Did this ever happen?

[MartyMuppets]

When my brother and I were kids we were talking about our favourite muppet monsters once. Gary said he liked Thog the nice, big , blue one because he was so friendly and wouldn't ever harm anyone. When I had thought about my favourite and told him Big Mama (or Mean Mama) whatever you like to call him/her Gary cried "You like Big Mama! But he's a meat-eating monster! Don't you remember one time in Muppet Labs he was trying to eat Dr.Bunsen? When he suddenly burst into Muppet Labs Beaker and Bunsen both quickly ran away before he could eat them so instead he ate the machine whatever it was they were about to demonstrate. Then after a brief pause he said "I think I am going to explode." Then with a great big bang Big Mama disappeared in smoke. Why would you want a nasty monster like that for your favourite?"

Anyway I just wanted to ask can anyone confirm whether this really ever did happen on TMS or was my brother only mixing up childhood imagination with what he could remember watching on the show?

 

[minor muppetz]

As far as I know it didn't happen. I haven't seen that happen in any Muppet Labs skits, and I can't think of any Muppet Labs skits I haven't seen where that could have happened. It sounds like your brother was describing the Gorillia detector skit, though that one had a gorillia, Beaker wasn't in that skit, and the gorillia didn't explode or eat anything. Or maybe he was thinking of the skit from the George Burns episode where Luncheon Counter Monster ate a machine and then exploded (though he didn't say "I think I'm gonna explode").

It's good to know that you and your brother knew the monsters name as kids though (for years us fans have thought it was Big Mama because it was mentioend in a Muppet Show Annual, but at his/ her talk page somebody who worked at Henson confirmed that the monster was actually called mean Mama).

 

[MartyMuppets]

It's good to know that you and your brother knew the monsters name as kids though (for years us fans have thought it was Big Mama because it was mentioend in a Muppet Show Annual, but at his/ her talk page somebody who worked at Henson confirmed that the monster was actually called mean Mama).

That sounds very similar to making some of us fans think Crazy Harry was named Mad Harry because that was the name in some of the muppet annuals.
But another question has occurred to me. Was the monster we always called Big Mama ever once referred to as Mean Mama on any episode. The difference with Crazy Harry is that his real name is most prominent on TMS but I don't think Mean Mama must have been indicated by name very often on the series if at all.

 

[minor muppetz]

That sounds very similar to making some of us fans think Crazy Harry was named Mad Harry because that was the name in some of the muppet annuals.
But another question has occurred to me. Was the monster we always called Big Mama ever once referred to as Mean Mama on any episode. The difference with Crazy Harry is that his real name is most prominent on TMS but I don't think Mean Mama must have been indicated by name very often on the series if at all.

No, Mean Mama was never referred to by name, otherwise fans might have known better. On her page at Muppet Wiki, there is a picture of the page from the Muppet Annual where her name was mentioned. It is the picture of Mean mama in Statler and Waldorf's box that has been used many tiems, and there is a script in that picture of Mean Mama forcing them to like the show. The name Big Mama is used as her name in that script. At least the writer got the mama part right. In fact, the writer could have just called her "Monster" (or "Big Monster"), since she wasn't a Mama in that script or situation.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Yes she was a Mama in her debut episode where she rescued her tiny wee baby from the clutches of Don Knotts sorry if I have the wrong guest star in mind. But the character could just as easily be presented as a masculine monster as well as a feminine.

It varied from appearance to appearance

 

[Skekayuk]

She was referred to as "Big Mamma" in are article in the TV Times (LookIn section) for the 16 December 1978. Her regular muppeteer refers to the character by that name.

She is also referred to as Big Mamma or Big Mama on Kermitage, and I seem to recall a few years ago on the MC msgboard (back in the Delphi days) she got mentioned by that name, by someone in the know, on a thread about monsters.

Yes she did sometimes eat other muppets, most notably Miss Piggy during an episode of Pigs In Space on the Carol Burnett episode (though she was playing a space alien at the time). I think she may also have eaten John Cleese's agent in the relevant episode of TMS.
Her biggest claim to fame through is rather less carnivorious, since it involves hugging rather than eating anyone.

 

[MartyMuppets]

Yes she does eat Cleese's agent and have you noticed my thread MONSTERS EATING OTHER MUPPETS. It's very interesting and talks about that space alien eating Piggy sequence among other such eating moments

 

[minor muppetz]

She is also referred to as Big Mamma or Big Mama on Kermitage, and I seem to recall a few years ago on the MC msgboard (back in the Delphi days) she got mentioned by that name, by someone in the know, on a thread about monsters.

The character guide does have some mistakes. In the current events section of Muppet Wiki, the person who wrote the guide admitted that after it was published at the Kermitage website, he learned a few of his own mistakes that were posted there. He had gotten some of the names, performers, and I think even episodes wrong.

 

[Skekayuk]

It is very easy to get details wrong. Either because something is plain wrong in a piece of source material. Such as referring to a magazine article that had actually got something wrong.
Or because we make infernaces from somewhat unclear information. Here's two examples:

It might be assumed that the album John Denver And The Muppets A Christmas Together is the album of the TV special of the same name. Therefore if a performer is listed on the album they would be on the TV show.
In fact the album was recorded a whole year before the TV special was made, and in England, whereas the TV special was filmed in America, although there are many similarities, there were some noticeable differences (including one puppeteer singing on the album who didn't performer on the TV show). There have been other instances of one performer doing something on an album, but not on a Muppet TV show.

Another example:
In the Tibby's Bowl/MC interview with puppeteer Louise Gold, there is a question about her work with David Claridge on Roland Rat. In her answer, Louise mentions singing I Got You Babe with David Claridge "As roland and his girlfriend". - That statement woudl, predictable lead of lot of us into thinking she might be referring to Glenis The Guinea Pig (Roland's longstanding girlfriend), but in actualy fact, the number was performed by Roland with a Scouse rat called Roxanne (and anyway, Louise Gold didn't perform The Guinea Pig).

Like I said, its very easy for things to get muddled up. That's why any of us involved with cataloguing Muppet stuff on the web need to try and check our facts as best we can, and if we're not sure of something, we should try and mention when we're usuing assumptions/inferences.

Emma