The Essential Jerry Nelson

Every Muppeteer has their signature Muppet.  Jim has Kermit, Frank has Miss Piggy, Richard has Scooter, and Dave has Gonzo.  But who does Jerry have?

Jerry Nelson had one of the longest careers of any Muppet performer, so he's amassed quite a few characters over the years.  With over 250 characters on his resume, it's going to be difficult choosing one Muppet that represented the man.

Intentional Muppet caricatures don't count.

The character that most people are going to recognize is Count von Count.  Sesame Street deals primarily with letters and numbers and, for over half of the current American population, this kindly lavender vampire is the person who taught us how to count.

At a young age, we are taught that math is scary.

And while this is an important service and instantly recognizable character, the Count never developed beyond his main trait.  Nelson was impersonating Bela Lugosi's Dracula, and while he made the character his own, he was not able to bring much depth to the pre-established role.

Besides, the Count wasn't from The Muppet Show.  Nelson's biggest role on that show would have to be Sgt. Floyd Pepper, lead singer and bassist for the Electric Mayhem.  This cool hip cat is exactly the laid-back type of person Nelson could identify with.

They even have the same hat!

And Floyd is a great character.  But signature?  Well, it's hard to imagine Floyd outside the context of the Electric Mayhem.  Frank Oz's Animal was able to break free and become a memorable icon in his own right, but Floyd is forever a musician, and he sticks with the band.  We're going to have to look elsewhere...

How about down in Fraggle Rock?  Here, Jerry Nelson had the lead role with the courageous and adventurous Gobo Fraggle.  This was the character that sought the answers to life's greatest mysteries and grew to be a better person because of them.  Everyone in Fraggle Rock looked up to Gobo as a leader, and it gave Nelson a chance to shine!

The two most pleasant people under the earth.

Although, as great as it was, Fraggle Rock did not have as large an impact on our collective consciousness as the other Muppet productions.  The polite Canadian-accented Gobo Fraggle is a wonderful, well-developed character for a children's show.  If only more people knew that Fraggles existed...

It seems as if Nelson was most skilled at playing the meek and small, since it played to his sense of playfulness when it came to exploring the giant world around him.  And as far as Muppet's go, they don't get any littler than Robin the Frog.  Kermit's nephew may feel limited by his size, but his heart is big enough to make up for his shortcomings.  He can see the beauty in life, no matter what.

Kermit isn't the only frog singing about rainbows.

I'm almost content to settle on Robin as being the best character to represent Jerry Nelson, but then more voices keep popping up.  What about Emmet Otter?  What about Herry Monster?  What about Camilla the Chicken?  What about Frazzle or Sherlock Hemlock or the Amazing Mumford or Biff the construction worker or Grover's perpetual victim Mr. Johnson or the Two-Headed Monster's right head?  What about Pops or Louis Kazagger or Crazy Harry or Dr. Julius Strangepork or Uncle Deadly or Lew Zealand or the indispensable Female Koozebanean Creature?  What about Scred or Majory the Trash Heap or Balthazar the Teddy Bear or the Emperor Skeksis from The Dark Crystal?

AND WHAT ABOUT THOG?!

Don't you forget about me.

This list will go on forever.  There are so many great characters that Nelson has brought to life that it would be wrong to pick just one.  These are all Jerry Nelson.  Each of these characters, whether it be Floyd or Gobo or the Count or Robin, belong with the group they are associated with.  You can't take them on their own because they are essential to the ensemble.

Without Jerry, an entire population of characters would not exist.  Nelson was a vital part of the Muppet group and a crucial part of our lives, whether we realized it or not.  May he rest in peace.

Otter Sincerity

At what point does pleasant tradition become rigid obligation?  With every Christmas story and holiday advertisement that is repeated ad nauseam throughout this festive season, we are reminded that the true meaning of Christmas is family togetherness so spend, spend, spend!  That conflicting moral is not as contradictory as it may seem.

As a culture, we understand that monetary values and moral values should not be intertwined.  But as the poor Otter family learns in Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas, to maintain pleasure and stability at Christmastime, money is a necessity.  Having lost patriarch and the sole earner in the family, Alice Otter and her son Emmet take up odd jobs in order to stay afloat.  Alice tends to her neighbors' laundry while Emmet puts his carpentry skills to use around town.  The quaint community along the river houses critters from all walks of life, but it is the folks in the small Frogtown Hollow that suffer the most in the freezing cold winter.

The river, stretching from Waterville to Riverbottom

When it is discovered that a talent contest will be held in the town center boasting a prize of $50, both Alice and Emmet Otter dream of using their musical abilities to win the competition.  However, instead of using that much needed cash to help them continue living during their economic hardships, each otter plans on using the money to buy an expensive-yet-morale-boosting Christmas gift for the other.  For a holiday that tries to disassociate from over-commercialism, Christmas can't help but inspire us to give to one another.  Happiness comes first.

Emmet Otter, cutting off a Christmas branch, so that the tree may continue to grow.

Taking a page from The Gift of the Magi, both Alice and Emmet eliminate a valuable possession from their lives to make sure they can succeed in giving their gifts.  Unfortunately, Alice chooses to sell Emmet's tools to purchase a presentable outfit to sing in while Emmet punctures Alice's washtub to make a bass for his band.  Both have destroyed the only sources of income they have left.  Even if one of them won, they are both ruined financially.  That they are unknowingly competing against each other makes this scenario unbearably tragic.  These poor souls sacrifice everything just for a sliver of joy, which instantly becomes impossible to obtain by their selfless acts.

When music is all you have, share it with the world.

With certain failure set up so early in the story, the joyful antics and songs of the characters become very difficult to enjoy.  It is as if we are forced to watch a train wreck in slow motion.  But, with no chance of avoiding their demise, one can only enjoy the fun while it lasts.  Emmet and his friends form the Frogtown Jubilee Jug Band and practice their sure-fire hit "Barbeque."  This little ditty sums up the laid-back world that these critters inhabit.  Purely of the woods, these animals enjoy simple pleasantries and old-fashioned fun.

These rodents are the most pure creatures to ever grace the Earth.  If anyone deserved a Christmas miracle, it would be them.  But, alas, they hit their first major snag when one of the early acts at the talent show ends up singing "Barbeque" first.  The band must quickly scramble to create a new song called "Brothers."  Meanwhile, Alice Otter takes the stage, singing "Our World," by herself.

So innocent and sweet.

Each song is decent, but they lack a certain spark.  Although, each act that preceded them were awful to mediocre at best, so they still have a chance of winning this competition.  But as horrible as the outcome of the Otter family will be after this contest, I shudder to imagine what the other contestants potentially had riding on this one chance to win big.

The Rabbits' static dance routine may have been their last chance at keeping their children from being taken away.

As if the circumstances could not get any worse, one final act comes in and blows away the rest of the competition.  The Riverbottom Nightmare Band, a team of self centered, low-life hooligans take the stage with their fancy equipment and put on a show that rivals that of the Electric Mayhem.

Jug-bands don't hold a candle to rock and roll!

Christmas specials are notorious for being predictable in their schmaltziness.  In any other hands, this story would have ended with the Riverbottom Gang being booed offstage while Alice and Emmet Otter somehow both win first prize and everyone lives happily ever after.  But this is a Jim Henson Christmas special.  The miracles don't flow so easily.  Instead, the Nightmare Band wins and the Otters must walk home empty handed.

As our heroes walk along the frozen river back home, ready to face the dismal reality that awaits them, they discover that their two songs compliment each other perfectly.  Although they lost, at least they are able to keep the music alive in their hearts with "Brothers in Our World."  They have each other, and with that, a new opportunity arises.

I could not find the original, but this cover by My Morning Jacket captures it beautifully.

This is a Christmas special unlike any other.  While it may not have received the same recognition as other specials that are repeated on an annual basis, Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas becomes an instant classic to all who see it.  The original story was adapted into a musical in recent years, with the help of the Henson Company who allowed the original puppets and Paul Williams soundtrack to be used in the production.  The purpose of its creation was to allow a group of people to share this story they loved with a new generation.

How much alike we are.  Perhaps we're almost brothers.

The large scale and the many risks that were taken by producing this special allow it to remain just that: special.  These backwoods creatures are truly the salt of the earth, and they represent the ideal version of humanity.  If the word "wholesome" makes you sick to your stomach, remember that there is a spectrum.  "Family-friendliness" has become a manufactured process that forgets that there is more to Christmas than selling trinkets.  Emmet Otter produced no ornaments, no toys, no cards or decorations.  There is no franchise.  It exists as a single entity.  And, by word of mouth, people can discover it and love it.

How rare the Christmas special that actually follows the message it promotes.