The Muppets Take Manhattan, Part 5: Meta-Musical Parody?

In the week leading up to the premiere of Manhattan Melodies, the gang continues their search for Kermit, Kermit continues to find success with the advertising frogs, and publicity for the show has skyrocketed, resulting in a sold-out opening night.  Because, if there is one thing the New York elite loves, it's musicals that have a simple title, an unknown cast, and a storyline of "young people living in New York."

Did Jonathan Larson write this?

Finally, opening night arrives and Kermit still hasn't been found.  The group convenes at Pete's wallowing in pity as they decide the must perform the show without Kermit.  Just then, the frog firm decides to stop in the restaurant for lunch after a hard day of being boring.

Although, Kermit did quadruple their profits in a week.  That's impressive.

As he sits in the booth next to the Muppets, Kermit begins to get a familiar vibe from the restaurant and starts playing a little tune using his spoon and some water glasses.  The Muppets recognize the tune as "Together Again," and soon they reconnect with Kermit, whisking him away to the show, despite his continued memory problems.

Kermit/Phil remains surprisingly calm for someone who has been kidnapped and forced to be the lead in a musical.

Everyone tries their hardest to remind Kermit of who he was and eventually Piggy has to resort to a touching monologue about how the two of them are in love.  Not surprisingly, Kermit laughs in her face.  And Piggy has to resort to Plan Karate Chop.

With his memory restored, Kermit prepares to start the show.  All the other puppets that have accumulated during the movie gather backstage to watch and Kermit decides that all the extra bears and frogs and dogs and whatever should be IN the show!  That's what the show had been missing all along!  Uh, maybe they shouldn't be taking advice from the guy just recovering from a serious head injury because that plan is absurd!  But, it's the Muppets so we have to embrace the nonsensical.

And so it begins.

What follows is sheer ridiculousness.  Like the "Magic Store" finale for The Muppet Movie we get a sped up version of the musical.  The musical starts with the opening number "Right Where I Belong," then segues immediately into the finale with "Somebody's Getting Married."  I assume it's the finale because, even though it seems to be setting up the story, it moves right into the wedding which is at the end.  It has nothing to do with Manhattan.  And somehow, all the characters who were added at the last minute know exactly what to do in the musical.  In fact, it doesn't look like the musical would have logically worked without everyone there to fill in the vacant roles.  Song's still catchy though.

As I said, this immediately precedes the wedding of Kermit and Piggy which is when things become truly bizarre, but also perfect.  As soon as we enter the chapel, the Broadway theater disappears.  The chapel has four complete walls, so the audience could no longer possibly exist at this point (and we never see them again for the rest of the movie).  This is a real chapel with a real wedding, even though the characters are still singing as if it's part of the musical.  And despite the alternate history this film has set up, the rest of the Muppets are in attendance, suggesting that this is the only "real" part of the movie that connects to The Muppet Show.

Everyone's here, even Uncle Traveling Matt (in the front right row)!

Like the end of The Muppet Movie, everyone has reunited for this special moment.  Kermit and Miss Piggy are actually getting married!  As Piggy sings "He'll Make Me Happy," the two walk down the aisle, passing all of their friends.

Although should the cast of Sesame Street be sitting on the groom's side?

Kermit still thinks this is all part of the show, until they reach the altar and the minister is an actual minister, not just Gonzo.

And he's not an actor.  Dr. Cyril Jenkins was an authentic minister hired for the movie.  This marriage is legitimate.

Being put on the spot, Kermit realizes that in order for the movie/musical to end properly, he is going to have to actually marry Piggy.  So, after a moment's hesitation, he says, "I do."

And all is right in the world.

And...that's it!  That's The Muppets Take Manhattan!

Why?  What did you expect to happen?

Of the original three Muppet movies, I find this one to be the weakest.  All three are very different films, and the stories aren't supposed to connect, but The Muppet Movie and The Great Muppet Caper are at least focused in what they want to accomplish.  The Muppet Movie is a road movie, which allows for disconnected, episodic scenes.  But it has a continuous goal and Kermit goes through a definite arc from beginning to end.  The Great Muppet Caper is looser with the comedy, but it sticks to it's basic plot and everything else is just over the top parody.  And even though the Muppets' appearances are more random, they don't slow down the film.  And once again, we have a definite character arc, this time for Piggy.

The Muppets Take Manhattan seems to have taken a few steps back.  Both Kermit and Piggy have had their personalities reset.  Kermit once again is chasing the impossible dream and Piggy is once again a controlling, egotistical diva.  In The Muppet Movie, we watched Kermit's struggle to get to Hollywood, so his meeting with Lord Lew feels earned.  Here, his script is produced through blind luck, through no effort of his own.

Yes, Kermit tried various ways to get his script noticed, but you know what he didn't do?  REWRITE THE SCRIPT!  During the entire film, he says that the script is "missing something," yet he doesn't make any changes until the very, VERY last second.  We barely get any sense of what the script is about.  Maybe that was intentional and part of the humor, but it seems weird for us to blindly follow in Kermit's dream when we don't really know what his dream is.  He wants to be big on Broadway with a script that has no substance?

This image is not featured in the film, but it hints at a movie that had more depth to it.

The film was written in order to be a parody of "putting-on-a-show" musicals of previous eras, which were notorious for having simplistic plots and pointless musical numbers.  These musicals are still considered classics because the songs were memorable and great, but they weren't known for their amazing plotlines.  This movie definitely gives off the vibe of such a musical, but I do not get a sense of parody or satire at all.  If it's there, then it's subtle.

Like those musicals, The Muppets Take Manhattan has plenty of great moments that are perfect additions to the world of the Muppets, so I have picked out the top 5 parts you should watch if you don't want to see the whole movie.

5) Together Again

The opening song is just fun and catchy and a great way to reintroduce the Muppets.

4) The Rat Scat (Cooking Scene)

Jim Henson was absent for most of this movie's behind-the-scenes production, save for performing Kermit, Rowlf and Dr. Teeth.  He left directorial duties in the hands of Frank Oz, who would go on to direct some of my favorite movies.  But the one scene that had Henson's total influence was the cooking scene with the rats.  It reminds you how Henson was always looking for new ways to use puppetry and this funny scene works because of him.

3) Saying Goodbye

The rest of the movie's silliness overshadows this early song, which, when taken on its own, is very meaningful and sad.  If we hadn't had seen all the crazy adventures the Muppets got up to after leaving New York, their absence would have been strongly felt and we could sympathize with Kermit during the film.

2) I'm Gonna Always Love You

Even if you weren't a fan of the show, the introduction of the Muppet Babies is wonderful.

1) He'll Make Me Happy (The Wedding)

When the wedding starts, the entire movie up until this point has pretty much been abandoned.  This tonal shift is probably the best part about the movie.  The entire film walked a weird line in how we were supposed to interpret the Muppets.  The looked and behaved just like the ones we were familiar with but they had none of the history that we knew them for, making them completely unknown in the eyes of the rest of the movie's universe.  So, what history did they have?  The Great Muppet Caper set up the new backgrounds and continually broke the fourth wall to suggest that the Muppets still did everything we remember them for, just not in this story.  But this movie has no fourth wall breaks (unless I missed one).  So, when the wedding occurs, it's like we can breathe a huge sigh of relief.  Finally, all our old friends are back.  And it's special.

This is the movie I came to see.

The Muppets Take Manhattan is an assortment of ideas that attempt to resemble a story, but ultimately, it feels lacking.  Had the movie been more about Kermit's creative process in trying to write a Broadway musical, then the elements of parody would have been stronger and more evident.  As it stands, the movie is just an alternate-universe event where "a bunch of stuff happens" with familiar characters.  It never quite reaches the classic status that the first two movies did, but it provides enough entertainment for fans of the Muppets and Broadway musicals alike.  For me, the lack of Henson's presence is evident throughout and the failure to find a focus results in a muddled mess.

But, as Pete would say, "Movies is movies."

"There was a time when I enjoyed this movie."  "When was that?"  "When it was over!  Doh-ho-ho-ho!"

The Muppets Take Manhattan, Part 4: Just Forget It

It's Mail Time again!  Now we finally get to see what Rowlf and Gonzo have been up to all this time.  I don't know why these segments weren't included in the first round of letters.  I guess they didn't want to mess with the flow of randomness.

Gonzo is doing crazy stunts at some carnival, of course.  His routine involves him water-skiing up a ramp, through a hoop of fire, and into an imitation-leather reclining chair while his chickens squawk the William Tell Overture, of course.

I'll give you one guess how this turns out.

At least the chickens are wearing life jackets.

Rowlf has found a job at a kennel, and we observe an obnoxious customer check-in his prim and pampered pooch Snookums.  He treats Rowlf like a dog and is just generally disagreeable and annoying.  And this scene goes on forever because it's "funny."

Woof.

Kermit has one more letter and, lo and behold, it's actually something that moves the plot along!  We are finally back to the story!  It only took us 45 min!  A big shot producer named Bernard Crawford has somehow come across Kermit's script and has taken an interest producing it (for some reason).  So Kermit heads on down to his office and meets Mr. Crawford, who seems to be a little young to be a big-shot producer.

But he's got a bow-tie, so he must be legit.

It turns out that this man is actually Bernard's son Ronnie, who currently works as the errand-boy for the production company.  Apparently, his father has told him that he would give him the support to fund one show since he also wants to be a producer.  So, after what must have been an intense process, Ronnie has settled on Kermit's show.  Ronnie tells the good news to his father (played by Art Carney) and Mr. Crawford reluctantly agrees to fund the show, despite his reservations that dancing and singing animals are out of style.  The condition is that they must complete the show in two weeks, since that is the only time he has to add another project to his plate.

He was going to originally use those two weeks to fix the elevator, but that'll have to wait.

Kermit excitedly calls the restaurant, putting Jenny in charge of costumes and Piggy in charge of rounding up the rest of the gang.  And then he steps out into oncoming traffic and gets hit by a taxi!  That night, Piggy awaits Kermit's return, but he never shows up.  Pete tries to reassure Piggy, telling her Kermit will show up because "Peoples is peoples," but it doesn't help.  Ronnie shows up to explain the details and the two-week time limit.  While the group goes out to search for Kermit, Pete pens the message to all of the other Muppets, telling them "Peoples is peoples."

And what about Kermit.  Well, he has amnesia.  Really, movie?  Now you decide to give us a plot?!

You have amnesia, so for the next 5 min, I'm going to squish your limbs and face like a plush toy.  Seriously.

*Sigh* Okay, so now, Kermit has amnesia.  The doctor suggests he go out and start a new life because THAT'S TOTALLY WHAT YOU DO WITH YOUR AMNESIA PATIENTS.  So Ragtime Kermit heads to Madison Ave to get a job.

This would have been a good plan before he got amnesia.

He stumbles into a frog-based advertising agency filled with Muppeteers doing their best Kermit voices.  The frogs, Gil, Bill, and Jill hope that Kermit (or Phil, as he now calls himself) can help them determine a good slogan for their brand of Ocean Breeze soap.

The Muppets Take Manhattan: Singing, dancing, and office work!

After they tell him what they have so far, ("For People Who Don't Want to Stink" and "It's Just Like Taking an Ocean Cruise, Except There's No Boat and You Don't Go Anywhere" which I think are fantastic slogans) Kermit/Phil suggests the straightforward "Ocean Breeze Will Get You Clean."  The frogs love it and soon, Kermit/Phil is hired!

Then they all got matching versions of Kermit's outfit and started a barbershop quartet.

Oh no!  The musical is finally going to be produced and it goes up in two weeks!  And instead of being fun and artistic, Kermit is stuck in a bland, boring, non-creative ad firm!  How is he going to get out of this one?

Tune in tomorrow, for the epic musical finale that the movie has been building towards(?) all this time.

The Muppets Take Manhattan, Part 3: Anything Goes

There is something weird that happens when reviewing a movie like The Muppets Take Manhattan one fifth at a time.  It really shows you how disjointed the plot is.  I have seen this movie a few times before, and if I were to summarize it in a paragraph, absolutely none of the following scenes would be mentioned.  It's not that they aren't entertaining.  It's just that the things that are important to the story have been pushed to the beginning and ending edges.  While watching this film, one gets the feeling that the Muppet staff had a book full of ideas that they wanted to see the Muppets do, and now that there was no longer a show, those ideas would have to go into the movie.

So here are some hypothetical excerpts from this fictional Muppets Take Manhattan Idea Journal:

Idea #276:  3-D movies are all the rage now.  (Possible Lew Zealand Cameo?)

Kermit's first letter is from Scooter, who has found a job at a movie theater as an usher.  First we get to see Swedish Chef working the concession stand, which goes exactly as you expect it would.

Then we have an appearance by Lew Zealand, a one-note character whose whole schtick is that he only has one joke: boomerang fish.  So, of course, he loves the 3-D movie about killer fish because it allows him to "interact" with the movie.  Yeah, it's a lame set up for an even lamer joke, but that's who Lew Zealand is.

Apparently, this scene is so iconic that you can get your very own "Usher Scooter" action figure!

 

"My favorite Muppet action figure is Usher Scooter."

Idea #328:  What if Fozzie met a real bear?

In Fozzie's letter, Fozzie, unable to find work, decides to give hibernating a try.  He finds himself in a den filled with realistic-looking Muppet bears, which presents a very odd contrast with the cartoonish Fozzie.  Unfortunately, Fozzie can't sleep.  Womp, womp.

 

 That's not a bear.  Bears wear hats.

Idea #12: What if the Electric Mayhem had to play polka music?

 

I miss the Happiness Hotel.

Idea #56: Okay, so Kermit has to pretend to be a big shot producer in order to start some buzz about his Broadway play. And, like, he goes into a fancy restaurant in disguise. It's one of those restaurants where they have pictures of all the famous people who've ever eaten there on the wall. And Kermit replaces his picture with another celebrity (TBD, check our Muppet Show guest roster). And then that celebrity actually shows up and Kermit gets kicked out! Also, rats.

 

At least this disguise is more tolerable than his "boffo" agent.

So yeah, Kermit decides to start a "whispering campaign" having all the rats hide under the tables of patrons in order to subliminal work Kermit's play into their conversations. And the rats reveal themselves and everyone gets kicked out, making for another funny, yet pointless scene.

  

Oh, and they chose Liza Minnelli.

Idea #1237:  In our last movie, we had Miss Piggy ride a motorcycle.  How can we top that?

In yet another day of spying on Kermit and Jenny, Piggy's purse gets stolen and since her little puppet legs can only take her so far, she has to borrow some roller skates.  Time for an action sequence!

The skating scene I could do without, but the confrontation at the end between Kermit and Piggy with Gregory Hines acting as the supportive mediator is probably the funniest scene in the whole film.

 

"You didn't say there were huggies!"

Idea #1:  What if the Muppets were BABIES?!

Okay, so this song/scene has no bearing on the movie whatsoever, but it is so iconic and important to the franchise that it's worth making a whole movie just for this moment.  Basically, Piggy imagines the premise of Muppet Babies and it is adorable.

  

The fantastic song that spawned a regrettable genre: famous characters as babies.

We already know why this song is great, so instead check out this weird promotional music video version of the song that aired on The Merv Griffin Show.  It features homages to 2001: A Space Odyssey, Flashdance, and Michael Jackson's "Billie Jean" music video, with a live action pig and frog to boot.  And Jim Henson also has a cameo as...I don't even know.

I don't know what all that extra stuff has to do with babies or love.  Seeing the pig and frog was interesting, but it kind of stepped on the whole premise of the scene, especially since the scene does just fine on it's own.  Maybe that was another idea from the big journal of ideas and they couldn't fit it into the film. (Idea #15,029: The Muppets as actual live-action animals!!!!).  In any case, the actual moment in the movie is great.  And it's the last "random" thing to occur in the film.

Yayayayay!  Bye babies, see you on CBS!

Tomorrow, we finally get back to the story, as Kermit makes significant leaps forward and loses his mind.

The Muppets Take Manhattan, Part 2: Drifting Aimlessly

It is time for the Muppets to split up with "Saying Goodbye."  "Together Again" was a delightful romp, but this is the first song of the movie that captures a feeling in that Muppety way, making for an emotional number.

Piggy leaves by train, others by bus, and pretty soon, the gang has scattered to the wind, unsure of whether they will ever see each other again.  Many graduates have gone through this scenario, spending years of their lives bonding with an inseparable group and then finding that there comes a day where life steps in and rips them apart.

And they just become faint memories.

Kermit, always the dreamer, stays behind and wanders around the overwhelming city.  During a powerful, introspective moment, he travels to the top of the Empire State Building at night and yells at the monstrous city, resolving that he will not be beaten.  It's genuine and riveting.

This is just a regular picture of New York at night, but this it's still breathtaking.

Then we cut to the street below where we see Piggy hearing Kermit's oath and this is where the movie begins to fall apart for a while.

Kermit returns to Pete's Luncheonette to get a job, just as Rizzo is demanding a bigger staff since he is overworked.  You would think that Kermit would be hired as simple as that, but no, Rizzo has to round up a bunch of one-dimensional rat friends to work at the restaurant first.  Pete is not pleased about the idea but he eventually relents and lets that rats work there.

"Rats is rats."

Now you may be thinking, "Oh no, Kermit will have to find a job elsewhere!" But Jenny convinces Pete to hire Kermit as a dishwasher anyway.  So, what was the point of all the rats?  We'll get to that later.  Right now, Kermit has to plan how to get his show produced and his first step is to use Jenny's costuming talents to disguise him as a fast-talking agent so he can sneak his way into a production company and get his script to the higher ups.  And the scene is just ridiculous.

Kermit + An Afro = All Sorts of Wrong.

After saying "Boffo" a million times, Kermit leaves and the producer tosses the script right in the trash. So, all of that work for nothing, which is true to life but it's still kind of weird for the movie to focus so much on this scene for it to have absolutely no payoff.

Kermit meets with Jenny in a park to discuss the next step of his plan, and a disguised Piggy watches them grow close from afar, getting insanely jealous.  Her subplot doesn't make much sense either since she has no reason to hide and stalk Kermit.  If she was going to stay in New York, she should have just told Kermit.  If she is not communicating with him at all, then why get upset when another girl swoops in on the single frog?  You're just making things worse for yourself Piggy!

And speaking of Piggy making things worse for herself, her stalking has made her late for her new job with Joan Rivers at a perfume counter.  While angry Piggy does get some funny lines, yelling about how the perfume isn't going to change stupid men at all, the scene is another "things just happen with no effect on the plot" moment.  Joan Rivers, in order to cheer Piggy up starts playfully giving her a makeover with all of the makeup.  They have fun, and the scene as a very improvisational vibe as the two make a mess and laugh themselves silly.  Then Piggy gets fired and another scene is over.

One more cameo down.

Back at Pete's Luncheonette, the customers have been complaining about the rodent waitstaff, so Pete has redistributed them all to the kitchen.  What follows next is a condensed version of Pixar's 2007 classic Ratatouille.

Technologically speaking, this scene is a marvel, seeing all of the rats preparing food in unique ways without the aid of strings.  Jim Henson was very proud of this scene, and he helped stage a lot of it.  What's most amazing was that real butter and pancake batter was used since it provided the best consistency (even when the rat was using butter pads for skating).

I could tell you how they got that one rat to ride an eggbeater like a unicycle, but the magic is better.

It's been 15 minutes and barely nothing has happened to continue the story and that's when Kermit receives a bunch of postcards so we can see what the other Muppet have been doing with their time.  So, we will be taking a break in the action during this extended break in the action.  Okay.  I understand that sometimes in life, nothing happens for long stretches of time, but it seems like they are just stalling at this point.

Tomorrow, more Muppety vignettes and then finally, we'll get back to the story.

The Muppets Take Manhattan, Part 1: Welcome to the Real World

1981 saw the premiere of The Great Muppet Caper and the final season of The Muppet Show.  After that, the Muppets practically disappeared for a while.  With Sesame Street, The Dark Crystal, and a new show called Fraggle Rock taking up most of Henson's time, the Muppets found themselves with very little to do.  Finally, in 1984, after an absence of two years, the Muppets returned for one more feature film.  And this time, they were headed to the Big Apple!

Start spreading the news!

Ever since 1970, Henson knew that he wanted to bring the Muppets to Broadway.  The idea of doing a giant, musical, live performance with the Muppets had great appeal to Henson and in 1972 he proposed a show called The Muppets at Lincoln Center.  Since this was pre-Muppet Show, it would have manly consisted of a series of skits with a variety of original puppets.  Although it was approved, television became too demanding.  But, as Jerry Juhl noted, "Every couple of years, when Jim would take a week off, he would come in and say, 'We gotta do that Broadway show.'"  Based on that dream, The Muppets Take Manhattan was born.

The gang is back!

The film opens similar to The Muppet Movie, featuring Kermit singing the opening song, "Together Again."  For audiences at the time, a two-year break from the Muppets was too long, so this song was a way of reuniting the gang and welcoming the audience back into the world of the Muppets.

Each Muppet movie has it's own sort of canon, so here, we soon discover that while the Muppets are as we remember them, The Muppet Show and previous Muppet movies never happened.  Kermit and his friends (Piggy, Gonzo, Scooter, Fozzie, Rowlf, Camilla, and the Electric Mayhem) are graduating college students from the fictional Danhurst College.  They are all into theater and have been performing a show penned by Kermit known as "Manhattan Melodies."  For some reason, this musical revue just drives the entire campus wild and this prompts the gang to consider taking the show to Broadway after they graduate.  Kermit his hesitant at first but decides it's worth it to follow his dream.

The gang immediately travels to New York and shack up in the cheapest living space available, since Kermit naively assures them they will be living large on Broadway the very next day.

Affordable Manhattan housing

The group meets with a producer named Martin Price.  This is scene is a great moment of fantastical Muppet optimism clashing with the harsh realities of life and showbiz.  Kermit describes his show as being about true life in New York City, which he thinks will be full of songs, dancing, and laughter, but the producer assumes he means gritty crimes and murders.  Nonetheless, he bewilderingly finds their show to be a great idea, despite a virtually unknown cast and a lack of shootings.  He agrees to produce their show as long as they fund him $300 each.  That's when it's revealed that Price is actually a con artist who takes money from naive dreamers such as the Muppets.  The police arrest him, with the assistance of a wild Animal.

He's so nimble!

That's when the Muppets realize that their success isn't going to happen overnight.  The spend their entire summer traveling from producer to producer, with no hits.  But, they've got to keep their chin up, since they can't take no for an answer.

Reality bites.

After a few months, Scooter notes that their resources have dwindled and they can only afford to spend two more nights in the city.  The group asks Kermit what they should do next and he cracks, tired of always having to be the leader.  It was foolish of them to go to New York in the first place.  Overwhelmed, the group stops to rest at the nearby Pete's Luncheonette.  As Kermit waits by the counter, Rizzo the Rat appears to take the groups order.  Since Steve Whitmire joined the Muppeteer gang towards the end of The Muppet Show, his then-current signature character Rizzo was given an oddly large role in the film.

Fozzie should probably wash his hands before he eats.

At the counter, Kermit express his woes to the owner Pete, who gives him the sagely advice, "Peoples is peoples."

Since that doesn't help, Kermit then turns to Pete's daughter Jenny, who agrees help Kermit out, since she too has dreams of making it big in New York.

And Kermit would look adorable in that waitress outfit.

Meanwhile, the other Muppets discuss calling it quits on the whole thing, especially since they've been relying on Kermit too much.  They tell Kermit that they have had other job offers and that it's best they part ways.

It's only the beginning and already the Muppets have given up on their dreams!  We are in for a new kind of Muppet movie.

Tomorrow, everyone goes on their own journeys, and Kermit takes on the Big Apple alone.

Unlimited Potential

Everybody loves babies.  Their big eyes and pudgy cheeks are irresistible to anybody who has a heart.  No matter the species, we find all babies to be adorable, pure, and innocent.

But most of all, we like them because they are new.  Out of nothingness, a new life is created and introduced into the world.  They lack any experiences, have yet to form memories, and are uncorrupted by the evils of the universe.  Although virtually identical upon exiting the womb, each baby will grow into a unique, fully-realized person depending on the different paths they will encounter.

No baby can choose what life they will be born into and by the time their brains are developed enough to form rational thoughts, many of their life's choices have already been made for them.  Their environment, culture and family have already begun their waves of influence over the infants.  As adults progress through their lives, they can be startled to find themselves where they are, especially since all events leading up to the present were based on choices made earlier in life.  The domino effect becomes very clear when looked at in reverse.

Take a person in your life that you care deeply about.  A friend, a partner, a lover, anyone.  Think about what circumstances led to you meeting that person.  Now imagine if that day, that moment you met them had gone differently.  Maybe if you had woken up late that day, or you were distracted by another event, or you just happened to blink and miss it when that person walked by.  You would be leading a quite different life thanks to one missed encounter.

And how about the opposite?  Suppose you had met this person sooner?  They have such an important impact on your life at the moment, would they have been as important had they been there from Day One?  This is a possibility that Miss Piggy considers after reconciling with her beloved Kermit after an argument.  In The Muppets Take Manhattan, Piggy imagines a world in which she and Kermit had known each other as babies, and she sets the stage for a world of infinite possibilities.

She believes that no matter the timeline or universe, she would have been committed in her love to Kermit.  But she does not stop at bringing the frog into her past.  The rest of their friends join them in restarting their lives.

The world's best nursery

As Baby Piggy sings about her affection, she also lists the many accomplishments she hopes to complete in her lifetime.  These range from the mundane (driving a car) to the plausible (learning to scuba dive) to the highly improbable (becoming a beautiful movie star veterinarian pilot who practices neurosurgery and has climbed the Matterhorn).  She may be naive, but she is only a baby.  To her, all of these things are equally complex and manageable.  And who is to say she's wrong?

Although we now know the life Piggy grew into, who says she could not have completed one or more (or all) of the goals on her list?

This is the question that spawned a cultural revolution for the offspring of the Baby Boomers.  Those children who were a part of Generation Y were the target audience of a new Henson production.  A cartoon based on the popularity of the infant Muppets presented in this one movie scene.  Muppet Babies was the first of its kind, taking pre-existing characters and presenting them as toddler versions of themselves to appeal to the younger generation.  While copycats came and went with varying degrees of success, what made Henson the pioneer was that his babies served a purpose.

Besides being so gosh darn cute!

These characters were not simply money-making opportunities based on brand recognition.  They also stood for a poetic and inspirational cause.  If there was one type of person Henson admired, it was the dreamer.  The creative mind who looked beyond themselves to see a greater life ahead.  People who wanted to be happy and to make others happy.  At a basic level, all dreamers need is an idea and the imagination to make that idea work.

As babies, the Muppets did not have much at their disposal.  They were confined to one room without much to keep them busy.  But they had their imaginations.  They encouraged the children at home to use their imaginations to do great things.  Thanks to them, our generation became the generation of dreamers.

Dreamers with big hearts and bigger eyes

And so, for the rest of this week, we shall return to that magical nursery for a deeper look at those lovable rugrats who could envision entire universes before naptime, the Muppet Babies.