With a brand new one about to air Wednesday night, it's a good time to look back over the Jim Henson Company's very strong holiday record--really, almost as good if not better than Rankin/Bass's. I'm not exctly sure what Henson's personal philosophy on the holiday was, but there's no denying he hit a home run nearly every time he tried it, and his successors have largely maintained the tradition well. So, out of:
-The Great Santa Claus Switch -Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas -Christmas Eve on Sesame Street -John Denver and the Muppets: a Christmas Together -The Bells of Fraggle Rock -The Christmas Toy -A Muppet Family Christmas -The Muppet Christman Carol, and -It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie,
which would you say was the absolute best?
It's easy for me; it would have to be MFC, which was also to me the best they ever were. What better treat could there be for a pure fan than to see all the major characters from all the major projects together, plus Henson himself in a surprise cameo? And the writing and interaction between them all is top notch ("Hey everybody, look what I've got, Christmas cookies!" "COOKIES!!!!" (devours them in 10 seconds) "Thank you!!" "Who was that strange blue creature?"). While it's getting increasingly harder to get a full and complete version due to the rampant song rights and character rights issues (I at least have a near complete version on DVD that keeps the usually cut songs), the memories will still last forever of the time when all was Camelot.
Posted by Smayt Shatner (Member # 1500) on :
I adore the muppet christmas carol sooooo much. Not only is it a good and quite faithful adaptation of the original story but its just so christmassy.i watched it on UK tv just the other day and it gave me that lovely warm xmas feelin....or was that the mulled wine??hehe well anyway....its just funny and sweet and brilliant.Michael Caine is excellent as scrooge and Rizzo and Gonzo are the perfect hilarious story tellers for christmas time.in fact they should tell all storys from now on.i can just imagine them in the bourne identity lol Muppets rule baby. Posted by pettyfan (Member # 2260) on :
There was a Fraggle Christmas special?? Wonder if it's available on DVD? Anyway, I always liked Emmet Otter. I've never seen a bunch of those on the list. Must check them out one day. I know the new special is on NBC so I won't be seeing that one since I don't get NBC.
Posted by Chris the CandyFanMan (Member # 3197) on :
quote:Originally posted by pettyfan: There was a Fraggle Christmas special??
Well, a regular episode (Season 3 premiere)with a Christmas theme, but HBO always treated it as a de facto special, so might as well count it--most fans do anyway. The Bells of Fraggle Rock is on the Season 3 set if you'd want to pick it up. The premise is that Gobo's losing faith in the ancient Fraggle tradition of bell ringing that will supposedly cause the Great Bell at the heart of the Rock to ring and thus keep the Rock from freezing over, and so sets out to find it and prove its existence, asking the others not to ring their own until he gets back even though things start getting much, much colder (leading to perhaps one of the most horrifying moments in the whole series when Gobo gets back from his quest--or at least to a 4 year old who didn't know any better as I was--and finds his friends have become giant Fragglecicles). It's thus up to Cantus the Minstrel, in perhaps his most memorable appearance in the series, to point out to him that you don't always have to see to believe if what you're looking for's inisde all along. The Doc-Sprocket subplot, where they try and celebrate all holidays at once (featuring a very amusing sequence where Sprocket tries and eventually succeeds in breaking the pinata) is Grade A as well.
Posted by Rainbowbrite22 (Member # 2288) on :
the christmas toy is my favorite out of all of them :0 i love that one i just revenlty got the dvd and watched it the other night with my daughter its so cute she really liked it
Posted by kevdugp73 (Member # 5978) on :
I'm a huge Muppets fan but shamefully, I've not seen these ones:
The Great Santa Claus Switch Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas John Denver and the Muppets: a Christmas Together The Bells of Fraggle Rock The Christmas Toy A Muppet Family Christmas
I love Christmas Eve On Sesame Street....bought it for my two year old son last year...he went to bed and me and my wife still watched it...great memories. I was also pleasantly surprised by "It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas"...I've passed this over for a few years, thinking it wouldn't be any good, but gave it a shot this year...I really liked it...lots of "shout outs" to some classics in this one. I'm positive I would love a Muppet Family Christmas, but can't afford the OOP price right now. I have almost 60 Christmas movies on DVD, and would love to add this one!
Posted by bornin1974 (Member # 7597) on :
It is a tie for me...
Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas and John Denver and the Muppets: a Christmas Together
They are both a little bit country and a little bit ROCKIN!
Posted by Mr. Jack Burton (Member # 4673) on :
Muppet Christmas Carol is epic. Really, it is just the best. I love it and could not go through Christmas without seeing it.
![[Big Grin]](biggrin.gif)