MuppetZine : An Interview with Jerry Juhl Jerry Juhl , head writer for the Muppets , has written most of the stuff that you ever liked . He ' s been a writer on " The Muppet Show " , " Fraggle Rock " , " Sesame Street " , and " The Jim Henson Hour " , and he ' s written or co - written four of the Muppet movies . In fact , his only bad career move was when he agreed to answer some questions for MuppetZine . " After The Muppet Christmas Carol , why did you decide to do another classic adaptation instead of a movie like the first three , in which the Muppets play themselves ? " When we did Christmas Carol we got very excited . The Muppet characters had always played themselves , except for short sketches , of course . Here was a whole new way to use our family of characters . We immediately started making lists of other classics , and from that list we eventually picked Treasure Island . Right now we have both kinds of stories in development for future films : adaptations , and original stories in which the characters play themselves . " The great fun of these adaptations is seeing how the Muppet characters bring their own personalities to the novel ' s characters . Some of the casting in Muppet Treasure Island seems very intuitive , like casting Fozzie as Young Squire Trelawney . ( Who else would hire that crew ? ) Other casting decisions weren ' t so obvious , like Kermit ' s and Piggy ' s . What was the biggest challenge in fitting the Muppet cast to the novel ' s cast ? Were there characters in the novel that you immediately saw as particular Muppets ? " Actually , it was difficult . Bunsen Honeydew was pretty obvious as Dr . Livesey , and of course Sam Eagle was born to be first mate Samuel Arrow . Kermit seemed a natural for the captain , but we had to adapt the captain ' s character so that Kermit wasn ' t hopelessly miscast . Piggy , of course , was a huge problem , because , basically , there are no female characters in Treasure Island . Then we hit upon the idea of letting her play the person who has been marooned on the island for years . In the book that ' s a deranged , babbling , filthy old man named Ben Gunn . Of course , Piggy is a smooth - talking , witty , urbane , limo - riding sex goddess , but we hoped that no one would notice the difference . The other big problem was what to do with Gonzo and Rizzo . For a while we played with the idea of letting them be the heroes . In the first draft Gonzo was called Jim and Rizzo was called Hawkins . But it didn ' t work . Eventually we made Jim Hawkins a human actor ( Kevin Bishop ) and let Gonzo and Rizzo be sidekicks . " You say that Sam Eagle was born to play Samuel Arrow , but the way I remember it , Arrow gets drunk , falls off the boat , and drowns before his first " on - camera " scene . Are you guys reading the same Treasure Island I am ? " What ' s the problem ? You bought Miss Piggy playing a dirty old man named Gunn . " How did the collaborative process work between you , Kirk Thatcher , and Jim Hart ? Between the three of you , were particular people involved in particular drafts ? Were there particular things that each of you were best at ? " I did verbs , Kirk did nouns , and Jim ' s a great adjective man . No , no , let me try that again . I had the eraser , Kirk the paper , and Jim the pencil . That can ' t be right . Kirk and I argued tooth and nail over every word and Jim would break up the fights with a 2x4 . No . That ' s wrong too . I can ' t remember how it actually worked . I think we stole the script from a fourth guy . " You teamed up Gonzo and Rizzo in The Muppet Christmas Carol , and they work together so well that it seems like they were created as a team - - it ' s amazing that they really didn ' t have much to do with each other for their first fifteen years . Since Christmas Carol , it seems that Gonzo and Rizzo have taken over some of the central role that Kermit used to have , and they ' re acting more as the narrators and hosts . Was there a deliberate decision to move Kermit away from that central role ? What kind of role do you think Gonzo and Rizzo play in the Muppet cast now ? " The Gonzo and Rizzo team was one of the best things to come out of The Muppet Christmas Carol ! As soon as I put them together they started acting like they were brothers - - like they had never been apart . I can ' t imagine why it took us so long to see this . You ' ve seen a lot of them recently , probably because all the writers have been so excited to have a new comedy team to work with . But they can never take the place of Kermit . However , Kermit ' s role is changing . In the new television show ( whatever they decide to call it ) , you ' ll see that the emcee role has been taken over by Clifford , while Kermit stands off to one side , observing and commenting . These days I think of Kermit as the Muppets ' Executive Producer . He ' s still involved , he ' s still the main man that holds the team together , but others are out there on the front lines , taking the heat . " Muppet Treasure Island was filmed entirely in the studio , with a fake boat and a fake island . Was the studio - bound production different from other Muppet films with location shooting ? " The Muppet Christmas Carol was shot entirely on sound stages , too . Studio shooting has lots of advantages . It gives the director a maximum amount of control , helps to keep a film from going over budget , and keeps the cast near their favorite lunch spots . But seriously , it ' s largely a matter of style . Treasure Island has a certain look about it that could not have been achieved on location . It really depends on what the director decides he wants to see . We ' ve done it both ways . " How much ad - libbing happens on camera ? It must be hard to block and film the Muppets , so does ad - libbing happen , or is it filmed as scripted ? " Performers play around on the set all the time , and since they are really funny people , they sometimes come up with gems . If the gems are appropriate and better than what ' s written , who could complain ? On the other hand , films are written and rewritten , read aloud , discussed , planned , and storyboarded for months before the filming . Often performers have a chance to give their ideas long before the shooting . The process is hugely collaborative and sometimes includes ad libs . " Who ' s your favorite character to write for ? " I never pick favorites . Maybe the hardest character to write for was Polly Lobster . This character changed with every draft we wrote . Polly started out as - - wait for it ! - - a parrot ! But the writers hated the old cliché of a parrot named Polly . So we renamed her Amazonia , and gave her a sultry Marlena Dietrich quality . Over the next few drafts she and Long John developed a strange , ephemeral , romantic relationship . It got very weird . Eventually it got too weird . Amazonia was sent to the Home for Unused Characters . Then came a parrot whose name was Robert Louis Stevenson . He claimed to have written the novel . He hated the movie . We all thought that was really funny for a while . And then we didn ' t anymore . So we decided it should be a lobster . Nothing else had worked , so the lobster had to be it , right ? It ' s a process of elimination kind of thing . " You cut a lot of the novel ' s violence out of the film , but there was still a surprising amount of gunplay , explosions , hanging skeletons , and sword - fighting . Was there any concern about what could and couldn ' t be shown in the movie ? " The violence in the novel was one of the hardest things we had to deal with . The whole second half of the book is a series of warlike gun battles in which much blood is shed and many people die horrible deaths . The Muppets don ' t do that , as I hope everyone has noticed . This is the real reason that we departed so radically from Stevenson ' s story . Brian wanted as little serious violence as possible , and those responsible for it had to be humans , not Muppets , thus proclaiming the moral superiority of felt over flesh . Muppets almost never handle guns in the film , and never shoot them . Well , okay , Bunsen fires a cannon and kills a palm tree . But that ' s it ! The Muppets do take part in the final swordfight , but no one gets injured by a sword . The idea was to do the whole thing in the spirit of playfulness . The fights are like moments out of Gilbert and Sullivan - I don ' t think anyone could take them seriously . " The main pirates were a lot of fun , especially the adorably dim Clueless Morgan . Is there a chance we ' ll see Morgan again in another project ? " Clueless Morgan ' s agent calls three times a day . He ' s demanding a three picture deal . He ' s moved his dressing room trailer onto Brian Henson ' s backyard . I think you ' ll be seeing him again . Seriously , Clueless is a wonderful character performed by Bill Barretta . I certainly will be looking for new ways to use him . ( Actually , it ' s Barretta ' s trailer in Brian ' s backyard ) . " You ' ve been writing for Muppets for about 30 years . Do you think you want to write for humans again ? " I don ' t know . Make me an offer . " What projects will you be working on next ? " Can ' t say yet . Ask me that again in the next round of meetings . But don ' t expect me to be specific . I never discuss projects until they are definite . " Finally , is there anything you want me to pretend to ask you about ? " I ' m glad you asked me that , Danny ! As a matter of fact , I ' m annoyed by those " Making Of " documentaries ! How did you know ? We ' ve made a couple of genuine " Making Of " films over the years , but the ones that get made for feature films should be called by some other name . They are really half hour previews . They show all the funny parts and exciting bits strung together with a few sound bites from people who worked on the movie . My advice is Viewer Beware ! If you know for a fact that you are going to see a movie , never watch the " Making Of " until after you ' ve been to the theatre . You ' ll enjoy the movie more , because you won ' t know the entire plot and all the jokes . " So why a lobster ? " The kangaroo wanted a fortune .