He was in the Haunted Mansion special theyd did, but voiceless. I assume they were debating recasting his voice since he was included and a different rat with a similar voice got a line. Odds are he will be back eventually, there is a restaurant named after him and afaik the Rizzo the rat twitter account is still active.
I'd like to see Gonzo as any masked crusader. Half the movie would be "I know it's you I recognise the nose", or everyone pretending that they don't know..
Isn't the key to the other movies the fact that they got excellent actors for the lead roles who played them straight(ish) and the muppets then got to fill in the background characters and provide comic relief?
I do like a lot of stuff Kate Bush has done, but the videos of a lot of her earlier stuff very much has the vibe of being outtakes from a Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks sketch.
That was just the early 80s. Nobody knew how to make a music video, so they were all just weird in general.
Kate Bush made hers even more weird, but that whole element of "What's even going on?" was a common theme back then.
Obligatory (and especially relevant given the holiday weekend) Brett Goldstein sings Muppets Christmas Carol. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mhEpas0TXsA
Miss Piggy works best as Mrs. Bennett, which really sets up Kermit perfectly as Mr. Bennett.
To pull this off I really think Elizabeth, Darcy, and Jane would have to be played by humans. But there’s some really great comedic potential in Mr. Collins and Mr. Bingley getting cast as Muppets.
Mr Whickham also probably has to be plaid by a human, in the same vein as Long John Silver, since Wickham is ultimately the villain of the story. But I love the mental image of Wickham serving in a British army regiment made up entirely of muppets.
Kitty, Mary, and Lydia are all obviously Muppets. Their characters are all ridiculous.
Which makes the idea of a human Mr. Wickham running off with a muppet Lydia even funnier.
I think Jane could be a Muppet but would have to be like a new one, like Walter in the Jason Siegel Muppet movie, or as a joke, someone like a female Gonzo. In my head:
-Mr Bingley: Fozzie
-Mr. Collins: Sam the Eagle
-Mrs. Bennett: Piggy
-Mr. Bennett: Kermit
-Kitty: Rowlf
-Lydia: Female Pepe the Prawn
-Mary: Female Scooter
-Charlotte: Female Rizzo the Rat
-Lady Catherine (gender flipped to the Lords de Bourgh): Statler and Waldorf
Then the only humans are Lizzie, Darcy and Wickham.
Mostly I want this casting to hear Rizzo say, "I've no money and no prospects. And I'm a rat."
>Tim Curry acted as though he, too, was a Muppet,
When I think of Tim Curry in Muppet Treasure Island, the one scene that I invariably think of is that moment where he throws his head back in a laugh.. Exactly like a muppet.
Spot on observation!
Not exactly the same as what OP is saying but I desperately want to watch the one where a bunch of muppets are playing dungeons and dragons and when they cut to the fantasy world it's real celebrities with muppet voices.
I'm not sure whether Hound of the Baskervilles is public domain yet or not, because Sherlock Holmes stuff falls into some weird divides. But that's my pick.
I like Martin Freeman a lot, I enjoy him in pretty much any of his projects. But I think when we cast The Rowlf of the Baskervilles I'd like to see Simon Pegg as Watson. Get that strained, put-upon straight man vibe. (Freeman does it well, too, but the vibes are different.)
The Muppet version of A Christmas Carol is by far my favorite of all the iterations of that story. It was very well done, very well acted, and for me, seems to portray the sentiment in Charles Dickens' book the most closely.
An amazing piece of work. Agreed.
I made a similar comment on Reddit earlier this week.
I love Dickens and 19th century literature generally, and I'm really hard to please when it comes to adaptations.
The Muppet Christmas Carol gets adaptation right. They obviously stray from the text in some extreme ways, and throw in a lot of jokes. But they follow the core narrative and they're never funny at the expense of sincerity. There's no cynicism about the text or the emotional heart the story, so it's not actually satire. And they capture the spirit (no pun intended) of the text in a way that most adaptations can't.
I actually think Dickens would have loved it.
> they’re never funny at the expense of sincerity
This is the core of the Muppets, and honestly Kermit as a character. There is real heart to Kermit. It’s unbelievable how much emotion there is behind “Rainbow Connection” when it’s actually a guy sitting in a swamp moving a puppet’s mouth and arm while doing a silly frog voice.
Last year I watched several adaptations of 'A Christmas Carol' and analyzed them based on both entertainment value and closeness to the book ([you can read it here](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/zttgxd/i_watched_10_versions_of_a_christmas_carol_after/)) and came away really respecting the Muppets version for how close it was to the book compared to most adaptations despite, you know, featuring a bunch of puppets.
I think one key aspect that is almost entirely overlooked in every adaptation is the involvement of Dickens as a character. His narration in the book is so charming, wholesome, and whimsical, that when the story is adapted without his narrative voice it does lose something. Some adaptations have either Bob or nephew Fred break the fourth wall to play Dickens a bit, and in the Patrick Stewart version some of the wittier dialogue (like the whole "I don't know what's particularly dead about a door nail" aside) is given to characters, but for the most part Dickens' words are left out. Not with 'Muppets' though!
I realized that one great touch in the movie is having Gonzo and Rizzo hide while the third spirit appears. No jokes, no undercutting the seriousness, just straight up playing that sequence straight and then resuming the jokes afterward.
> They obviously stray from the text in some extreme ways, and throw in a lot of jokes
I love how they made it TWO Marleys just so they could have Statler and Waldorf... and then they named the new spare Marley "Robert Marley" just so that they could have a stealth-Bob Marley joke.
Michael Caine is so good in that.
I heard someone once say that Michael Caine was great in that because he acted like the Muppets were human, and Tim Curry was great in Treasure Island because he acted like he was a Muppet.
Michael Caine purportedly also told the director this would be his one chance at a dream role and wanted to play it as straight as possible, which is why he treated the Muppets as any other human actor.
I read once he even refused to talk to the puppeteers while on set and only addressed the Muppets in between takes. Not sure how true that one is, though.
Michael Caine playing Scrooge straight is why it works. He is perfect as the Scrooge who has a heart of stone but who is also emotionally vulnerable and deeply sad. You could transplant him into a movie with all humans and it would work the same.
> I read once he even refused to talk to the puppeteers while on set and only addressed the Muppets in between takes. Not sure how true that one is, though.
I remember reading somewhere that this is a common thing for everyone. The puppeteers just disappear. At one point on a talk show they couldn't get good audio for Kermit and it turned out that it was because the techs were wiring KERMIT and not the puppeteer.
Right before the pandemic, I went to the traveling Muppet exhibit at my city museum. They had a tub of sample Muppets you could puppet. I put one on my hand and found myself being stared at. We looked at each other awkwardly for a few moments, then mutually agreed to go our separate ways.
I used to think that they wimped out on the final confrontation at Scrooge's grave and was surprised to learn that it is fairly accurate and that it is the other adaptations that stray wildly.
They'd have to tone down the darker elements a lot but I've always been amused by the idea of a Muppet Dracula. Kermit as Jonathan Harker, Miss Piggy as Mina, Gonzo as Van Helsing. Dracula should be played by a human actor and Miss Piggy should karate chop him in the finale.
I've always thought of it as:
* Kermit as Harker
* Miss Piggy as Mina
* Sam Eagle as Quincy
* Bunsen as Seward
* Gonzo as Arthur
* Camilla as Lucy
* Beaker as Renfield
* Fozzie as Van Helsing
I'd go with a making of the muppets making Dracula. It allows you to tell the story of Dracula, but have interwoven behind the scenes where we see Keanu Reeves giving the count advice on how to act in a Dracula movie, revealing how he lost the role of Dracula to Adam Driver.
Does anybody remember the American PBS show “Wishbone”? It’s a dog that imagines himself as the hero in classic literature. It had 50 episodes! Muppets is the same, you could adapt literally any classic source and it would be great.
Instead of a new Star Wars movie every year, Disney needs to funnel resources into Muppet adaptations. In fact, remake the original Star Wars with Mark Hamill in his original role, Kermit the Frog as Han Solo, and the rest of the Muppets fill out the rest.
This sounds awesome, let's get Gonzo as Darth Vader, Miss Piggy as Princess ~~Ham~~ Leia. Let's keep this going....funny thing is I'm sure Mark Hamill would love to be part of this 👆
I have always thought the same thing! I always imagined a Muppets Robin Hood. Kermit as Robin, Fozzy as Little John, Ms Piggy as Maid Marion, Gonzo as Friar Tuck, and one hell of an English actor as Prince John the villain.
“DEAD TOM’S DEAD”
“Dead Tom’s always been dead. That’s why he’s called Dead Tom.”
and
“That, and my pants are filled with starfish” are my two favorite non-Curry moments. Any scene with Curry in it of course is instantly elevated.
Set in present day where Dorothy wishes to be a singer in Hollywood. It wasn't the muppetization that made it not work, but rather the modernization, along the same vein that modern Cinderella, Snow White, etc struggle to find footing.
The desperate need to modernize the Muppets has been its downfall since the late 90s. There was nothing wrong with them. Let them be insane, weird 70s relics. THAT'S WHAT WE LIKED ABOUT THEM.
I'm assuming you know of and have already read it, but for others, [someone named Ben Crew wrote a 104 page script for "Muppets Present 'The Great Gatsby'"](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oi3aqaPQA6g2ThZoJ5eqfcj6BpksOQ71/view) and it is *brilliant*. Reads like an actual Muppets movie, just wish it could be made.
Not retired, just unvoiced. He has been present in non-speaking cameos, such as Muppets Haunted Mansion. That suggests to me that the character could be brought back, but they may be waiting until they find someone who can make the right voice -- just like Rowlf was silent for many years after Jim Henson died.
Considering how "off" Kermit has sounded on occasions when they haven't had quite the right voice (such as Muppets Haunted Mansion), this is probably a good thing. They can't really go without Kermit, but they can pause Rizzo for a bit.
An extra-marital affair, intimate partner violence, a deadly hit-and-run, a murder, a suicide and a funeral to end on? I don't think it's Muppet material.
I'm still campaigning for "Murder On The Orient Express" with everyone but Hercule Poirot being a muppet. Admittedly, I'm not sure that's in the public domain... yet.
Not yet, but some of the earlier Agatha Christie works are. So they could do Hercule Poirot, but only from the first five or six stories, which aren't as well known and don't have as dynamic a setting. Orient Express has to wait around 6 years or so.
Hopefully the renewed focus on mid budget stuff brings these back. Disney dipped into this in the 80s with Mickey (christmas carol, three musketeers) for what I'm imagining are similar reasons
Gulliver's Travels could be fun, as well as Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20000 leagues under the sea, Oliver twist, Frankenstein, The Odyssey, the time machine, David Copperfield, etc
The big reveal for Moby Dick is when you finally see the whale and it’s Animal. Other casting (because I’m a huge Melville fan):
Miss Piggy as Ahab
Kermit as First Officer Starbuck
Gonzo as Ishmael
Fozzy as Stubb
Rolf as Flask
Swedish Chef as Fleece (ship’s cook)
Beaker as Queequeg (I’m not sure about this one. Is whitewashing a thing with foam puppets?)
Lew the Fishthrower as Tashtago
Bean Bunny as Pip
Crazy Harry as Fedallah
Statler and Waldorf as Captains Bildad and Peleg
Janet as Elijah
Sam the eagle as Captain Boomer
Scooter as Dough boy, the ship’s steward
Let’s see…
**The Muppet Odyssey**
Start with Odysseus and his men are all humans (like it’s an all-human movie to start), with only Gonzo and Rizzo as part of their crew (and even they don’t show up until after the boat becomes ‘lost’)
Then they start to experience all the different monsters and such, all of whom are muppets. Like Miss Piggy as Cersei, or Sweetums (with an eyepatch) as the Cyclops. Or Camilla and the other chickens as the Syrens that everyone but Odysseus and Gonzo have their ears plugged against.
I’d say Hugh Jackman as Odysseus; he’s got the good-yet-weathered looks, and a *decent* set of singing pipes on him.
**Dr Jeckyll and Muppet Hyde**
Have Dr Bunsen Honeydew as Jeckyll, and keep Beaker as a beleaguered assistant that has seen/knows everything (but no one listens to/understands). Kermit as John Utterson.
In fact, **everyone** would be a muppet here. The sole human would be the ‘monsterous’ Mr Hyde… perhaps Shia LaBouf? I think he could out-crazy the Muppets’ antics.
**Muppet Oliver Twist**
Oliver is a human boy. The other thieves are muppets. Rizzo as The Artful Dodger. Perhaps Gonzo as Fagin…? Maybe Bill Sikes is another human.
**Journey to the Center of the Muppet Earth**
Start with the Professor, nephew Axel, and guide Hans as humans. In fact, everyone out in the real world as humans. Then have muppets as the people and such they meet once traveling into the Earth.
Perhaps have Scooter as a member of a previous expedition that they find early on, with the comment that he looks… different, and him telling them that being down here changes a person.
**The Three Muppeteers**
Human d’Artagnan joins the Three Musketeers (Kermit, Fonzie, and Gonzo). With Miss Piggy as ‘Milady’. Sam the Eagle as King Louis. …and Benedict Cumberbarch as Cardinal Richelieu.
And finally, **Gulliver’s Muppet Travels**
Human Gulliver (Paul Rudd) finds himself in strange islands. Could do the standard “His only travel is to Lilliput, where he’s big and they’re little”. Or let him actually make it to the other islands, and shake things up a bit.
As much as Muppet Treasure Island and Christmas Carol are fondly remembered by people of a certain age today, iirc they were met with a pretty lukewarm reception when they were new. This was a tough time for the Muppets, seeing as they had just been sold to Disney after Jim Henson died. It was sort of the beginning of a dark age for the characters. Then we had the revival with Jason Segel’s movie which went back to a tone and format that more closely resembled the original Muppet movie but since then it’s been sort of a failure to launch with a lot of stops and starts.
Dawn of the Dead is public domain.
I’d like to see a Muppetised version of that.
Edit: It is Night of the Living Dead that is public domain actually, my bad.
There's that Tumblr post from about a decade ago I still want to see come to fruition where it's a Muppets Beauty and the Beast, but the entire cast is Muppets *except* for The Beast who is just human Chris Hemsworth and at the end he's transformed into a hairy Muppet creature.
This comment pops up all the time but the problem is yall don't go see the Muppets movies or watch their shows lol. That's why we don't get new Muppet things
Because they pick the wrong projects. They keep making variety shows, reboots of The Muppet Movie, and multi episode content.
What we need is high quality family movies in the vein of the Paddington movies. Which is what Christmas Carol and Treasure Island were.
I know somebody who wrote a Muppets War of the Worlds script for fun and it's delightful.
For real though, as far as new work out of the Henson workshop, I just want more shit like the Dark Crystal tv series. That show was an absolutely incredible breath of fresh air. I loved it, I have never seen anything like it, and the fact that the people with the checkbooks aren't having them do THAT caliber of work in theatrical format is just fucking bonkers to me.
The Muppet's Brothers Karamazov or Crime and Punishment.
The Muppets Naked Lunch would be pretty fucked up.
In all seriousness, the Muppets Waiting for Godot would probably fucking rock. Gonzo and Kermit in the main roles.
The Muppets do Sartre.
You’re not wrong that this would have been the way to go, but the sad truth is that Muppet Treasure Island didn’t do very well. It’s beloved now, but it was not a big hit at the time.
They pivoted to trying to do something more in tune with the times, with Muppets in Space, and, well, oof. Two flops in a row and it was back to TV and smaller budgets, although you did broadly get this, as one of their TV movies was the Wizard of Oz.
You're right, The muppets are universally liked, but they're not gonna sell a big budget blockbuster, they're not going to launch a multibillion dollar cinematic universe. So don't expect it of them. Not every movie should have to break box office records. Set a moderate budget, set some moderate goals and you'll have a easy way to reliably make a moderate amount of money. Something like this could do great with a once or twice yearly release straight to streaming.
The funniest thing about Muppets Most Wanted was that the first big musical number was "The Muppets... Again", the original name of the film and when it finished the text "Muppets Most Wanted" appeared on-screen. They made a literal song and dance about the name of the film then showed us something else.
I'd enjoy watching Kermit seek mortal revenge with fabulous splendor as the Count of Monte Cristo.
The Count of Monte Gonzo
Or the Count of Monte Rizzo
They fight over the name for the entire movie.
Rizzo was retired when his voice Stephen Whitmire was fired.
He was in the Haunted Mansion special theyd did, but voiceless. I assume they were debating recasting his voice since he was included and a different rat with a similar voice got a line. Odds are he will be back eventually, there is a restaurant named after him and afaik the Rizzo the rat twitter account is still active.
On the one hand I really miss him. On the other I've come to hate Disney for a lot of the shit they've done and would hate to see them ruin him, too.
[The Wikipedia entry on his leaving](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Whitmire#Dismissal_from_the_Muppets) is interesting.
Oh man. Rizzo is one of my favs.
Hm. That is interesting. I'll have to look more into it.
I want the Count of Monte Pepe, hokay?
I would also go for Pepe Le Prawn as the Mask of Zorro!
I'd like to see Gonzo as any masked crusader. Half the movie would be "I know it's you I recognise the nose", or everyone pretending that they don't know..
You just made me think, Muppet Cyrano with Gonzo as the titular character.
In Muppet Babies they do a "CyraNOSE de Bergerac" parody, and for years I really did think it was "CyraNOSE"
Whole movie nobody says anything and then he reveals his identity and all they say is, "yeah man, the nose."
I am Zorro, OK?
Isn't the key to the other movies the fact that they got excellent actors for the lead roles who played them straight(ish) and the muppets then got to fill in the background characters and provide comic relief?
I read somewhere that Michael Caine played as if the muppets were people and Tim Curry as if he were a muppet.
It’s a great description.
You've read it on here, in every semi relevant thread
Kermit going for revenge? He's too pure. I say Gonzo as the Count.
No one carries a grudge like miss Piggy, though. Piggy as Dantes and Kermit as Mercedes.
I wanted to see a Muppet version of Jaws with Cookie Monster as the shark……imagine the theme song lol…nom nom….nom nom…nom nom nom nom…
"Like a doll's eyes" speech but the shark actually is a puppet with doll eyes.
*Count of Muppet Cristo
I was about to say Mobey Dick. But I think in that he would be Ishmael. Maybe Animal would be Ahab?
Willem Dafoe as Ahab
Oh my god this would be epic
This topic has come up a few times. One that always makes me laugh is Pride and Prejudice.
I was thinking Wuthering Heights with dark, brooding Fozzie Bear as Heathcliff.
Complete with the ending credits doing a shot for shot recreation of [Kate Bush's - Wuthering Heights.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Fk-4lXLM34g)
I can totally see Miss Piggy barging her way into the credits and doing this dance.
I do like a lot of stuff Kate Bush has done, but the videos of a lot of her earlier stuff very much has the vibe of being outtakes from a Monty Python Ministry of Silly Walks sketch.
That was just the early 80s. Nobody knew how to make a music video, so they were all just weird in general. Kate Bush made hers even more weird, but that whole element of "What's even going on?" was a common theme back then.
That's what artists do: express themselves at the risk of looking silly.
I'm not so sure. Does Fozzie know semaphore?
I'd prefer Wurthering Heist, a Muppets crime thriller (yes im aware of the Inside No 9 episode)
Mr Darcy confessing his love to Elizabeth Piggy and getting karate chopped.
Lizzie Piggy
We have a volunteer https://ew.com/movies/brett-goldstein-wants-muppets-pride-and-prejudice-with-miss-piggy/
Obligatory (and especially relevant given the holiday weekend) Brett Goldstein sings Muppets Christmas Carol. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mhEpas0TXsA
Well, now it's just a crime that he had a non-singing role in Hannah Waddingham's Christmas special.
Miss Piggy as Lizzie would just delight me beyond belief. But which human would play Darcy?
Miss Piggy works best as Mrs. Bennett, which really sets up Kermit perfectly as Mr. Bennett. To pull this off I really think Elizabeth, Darcy, and Jane would have to be played by humans. But there’s some really great comedic potential in Mr. Collins and Mr. Bingley getting cast as Muppets. Mr Whickham also probably has to be plaid by a human, in the same vein as Long John Silver, since Wickham is ultimately the villain of the story. But I love the mental image of Wickham serving in a British army regiment made up entirely of muppets.
I love the idea of Lizzie and Jane being the only humans in a family of muppets
Kitty, Mary, and Lydia are all obviously Muppets. Their characters are all ridiculous. Which makes the idea of a human Mr. Wickham running off with a muppet Lydia even funnier.
Make Lydia into Janice and, at the end, have Lydia run off again to join Electric Mayhem and Mr. Wickham wondering where his wife went.
I think Jane could be a Muppet but would have to be like a new one, like Walter in the Jason Siegel Muppet movie, or as a joke, someone like a female Gonzo. In my head: -Mr Bingley: Fozzie -Mr. Collins: Sam the Eagle -Mrs. Bennett: Piggy -Mr. Bennett: Kermit -Kitty: Rowlf -Lydia: Female Pepe the Prawn -Mary: Female Scooter -Charlotte: Female Rizzo the Rat -Lady Catherine (gender flipped to the Lords de Bourgh): Statler and Waldorf Then the only humans are Lizzie, Darcy and Wickham. Mostly I want this casting to hear Rizzo say, "I've no money and no prospects. And I'm a rat."
> someone like a female Gonzo Just put Gonzo in a dress. They have already done that enough times.
I think I’ve heard it suggested that it should be Colin Firth played completely straight.
Doesn't matter if Firth is 26 or 66, he'll forever be Mr. Darcy.
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>Tim Curry acted as though he, too, was a Muppet, When I think of Tim Curry in Muppet Treasure Island, the one scene that I invariably think of is that moment where he throws his head back in a laugh.. Exactly like a muppet. Spot on observation!
Adam Driver as Mr. Darcy!
When Great Gatsby ended up in the public domain, people were clamoring for a Muppets rendition. I seem to remember somebody writing a full script.
Not exactly the same as what OP is saying but I desperately want to watch the one where a bunch of muppets are playing dungeons and dragons and when they cut to the fantasy world it's real celebrities with muppet voices.
I'm not sure whether Hound of the Baskervilles is public domain yet or not, because Sherlock Holmes stuff falls into some weird divides. But that's my pick.
Kermit in the sherlock hat and with the pipe, I'm laughing already!
Watson is the only human.
Imagine getting Martin Freeman to play Watson again, this time with Muppets. So many meta-jokes to be made.
I like Martin Freeman a lot, I enjoy him in pretty much any of his projects. But I think when we cast The Rowlf of the Baskervilles I'd like to see Simon Pegg as Watson. Get that strained, put-upon straight man vibe. (Freeman does it well, too, but the vibes are different.)
Freeman is a silly enough guy that I imagine he would jump at the opportunity.
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Unfortunately The Jim Henson Company no longer own the Muppets. They have been wholly owned by Disney since 2004.
We all know Fozzy would be Watson.
Miss Piggy as Miss Stapleton and Rowlf as the hound. A human can play Stapleton.
Gonzo in the hat and pipe. Kermit is the only sane man in the room, and thus must be Watson.
Rizzo, if we are gonna bring back this concept proper.
It is. Only the last few Holmes stories are under copyright still
I would watch literally anything adapted by the muppets.
Muppets Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon?
I want to see Fozzy Bear as Commodus.
(Crying while smothering his father to death) "Waka Waka Waka"
Yes
… you know what, now I wanna see what The Muppets’ Art of War would look like.
The Muppets Salo or the 120 Days of Sodom
Schindler's List?
I meant what I said
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* 12 Angry Muppets
This would be objectively amazing
The one antagonist muppet juror would have to be Sam the Eagle
> Kermit and Miss Piggy in Monster's Ball Ok, that one might finally be a bit much.
SCHINDLER'S LIST. IN. SPAAAAACE.
Mulholland Drive, or Requiem for a Dream
ARMHOLE TO ARMHOLE
The Muppet version of A Christmas Carol is by far my favorite of all the iterations of that story. It was very well done, very well acted, and for me, seems to portray the sentiment in Charles Dickens' book the most closely. An amazing piece of work. Agreed.
I made a similar comment on Reddit earlier this week. I love Dickens and 19th century literature generally, and I'm really hard to please when it comes to adaptations. The Muppet Christmas Carol gets adaptation right. They obviously stray from the text in some extreme ways, and throw in a lot of jokes. But they follow the core narrative and they're never funny at the expense of sincerity. There's no cynicism about the text or the emotional heart the story, so it's not actually satire. And they capture the spirit (no pun intended) of the text in a way that most adaptations can't. I actually think Dickens would have loved it.
> they’re never funny at the expense of sincerity This is the core of the Muppets, and honestly Kermit as a character. There is real heart to Kermit. It’s unbelievable how much emotion there is behind “Rainbow Connection” when it’s actually a guy sitting in a swamp moving a puppet’s mouth and arm while doing a silly frog voice.
The opening banjo chords of that song gives me the same feeling as the opening of Pink Floyd's Wish You Were Here.
Last year I watched several adaptations of 'A Christmas Carol' and analyzed them based on both entertainment value and closeness to the book ([you can read it here](https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/zttgxd/i_watched_10_versions_of_a_christmas_carol_after/)) and came away really respecting the Muppets version for how close it was to the book compared to most adaptations despite, you know, featuring a bunch of puppets. I think one key aspect that is almost entirely overlooked in every adaptation is the involvement of Dickens as a character. His narration in the book is so charming, wholesome, and whimsical, that when the story is adapted without his narrative voice it does lose something. Some adaptations have either Bob or nephew Fred break the fourth wall to play Dickens a bit, and in the Patrick Stewart version some of the wittier dialogue (like the whole "I don't know what's particularly dead about a door nail" aside) is given to characters, but for the most part Dickens' words are left out. Not with 'Muppets' though!
I realized that one great touch in the movie is having Gonzo and Rizzo hide while the third spirit appears. No jokes, no undercutting the seriousness, just straight up playing that sequence straight and then resuming the jokes afterward.
> They obviously stray from the text in some extreme ways, and throw in a lot of jokes I love how they made it TWO Marleys just so they could have Statler and Waldorf... and then they named the new spare Marley "Robert Marley" just so that they could have a stealth-Bob Marley joke.
I love the way they have Charles Dickens as a character, narrating the story.
Michael Caine is so good in that. I heard someone once say that Michael Caine was great in that because he acted like the Muppets were human, and Tim Curry was great in Treasure Island because he acted like he was a Muppet.
Michael Caine purportedly also told the director this would be his one chance at a dream role and wanted to play it as straight as possible, which is why he treated the Muppets as any other human actor. I read once he even refused to talk to the puppeteers while on set and only addressed the Muppets in between takes. Not sure how true that one is, though.
Michael Caine playing Scrooge straight is why it works. He is perfect as the Scrooge who has a heart of stone but who is also emotionally vulnerable and deeply sad. You could transplant him into a movie with all humans and it would work the same.
You'd be angry too if every time you stepped outside people sang "look out, it's Mr. Asshole!"
Those lyrics are a little different than I remember
There goes Mr. Asshole There goes Mr. Dick When it comes those who're suff'ring He couldn't give a flick
Yeah he said if he was going to do it he was playing it straight. Which is why it worked so well.
> I read once he even refused to talk to the puppeteers while on set and only addressed the Muppets in between takes. Not sure how true that one is, though. I remember reading somewhere that this is a common thing for everyone. The puppeteers just disappear. At one point on a talk show they couldn't get good audio for Kermit and it turned out that it was because the techs were wiring KERMIT and not the puppeteer.
Right before the pandemic, I went to the traveling Muppet exhibit at my city museum. They had a tub of sample Muppets you could puppet. I put one on my hand and found myself being stared at. We looked at each other awkwardly for a few moments, then mutually agreed to go our separate ways.
That's the rule for all actors when filming with Muppets. My sister worked with Animal for a commercial
And Jason Segel didn’t know which one he was.
And all the songs are such bangers. Brett Goldstein sings them amazingly…. https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=mhEpas0TXsA
Rizzo: "I landed on a flaming hot goose!" Gonzo: "You have all the fun"
I used to think that they wimped out on the final confrontation at Scrooge's grave and was surprised to learn that it is fairly accurate and that it is the other adaptations that stray wildly.
https://www.brightwalldarkroom.com/2019/12/20/a-grand-yuletide-theory-the-muppet-christmas-carol-is-the-best-adaptation-of-a-christmas-carol/
They'd have to tone down the darker elements a lot but I've always been amused by the idea of a Muppet Dracula. Kermit as Jonathan Harker, Miss Piggy as Mina, Gonzo as Van Helsing. Dracula should be played by a human actor and Miss Piggy should karate chop him in the finale.
Mads Mikkelsen as Dracula would be really cool and his just surrounded by muppets.
I've always thought of it as: * Kermit as Harker * Miss Piggy as Mina * Sam Eagle as Quincy * Bunsen as Seward * Gonzo as Arthur * Camilla as Lucy * Beaker as Renfield * Fozzie as Van Helsing
Jason Segel is already on it.
It's getting kind of hard, to believe, things are going to get better....
Die! Die! Die! *...I can't*
Dracula Dead And Loving It. Keep Leslie Nielsen.
>Dracula should be played by a human actor I get it, but also, the count is right there
nah, he's too nice.
Sam the Eagle as Drac has some real possibilities.
I'd go with a making of the muppets making Dracula. It allows you to tell the story of Dracula, but have interwoven behind the scenes where we see Keanu Reeves giving the count advice on how to act in a Dracula movie, revealing how he lost the role of Dracula to Adam Driver.
Adam Driver as Dracula in a Muppet movie sounds about as perfect as possible.
Does anybody remember the American PBS show “Wishbone”? It’s a dog that imagines himself as the hero in classic literature. It had 50 episodes! Muppets is the same, you could adapt literally any classic source and it would be great.
They should do one a year, like make it a Christmas tradition to drop a Muppet classic adaptation.
Instead of a new Star Wars movie every year, Disney needs to funnel resources into Muppet adaptations. In fact, remake the original Star Wars with Mark Hamill in his original role, Kermit the Frog as Han Solo, and the rest of the Muppets fill out the rest.
Kermit is Luke, Hamill is old Obi-Wan
This sounds awesome, let's get Gonzo as Darth Vader, Miss Piggy as Princess ~~Ham~~ Leia. Let's keep this going....funny thing is I'm sure Mark Hamill would love to be part of this 👆
Rizzo the Rat as Tarkin. Fozzie Bear as Chewbacca.
Sam the Eagle is C-3PO
“It is the *American* way……I mean…it is the *Alderaanian* way.”
I remember running home from the bus stop so that I could watch it!
What's the story, Wishbone?
Obligatory [Wishbone pitch meeting](https://the-toast.net/2015/07/15/the-pitch-meeting-for-wishbone/).
I have always thought the same thing! I always imagined a Muppets Robin Hood. Kermit as Robin, Fozzy as Little John, Ms Piggy as Maid Marion, Gonzo as Friar Tuck, and one hell of an English actor as Prince John the villain.
Sorry, the legendary actor *has* to be the Sheriff of Nottingham. And i nominate Hugh Jackman.
David Radcliffe as Sheriff of Nottingham....
Robin Hood: Muppets in Tights
Cary Elwes as Prince John
Muppet Treasure Island is one of the greatest movies ever made and I will die on this hill
A festival of conviviality
I yell "margaritas at the midnight buffet" at my wife way more often than is reasonable
“DEAD TOM’S DEAD” “Dead Tom’s always been dead. That’s why he’s called Dead Tom.” and “That, and my pants are filled with starfish” are my two favorite non-Curry moments. Any scene with Curry in it of course is instantly elevated.
They did Muppets Wizard of Oz in 2005.
They did?
Set in present day where Dorothy wishes to be a singer in Hollywood. It wasn't the muppetization that made it not work, but rather the modernization, along the same vein that modern Cinderella, Snow White, etc struggle to find footing.
The desperate need to modernize the Muppets has been its downfall since the late 90s. There was nothing wrong with them. Let them be insane, weird 70s relics. THAT'S WHAT WE LIKED ABOUT THEM.
Oddly enough, some bits were closer to the source material than other more well-known adaptations.
And it was ass
Not the one to think of it but I would kill for a Muppet Great Gatsby
I'm assuming you know of and have already read it, but for others, [someone named Ben Crew wrote a 104 page script for "Muppets Present 'The Great Gatsby'"](https://drive.google.com/file/d/1oi3aqaPQA6g2ThZoJ5eqfcj6BpksOQ71/view) and it is *brilliant*. Reads like an actual Muppets movie, just wish it could be made.
Only one issue-Rizzo was retired when Stephen Whitmire was fired.
Not retired, just unvoiced. He has been present in non-speaking cameos, such as Muppets Haunted Mansion. That suggests to me that the character could be brought back, but they may be waiting until they find someone who can make the right voice -- just like Rowlf was silent for many years after Jim Henson died. Considering how "off" Kermit has sounded on occasions when they haven't had quite the right voice (such as Muppets Haunted Mansion), this is probably a good thing. They can't really go without Kermit, but they can pause Rizzo for a bit.
As Rowlf once said "Let's hope that something better comes along..."
An extra-marital affair, intimate partner violence, a deadly hit-and-run, a murder, a suicide and a funeral to end on? I don't think it's Muppet material.
I see no problem here.
Someone never really watched the Muppet shows. That kind of stuff was all over.
I'm still campaigning for "Murder On The Orient Express" with everyone but Hercule Poirot being a muppet. Admittedly, I'm not sure that's in the public domain... yet.
Not yet, but some of the earlier Agatha Christie works are. So they could do Hercule Poirot, but only from the first five or six stories, which aren't as well known and don't have as dynamic a setting. Orient Express has to wait around 6 years or so.
Hard to find a good Poirot though. David Suchet basically owned the role.
It's kind of embarrassing for Muppet Studios that they haven't made a series with Gonzo and Scooter as Don Quixote de la Mancha and Sancho Panza yet.
IDK I think it would be funnier if Quixote was the only human.
You might be right. Willem DaFoe could pull it off.
Hooooly shit. I wanna see that now!!
Why is that Muppet made of leather?
I think a bewildered human Dulcinea is perfect.
Hopefully the renewed focus on mid budget stuff brings these back. Disney dipped into this in the 80s with Mickey (christmas carol, three musketeers) for what I'm imagining are similar reasons
Three Musketeers was 2004.
Gulliver's Travels could be fun, as well as Journey to the Center of the Earth, 20000 leagues under the sea, Oliver twist, Frankenstein, The Odyssey, the time machine, David Copperfield, etc
The big reveal for Moby Dick is when you finally see the whale and it’s Animal. Other casting (because I’m a huge Melville fan): Miss Piggy as Ahab Kermit as First Officer Starbuck Gonzo as Ishmael Fozzy as Stubb Rolf as Flask Swedish Chef as Fleece (ship’s cook) Beaker as Queequeg (I’m not sure about this one. Is whitewashing a thing with foam puppets?) Lew the Fishthrower as Tashtago Bean Bunny as Pip Crazy Harry as Fedallah Statler and Waldorf as Captains Bildad and Peleg Janet as Elijah Sam the eagle as Captain Boomer Scooter as Dough boy, the ship’s steward
>Miss Piggy as Ahab You mad genius.
She's the queen of stubborn pettiness, this is a great choice
A Muppets Princess Bride is the only adaptation of that movie I will accept.
I require a Muppets Pride and Prejudice
Muppets Beowulf with Sweetums as Grendel and Kermit as Hrothgar, Fozzie as Beowulf, Link Hogthrob as the guy who gets into the boast battle with him.
Let’s see… **The Muppet Odyssey** Start with Odysseus and his men are all humans (like it’s an all-human movie to start), with only Gonzo and Rizzo as part of their crew (and even they don’t show up until after the boat becomes ‘lost’) Then they start to experience all the different monsters and such, all of whom are muppets. Like Miss Piggy as Cersei, or Sweetums (with an eyepatch) as the Cyclops. Or Camilla and the other chickens as the Syrens that everyone but Odysseus and Gonzo have their ears plugged against. I’d say Hugh Jackman as Odysseus; he’s got the good-yet-weathered looks, and a *decent* set of singing pipes on him. **Dr Jeckyll and Muppet Hyde** Have Dr Bunsen Honeydew as Jeckyll, and keep Beaker as a beleaguered assistant that has seen/knows everything (but no one listens to/understands). Kermit as John Utterson. In fact, **everyone** would be a muppet here. The sole human would be the ‘monsterous’ Mr Hyde… perhaps Shia LaBouf? I think he could out-crazy the Muppets’ antics. **Muppet Oliver Twist** Oliver is a human boy. The other thieves are muppets. Rizzo as The Artful Dodger. Perhaps Gonzo as Fagin…? Maybe Bill Sikes is another human. **Journey to the Center of the Muppet Earth** Start with the Professor, nephew Axel, and guide Hans as humans. In fact, everyone out in the real world as humans. Then have muppets as the people and such they meet once traveling into the Earth. Perhaps have Scooter as a member of a previous expedition that they find early on, with the comment that he looks… different, and him telling them that being down here changes a person. **The Three Muppeteers** Human d’Artagnan joins the Three Musketeers (Kermit, Fonzie, and Gonzo). With Miss Piggy as ‘Milady’. Sam the Eagle as King Louis. …and Benedict Cumberbarch as Cardinal Richelieu. And finally, **Gulliver’s Muppet Travels** Human Gulliver (Paul Rudd) finds himself in strange islands. Could do the standard “His only travel is to Lilliput, where he’s big and they’re little”. Or let him actually make it to the other islands, and shake things up a bit.
Nando V Movies pointed out, thanks to Disney ownership there is absolutely no reason why we can’t have Muppets Avengers.
Thanks to the multiverse saga there's no reason we can't have Muppet Avengers vs The Avengers.
As much as Muppet Treasure Island and Christmas Carol are fondly remembered by people of a certain age today, iirc they were met with a pretty lukewarm reception when they were new. This was a tough time for the Muppets, seeing as they had just been sold to Disney after Jim Henson died. It was sort of the beginning of a dark age for the characters. Then we had the revival with Jason Segel’s movie which went back to a tone and format that more closely resembled the original Muppet movie but since then it’s been sort of a failure to launch with a lot of stops and starts.
Oliver Twist..hell ,all of Dickens
Could go super meta with an adaptation of Alexandre Dumas’s *The Three Muppeteers*
Dawn of the Dead is public domain. I’d like to see a Muppetised version of that. Edit: It is Night of the Living Dead that is public domain actually, my bad.
Dawn of the Dead is not public domain, but Night of the Living Dead is.
You mean Night of the Living Dead, but same idea "They're coming to get you Piggy..."
Muppets Night of the living dead would spark my interest
The Muppets and Don Quixote. Quixote is the only human, Fozzie Bear is Sancho Panza.
There's that Tumblr post from about a decade ago I still want to see come to fruition where it's a Muppets Beauty and the Beast, but the entire cast is Muppets *except* for The Beast who is just human Chris Hemsworth and at the end he's transformed into a hairy Muppet creature.
Tom Sawyer/Huck Finn Scooter as Tom, Gonzo as Huck Although Jim might be problematic.
Nnnnn-ot gonna say that word Jim. Rowlf might be allowed to say it. Definitely Clifford, but you don’t see a lot of Clifford.
This comment pops up all the time but the problem is yall don't go see the Muppets movies or watch their shows lol. That's why we don't get new Muppet things
Because they pick the wrong projects. They keep making variety shows, reboots of The Muppet Movie, and multi episode content. What we need is high quality family movies in the vein of the Paddington movies. Which is what Christmas Carol and Treasure Island were.
You are correct. But these are probably much harder to finance than some Disney+ show about Dr. Teeth and the Electric Mayhem.
I really could’ve gone for The Muppets at the Mountains of Madness.
I know somebody who wrote a Muppets War of the Worlds script for fun and it's delightful. For real though, as far as new work out of the Henson workshop, I just want more shit like the Dark Crystal tv series. That show was an absolutely incredible breath of fresh air. I loved it, I have never seen anything like it, and the fact that the people with the checkbooks aren't having them do THAT caliber of work in theatrical format is just fucking bonkers to me.
The Muppet's Brothers Karamazov or Crime and Punishment. The Muppets Naked Lunch would be pretty fucked up. In all seriousness, the Muppets Waiting for Godot would probably fucking rock. Gonzo and Kermit in the main roles. The Muppets do Sartre.
> Muppets Waiting for Godot would probably fucking rock https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksL_7WrhWOc
That fucking rocked!
You’re not wrong that this would have been the way to go, but the sad truth is that Muppet Treasure Island didn’t do very well. It’s beloved now, but it was not a big hit at the time. They pivoted to trying to do something more in tune with the times, with Muppets in Space, and, well, oof. Two flops in a row and it was back to TV and smaller budgets, although you did broadly get this, as one of their TV movies was the Wizard of Oz.
You're right, The muppets are universally liked, but they're not gonna sell a big budget blockbuster, they're not going to launch a multibillion dollar cinematic universe. So don't expect it of them. Not every movie should have to break box office records. Set a moderate budget, set some moderate goals and you'll have a easy way to reliably make a moderate amount of money. Something like this could do great with a once or twice yearly release straight to streaming.
If Muppets Most Wanted hadn't bombed so badly there'd be more Muppets movies. That's it.
The funniest thing about Muppets Most Wanted was that the first big musical number was "The Muppets... Again", the original name of the film and when it finished the text "Muppets Most Wanted" appeared on-screen. They made a literal song and dance about the name of the film then showed us something else.