] The Muppets Take Manhattan premiered on July 13th 1984 while the Muppet movie was a trip to Hollywood and the great Muppet Caper was set in London The Muppets Take Manhattan would see them up it's taking over the Big Apple attempting to create their own Broadway show the film was received fairly well by critics although many noted that the more dramatic take on the Muppets did not suit them as well as running gags or dynamite did despite the mixed reception the film was a financial success grossing over 25 million dollars on an 8 million dollar budget the box office gross might have been in part due to the cultural fixation on the relationship of the film stars the two most popular Muppet characters had developed a faux will they won't they storyline with various tabloids and media outlets parodying themselves by speculating on the nature of the fictional characters relationship by 1984 the joke had developed into a genuine curiosity from fans and when news broke that the third Muppet feature culminated in a wedding between Kermit and Miss Piggy both the press and fans alike were beside themselves with anticipation while the world debated whether the scene in the film meant that the two Muppets were actually married jim's own marriage with his wife Jane Henson was falling apart in the years the Jim had been away shooting The Muppet Show and the Dark Crystal in London he had begun dating other women Jane had been aware of Jim's infidelity and the two rarely spoke of the situation Jim shame along with his non confrontational nature had made discussing it at length difficult in 1983 the couple legally separated but did not divorce despite the two separation and Jim's failures as a husband they would continue to be dedicated parents for their children and even collaborators in business Jane Henson was brilliant with a keen eye for performance and Jim respected her and her opinion more than almost anyone else even during the most difficult times in their relationship and separation Jim would rely on Jane for advice and Jane would give it to him the wedding scene from the Muppets Take Manhattan would also be impressive and that 175 puppeteers were brought in to perform the over 300 Muppets in attendance for the ceremony including many Muppets from Sesame Street and uncle travelling Matt from Fraggle Rock still with all the Simon surrounding the film's final scene audiences left feeders buzzing about a short dream sequence in which the Muppet cast was reimagined as babies sensing the potential in the characters Henson associates began making deals with manufacturers of toddler products Jimin initially been very strict about the use of his characters of merchandise in approving products individually to ensure the integrity of his work was upheld while he still remained involved in the process he had become much more lenient with the amount of merchandise in that he approved the Muppets had proven to be a cash cow in gyms expensive creative ventures needed funding plus when robert holmes a court took over Lord Lou grades production company he acquired the rights to gyms fantasy film the Dark Crystal as well as The Muppet Show the first two Muppet movies and several Muppet specials Jim bought back the rights to his work buying the Dark Crystal for 15 million dollars a few years prior and the Muppet products for 6.5 million dollars in the summer of 1984 these purchases while risky were smart and necessary and they would not have been possible without the money for merchandising jim's production company was transitioning into independently producing bigger films starting with the Muppets Take Manhattan and eventually moving on to Jim's next big fantasy film this resulted in Jim be more open to putting his characters and therefore the Muppet Babies on various products this began in early 1980 four months before the film's release with products such as pyjamas furniture and even diapers featuring the baby characters still won licensing proposition would catch him off guard [Music] Marvel productions was the studio subsidiary of Marvel Comics the production company had created a few TV shows based off of the superheroes popularized by the comics division and the studio had recently found success with an animated miniseries based off of the Hasbro toy line GI Joe Marvel productions was interested in using the Muppet Babies characters in a new cartoon series to air on Saturday mornings the popular programming block catered to the younger demographic as was the only day of the week in which most school children will be tuned in children would be at school Monday through Friday and many would be a church on Sunday this results in a major networks creating a variety of animated series to air during the block and the resulting content was unpredictable and certifiably wacky throughout the 70s and early 80s cartoon adaptations of movies TV shows comics and toys dominated the markets and by 1984 a Muppet Babies adaptation would fit right in among the type of shows twitch viewers had grown accustomed unfortunately Saturday morning came with a stigma and Jim was hesitant to allow the Muppets to star on their own cartoon the programs during this block could be charming but aside from a few outliers they have little educational value it was nowhere near the quality of the children's programming that Jim had created on Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock however just by thinking about the difficulties in producing such a program Jim had talked himself into it it was his unwavering confidence in himself now justified by nearly 30 years in the entertainment industry that led him to believe that it didn't matter what other Saturday morning programs were doing Jim and his team could figure out a way to do it right he set up a concept meeting between Marvel productions CBS and a few of his associates to discuss the potential of the series when the meeting was over they had figured out the show or at least its core theme they believed close to Jim's heart the power of creativity and the importance of diverse creative minds would frame the Muppet Babies project only creator like Jim would require a silly animated cartoon featuring baby versions of popular characters to have such a profound and deep core but the added element is what would elevate the project to a Jim Henson production CBS agreed to pick up the show in Jim trusted Marvel productions to produce it he would retain quality control assigning his trusted collaborators Michael Roth and Larry Merkin to people integral in the creation of Fraggle Rock to the role of creative consultants Marvel productions commissioned Japanese animation company toy animation to animate the show marvel until we already had a strong relationship having created the spider-man GI Joe and transformers animated series together the first season of Muppet Babies was to consist of 13 episodes in Marvel productions and those assigned to the project from Henson associates went to work it was decided like we do to scheduling conflicts and budgeting that the Muppet performers would not voice their respective characters in the cartoon instead voice actors would be cast in the familiar roles frank welker most known for voicing scooby-doo would perform baby Kermit and baby beaker Laurie O'Brien who had previously voiced characters for a variety of Marvel productions would play baby piggy Greg Berg an actor who would go on to voice a variety of characters another popular animated series would voice baby Fozzie and baby scooter Katie Lee in actress who would go on to voice memorable characters and shows on ABC's Disney Afternoon block would voice baby Rolf Russi Taylor who would take over the voice of Minnie Mouse would voice baby gonzo and Robin a new female character would be created for the show the athletic Skeeter scooter sister she along with baby Bunsen and baby animal would be voiced by Howie Mandel another new character would be introduced nanny voiced by Barbara Billingsley from Leave It to Beaver nanny was the caretaker of the Muppet Babies and her face was never seen similar to the handling of the adult characters and peanuts of which Jim was a fan before madam Muppet Babies was nothing out of the ordinary the episodes would begin with the show's theme song [Music] [Music] the show would then typically find the Muppet Babies in the nursery introducing the show's conflict in the first episode titled noisy neighbors the babies needed to keep animal quiet so they wouldn't disturb the next-door neighbor piggy attempted to calm animal by telling him a story while gonzo tried to entertain him with a made-up TV show the simple stories created for the episodes would allow for elaborate dream and imagination sequences one baby would act as the director of the sequence with the other babies acting as performers the characters took turns imagining these stories with each character having a type of story that they gravitated toward as explained in the show's theme Kermit liked adventure piggy liked romance Fozzie liked comedy Ralph liked music animal and gonzo liked action scooter liked computers Skeeter liked sports and Bunsen and beaker liked inventing their stories wouldn't always follow these exact traits and their unique personalities would also play a role in the way in which they told stories it was just the way that Jim had envisioned each episode would also feature an original song in noisy neighbours a song named sleep rockin was performed a major element of the show would be the use of live-action footage from popular films and television shows for instance in the show's fourth episode Raiders of the Lost Muppets Kermit played the role of Indiana Jones with scenes from Indiana Jones in the Temple of Doom being incorporated into the animation the film had released in May of that year so the ability to use the footage was impressive while Jim had always had an ask for forgiveness not permission mindset when it came to copyright the use of footage from Lucasfilm and The Muppet Babies would not cause issues likely due to Henson's close relationship with George Lucas a relationship that was about to grow much stronger even before the release of the Dark Crystal Jim and it was straighter Brian Froud were already discussing the potential of a second collaboration film Froude believed a group of baby stealin goblins would make for an interesting story and he suggested the main setting be a maze of some kind Jim liked the idea and he had reached out to poet Dennis Lee one-half of the Canadian songwriting duo of Fraggle Rock to write a story as he had done to David Odell with the Dark Crystal Jim gave Lee a set up notes filled with specific characters settings pop points and moments that Jim wanted to see in the script we then took these and attempted to make a draft out of them in late 1983 we turned in the draft for a film tentatively titled labyrinth in the time that we had been writing Jim had been scouring through the Dark Crystal and it's less than stellar critical reviews attempting to find a reason that the film had not been a smash hit with audiences while froude critics and many others agreed that it was simply the film's weak story Jim and narrowed these used to two different points the lack of humor and the lack of humans to solve the former Jim and recruited Monty Python member Terry Jones to rewrite Li script believin that the comedian's pen would result in a more entertaining and watchable product as for live actors incorporating a few humans would not be an issue as the film's protagonist was to be a young girl that wishes goblins would come steal her baby brother Jim would not stop there choosing to make one of the film's biggest and most entertaining characters jerath the goblin king a live actor as well Jim wanted a musician to play jerath and envisioned the character is a dark villainous rock star Jim had been pursuing sting to play the character but it was Jim's children especially his son John that begged him to consider another possibility David Bowie Jim was skeptical but decided to meet with Bowie about the project Jim quickly realized his children were right and asked about to play the role he would agree to play jerath and he would also write original music for the film this would be just the beginning of the powerhouse team of talent that Jim was assembling for labyrinth he would also reach out to friend and collaborator George Lucas asking him to join the project as an executive producer the world-renowned creator of Star Wars and Indiana Jones had worked with Henson a few times in the past Lucas one of the biggest names in Hollywood had not directed a film since 1977 Star Wars he had instead been overseeing major productions as a producer helping with writing directing and editing from the role of a consultant this seemed to be exactly what Jim needed to elevate labyrinth above the Dark Crystal with audiences as Lucas's creative mind had the unique ability to bring fantastical science fiction into the mainstream throughout 1984 Jim was deep in pre-production for labyrinth and auditioning child actors for the role of the film's protagonist Sara in early 1985 Jennifer Connelly was chosen for the role and shooting was to begin in April Jim brought in Fraggle Rock Rider wara Phillips and screenwriter Elaine May to help with the script resulting in Henson froude Lee Jones Lucas Phillips and may all having a hand in the story while Jim would work on the labyrinth for most of 1985 projects that he had worked on her set in motion were scheduled to release throughout the year Follow That Bird the first Sesame Street feature film was to premiere in August and Jim Henson presents the world of puppetry a series of specials showcasing puppeteers from around the globe would also debut at the same time episodes of Fraggle Rock Sesame Street and Muppet Babies were still being produced the first 13 episode season of Muppet Babies had aired on CBS from September 15th to December 8th 1984 the show was a huge success both financially and critically critics praised the program as a welcome break from the violence and immaturity of Saturday morning programming and the babies were turning out to be a merchandising juggernaut the show was renewed for a second season of 13 episodes to begin airing on September 15 to 1985 due to the show success a spin-off companion series was created titled little Muppet monsters the new show was to air with Muppet Babies creating an hour block of programming billed as Jim Henson's Muppet Babies and Muppet monsters [Music] little Muppet monsters start new characters Tugg boo and Molly who had to record an impromptu TV show in the basement of the Muppet apartment complex the three had help from various other Muppet characters including Kermit Fozzie and gonzo the show was half live-action Muppet performances and half animated sequences with the cartoon segments featuring the grown-up versions of the Muppet characters as opposed to their baby versions Kermit would introduce a recurring segment Kermit the Frog Private Eye and Fozzie would host a segment called Fozzie's comedy corner despite 18 episodes of the show being filmed only three were animated finished and aired there were multiple issues with the show for one toe animation could not keep up with the show schedule causing production delays as the live-action segments were completed with no animated segments to finish the episodes also while Henson Oz Dave gulls Richard Hunt and Jerry Nelson performed the regular Muppet characters for the live-action segments the animated sequences used voice actors this resulted in an awkward transition as in one scene Jim would be performing Kermit and immediately afterward Welker would be providing the voice the biggest reason for the show's remaining 15 episodes never being finished was Jim himself who enacted his quality control authority and pulled the show this is reportedly due to the less than ideal results of mixing live-action puppetry and animated sequences Muppet Babies story director Scott Shaw explained that the live-action Muppet segments brought out the imperfection in tow he's quickly produced animations making them appear cheap in comparison to the Muppets CBS and Marvel pulled the show choosing the air two episodes of Muppet Babies to fill the block instead this proved to be even more popular than the hour block with the two shows a testament to just how beloved Muppet Babies already was the second season of Muppet Babies would air from September 14th to December 7th 1985 On January 21st 1986 the Muppets a celebration of 30 years premiered on CBS the special was a banquet for the Muppets hosted by Fozzie celebrating their past 30 years of entertainment with all the popular Muppets making appearances and some cameos by forgotten Muppets as well welcome you look so much better now than you did then well that's all the advantages of being a muppet by the way where is your ik Oh anyway let's remember all the help that I've had through the years the month after the special premiered Jim's team was at work filming another special the tail of the bunny picnic a cute story that Jim and his daughter Cheryl had developed together the special start a new Muppet named bean bunny performed by Steve Whitmire and it would premiere in late March apart from the occasional Muppet specials or appearances Jim was fully focused on labyrinths the team had finished production on the film in September of 1985 and post-production would run into early 1986 with Jim reviewing rough cuts with Lucas Jim then promoted the film weeding up to its June 27th release hoping that his second non Muppet directorial effort would be the rousing success he had wanted the Dark Crystal to be he did not anticipate the exact opposite critics were not impressed by the film some accused Henson of killing all of the tension and conflict in order to appeal to a family audience while others clearly fans of Henson and his work tried to be gentle in their critiques but the consensus seemed to be unanimous the labyrinth was not the hit that Henson had hoped to make and many considered it worse than the Dark Crystal while critics complained about the film they had seen it seemed that the public was not seeing it at all the film grossed under 13 million dollars nowhere near its 25 million dollar budgets all money the jim's production company had put up themselves the film's failure was a low point for Jim when Dark Crystal received a mixed response from critics it was at least still financially successful with labyrinth Jim and made a film that was both a critical and financial failure and although it would eventually grow a cult following at the time it appeared that Jim was not cut out for Hollywood features he'd fallen in love with the process for multiple reasons for one Jim's fascination with world building was satisfied with the lengthy pre-production phase of the feature film cycle getting to truly develop a world down to its details and then construct it for the screen was a dream for his creative mind also being a feature film director was a status symbol in the industry and Jim seemed to want to be regarded in the same way that a creator like George Lucas was those were the upsides but now after the film's failure he was experiencing the downsides world building is fun but when an audience rejects the world that a creator imagines the work seems to have been in vain with feature films that is a gamble and with labyrinth it was an expensive time-consuming gamble that didn't pay off while Jim attempted to overcome his disappointment Muppet Babies was entering its third season on CBS a few changes were made to the show's opening and Dave Coulier would join the voice cast replacing Howie Mandel for baby animal and baby Bunsen while frank welker would take over the role of baby Skeeter the third season of Muppet Babies would consist of 16 episodes and when air from September 13th to December 27th in 1986 on December 6 of that year a Muppet Christmas special the Christmas toy would premiere on ABC the film introduced by Kermit would be produced by the Fraggle Rock team in Toronto the special centered around a group of toys that come to life when humans leave the room and one toy having trouble coming to grips with the fact that he will no longer be his child's favorite this might sound familiar labyrinth was an unprecedented disappointment for Jim Henson and although it made him wary of pursuing more feature films it did nothing to stop the persistence of his creative mind in a matter of months he was on to his next idea although he had realized it too late the weakness of the Dark Crystal and labyrinth was the respective stories but if there was one thing that most critics had loved it was Jim's production design and the creature shops handiwork he was planning to take this talent back to the arena he knew best television and this time he was going to focus on story his daughter Lisa had suggested that he and his team should attempt to tackle traditional folk tales using the gritty realism of the creature shops designs she emphasized the role of the storyteller and bringing these old tales to life suddenly Jim could see his next venture calling producer Duncan Kenworthy and preparing the creature shop in London for a new television show that he would call the storyteller the English actor John Hurt was chosen to be the show's host acting as a wise storyteller telling tales in front of a fire accompanied by his dog a puppet performed by Brian Henson Steve Barron would direct the show's pilot Hans my Hedgehog the production of the pilot cost nearly 1 million dollars an enormous amount for a 24 minute episode of television NBC agreed to air the pilot in January of 1987 in the same critics that had been chastising labyrinth less than a year prior were now heaping praise upon the storyteller NBC would pick up the series on the critical success alone and Jim used the delegation skills he had acquired through Fraggle Rock to find the talent to make the show successful without his avant due to the success of Muppet Babies and annoying programming politics developing at HBO fragglerock ended in early 1987 but a Saturday morning cartoon adaptation of the show would air on NBC later in the year similar to nanny and Muppet Babies Doc was only seen from the neck down in this series Fraggle Rock the animated series only lasted for one season of 13 episodes not reaching near the popularity of Muppet Babies Muppet Babies was renewed for an 18 episode fourth season five episodes of the season would be animated by Toei animation while the rest would be animated by Korean animation company a calm a calm would take toys place in later seasons as well season 4 of Muppet Babies would air from September 19 to 1987 to January 16 1988 on November 30th 1987 Jim Henson was inducted into the television Academy Hall of Fame the ceremony began with a tribute to Jim with Kermit voiced by Jim but puppeteered by another performer singing a song about Henson checking in on the Muppet productions from around the world including the studio in London the workshop in New York Fraggle Rock in Toronto and Sesame Street [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] the tribute featured appearances from many muppet performers designer michael truth producer david laser and jim's agent Bernie Brillstein less than a month later on December 16th 1987 jim's creations would unite again with the premiere of a muppet family Christmas on ABC written by Jerry Juhl the charming and hilarious Christmas special would seem up it's from all of the major productions interacting with the cast of The Muppet Show Sesame Street and prattle Rock appearing there was even a segment with the Muppet Babies the special ended with all of the Muppets singing a medley of Christmas songs together including it's in every one of us originally performed in John Denver and the Muppets a Christmas together in the last moments of the special Jim made a cameo appearance at sprocket Muppet Babies was renewed for a 13-episode fifth season which aired from September 10th to December 3rd 1988 in 11 episode sixth season would air from September 16th to November 25th 1989 this season saw the addition of baby beam bunny voiced by Dave Coulier the sixth season of Muppet Babies was immediately followed by a 15 episode seventh season airing from December 2nd 1989 to November 3rd 1990 Statler and Waldorf were introduced to the animated series during the season referred to as Uncle Statler and uncle Waldorf both voiced by Dave Coulier after nearly a year-long hiatus in eight episode eighth season of Muppet Babies aired from September 14th to November 2nd 1991 this put the show over the coveted 100 episode number making the series desirable to syndicators this coupled with the general decline and Saturday morning programming resulted in the eighth season of Muppet Babies being the show's last the show's final episode to air was titled eight flags over the nursery the episode saw the babies working together to build their own theme park the last line before the show's credits came from Nanny remarking what will they think of next while new episodes of Muppet Babies would not be produced the show immediately entered syndication extending its life into the 2000s and it would eventually be given a new life entirely the final episode of the original Muppet Babies series was also noteworthy and then it reused a scene from the Kermit the Frog Private Eye segment from an episode of little Muppet monsters this resulted in a single line from Kermit performed by Jim Henson this was notable as just over a year before the episode's release Jim Henson had died [Music] [Music] in the summer of 1988 two years before his passing Jim began production on a pilot episode of a new show that he was calling the Jim Henson hour the program was to be created in the same spirit of Walt Disney's Disneyland later renamed to Walt Disney presents and then to Walt Disney's wonderful world of color these anthology series featured Walt Disney showcasing his team's talent and technology giving a behind-the-scenes look at his productions as well as introducing various television programs and specials for Jim this was a way to experiment with new technology tests show concepts and increase the viewership of the storyteller which was failing in the ratings despite its critical success perhaps the most attractive aspect of the Walt Disney format was the opportunity for Jim to bring himself closer to the idea of Walt Disney Jim and outspoken fan of Disney's work was impressed with the company's ability to immortalize its characters something had switched in Jim's brain the Creator that always felt that his time was running out was less focused on doing everything he wanted to before he left he was now fascinated with the idea of keeping his creations around after he was gone the way the Walt Disney Company was able to keep characters such as Mickey Mouse in the mainstream decades after the deaths of their creators was unparalleled when I came to eternalize increate of work Jim was not going to beat Disney so he was going to do the next best thing for his legacy and the lives of his characters if Jim couldn't beat Disney he was going to join them [Music] today's video was sponsored by Nord VPN [Music] yes Kody should have used Nord VPN and protected him and his data from monsters with Nord VPNs no data logging and double data encryption practices your data will be secure when browsing online and now for a limited time you can get 75% off a three-year plan at Nord VPN comm / default led this special offer makes your subscription just $2.99 per month so you can browse securely on all your devices and for a short time use code defunct lines to get an extra month of Nord for free that's Nord VPN dot-com / defunct land and use the code defunct land

Channel: Defunctland

Views: 958,780

Rating: 4.9384909 out of 5

Keywords: defunctland, kevin perjurer, theme park, extinct, abandoned, defunct, history, disney, disneyland, disney world, previous, attractions, on ride, lights on, jim henson, jim henson documentary, jim henson documentary series, muppet babies, muppet babies history, muppet babies documentary, labyrinth, labyrinth history, a muppet family christmas, the christmas toy, 1980s history, saturday morning cartoon history, the muppets take manhattan, the storyteller

Id: 5Agx492B4FY

Length: 28min 25sec (1705 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 27 2019

Reddit Comments

[u/jrgolden42]

Dang what a dunk on Toy Story

[u/Buffynerd]

I love this miniseries but my emotions aren't ready for Kevin to talk about Jim's last few years/death in the final episode

[u/BIGD0G29585]

Great video.

Especially with the Henson series, Defunctland does a good job of showing how all of the muppet properties are related and dependent to each other.

Great to see Kevin mention Muppet Family Christmas, I guess I forgot or didn’t realize there was a Henson cameo.

[u/JVM23]

And then WB tried to do the same thing with the Looney Tunes (based on an existing toy line) in the early 00s, but what we got was an inferior product of pandering, saccharine proportions (that also missed out many major characters for a couple of personality-free tokens). Jim Henson, those guys were not.

[u/The-Bigger-Fish]

What's you favorite anime?

Muppet Babies....

[u/Skeleton_Warrior]

Loved this cartoon so much as a kid back then. It was actually my introduction to The Muppets.

[u/JohnTheMod]

It was fun until it wasn’t...

[u/mimitchi33]

I remember renting the tapes of this at the library. I remember this one episode where these penguins saw a blimp and yelled "George Washington!" or something like that. I thought it was funny as a preschooler!