The Movie

(Intro same as Harry Belafonte DVD)

I grew up with Jim Henson's muppets. As a young child I watched Sesame Street every morning, and later graduated to The Muppet Show. At the time, I believed the muppets were real beings, with real feelings and emotions. As I got older, I learned they were just puppets, but were brought to life by real people, with real feelings and emotions. As the years came and went, I became interested in other programs, but unlike most aspects of childhood, I never outgrew the muppets. I found, as an adult I still chuckled when seeing the Swedish Chef mumble unintelligible sentences while frantically chasing down his next meal. I still smiled when Miss Piggy gave a full-hearted karate-chop to one of her companions in 'Pigs In Space.' And I still laughed every time the maniac drummer, Animal, screamed "woman!" and ran after the female guest on that week's show.

If you've never seen The Muppet Show, it is a musical variety show that is run by talking animals, monsters, weirdo's, and anything else you can, or can't think of. The only human to be found here is the "special guest" who appears on every show. You can always expect wonderful songs, fun filled skits, funny action, and wacky scenarios on The Muppet Show. This is a result of the pure magic that all Jim Henson's creations possess. The show appeals to young and old, and is perfectly timeless.

I'm very excited that Columbia/Tri-Star has started releasing the Best of The Muppet Show series. Because now I can relive my childhood while introducing these wonderful shows to my children at the same time.

Best of The Muppet Show - Peter Sellers/John Cleese/Dudley Moore

This latest addition of the Best of The Muppet Show is a real winner. I mean, how can you go wrong with Peter Sellers and John Cleese? These are two of the most memorable episodes in the Muppet Show series, and rightfully so.

Peter Sellers episode: I love this episode. Not only do you have great sketches with Peter Sellers, but the running gag with Muppet Labs and Honeydew's new "teleporter" is priceless, and something I fondly remember watching as a child. It's amazing that something so simple as this disappearing gag can be so funny. The writers really did a wonderful job on this episode. Sellers has a wonderful skit with him impersonating Queen Victoria while playing tuned chickens. And you get to hear Kermit's classic first rendition of "It's Not Easy Being Green." But hands down, (or should I say, hands in a knot) the best skit in this episode is when Sellers plays a strange doctor on "Veterinarians Hospital." Here he gives Link Hogsthrob a thorough stretching that is surely something Link hadn't bargained for. I seriously laugh every time I see this skit. All in all, this is one of my favorite episodes.

John Cleese episode: John Cleese is one of the great comedians of our time and seems to be a perfect match for a guest appearance on The Muppet Show. In the intro, Brian Henson tells us that Cleese wanted to write the show as if he didn't want to be in it. So for the entire episode the muppet cast has to convince him to perform in the show. Needless to say it works. Here you can also see Gonzo catch a flying cannonball with his bare hand, which consequently stretches it to five feet in length. We then get to see Cleese, in a wonderful skit, try and help Gonzo make his limbs the same length again. The Pigs In Space skit, where Cleese plays a hijacking pirate is far from the funniest skit in the show and seems to drag on, but I've definitely seen worse. The show's final number ends with Cleese reluctantly singing "The Impossible Dream." Again, another classic episode that compliments this package nicely.

Dudley Moore episode: This is definitely the weakest link in this Best Of package, but it's still a great episode. Dudley Moore puts on a great performance, however I wish he would have been given more screen time. Moore kind of takes a backseat to a running gag with M.A.M.M.A., a music and mood management apparatus that looks like R2D2 on steroids, and incidentally plays music that sounds like it came straight from the lair of Jabba The Hut. M.A.M.M.A.'s shining moment comes in Pigs In Space, where it follows the ship around and causes a ruckus with its theme music it designates for each of the pigs. Moore does have a very funny dialogue skit when he talks with members of the muppet band about their disagreement with M.A.M.M.A. Let me just say Animal really doesn't like it. So, overall this isn't my favorite episode, but maybe the previous two are just overshadowing it.

The DVD

Video: (Video same as Harry Belafonte DVD) This disc is presented in the original 1.33:1 full screen aspect ratio. The video quality is about as good as I could ever expect from this TV show. The picture is clean and sharp, yet still has that ever so slightly grainy "old show" look to it. The colors are nice and bright, and though edge enhancement is present, it is for the most part a non-issue. Actually, the fact that this show looks so fantastic considering its age and quality of the original taping is amazing. The show looks exactly as I remembered it to be, and quiet frankly, I wouldn't have it any other way.

Audio: (Audio same as Harry Belafonte DVD) The audio is presented in Dolby Digital stereo. Since this is such an old TV show, it would be silly and unrealistic to expect a 5.1 audio track. As it is, the dialogue is easily heard, and the numerous musical numbers sound just fine with the stereo track. Sometimes it was hard to hear some of the lyrics in some of the musical numbers, but I believe this is a problem with the original recording of the show, and not the audio transfer.

Extras: Again, the special features on this DVD are very disappointing. I know there's a lot of behind-the-scenes footage out there that could be offered on these DVD's, so I just don't understand why they end up giving us so little. Like the previous Best Of DVD's, you get three extras.

Muppetisms: A very lame, and very short (30 second) skit featuring Waldorf and Statler. I mean, come on, this could have been very funny, but it wasn't even close to being humorous. Why even offer this as a special feature?

Movie Mania: This is a slightly better skit called "The Frogfather." Here Fozzie comes to Kermit (the Frogfather) to have his enemies (Waldorf & Statler) taken care of. (*Wink, wink*) This skit lasts for 1:30, but isn't worth a second viewing.

From the Archives: Here is an original sketch of Animal drawn by Jim Henson. This was interesting to see, but come on, one drawing? This does not deserve its own icon in the special features menu. It simply baffles my mind how the special features on these Best Of DVD's can be so bad.


Final Thoughts

Once again Columbia/Tri-Star puts out another fantastic Best Of The Muppet Show DVD. The Peter Sellers and John Cleese episodes are true classics among the Muppet Show series and deserve to be in every fan's collection. Hopefully the DVD producers will scrape together more worthy special features to put on these discs in the future, but at least we can be assured that the shows themselves are well worth the price of admission. Highly Recommended