A Muppet Family Christmas (1987) (TV)

Directors:

Peter Harris
Eric Till

Writer:

Jerry Juhl (writer)

Release Date:

25 December 1989 (Netherlands)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Music

Plot:

Kermit and his friends spend Christmas staging a surprise visit to Fozzie Bear's mother's farm.

Plot Keywords:

Christmas | The Muppets | Snowman | Sesame Street

Awards:

Nominated for Primetime Emmy. Another 1 win

Cast

Jim Henson	...	Kermit the Frog / Rowlf / Dr. Teeth / Swedish Chef / Waldorf / Ernie / Guy Smiley / Link Hogthrob / The Newsman / Himself (voice)
Frank Oz	...	Fozzie Bear / Animal / Miss Piggy / Bert / Grover / Cookie Monster / Sam the Eagle / Marvin Suggs (voice)
Dave Goelz	...	The Great Gonzo / Gubber / Dr. Bunsen Honeydew / Boober Fraggle / Uncle 'Traveling' Matt Fraggle / Zoot / Beauregard / Chester the Rat (voice)
Richard Hunt	...	Scooter / Forgetful Jones / Janice / Statler / Beaker / Sully / Gladys the Cow / Stein - Two-Headed Monster / Osvaldo the Grouch / Snowman / Bobby Benson (voice)
Jerry Nelson	...	Emily 'Ma' Bear / Robin the Frog / Sgt. Floyd Pepper / Count von Count / Herry Monster / Two-Headed Monster - Frank / Gobo Fraggle / Biff / Camilla the Chicken / Crazy Harry / Lew Zealand / Lewis Kazagger / Pops / Sherlock Hemlock / Fred the Wonder Horse / Simon Soundman (voice)
Kathryn Mullen	...	Mokey Fraggle (voice)
Steve Whitmire	...	Turkey / Rizzo the Rat / Foo-Foo / Wembley Fraggle / Sprocket the Dog / Lips (voice)
Karen Prell	...	Red Fraggle / Yolanda the Rat / Maureen the Mink (voice)
Caroll Spinney	...	Big Bird / Oscar the Grouch (voice)
Gerard Parkes	...	Jerome "Doc" Christian (as Gerry Parkes)
Fran Brill	...	Prarie Dawn
Brian Muehl	...	Tatooey the Rat
Bruce Edward Hall	...	Masterson the Rat
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Terry Angus	...	Morris Fraggle (voice)
Kevin Clash	...	Elmo (voice)
David Rudman	...	Additional Muppet Performer (voice)

Runtime:

42 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Company:

Henson Associates (HA)

Trivia:

This is the first known Muppet production to feature Muppets associated with all four of the major Muppet franchises-The Muppet Show, Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock and Muppet Babies (as puppets here).

Goofs:

Continuity: When Doc enters the house dressed as Santa and starts handing out presents, Sprocket can be seen standing next to him, yet in the very next shot, he's looking out of the kitchen door with Jim Henson.

Quotes:

Doc: Even weirdoes are cute when they're babies.
Gonzo: I knew you'd learn to love us!
Doc: I didn't say that.

Movie Connections:

References The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)

Soundtrack:

Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town

A great Christmas special

In my opinion, this ties with "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" for being the best Muppet Christmas special out there. I have a copy tapes off of Nickelodeon, so it's ALMOST uncut, but it's better than the DVD print out now.

You get to see many classic Muppets from the Muppet Show, with their original performers (Jim Henson, Richard Hunt, Frank Oz, and others). The show is also chock full of classic Sesame Street characters, too! Elmo is here, but thankfully, he has no lines. A bunch of rare, forgotten Sesame characters are here, too, including Simon Soundman (a guy who can make sound effects), Sherlock Hemlock (a Sherlock Holmes-wannabe), Forgetful Jones (a cowboy with bad memory), and even Guy Smiley! (OK, so he's not that forgotten, but he was retired when Jim Henson died.) :( But this is still a great way to see many old Muppets (just as "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" is a great way to see Mr. Hooper).

Also, the live-action Muppet Babies are SO CUTE! Their voices are the same as on the "I'm Gonna Always Love You" song in "The Muppets Take Manhattan," but I prefer the cartoon voices for them better, even though the cartoon makes Gonzo sound like a girl. :P I also think that the REAL star of this special is Jerry Nelson, a talented veteran Muppet performer whom has worked with the Henson company since 1970. He gets to do many of his Muppet Show characters, including Robin the Frog, Emily Bear, Lew Zealand, Crazy Harry, Camilla the Chicken, and Floyd Pepper. But he seems to be more well-known for his Sesame Street work, for this special also features Herry Monster, Count Von Count, Biff the Construction Worker, Fred the Wonder Horse, Simon Soundman, Sherlock Hemlock, and a few others. He also performed Gobo Fraggle on "Fraggle Rock." He seems to be a man of many voices, and he has also done announcers on those shows, too.

Anyways, I recommend it to all you Muppet and Sesame Street fans, but make sure you don't get the DVD or VHS version!