The MuppetCast - Show #35 - Don't Freeze Your Winnebago

[stephenjlizard]

Really good stuff again this week! This time we're looking and listening to pieces of "A Muppet Family Christmas" and "John Denver & the Muppets: A Christmas Together."

We also hear from returning friend of the show, writer Jim Lewis. He's great as always, and I think he's probably a lot happier now that he knows that Muppet Family Christmas is on DVD, lol.

I hope she sees it here, because I have to say a HUGE thank you to new MC user ChelseyBlair! The Count passed along some stuff that she provided and it couldn't have come at a more perfect time in putting together this episode.

Please make sure you go out to The MuppetCast's Flickr page this week and see Trish Hausmann's incredible wall hanging Muppet quilt! This thing is so cool, and I'm considering "commissioning" some work from her myself, lol!

I think that's it. I hope the sound quality's okay, because I did a fair amount of cutting in between, "unedited" and "edited" footage in Muppet Family Christmas. I think it sounds good, but then again it's been 13 hours for me at this point. And I'm really more interested in you guys' opinion anyway.

Questions and comments, as always, can be left here, or can be emailed to me@muppetcast.com. Or, if you're stuck in traffic like Jamie was this week, call and leave me a voicemail at 614-364-4270.

Careful out there in that snow and ice, those of us who are unlucky enough to live in places with too much of it.

Have a great week!

 

[The Count]

Listening to it fright now. Am at John's solo Christmas song "A Baby Like You".
Wil come back after finishing.

Edit: Finished the episode, quick points to expound on later.
1 Leslie Karrara-Rudolph voices/performs Abby.
2 "Words" or "Friends".
3 Check Erin Roll 'Muppet Newsgirl's AIDS quilt patch for Richard Hunt.
4 Forgot the Christmas Turkey from MFC.
5 Doc asks Sprocket if the Muppets arriving at the farmhouse are the Fraggles he keeps telling him about.
6 Mock-Swedish Google.
7 John Denver and Scooter.

 

[The Count]

OK... Time to come in and talk about my thoughts for this week's Muppetcast.

Have to say that I like the almost two-hour format for these special Christmas reviews.
First, the intro by Gonzo! Prawny! Get in here and listen to this!
*Laughs.

Abby Cadaby is voiced/performed by Muppeteer Leslie Karrara-Rudolph, familiar to older Muppet fans as she's the one who voiced/performed Spamela Hamderson on Muppets Tonight. There were a couple of good songs sung by Abby this past season, "Words" and "Girlfriends" with Rosita and Zoe. Sent you the latter, hope you got it and can use it next week.

Regarding Jim Lewis's comments on writing for the Swedish Chef. That's interesting to know how to go about doing it, since some of us cast him with dialogue in our fanfics or at the dorms. Course, it helps that there his roommate's a teenage Chicagoan who understands his mock-Swedish fluently. On that note, there's a software application available made by one of the big computer boys (probably Microsoft though I could be wrong) that takes normal English text you type into it and automatically translates it into mock-Swedish.

Yes, MFC is available on DVD... But it would be better to ask for it here from KermiClown or one of the other various tape traders. If you ask the guys here, you can get the full unedited version. If you buy the official release, prepare for several scenes cut out due to legal issues like the Muppet Babies home movies, Fozzie and the Snowman comedy act, and the like.

If you do end up commissioning some quiltwork, please let the rest of us know how it went as we might be interested . Additionally, I would recommend you ask MC member Muppet Newsgirl for a digital copy of the photo of the panel she and her mother lovingly crafted for the National AIDS Quilt in honor and name of Richard Hunt as it's filled with his main Muppets. Would hope that either of the first two weekends in January you could maybe dedicate an episode as tribute to RH as he's known here.

Listening to Christmas Together's coverage was great, as I haven't seen that one in so long I've pretty much forgotten how it went. Would argue that the elaborate number John and Piggy put on is Christmassy, sort of March of the Toy Soldiers/Toyland. Which makes me pine for another Christmas special noone seems to want to air anymore, the original version of Babes in Toyland with Tommy Kirk as Tom, Tom, the Piper's Son and Annette Fumnicello as Mary, Mary, Quite Contrary. Man I miss that one.

Small correction: The song Big Bird and The Swedish Chef sing in MFC is "Chestnuts Roasting On An Open Fire".
Finally... MFC... What can be said. Actually, I remember the Winter of 1988 rushing to the TV set, excited to catch this, a new Muppets special airing for the first time that night. This, along with the 30th Anniversary Special are the gold standards in terms of Muppet specials, as as much of the family's gathered together. It's a bit old I know, but you might also want to check out Vic Romano's Weekly Creative Visuals, a thread in the FanFic & FanArt section. There's lots of crazy, sentimental, strange stuff there... But of note is the piece he made titled "Muppet Family Gathering" posted on 11-03-2006. There are very funny lines of dialogue in MFC, one of which is Doc in an aside to Sprocket asking if these (the Muppets) are those Fraggles his canine companion keeps telling him about. Also funny is Gonzo getting into a fight with the Christmas Turkey over Camilla's affections just before the Sesame gang makes their way o'er the hills approaching the farmhouse. As I heard the podcast last night with the caroll sing, memories started coming back to me of Christmases past for my family and me... Some special ones in particular... And then with a smile as Jim in the kitchen enjoys his family having fun at this time of year. It just brings it all back home. So I thank you for the happy stinging tears and can only await the next episode with as much eagerness and joy, thinking of the next Muppet Christmas special to be chronicled.

 

[theprawncracker]

Hey Steve! Listening to show #35 now, must say, it's fantastic!

LOVED the Gonzo intro! Gave my idea for one of my own recorded intros that I'll e-mail you about later. I think it could be a lot of fun.

I agree with you, the Big Bird/Swedish Chef number is one of my all-time favorites. Great analysis of the story of "A Muppet Family Christmas" so far! Just got to the break with Jim Lewis, and his opening line was a zinger! Ha!

AH! Wait! He's talking about more character books! WOOOOOOOOW! Oh SO exciting! I LOVE JIM LEWIS! He's so funny, and so cool! Wow!

Love it Steve! Thanks for continuing to work so hard doing this!

 

[dwayne1115]

Yea i cant wait to see more books like before you leap that will be great to see. and i also think it is a good way to intoduce the muppets to people.

 

[stephenjlizard]

Count, I'm still forming my response to your earlier post. My first draft should come back from the publisher today, lol.

prawny, I await your intros. You do know that that was the REAL Gonzo, right? Dave was kind enough to do two intros, the second of which you'll hear this week.

Like I said in the twitter feed (http://twitter.com/muppetcast), next up this week is Very Muppet Christmas Movie. So, anything anyone has that would add to that show would be much appreciated!

 

[The Count]

No worries Steve. About VMMCM or It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie...
There's the infamous cut Snoop-Dog scene.
It originally aired on Thanksgiving Night in 2002. Kermit and Piggy did a live interview with Al Roeker from the Macy's Day T-Day parade route before the parade began earlier that morning.
That was the year the Kermit balloon came back, and just like this year, they suckered me into staying the whole two hours to see it.

VMMCM has also been the subject of two different sets of fanfics here at MC. The first, written by "Bo" Beauregard is his DarkUniverse or Visions series. These, as he said, are to showcase a cyclical continuation throughout four stories showing what happened after Kermit left the world in which he was never born. The second is currently stalled.
The second fanfic series is Sean (muppetwriter)'s Marvelous Muppets, where he takes the script/events of the various comic book movies and blends them with Muppets and other cartoon franchise characters. The events of VMMCM figure prominently in his short stand-alone piece "The Most Marvelous Time Of The Year" and Spider-Man/Muppets 3, "The Spectacular".
Looking forward to this and have a good day buddy.

 

[theprawncracker]

prawny, I await your intros. You do know that that was the REAL Gonzo, right? Dave was kind enough to do two intros, the second of which you'll hear this week.

Will send the intro soon-ish... much homework bogging me down currently.

And yes, I was well aware it was the REAL Gonzo. I was SO happy and thrilled and-- *explodes*

 

[minor muppetz]

I thought that this podcast was great. Though while Jim Lewis thinks that A Muppet Family Christmas was the Muppets biggest crossover (or something like that... I forget what it was he said), I think that the 30th anniversary special had more Muppets in it.

 

[dwayne1115]

As For AVMMC I think it was a trademark Muppet movie because we got to see some of our fav Muppets make a good return with some speaking roles.

Janice
Rolf The Dog
Dr. Theeth
and the big one was Scooter he was a big part of the whole movie.

It also was set back in the good ol' muppet theater, and for me that made it seem like the muppets where finaly home. That also made it seem like the dream that they wanted so real that they wanted to own the theater for years seemed to be real to me.

There was also the relationship of Kermit and Piggy. In this movie it was truly broght back to the days of the Muppet show. There relationship was deep down they both really need each other to be the people they have become and are. Then at the end when Kermit kissed Piggy it didn't just make her day but i think that it made her whole year. so there is a lot to talk about this movie .