what if The Muppet Movie was basically a 90-minute Muppet Show?

[CensoredAlso]

Well the Brady Bunch films were meant to be parodies.

If they had made a Muppet movie as a longer Muppet Show, then yeah I definitely think we would have seen a more extensive, realistic set like in Follow That Bird. Would definitely have been interesting, and I'm sure good. But it might not have held up. I think they needed to go one step further and film on a larger scale, as in the real Muppet Movie.

 

[minor muppetz]

I wonder if this would have made a good outline for a movie that was more like a regular episode, only longer in lenght and with more guest stars.

• A one-minute cold opening, with Scooter telling each guest that the show's about to start (1 minute 'till curtain, 45 seconds 'till curtain, 30 seconds 'till curtain, and 15 seconds 'till curtain).
• a completely refilmed and extended version of the opening theme, perhaps with a very long instrumental verse from the orhcestra, and with backstage action happening during the opening.
• Kermit introducing the show, and the opening number (featuring the Electric Mayhem).
• a backstage scene.
• the first guest star segment.
• Veterinarian's Hospital
• backstage scenes
• Muppet Labs
• The Swedish Chef
• backstage scenes
• a guest star segment
• a musical number
• backstage scenes
• Muppet News
• Bear on Patrol
• a musical number with just Kermit the Frog
• a long intermission sequence, with plenty of plot focus
• a musical number with Rowlf
• a guest star segment
• backtage scenes
• Pigs in Space
• a monologue by Fozzie Bear
• Muppet Sports
• a random sketch
• a guest star segment
• backstage scenes
• a musical number with Miss Piggy (and maybe also Kermit)
• At the Dance
• a random sketch
• backstage scenes
• a big closing number, featuring most of the cast and all of the guest stars

 

[Winslow Leach]

One of them was a Monty Python film that only reused older segments to try to promote the show to other countries. Sort of like what they were doing with the 1966 Batman movie.

Yeah, And Now For Something Completely Different (1971), which is the Python's first "official" film. The team refilmed several sketches from the first two seasons, and added/dropped/substituted a few lines here and there to make it more appropriate for American audiences. There was also some new linking material in between the sketches. But in '71, U.S. audiences weren't ready for dead parrots, cross-dressing lumberjacks, how not to be seen, or the funniest joke in the world. The film flopped in the U.S., and it wasn't until 1974 or so, when the series began airing on PBS that Python became a hit over here. The film is interesting for Python fans, but I prefer the original versions of the sketches.

 

[Drtooth]

According to John Cleese, one of the problems of the film was the poster art. He said some fool slapped up together something with a Snake wearing a tophat, and he said a lot of people considered it a Kid's movie due to the poster art. I have the book with the exact quote or something to that extent.

But it's a good thing they made that Batman film in 1966, or we would have NOTHING from the 1966 show on DVD.

As for a Muppet movie. I picture the film being sort of like the show, but it doesn't quite have the same segments. And it's not set up in the theater. Almost like a film where they were each asked to contribute a small film, and the film was patchworked together.

But some segments would be there, like Pigs in Space. But one segment would be footage of Fozzie Bear in a comedy tour, making fun of comedy tour movies.

 

[Winslow Leach]

According to John Cleese, one of the problems of the film was the poster art. He said some fool slapped up together something with a Snake wearing a tophat, and he said a lot of people considered it a Kid's movie due to the poster art. I have the book with the exact quote or something to that extent.

Yeah, I did hear that. While I like the film, it does seem kind of slow without the adreneline of the show taped before an audience. Although if you watch the first several episodes of the series, the audience seems subdued. Michael Palin has said numerous times that many of the audience members for those first few shows resembled the "Pepperpots" (the Pythons in drag) that were used so frequently on the show. And home audiences really weren't tuning in either. According to Palin, the first viewers of Python were "insomniacs and burglars."

Cleese and most of the other members were quite dissatisfied with the finished product, even though they had the chance to make a "real" movie. The Pythons generally consider Holy Grail to be their true cinematic debut.