Little Muppet Monsters

Little Muppet Monsters

Title card
Created by Jim Henson
Starring Jim Henson
Frank Oz
Jerry Nelson
David Rudman
Richard Hunt
Camille Bonora
James Kroupa
Voices of Greg Berg
Bob Bergen
Richard Hunt
Hal Rayle
Frank Welker
Country of origin United States
No. of episodes 3 (15 unaired)
Production
Executive producer(s) Margaret Losch
Lee Gunther
Diana Birkenfield
Location(s) Manhattan, New York City
Running time 30 minutes
Production company(s) Henson Associates
Marvel Productions
Release
Original network CBS
Original release September 14 – September 28, 1985

Little Muppet Monsters is a Saturday morning television series featuring the Muppets that aired three episodes on CBS in 1985. The first season of Muppet Babies did so well in the ratings, that CBS decided to expand the series from a half-hour to an hour, pairing Muppet Babies with Little Muppet Monsters. They called the hour-long package Muppets, Babies and Monsters.

Plot

The show was anchored by three young Muppet monsters: Tug (performed by Richard Hunt), Molly (performed by Camille Bonora), and Boo (performed by David Rudman). The three have started their own basement show following an incident where Scooter has them put in the basement after Molly and Boo played water polo in the living room. They are joined by Nicky Napoleon (performed by James Kroupa) and his Emperor Penguins as their music act.

Production

Storyboard director Scott Shaw discussed the show in MuppetZine issue #3 (Winter 1993). "The concept of this second half-hour was neither simple nor particularly well-developed," he said. "A trio of new (live-action) Muppet Monster Kids, working from the basement of the adult Muppets' home, create their own television station which broadcasts only to the TV sets in the house upstairs. Their 'shows' were such regular segments as "Pigs in Space: The Animated Series", "Kermit the Frog, Private Eye", "Muppet Sport Shorts" with Animal, "Gonzo's Freaky Facts and Oddball Achievements," and "Fozzie's Comedy Corner", among others.

Although thirteen episodes were produced (most of which were incomplete at the time of cancellation), only three of them ever aired. According to Muppet performer Kathryn Mullen,[1] and the Henson Company archives,[2] Marvel Productions failed to deliver the full season's animated segments in time for airing. CBS responded by rerunning episodes of Muppet Babies to fill the second half hour until Marvel finished the series' animated segments. Due to high ratings from the Muppet Babies reruns, the network decided not to pick up the remaining episodes of Little Muppet Monsters. The three completed episodes never appeared on television after their initial airdates. Plans to officially re-release the three episodes have not been made.

Despite its quick cancellation, the theme song to Little Muppet Monsters lived on; the instrumental version of the song became the closing theme for Muppet Babies and remained so until the show ended in 1990.

In 1990, segments of the animated "Pigs in Space" and "Kermit the Frog, Private Eye" from the second episode of Little Muppet Monsters titled "Space Cowboys" were re-shown in the final episode of Muppet Babies titled "Eight Flags Over the Nursery".

Episodes

No. in series No. in season Original air date Episode title Synopsis
1 1 September 14, 1985 "In the Beginning"
2 2 September 21, 1985 "Space Cowboys"
3 3 September 28, 1985 "The Great Boodini"

Unreleased episodes

  1. Hi, Mars
  2. Monster Measles
  3. Gonzo's Talent Hunt
  4. Can't Stop the Music
  5. Boo Monster Ace Reporter
  6. Feels Like Rain
  7. Foo-Foo Phooey
  8. Penguin for a Day
  9. Gunko
  10. Mail-Order Guest

Cast

Muppet performers

Main article: List of Muppets

Animated segments voice cast

Crew

Creators

References

  1. ↑ Joe Hennes (August 13, 2013). "Mokey Fraggle Speaks: The Kathy Mullen Interview, part 3". toughpigs.com. Retrieved October 10, 2013.
  2. ↑ tkane (September 14, 2013). "9/14/1985 – 'Little Muppet Monsters goes on air- also 2nd Season- Mup. Babies.'". Jim Henson's Red Book. Retrieved October 10, 2015.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/28/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.