Muppet censorship

[upsaly]

Hello, this is my first post here. I have so greatly enjoyed reading all the comments and taking trips down memory lane of one of my favorite shows when I was growing up.

Here is my question ... when did they start censoring the Muppet movies, in particular, the all-time classic "Muppet Movie"? A friend of mine purchased one of the newer releases of the movie for her children and there are lines edited out of the film, like Kermit asking for a grasshopper. Does anyone know approximately when they censored this material out?

Are there any uncensored versions out there anymore? My friend would love to find the original version of the movie. Thanks for all the help!

 

[David French]

Hello, this is my first post here. I have so greatly enjoyed reading all the comments and taking trips down memory lane of one of my favorite shows when I was growing up.

Here is my question ... when did they start censoring the Muppet movies, in particular, the all-time classic "Muppet Movie"? A friend of mine purchased one of the newer releases of the movie for her children and there are lines edited out of the film, like Kermit asking for a grasshopper. Does anyone know approximately when they censored this material out?

Are there any uncensored versions out there anymore? My friend would love to find the original version of the movie. Thanks for all the help!

I don't recall anything about the films being censored. From memory, the grasshopper line is in the soundtrack but unless it's in the original UK edit of the film, I don't particularly remember it being in the "bona fide" version.

Can you give some other examples of censored lines?

 

[Cannibal]

I just looked up The Muppet Movie on Amazon because I seem to have lost my old copy. Several reviewers say that the entire song "I hope that somethin better comes along" has been completely omitted from the latest DVD release because of references to alcohol.
So I came here and did a search for "muppet movie censorship" and this is the only thread that came up.
Can anyone verify this? Does anyone have the Kermit's 50th Anniversary edition of The Muppet Movie?
Please let me know if this scene has been completely removed. I want to buy the movie again but I have no intention of supporting censorship.
Thank you.

 

[Drtooth]

I don't recall anything about the films being censored. From memory, the grasshopper line is in the soundtrack but unless it's in the original UK edit of the film, I don't particularly remember it being in the "bona fide" version.

Can you give some other examples of censored lines?

Certain Soundtrack versions of songs contain lines that weren't used in the movie. Take, for instance, Kermit's line "Your song is getting better, Fozzie." in Movin' Right Along. didn't occur in the movie, and caused confusion. As far as I'm concerned, I never heard the Grasshopper reference at all in the film, and didn't even know about it until I listened to the sound track version.... unless my memory is off, the soundtrack even has more lines and an extra verse or two.

Plus, if they were editing out alcoholic references, why would they leave the bottle of Champagne scene in?

The only occurrence of censorship on a home video release I know of is the Sony released Muppets Take Manhattan that remove's Animal's panting in one scene for stupid reasons that it could be taken out of context (in the way certain scenes in Disney movies are). It makes a sequence when a silent Animal chomps his mouth... actually making ti funnier... but not on purpose.

 

[EmMonster]

I just looked up The Muppet Movie on Amazon because I seem to have lost my old copy. Several reviewers say that the entire song "I hope that somethin better comes along" has been completely omitted from the latest DVD release because of references to alcohol.
So I came here and did a search for "muppet movie censorship" and this is the only thread that came up.
Can anyone verify this? Does anyone have the Kermit's 50th Anniversary edition of The Muppet Movie?
Please let me know if this scene has been completely removed. I want to buy the movie again but I have no intention of supporting censorship.
Thank you.

I'm pretty sure that's the version I have, and "I hope that somethin' better comes along" is definitely still there.

 

[muppetperson]

There are a lot of muppet censored issues, basically brought about by copyright clearance, such as songs being omitted on the Muppet Show DVDs because Disney couldnt get the release for them, and other Productions under Henson, Such as Emmet otter's Jug Band Christmas, removing the Kermit scenes.

 

[David French]

I just looked up The Muppet Movie on Amazon because I seem to have lost my old copy. Several reviewers say that the entire song "I hope that somethin better comes along" has been completely omitted from the latest DVD release because of references to alcohol.
So I came here and did a search for "muppet movie censorship" and this is the only thread that came up.
Can anyone verify this? Does anyone have the Kermit's 50th Anniversary edition of The Muppet Movie?
Please let me know if this scene has been completely removed. I want to buy the movie again but I have no intention of supporting censorship.
Thank you.

I don't have a copy but again I've not read anything about the movies being censored. I'm guessing that the reviewer got confused because the whole song doesn't appear in the movie.

 

[anathema]

I don't recall anything about the films being censored. From memory, the grasshopper line is in the soundtrack but unless it's in the original UK edit of the film, I don't particularly remember it being in the "bona fide" version.

Can you give some other examples of censored lines?

It's not. The original cut of the film does contain approximately three minutes of extra material, including an extra verse of "I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along", but that line is unique to the version of the song on the soundtrack album.

The alleged "Manhattan" cut may stem from the fact that there are two different mixes of the soundtrack - the original stereo mix and a mono mix. The latter is the more common, as for some inexplicable reason it's the one used on all the DVD releases. The stereo version appears on the original 1980s VHS and laserdisc releases.


Music-clearance problems aside (which is not "censorship", btw - censoring can only be carried out by or at the behest of the government), the only instance I'm aware of where a Muppet production was cut by a country's censor is the UK release of "Treasure Island", which was edited slightly for language.

 

[David French]

It's not. The original cut of the film does contain approximately three minutes of extra material, including an extra verse of "I Hope That Somethin' Better Comes Along", but that line is unique to the version of the song on the soundtrack album.

The alleged "Manhattan" cut may stem from the fact that there are two different mixes of the soundtrack - the original stereo mix and a mono mix. The latter is the more common, as for some inexplicable reason it's the one used on all the DVD releases. The stereo version appears on the original 1980s VHS and laserdisc releases.


Music-clearance problems aside (which is not "censorship", btw - censoring can only be carried out by or at the behest of the government), the only instance I'm aware of where a Muppet production was cut by a country's censor is the UK release of "Treasure Island", which was edited slightly for language.

According to IMDB the shot of the sailor smashing the bottle was cut when Muppet Movie aired in NZ for the first time.

 

[ohtherain]

Weird stuff like this happens a lot. The soundtrack cut of "The Magic Store" in TMM is a lot different than the movie cut. The background music is longer, so is the timpani roll at the beginning of the "Rainbow Connection" excerpt, and Fozzie says "I've noticed you're watching too" instead of Kermit. Some edits are really choppy in this version too.