obscuremuppets

[obscuremuppets]

Jim Henson Holiday Special - Why Emmet Otter Endures

So I went to the apparently poorly marketed Jim Henson Holiday Special in the theater last night.  Like on a whim.  There was pretty much no one else in the theater.  It was a double feature of Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas and The Bells of Fraggle Rock.

I’m probably glad there was no one else in the theater to hear me snort when Gobo says “I FOUND IT” after Wembley pointed out the bell-shaped cave on the map.  Also, he almost kills all his friends.

DID YOU THINK I HAD FORGOTTEN?  DID YOU THINK I HAD FORGIVEN?

Anyway, I did a whole shakedown on The Bells of Fraggle Rock and why it’s really good and you should watch it way back, let’s talk instead about the enduring power of a dorky show called Emmet Otter’s Jugband Christmas.  

I watched this show a few times as a kid and liked it because funny animals and songs.  But there’s something about it that sticks with you when other things might have faded - I mean not gonna lie I was a dumbass kid who liked a lot of stupid shows.

But there’s something charming about the show - the real emotion.  You can almost overlook that Pa Otter is a serious deadbeat and that noble poverty stuff kinda rubs me the wrong way (disclosure: having deadbeat parents and growing up poorer didn’t make them good people.)

Let’s be honest, now, the real reason that everyone remembers Emmet Otters Jugband Christmas is these assholes:

These guys are a perfect part of the show in ways that you probably don’t get as a child.

For one thing they’re “antagonists” that don’t do anything besides be kind of rude to our protagonists.  They’re rough with someone’s shop, they’re mean to Kermit the Frog, but what’s the worst they do to Emmet and his friends?  They’re kind of rude.  That’s it.

And they win the talent contest.

They win it by rights, not cheating as these things sometimes go.  They win and the contest stays won.   The protagonists mostly just don’t matter to these guys who are going though the story on their own terms.

 And that’s one reason I think the story endures.  Sometimes…you can do your best and that best can be really really good and things still don’t work out perfectly.  Sometimes there isn’t a grand good vs evil throwdown and sometimes assholes “win.”  But if you pick yourself up and you try your best maybe you’ll find something different.  Maybe it’ll be better, and maybe it won’t.  

Ma and Emmet get a job, it’s doing something they love but it is a job working for someone else.  Pa Otter’s ideals may have given them the kick to take risks, but their own hard work ethic and love for each other got them a good opportunity.  The risk got them out there, but it also almost ruined them.  Endurance and love won the day.  That’s something that sticks with a person where a simple “win” might have made the story fade.  

They don’t get a guitar or a piano right then, but they have a chance and things will be okay.  Who knows what’ll happen to The Nightmare, they don’t matter to the protagonists either.  And that’s a pretty nuanced and sophisticated happy ending for a show about puppet muskrats.

[obscuremuppets]

Mermay Alternative #5: Dr. Teeth and The Electric May During Dr. Teeth and the Electric May you’d draw a different picture of Electric Mayhem each day. You have to include Lips at least once. I’m probably already in hot water for not including him in mine.

[obscuremuppets]

A very Merry Christmas to everyone! Here’s something I started last year but never finished until now!

Floyd had one too many after Christmas dinner and was feeling very happy, playful and flirty, not that Janice minds.

Please do not repost or remove caption, thank you.

[obscuremuppets]

Cookie Monster: 12 Days of Christmas Featuring Some Rarely Seen Faves.

[obscuremuppets]

Female Muppets by nuriaabajo

[obscuremuppets]

Jim and his class at the Institut International de la Marionnette, Charleville-Mezieres, France, 1987. 

[obscuremuppets]

Jim Henson Performing Kermit in The Muppet Movie.

[obscuremuppets]

Jim Henson with Sweetums (Richard Hunt) The Muppet Show.

[obscuremuppets]

Jim, Dick Cavett, and Jim.

[obscuremuppets]

An Awesome Rare Behind The Scenes Photo of Frank Oz and Jim Henson Performing Mahna Mahna, Although it was first performed in a Henson production on Sesame Street by the character who would become Bip Bippadotta and two Anything Muppet girls, the most famous Muppet rendition of the song debuted on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1969, where it was performed by Mahna Mahna and his back-up singers, the Snowths. This version of the skit was restaged many times on a number of variety shows before being featured as the opening number in the premiere episode of The Muppet Show. #rarepic

[obscuremuppets]

Jim Henson and others in the Conference Room, 1972.

[obscuremuppets]

Sesame Street Composer/Pianist Joe Raposo and Jim Henson (holding Kermit behind the wall) rehearses for an episode of Sesame Street at Reeves TeleTape Studio in 1970 in New York City, New York. January 01, 1970 Photo by David Attie/Michael Ochs Getty Images Entertainment

[obscuremuppets]

Jerry Nelson and Jim Henson, Sesame Street, Beat the Time, 1972.

[obscuremuppets]

[obscuremuppets]

[obscuremuppets]

Muppet Chickens sing Baby Face

[obscuremuppets]

Chickens on Piano