Muppet Babies (1984)

Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, commonly known by the shortened title Muppet Babies, is an American animated television series that aired from September 15, 1984, to November 2, 1991, on CBS. The show portrays childhood versions of the Muppets living together in a nursery under the care of a human woman identified only as Nanny (the whereabouts of their parents are never addressed), who appears in almost every episode, but her face is never visible; only the babies' view of her pink skirt, purple sweater, and distinctive green and white striped socks is shown. The idea of presenting the Muppets as children first appeared in a dream sequence in The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984), released two months before Muppet Babies debuted, in which Miss Piggy imagined what it would be like if she and Kermit the Frog had grown up together.

Muppet Babies was produced by Jim Henson Productions and Marvel Productions. The rights are now held by The Walt Disney Company which separately acquired both the Muppets characters and Marvel. Although the episodes were 30 minutes (including commercials), it was typically shown in 60- and even 90-minute blocks during the peak of its popularity. Outside the United States, the show was distributed by Walt Disney Television. A reboot of the series premiered on Disney Junior on March 23, 2018.

## Overview

The Muppet Babies live in a large nursery watched over by Nanny, who is seen only from the shoulders down. The babies' imaginary games transition from the nursery into scenes that become "real" to the babies, such as finding themselves aboard a pirate ship or in the land of Oz. Often these fantasies are filled with stock footage scenes or live-action clips from popular movies such as *Star Wars*, *Ghostbusters* and *Indiana Jones*. Each episode contains a related musical number. When the pretend game becomes too perilous, or when an interruption occurs (often in the form of Nanny checking in or the imaginary game straying too far from its original premise), the scene dissolves and they find themselves in the nursery once more.

The central idea of each episode is the power of imagination. Sometimes, the babies use their imagination to solve a problem (when Nanny's newspaper is accidentally ruined, the babies write their own newspaper to replace it), but occasionally their imaginations run away with them (overhearing Nanny's phone call to the garbage collector to help her decide which armchair to donate to charity leads the babies to fear that one of them [which was thought to be Fozzie] is going to be thrown away). Other frequent themes involve the babies coming up with new ways to play with old toys, imagining what life will be like when they are adults, or facing common childhood firsts such as a visit to the dentist or a new addition to the family. Nanny is the voice of reason, congratulating them on their creativity or soothing their fears.

## Voice cast

* Greg Berg – Baby Fozzie, Baby Scooter, Dr. Julius Strangepork (archive footage, ep. 107)
* Barbara Billingsley – Nanny
* Dave Coulier (1986–1991) – Baby Animal, Baby Bunsen, Baby Bean Bunny, Baby Janice, Uncle Statler and Waldorf, Camilla (occasionally), Himself (ep. 91)
* Katie Leigh – Baby Rowlf, Mrs. Mitchell
* Howie Mandel (1984–1985) – Baby Skeeter, Baby Animal, Baby Bunsen
* Laurie O'Brien – Baby Piggy, Captain Black Wig
* Russi Taylor – Baby Gonzo, Baby Robin, Aunt Fanny, and Camilla (occasionally)
* Frank Welker – Baby Kermit, Baby Beaker, Baby Skeeter (1986–1991), Camilla, Irma/Charlie (ep. 12), The Chief Inspector of Scotland Yard (ep. 31), Polly the Parrot (ep. 38), Adult Kermit (looped dialogue, ep. 45), Bosko the Snowman (ep. 100)

### Additional voices and performances

* Bob Bergen – Link Hogthrob (archive footage, ep. 107)
* Peter Cullen – Smoggy the Bear (ep. 33), Football-Playing Bear (ep. 33), Sor-Elbow (ep. 33)
* Pat Fraley – Announcer
* Jim Henson – Kermit the Frog (archive footage, ep. 45), Dr. Teeth (archive footage, ep. 61)
* Tress MacNeille – Skater Kat
* Hal Rayle – Miss Piggy (archive footage, ep. 107)

## Production

In 1984, *The Muppets Take Manhattan*, the third full-length Muppet film, debuted. The film included a fantasy sequence in which Miss Piggy imagined what growing up with Kermit would have been like. While Piggy sang, baby versions of Rowlf, Fozzie, Scooter and Gonzo acted as backup singers. The live-action sequence was so popular that The Jim Henson Company turned the idea into a half-hour cartoon program. In order for 107 episodes to be produced, Henson and Marvel hired two companies: the Japanese-based Toei Animation for seasons 1–3 and five episodes of season 4, and the Korean-based AKOM Productions for episode six of season 4 through season 7, both of which also animated *G.I. Joe* and *The Transformers* for Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions.

*Muppet Babies* proved highly popular and ran on CBS from 1984 to 1991, a total of seven seasons. At the height of its popularity it ran in two- or three-episode blocks. Even after the conclusion of the series, it had remained so popular that CBS continued to air reruns of the series until the fall of 1992.

For a brief run in the second season, the program became *Muppets, Babies, and Monsters*, and a second half-hour was dedicated to a new show called *Jim Henson's Little Muppet Monsters*. This show featured live-action puppets and cartoons starring the adult Muppet characters. The program lasted three weeks before Jim Henson pulled the plug, despite 18 episodes having been made. The show then reverted to an hour of *Muppet Babies*; however, a portion of the *Little Muppet Monsters* theme could still be heard in the show's end credits for the remainder of its run. *Muppet Babies* later expanded to 90 minutes after CBS pulled *Garbage Pail Kids* before it even aired due to controversy.

It is noted for starting a trend of relaunching popular cartoon characters as younger versions of themselves. This trend can be seen in numerous TV series such as *A Pup Named Scooby-Doo*, *The Flintstone Kids*, *Baby Felix*, *Tiny Toon Adventures* (the main characters actually are the "successors" of the Looney Tunes. The Looney Tunes themselves are their instructors), *Tom & Jerry Kids* and *Jungle Cubs* (based on characters from Walt Disney's animated film *The Jungle Book*) as well as merchandise items such as Baby Snoopy, Baby (Betty) Boop, Disney Babies, Baby Hello Kitty, Care Bear Cubs, Baby Strawberry Shortcake and Baby Garfield. In recent years, *Baby Looney Tunes*, *Sesame Beginnings*, Baby Mario from *Super Mario World 2: Yoshi's Island* and *Little Astro Boy* continued the concept.
The show was a critical success during its time on the air: the show won four consecutive Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Animated Program, 1985–88, and won a Humanitas Prize for Children's Animation in 1985.

*Muppet Babies* was voted "Top Cartoon of the Childhood Days" by the Irvin Hall newspaper's weekly review of the Pennsylvania State University in 2007.

Hank Saroyan served as executive in charge of series, voice director, story editor, song producer, and composer.

## Music

Approximately 100 of the songs were co-written by Alan O'Day and Janis Liebhart, with the exception of the theme song and "Rocket to the Stars" which were written by Hank Saroyan and Rob Walsh, and "Dream for Your Inspiration", written by Scott Brownlee. The song that played during the ending credits was laughingly titled "Hank in the Box" in deference to Hank Saroyan.

## Syndication

The series entered local syndication in 1989, and ran until 1992. Syndication rights were sold to Fox Kids (1991–1993), Nickelodeon (1992–1999), Odyssey Network (1999–2001) & Toon Disney (2020-Present)

1. ↑ Muppet Babies.