Back in December of 2020 I watched and reviewed The Muppet Christmas Carol. That one lone act sent me down a path that has taken me 2 years to complete. Last month I wrapped up my Muppet Journey of Discovery with Muppets Haunted Mansion. Now I want to talk about the journey as a whole instead of piecemeal like I did for each movie or television season.
Overall, this was some of the best entertainment that I have had in decades. While not every movie or episode landed, the good so far outweighed the mediocre or bad that I think of the journey as Bookstooge’s Totally Excellent Journey. Jim Henson had an idea, ran with it until he felt he had reached the top and then stopped. People should be left wanting more, AND NOT GET IT. Learning to control your desires and to put up limits on them is good for us. It is what we have not done and look at the mess our entertainment is in today. Hollywood can’t (or won’t) even tell a good story nowadays because of excess and mental gluttony. I think the Muppets were a counter to that and each try to revive the show proved that Henson was correct. Not that some of the stuff that came later was total garbage, some of it was quite good, but we as viewers would have been better people without it.
I don’t want to wax too philosophical here, OR anti-cinema/movie, because either of those issues is an easy rut for me to slide into and I tend to repeat my main points over and over again as comments in various places, so no need to repeat it here. But when the aliens come and abduct all the cinemas, you won’t see me mounting a rescue mission to get them back, jus’ sayin’. But I will sit back and debate with you if the aliens had the moral right to take the cinemas or not. So grab that rocking chair, because we’ll be sitting on that porch a long time! (and bring your megaphone, I’m tired of those kids ignoring me when I yell at them to get off of my lawn)
Out of everything I watched, I suspect that the original Muppet Show itself (all 5 seasons) will be the only thing I try to rewatch every 5-10 years. I’m running out of words very quickly for this but some of that is because these are movie and tv related instead of a series of books. I have a very hard time explaining what goes on inside me for that aspect of entertainment. I don’t even know why, as you’d think that it would be almost the same as talking about how a book affects me. But nope. I actually thought about scrapping this post half way through but figured it would be easier to finish it up than to try to start something new and stumble all over that. And I haven’t even hit the 500 word mark yet. Aye yi yi.
If you want some good entertainment, watch the original Muppet tv show. If you’re hooked, then check everything else out.
Bookstooge's Reviews on the Road 
Could you single out any particular muppet who you feel is the MVP here?
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Kermit.
Even when side lined, he gets referenced. He’s the one who got the muppets together and his influence is always there.
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Congratulations for sticking with it!
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I really enjoyed the journey. First time I’ve ever done something like that with movies/shows, so that was a good experience too.
I’m not sure if I’ll be able to replicate it with anything else though…
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You have a lawn??
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In my mind I do. It is whatever I’m currently looking at 😀
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What are your top 3 Muppet movies?
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The Original Muppet Movie (1978), A Muppet Christmas Carol and then Muppets Most Wanted.
Muppet Treasure Island is a VERY close 4th though.
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Muppet Christmas Carol is one I rewatch regularly. I tried Muppet Treasure Island for a change but didn’t find it nearly as good as Christmas Carol.
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I think that Michael caine as Scrooge has a much longer rewatch factor than Tim Curry as Long John Silver. for me, the human actors in a muppet movie play ahuge part in how much I like it.
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My wife really helped increase my Muppets education. I saw the tv show growing up, but she was really into it, and we’ve enjoyed all the movies and specials that have come down the road since. Her favorite Muppet is Lew Zealand. I like the dudes in the balcony, Waldorf and Statler. We both also like the Swedish Chef.
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Lew and his fish always brought a grin to my face as well 🙂
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We did chrismas carol last year as I just read the Dickens novel a few days or weeks before. I am not a musical lover in movies, but I believe they did Carol proud, apart from the the songs. I vaguely remember seeing some animation Muppets as a kid and always fast forwarding past the song parts. Its been a good journey seeing you and the muppets have ups and downs. Thankyou for that.
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This is probably the longest I’ve stuck w a franchise. It’s been a lot of fun 🙂
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Congrats on “completing” this ongoing project! It did seem like some of the stuff isn’t worth the time but the original series sounded really good. Hope your next TV series project will turn out this good!
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I don’t know what I’ll do next. Maybe some more anime or something…
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