The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years

I was six years old when I saw this on TV, it was one of the first things my family ever recorded with a shiny new VCR, and it was something we had on tape for fifteen years (until my brother taped over it ... grrrr!).

The through-line that connects all the clips of Jim Henson related projects is an awards show style format. Every Muppet you've ever seen is in the audience sitting around their respective dinner tables. All the Fraggles sit at one table, all the Muppet Show monsters at another, Sesame street characters make up another table etc. etc. etc.

On stage is a long table and podium ALA Dean Martin's Celebrity Roasts. Kermit, Fozzie, Piggy, Ernie, Bert, and a few others sit along that long table, all dressed in tuxedos! They each come and introduce different clips of the Muppets history, with EXTREMELY funny banter that puts the pathetic banter of real awards shows to shame. Ernie and Bert introduce the Sesame Street clips. Ernie pulls Bert's nose right off his face, laughing wildly. Bert gets annoyed, asking why Ernie did that. Ernie uses the gag to set up the clips saying, "That's the old nose joke, Bert! Don't you remember? The first time we did that was over fifteen years ago!" The special also shows rare footage of commercials Jim Henson made, clips from his old Sam & Friends show, and Rolf the Dog on the Jimmy Dean Show. All around this special was amazing, I wish they would rerun it or put it out on DVD.

I am watching this right now, on my very old VHS tape and I wish it was released on DVD I have had it since I was like 6 years old... I watch it religiously but I am afraid it is going to break. I think I may eventually transfer is to DVD. They have the 25th anniversary, I found it on Amazon.. if anyone has any info or a better version please let me know!!!!! There are so many stars in this anniversary edition, they do sell The Best of the Muppets on Amazon as well, but it would be expensive to buy all of them! ANyone else who has seen this please comment, it seems as if I am alone in this one.. Why do we need at least ten lines to submit a comment??

All the Muppets (except the ones who could not make it) gather together to celebrate their (at that time) 30 year history. Most of them are wearing tuxedos, even the gang from Sesame street and Sprocket and Traveling Matt from 'Fraggle Rock' are in attendance, though in order to preserve continuity, the remaining Fraggles, Gorgs and Doozers remain blissfully unaware of this gathering.

With all of the most important Muppets sitting at a banquet table in the style of the Dean Martin Roast, this viewer suddenly noticed that the Sesame Street characters have much larger heads than those from the Muppet Show. The rest of the Muppet menagerie are seated in select groups at tables like they're attending the Golden Globes. Statler and Waldorf are joined by Pops, all the monsters share a giant size table and Big Bird is forced to sit next to the dreaded Miss Finch and those dimwitted Dodo kids from 'Follow That Bird'. BB also gets in a plug for 'Little Muppet Monsters', which had already been pulled off the air by the time this show was first broadcast.

This is of course nothing more than a clip show, but what a sensational selection of clips!. Kermit the Frog and all the regulars take turns introducing a lot of great compilations of everything they were ever involved in, from 'Sam and Friends' to 'Muppet Babies'. So many of these gems pass by so quickly that it leaves you wanting more, especially the early material and almost forgotten stuff, such as their stint on 'Saturday Night Life' (shown for about 2 seconds). The Dark Crystal is not mentioned at all, since those characters can hardly be referred to as 'Muppets'.

The constant praising of Kermit does begin to get a little bit tedious when Fozzie refers to him as 'Frog of my heart' (shouldn't that be Piggy's line?). But of course the one they are really thanking is Jim Henson, for realizing his dreams and bringing so much joy and entertainment to the world. To drive this argument home, the man himself appears near the end when Grover the waiter presents him with the bill (this would become a tradition in Muppet Specials until his death in 1990). The only problem with shows like this is that you can celebrate an anniversary only once, so this will probably never be broadcast again.

9 out of 10

This was a fun special with a lot to like but there was also a lot missing. I know that after 30 years of Henson's Muppets there was definitely much more than they could possibly cover in this one short special, but I would have loved to have seen more new sketches as well as some of my favourite "best of" old ones, and more of the music everyone loves that they've done, as well as some more in-depth interviews with the people behind the scenes. I don't need to see celebrity guests etc that we see all the time on the regular Muppet shows who don't have anything to do with the day-to-day work of The Muppets.

This is great entertainment for anyone who has enjoyed Jim Henson's work from 1986 and earlier.

I recently came across my old Beta player and tapes. Low and behold my favorite tape laying right on top! Watching it took me back. It holds everything you can think of from Sesame Street to Fraggle Rock. Includes very early works of Jim on his old public television show.

The set up is quite like an early awards show, with intro music and presenters. This is a must see for any Henson fan. This production gets an A+ in my book. If you can get a copy, watch it!