Sweetums in TMM and GMC

[minor muppetz]

I would like to talk about Sweetums' appearances in the first two Mupet movies.

In The Muppet Movie, when Sweetums was itnroduced, Mad Man Mooney just introduced hima s his Jack. When Kermit mistakenly thought that was his name, Sweetums said "Jack not name, Jack job!", but he didn't actually introduce himself. Does anybody think that he should have introduced himself properly (I didn't understand what he was saying at this point for years, until I watched the movie with the closed captioning on)? I was confused when I read the credits and didn't see any "Jack" listed, but saw Sweetums and wondered who he was. I was also confused by this credit in The Great Mupet Caper (at first I figured that Sweetums might have been Lips, until I noticed this credit in The Muppet Movie and knew that Lips wasn't in that movie, at the time I didn't notice the name Lips being listed in the credits for The Great Mupet Caper).

Also, in The Muppet Movie, as they left, Kermit just randomly told Sweetusm that they were going to Hollywood and asked if he wanted to coem with them. I wonder if Kermit had considered inviting Mad Man Mooney to come along, too (then again, Mad Man Mooney did have a buisness to run). I wonder if Kermit figured that Sweetums would probably get fired anyway.

Of course, Sweetums was accidently left behind. Shortly after that, there was a brief scene with Sweetums running out of a tent at the fair, and then he didn't appear again until the end, when he jumped through the screen. Does anybody think that there should have been more short sceens with Sweetums, perhaps with him just barely missing the others? I wonder if such a running gag was in the original script, or if any such scenes were cut from the movie. Tough Pigs posted information about one of the scrpts, but didn't transcribe the whole script word for word. The Tough Pigs transcript of the script didn't mention Sweetums running out of the tent, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't in that version of the script. It could have just not been mentioned on the website.

I wonder if anybody who saw the movie for the first time ever wondered why Sweetums was the only Muppet who was properly introduced in the movie who wasn't in the screening room. I also wonder if any of the extra performers from the finale (are you reading, Tim or Was Once Ernie?) wondered why Sweetums wasn't in the big scene at the end. Though Sweetusm crashing through the screen probably wouldn't have been as effective if he had eventually caught up with the Muppets, I feel like he should have caught up. Maybe he could have stopped Doc Hopper, making Doc Hopper twice as scarred by not only being scared off by the growing Animal, but by encountering Sweetums all of a sudden.

And I would like to ask about Sweetums' appearing at the beginning of The Great Muppet Caper. It looked like Sweetums was trying to draw attention to himself, and eventually he was runnign and fell into a sewer hole. Does anybody have any clue as to what he was trying to do in this scene? Was he trying to stop all of the madness that was happening at the time? Was he trying to get himself into the movie? I don't fully understand this gag.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I didn't have that problem with The Muppet Movie, only because I already knew who Sweetums was, I had The Frog Prince as a child. But that's interesting, maybe I would have been confused if things had been different!

I don't think they would have invited Mad Man Mooney, he was trying to con them after all. And he was clearly treating Sweetums really bad.

I don't know, I thought it was enough to bring back Sweetums just once during the run of the film. It neatly explained the running gag and the final pay off at the end. And they needed something funny to off set the nice sweet "thanks to the lovers, dreamers etc." moment. This is just my opinion, you're entitled to yours of course.

Lol, yeah I was watching GMC with a friend and he said, "Why is Sweetums even there???" Lol It does sort of seem like he's trying to stop the chaos etc. Maybe he was working for the construction department!

I can't stand it when his hand gets stepped on, it looks so painful! The same pain I feel when poor Sweetums gets left behind in TMM.

 

[minor muppetz]

Henson.com used to have storyboardss from the opening sequence for GMC on it's page for The Great Muppet Caper. Storyboards for the whole scene weren't there, but I recall in the storybards that Sweetums was referred to as "street cleaner Sweetums".

 

[Fozzie Bear]

I don't think I had that problem as a young'un. Of course, I probably didn't care exactly who Sweetums was since Kermit was there.

 

[minor muppetz]

In the first shot in The Muppet Movie, Doglion could be seen walking in the background. I wonder if it would have been more appropiate to have seen Sweetums there instead. It could have made sense, since Swetums ended up crashing through the screen, but then again, it would be weird for Sweetusm to be there and not show up to the right screenign room until the movie was over.

Sweetums seemed to have a bit of bad luck in the first two movies. I wonder if that's why he didn't appear in MTM or MCC.

 

[Beauregard]

For years and years I thought Sweetums name WAS Jack, and it was Muppet Treasure Island that confused me by reffering to him as "Sweetums." It wasn't until I saw Robin and Sweetums being introduced by Kermit that I figured it out.

About Sweetums in GMC....hmmm, I guess I never thought too deeply about it, but he reminded me of Beau for some reason in that scene, more than Sweetums.

 

[minor muppetz]

For years and years I thought Sweetums name WAS Jack, and it was Muppet Treasure Island that confused me by reffering to him as "Sweetums." It wasn't until I saw Robin and Sweetums being introduced by Kermit that I figured it out.

That shouldn't have been too confusing, since the Muppets were playing roles, and only a few played themself. Of course, it might have been confusing if you read the credits, where they were all referred to by their real names (unlike The Muppet Christmas Carol, where Statler, Waldorf, and Robin were all credited by their characters names).

 

[minor muppetz]

I have started wondering if the scene where Sweetums ran out of the tent was originally planned to be shown earlier. Once Gonzo fell back onto the car, we suddenly get a brief scene at the fair, which could have been meant to have been shown earlier. If that scene wasn't there, we'd have Gonzo landing on the car, and then the next sceen, obviously taking place later, which took place in the car and had Gonzo inside it. Of course, the scene could have just faded to the other scene, or it could have faded to black (though there are no fades to black in the movie, except for when the whole movie ends).

 

[minor muppetz]

It seems like The Muppet Movie has quite a few running gags that only go on for a few gags, usually just within minutes of each other. Sweetums chased after the car, then a few minutes later he jumped out of a tent, and then nothing happened with Sweetums until the end.

But besides that, there is the "myth" gag which is only used twice, probably within 10 minutes of each other, and there's the harry krishna gag which seems to only occur three times during teh first thirty minutes.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Well I think that's classic comedy, it's very strategic. You have to put running gags close to each other so the audience remembers, but not too often or the joke will start to get old.