minor muppetz
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Lately, I've been thinking about instances in the Playhouse video compilations where clips were significantly edited or even altered in some way. Especially after watching some on YouTube and noticing. There's four that I used to rent all the time, and then hadn't seen in many years. After seeing the episodes where the clips originated, especially years after last seeing the videos, I noticed bits that seemed to be cut, and then saw some of them on YouTube years later and saw that I was remembering correctly. I thought I'd post about them here.
Obviously, I'm not counting the removal of on-stage introductions (I think only a few such introductions appear in the videos, though there are some instances where the clips include the part with the curtain raising) or Statler and Waldorf comments. Many segments from the show had scene transitions before and/or after, so I assume the first/last second of such segments were cut when put on the compilations (unless the Jim Henson Company had copies which didn't have these transitions), though it is hard to really tell if a clip is a second short or not (especially when transitions are used for many of the clips).
Keep in mind the edits I mention for Rock Music with the Muppets and Muppet Moments are going by memory. I could be remembering wrong (especially since many of those come from episodes I first saw years after I last saw either of those videos).
The Muppet Revue
The Kermit and Piggy Story
Children's Songs and Stories
Rock Music with the Muppets
Gonzo Presents Muppet Weird Stuff
Country Music with the Muppets
Muppet Moments
Do any of the three Playhouse videos I have not seen have any edits or alterations to the clips that were included?
Obviously, I'm not counting the removal of on-stage introductions (I think only a few such introductions appear in the videos, though there are some instances where the clips include the part with the curtain raising) or Statler and Waldorf comments. Many segments from the show had scene transitions before and/or after, so I assume the first/last second of such segments were cut when put on the compilations (unless the Jim Henson Company had copies which didn't have these transitions), though it is hard to really tell if a clip is a second short or not (especially when transitions are used for many of the clips).
Keep in mind the edits I mention for Rock Music with the Muppets and Muppet Moments are going by memory. I could be remembering wrong (especially since many of those come from episodes I first saw years after I last saw either of those videos).
The Muppet Revue
- Bear on Patrol - the ending with Fozzie turning into a chicken is cut, and the ending music is therefore played sooner as the sketch transitions to the linking footage.
- Muppet News: exploding reporters - In the episode it originated in (with Madeline Kahn), audio of The Newsman announcing "Here is a Muppet news flash!" was heard before transitioning to the segment. In this video, that line is dubbed into the footage (the same clip appears in It's the Muppets: Meet the Muppets, where "Here is a Muppet News Flash!" isn't heard at all).
- Wonderpig - Most of the clip is actually edited. The video just shows the ending of the sketch.
The Kermit and Piggy Story
- In the clip with Miss Piggy and the robot Kermit, it cuts the beginning, with Piggy talking to the actual Kermit. I find it interesting it starts with her seeing the robot first, as the laugh track played there, when the audience didn't see the real Kermit, but I guess it helps that before the clip Kermit talks about what was going on.
- The Weddign Sketch - All scenes with Marissa Berensen in the wings are cut.
Children's Songs and Stories
- I'm Five - The very ending is altered. It cuts Robin singing a line of "They Call the Wind Maria", but they cut the footage before the end and redub that audio over Robin singing. I can understand if they couldn't clear the rights (or if they didn't want to spend money on one line of a song, though there are other instances in the videos where one line of a song was used), but they probably should have just cut the whole ending, ending when Robin ended the song.
Rock Music with the Muppets
- Who Put the Bomp - I seem to recall this starting after the first verse.
- You Make Me Feel Like Dancing - I feel like the dancing at the very end is cut.
Gonzo Presents Muppet Weird Stuff
- Gonzo's line at the end of his scene with John Cleese is cut.
- I Feel Pretty - the very beginning, when the woman sings "Tonight, tonight".
- At the end of Gonzo wrestling a break, a backstage line from Gonzo is dubbed into the very end.
- You Do Something to Me - This probably shouldn't count, but the opening pan-around of the set is cut (though I think the opening music is still heard).
- Gonzo eats a tire - The ending, after Statler and Waldorf make their comments, is cut, and audio of the audience booing is dubbed into the next clip. In fact when I first saw this I thought they were meant to be the same segment. I thought that Gonzo suddenly hanging by his nose, in different clothing and a different set, was somehow a side effect from eating the tire.
- The clip from The Muppet Movie is shortened, focusing primarily on Gonzo and especially cutting out the scenes with Doc Hopper and Max (though Doc Hopper's car can still be seen). Kermit's line "Take off, Fozzie!" is dubbed to a different part.
- The middle of Gonzo's waterskiing act from The Muppets Take Manhattan is cut, leaving out "Margaret", and also cuts an audience member's comment that "it don't sound like Tony Bennet".
- Gonzo's opening dialogue and Rowlf's closing dialogue from the sketch where Gonzo conducts and battles a clam.
Country Music with the Muppets
- Barnyard Boogie - Not sure if I should count this, but the first two shots are cut. When I first saw this recently, I wondered how they were able to start it without showing the curtains raising... But then I watched it several times and then watched the clip as shown on TMS, and noticed this alteration.
- Hat - The opening shot of three whatnots is cut.
Muppet Moments
- I Go to Rio - The ending with Kermit coming on-stage to see what the audience thought (and how Statler and Waldorf rated the number).
- Sing - I recall this video starts the clip with Lena Horne singing, cutting out her mention of the song being from Sesame Street.
- Two of a Kind and Jubilee Time are edited together, leaving out the rest of the medley.
Do any of the three Playhouse videos I have not seen have any edits or alterations to the clips that were included?