Favorite Henson Christmas movies

[beaker]

Muppet Family Christmas followed by Muppet Family Christmas and Muppet Family Christmas...runners up would be Muppet Family Christmas and Muppet Family Christmas. Of course special consideration has to go to that brilliant 1987 ABC special Muppet Family Christmas.

Since I first saw it when I was 10, I have maintained in my opinion it is one of the best things JHC has ever produced.

I mean where else is there a special where Oscar and Rizzo hang out, Janice and Cookie interact, and just overall a massive Muppet Show/Sesame/Fraggle crossover. Unpresedented, and an overall warm and hillarious outing. While I dont feel MCM was even a microcosm apporaching that special(Only M@WDW comes close in my mind tv special wise) I think JHC still has it in them to make something as magical.

I will say I am unhappy some 5 to 8 minutes were cut from the dvd...but being an absolute dvd nut, it is my preferred method of watching it versus the 3rd gen 'complete' vhs' out there.

 

[Princeton]

I have yet to see ELMO SAVES CHRISTMAS

You didn't miss much. Elmo meets Santa, who gives Elmo 3 wishes. Wish #1 is a glass of water(how lame is that?), Wish #2 is Christmas every day, which messes everything up, and Wish #3 is that everything gets back to normal.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

You can't spell Christmas without "Christ"

Hey,
If you're wondering the title is not only true, but also a song by DC Talk that popped into my head while thinking about Muppet Christmas movies. Anyway, I don't think I can really rank my favorites. I'm no good at that.
However, I totally love "The Muppet Christmas Carol", as it's a great take on a classic Charles Dickens story. I think the whole thing worked great, even though a lot of the Muppets were moved to secondary status because of the characters' roles that they were portraying. I really loved Gonzo and Rizzo working together to narrate the story. That was probably the start of a great pairing that continued in "Muppet Classic Theater", "Muppets Tonight", "Muppet Treasure Island" and "Muppets From Space". (Although "Muppets From Space" should have gotten at least a cameo from the Swinetrek and crew. That would have been awesome!)
I love The Christmas Carol story anyway and the Muppet version of it was great.

"Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" is another favorite because of all the great scenes with the main gang. Big Bird is pretty much the main character, but he never overshadows the rest of the cast, as Elmo tends to do now. Snuffy is there, along with one of the "kids", Patty, to help him figure out how Santa Claus gets down the chimney. There's classic scenes with Grover and Kermit interviewing children. I loved the fact that Kermit was not a bit cameo role, but he was a main character and played an important role in the TV-movie. This was back when Kermit was a main part of the Sesame Street gang and he was interacting with Big Bird and the other characters. As far as I'm concerned he'll always be part of Sesame Street!
Cookie Monster is hilarious as he eats every communication device he tries to use to get his list to Santa Claus. The skating scene is really neat and I love "Feliz Navidad". I also really love "True Blue Miracle" and "Keep Christmas With You". Bert and Ernie and Mr. Hooper all wind up being part of a great O. Henry story, "The Gift of the Magi". I love this special!

I can't speak for the other Sesame Street Christmas special from 1978, called "A Special Sesame Street Christmas", because I haven't seen it yet.

I did make myself watch "Elmo Saves Christmas" and it was nice seeing Kermit on there for a second. It wasn't too bad, but it wasn't the greatest in the world either. I could stand watching it again, but it's not really one of my top favorites.

I haven't seen "Elmo's World: Happy Holidays" special and probably won't bother.

I have seen "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas" and it's pretty nice, although not really one of my all time favorites. I've also seen "The Christmas Toy" and again, I can't say it's really one of my all time favorites, but I did like it pretty well. It was a cute movie with a nice storyline. One thing I really liked was Kermit singing with the cast at the end and his hilarious bit where he fell down the chimney. It was nice seeing Kermit in "Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas" too, but it didn't seem like he served much of a purpose other than for familiarity. (And we never saw what happened with his jacket. Did he get it back or what?)

"It's a Very, Merry, Muppet Christmas Movie" was pretty cool, although it's probably not quite at the top of my favorites list. I did like seeing the references to so many classic Christmas movies. Definitely the alternate versions of the Muppets was cool, especially the whole Doc Hopper's French Fried Frog Legs restaurants being around thing. Gonzo looked very depressing with his singing brick, Amy, though. The "Everyone Matters" song was awesome and I really loved the ending. It was nice to see so many characters finally return and actually say something, like Scooter for instance. Rowlf was there too and even Sweetums and Robin were in it.
I can't say I cared much for having Whoopi Goldberg portray God though. They could have gone the "It's a Wonderful Life" route for that if they had to do that.
But it's still a good TV-movie.

And I do like "John Denver and the Muppets: A Christmas Together". I'll admit some of the scenes are kind of weird, but it's fun and has great songs. (And a great soundtrack, which I was able to get on compact disc, with all of the tracks intact.) I especially love "A Baby Just Like You", "The Peace Carol", and "The Christmas Wish". And of course, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" and I love "Silent Night, Holy Night". I especially like that John Denver tells you the origin of the song and it's sung in German (it is German, right?) and English. It's cool seeing the characters do Christmas carol medleys and there's some funny scenes too. I love Kermit and John singing "The Christmas Wish" together and I love John and Rowlf singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" together. The best part is at the end where a Muppet version of the Nativity is done and we hear about the real meaning of Christmas: the birth of Jesus Christ who came into the world to die for the sins of the world and rise again on the 3rd. day.
Other than "A Charlie Brown Christmas" (which is another great Christmas classic), I can't think of another Christmas special or movie that bothers to actually mention the Christ of Christmas. Linus Van Pelt recites Luke Chapter 2 in "A Charlie Brown Christmas"! That's the meaning of Christmas, Charlie Brown. That's why the John Denver Christmas special was one of the most awesomest of all!
Because without Christ, there wouldn't be a show!

 

[Whatever]

1. Muppet Family Christmas (My first Muppet movie)
2. Muppet Christmas Carol (my uncle took me to see it in the cinema when it was released)
3. Christmas Eve on Sesame Street (another childhood favorite)

 

[Skeeter Muppet]

1. Muppet Family Christmas - The ultimate Muppet crossover, with characters from all three of Henson's most popular shows showing up, and the man himself making a cameo appearance at the end washing the dishes.

2. Muppet Christmas Carol - I've always loved this timeless Christmas tale, and the Muppets' version is one of my favorite adaptations. I mean, The Great Gonzo as Charles Dickens is something you'll remember for a long time.

3. It's A Very Merry Muppet Christmas - Very enjoyable, references out the wazoo and the return of some long-absent and very much missed characters. Not to mention the bloopers were as funny as all get-out ( : I have just inhaled my sleeve!).

-Kim

 

[rexcrk]

1. Muppet Christmas Carol: I think it was the first Muppet movie I ever saw. It was the only Muppet movie I ever owned before I got the DVDs. It brings back so many memories. It's such a great movie!

2. Muppet Family Christmas: Totally awesome (heck, if it weren't for the nostalgia factor of Muppet Christmas Carol, this could be my favorite, lol). I love all the musical numbers (my favorite is Jingle Bell Rock w/ the Electric Mayhem). The fact that it has almost all the Muppets, the Sesame Street gang, and the Fraggles is really cool. I love Jim's cameo at the end too.

3. It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie: This was a nice surprise. I remember when they first aired it, I thought it was great having a new Muppet movie. The references to The Muppet Movie are great. I love that they had characters like Rowlf, Janice, and Scooter have lines. Pepe was hilarious, as was the night-club scene in the Kermit-less world.

 

[Mickey Moose]

Mine would be:

1. Muppet Family Christmas
2. Christmas Eve On Sesame Street
3. Emmet Otter's Jugband Christmas
4. Muppet Christmas Carol
5. Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie

To answer the previous question about why the songs were cut from the video and DVD for MFC, I believe it has to do with music rights, and for some reason, whoever distributed the releases was either unable, or unwilling to purchase the rights(perhaps it was too expensive to justify the cost of the DVD or video).

 

[superboober]

1. Muppet Family Christmas. It ALMOST NEVER gets any better than this. I was in bliss after an hour of seeing it the first time it aired and stayed that way the rest of the week. What could ever be better that seeing pretty much all of them together end one roof with ultimately the Master himself (although the first time around I had no clue who he was, having never actually seen his picture at that point). It's a major shame no network decided to make it an annual tradition. Perhaps if some of us started writing in now, we could encourage whoever owns the rights to bring us a 20th anniversary special edition next year with cast commentaries and similar features (or if this is too short a time frame aim for a 25th special edition in 2012; maybe that would give them enough time to sort out the music rights)

2. Emmett Otter's Jug Band Christmas. One of the reasons I'm most glad we had HBO back in the day. This was probably the one I looked forward to seeing each year the most, and in this age of unending cynicism, the story's innocence and heart can still strike a powerful chord. The soundtrack is one of the best ever made for a holiday special (that could be another task of ours; convince the JHC to release that as an album for next Christmas), and the character designs win grade A marks. And of Kermit's many Muppet special introductions, I rate this as his very best (his bike skills might be better if he ever bothered to look where he was going)

3. Christmas Eve on Sesame Street. Hands-down one of if not the highest points of the whole series, one that PBS should return to the air Mr. Hooper or no Mr. Hooper. It would be hard for me to go to sleep at night after watching it, as images of Oscar's ungraceful exit from the rink would have me in hysterics past midnight. Some of those responses the kids gave Kermit were intriguing, my favorite being the one where Santa sneaks in on Thanksgiving and hides in the laundry room for a month. Given the state of inner city New York, I can't help wondering today if Big Bird would be exposing himself to gang shootouts up on the roof, but no matter, he does eventually find the heart of Christmas regardless. Which leads me to...

4. The Bells of Fraggle Rock. Another high water point in a Henson production, and the best use of Cantus throughout the series. It did freak me out as a four-year-old for Gobo to come back and find everyone frozen solid (not really that big a deal if Doc were to have a blow dryer, which I do remember seeing at one point, and enough extention cords readily available). Again, the same message that had been said winningly 6 years prior comes to the front with the same heart--and what better way than by a Henson character. It's true; it doesn't matter if Santa physically exists or not (and then again, we never do know...), he lives in all of us as long as the gift of compassion lives in all of us.

5. It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie. More or less here by default, as I haven't seen Muppet Christmas Carol (I know, blasphemy on my part!) or John Denver and the Muppets: a Christmas Together yet (has the show itself ever had a commercial release?), and they would probably rank a little higher than this, but among those I have seen I do put IAVMMCM above the Christmas Toy. The jokes by and large do work (love that whole bit where Fozzie ends up looking like the Grinch) and there is a sense of poignancy to Kermit never have existed--and that the production was Jerry Nelson's swansong. Shame Doc Hopper couldn't have popped up in person; I always he's out there just waiting to enact his revenge. I think Jim would have been fairly proud of it.

 

[CensoredAlso]

1. The Christmas Toy - As I said in another thread somewhere, I used to own this special and watched it all the time. I love the themes of friendship and never giving up. I was also a little scared of it with the dark hallway shots and toys being frozen. But looking back, it made you care more about the characters. It wasn't just "Oh yay, Happy Christmas special!"

2. Christmas Eve on Sesame Street - This was a Christmas tradition, something we watched almost every year. It was my only opportunity to see Mr. Hooper since he died before I started watching Sesame Street. I also see the story as a way of introducing kids to the concept of faith. Big Bird learns that he can still believe in something, even when there's no direct proof.

3. Emmett Otter's Jugband Christmas - I remember seeing Emmett Otter when
I was young thinking it was "too adult" for me lol. Seeing it now, I think the music is wonderful, it's all so varied, from "Ain't No Hole In the Washtub" to the "Riverbottom Nightmare Band". Emmett and Ma learn sometimes you have to take a chance. And Ma's song, "Our World" is very inspirational, as is "When the Mountain Touches the Valley". Plus, the special was so ambitious for its time using radio controlled puppets and more elaborate sets.

4. The Bells of Fraggle Rock - Similar to Christmas Eve on Sesame Street, this special is about having faith, even when it seems far fetched.

5. Muppet Family Christmas - This has a lot of nice Muppet moments with all the gang together. My favorite is Bert and Ernie "small talking" with Doc.

6. A Very Merry Muppet Christmas - While I don't think this is of the highest quality, I was moved when Kermit realized he shouldn't have wished he was never born. And I personally thought Whoopi and David Arquette did a good job, hehe.

7. John Denver and the Muppets - Don't get me wrong, this special is sweet and has great music, but the Muppets are barely in it!

8. Muppet Christmas Carol - It has great songs, but it's just lacking the Muppet spirit.

 

[Ilikemuppets]

AVMMCM is my favorite Christmas special.