Found new stuff in The Great Muppet Caper

[mupcollector1]

So it was Joe Raposo who did the music for the movie right? That's the guy who wrote the theme for Sesame and some of the early songs there right? And the original Muppet show theme for Sex & Violence. I think I got a special that I got from a tape trade years ago from 1989. I think Christopher Cerf mentioned there was a story how Joe got into Frank Sanatra's car, using the car phone inside and calling everyone he knew with it "HEY GUYS, GUESS WHERE I'M AT?" lol Funny story I remember

 

[mupcollector1]

Yeah, I'm in my early 20s as well... I guess some fans aren't as observational as others I've supposed.

But yes, there are some minor score changes here and there... MTM is the biggest example of this, such as after Kermit and Piggy are pronounced frog and pig, and in fact, in some versions of the movie, Animal's "BAD MAN! BAD MAN!" yells are completely removed.

Right exactly, where can I find a version that has that in there. It's not on the columbia dvd.

I think I'm more observational visually then I am dialog. To catch most of these things, I kept rewinding or moving backward and analyze things. It's a lot of fun for me. lol But not to be rude, but I prefer to go back to the main topic.

Jerry Juhl is just amazing with his writing. I wonder how come he didn't work on Muppets Tonight? It's sad he passed. I think Muppets From Space was the last thing he wrote for The Muppets. Didn't he retire shortly after?

 

[D'Snowth]

Right exactly, where can I find a version that has that in there. It's not on the columbia dvd.

I think if you just happened to have taped it off a television broadcast from the 1990s, lol.

I've also noticed recent versions of MTM has WAY too much contrast in the picture, it looks way too dark in many parts... the end of "Saying Goodbye", the faces of the other characters look almost invisible.

 

[mupcollector1]

I think if you just happened to have taped it off a television broadcast from the 1990s, lol.

I've also noticed recent versions of MTM has WAY too much contrast in the picture, it looks way too dark in many parts... the end of "Saying Goodbye", the faces of the other characters look almost invisible.

I've read on Amazon that it's on Blu-ray now. Some people said the blu-ray isn't that great. But I think I still might get it once I own a Blu-ray player and HDTV.


But one of the things that I found sort of confusing, like I mentioned. Oscar is copyrighted Children's Television Workshop. But they didn't own the Sesame Muppets until the mid 2000s.

 

[D'Snowth]

It's like that in TMM, with a courtesy disclaimer for Big Bird as well... I guess they wanted to give CTW some credit as well.

 

[Mo Frackle]

Really? I could have sworn the Columbia DVD had Animal's "Bad man!". I thought it was the Columbia VHS that put it on mute (and the Tri-Star music was also put on mute). This was the version shown on ABC Family back around 2001/2002, which I still have. When they showed it on ABC Family, the scene with Joan Rivers was removed, as were a few tiny bits from the opening scene.

 

[mupcollector1]

Really? I could have sworn the Columbia DVD had Animal's "Bad man!". I thought it was the Columbia VHS that put it on mute (and the Tri-Star music was also put on mute). This was the version shown on ABC Family back around 2001/2002, which I still have. When they showed it on ABC Family, the scene with Joan Rivers was removed, as were a few tiny bits from the opening scene.

What? They removed the Joan Rivers scene? That's one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Joan and Miss Piggy making a complete mess with the make up. lol If Animal was in the scene, they would have made a complete mess of the whole entire mall. lol But of course it won't work in the plot. lol
It was that scene and Scooter working at the Movie Theater (wasn't it a parody of Jaws 3D)? Love what The Swedish Chef was doing. lol Lew Zeland throwing his boomerang fish and some landing on members of the audience. I'm sure he wanted to do that for Muppet Vision 3D and Kermit probably said no. lol I made another funny

 

[Mo Frackle]

What? They removed the Joan Rivers scene? That's one of my favorite scenes in the movie. Joan and Miss Piggy making a complete mess with the make up. lol If Animal was in the scene, they would have made a complete mess of the whole entire mall. lol But of course it won't work in the plot. lol
It was that scene and Scooter working at the Movie Theater (wasn't it a parody of Jaws 3D)? Love what The Swedish Chef was doing. lol Lew Zeland throwing his boomerang fish and some landing on members of the audience. I'm sure he wanted to do that for Muppet Vision 3D and Kermit probably said no. lol I made another funny

Yeah, they probably cut it for timesake. As for Lew Zeland, I can totally see a repeat of the theater scenes from TMM.

: Hey, Mister the Frog, is it okay for me an my fish to be your 3D movie?
: I told you, Lew, that's not how 3D works.

Incidentally, ABC's (not ABC Family, but THE ABC) airing of MTI was really interesting. In fact, I still have it. Besides a few minor scenes (mainly during the scene after the fire at the inn, the scene where the gang first arrive on the ship, the arrival of Captain Smollett, and the intro to the "Cabin Fever" song) were shortened for timesake. The "Something Better" song was cut entirely (though the intro music is still used). One really weird edit involved the alcohol scene (which was removed entirely). In the ABC version, after Jim refuses to give over the map to Kermit, we hear Silver knocking on the door and Kermit looking towards the door.

It then cuts straight to the night sequence. Because Jim Hawkins mentions the previous scene ("I'm sorry your present didn't work out, Long John"), this had to be edited somehow. Personally, I think it would have made sense to just mute Jim's line (as his back his to the camera when he says it), but instead ABC decided to overdub the line with a new one: "And then he just told us all to get out". Not sure who dubbed the line, but it clearly wasn't Kevin Bishop (in fact, it appears to be an American voice).

 

[D'Snowth]

It then cuts straight to the night sequence. Because Jim Hawkins mentions the previous scene ("I'm sorry your present didn't work out, Long John"), this had to be edited somehow. Personally, I think it would have made sense to just mute Jim's line (as his back his to the camera when he says it), but instead ABC decided to overdub the line with a new one: "And then he just told us all to get out". Not sure who dubbed the line, but it clearly wasn't Kevin Bishop (in fact, it appears to be an American voice).

Bwahaha! There are so many occasions where movies have to dub lines for network television broadcasts, and sometimes, the dubbed lines sound NOTHING like the original actor's voice... like one example that I can sort of repeat on this forum was the beginning of the dance number from Good Burger, where George Clinton's line, "Hoo! That music sucks!" is dubbed to, "Woo that music stinks!"... the dub sounded more like somebody faking a really deep voice.

 

[CensoredAlso]

When they showed it on ABC Family, the scene with Joan Rivers was removed, as were a few tiny bits from the opening scene.

Doesn't surprise me; ABC Family is pretty brutal when it comes to cutting scenes for time. I learned this during their 25 days of Christmas programming, lol.