Muppet Musicians of Bremen

[Sweetumsgood]

I am looking for some old muppet specials.

Post Ed-Sullivan, but pre-Muppet Show.

One was the Muppet Musicians of Bremmen.


Does anyone know about these, and what happened to them?

 

[anathema]

There were four: "Hey Cinderella!", "The Frog Prince", "The Muppet Musicians of Bremen" and "Emmet Otter's Jug-band Christmas" (this one was shot during production of TMS). They were all available on VHS, Betamax, CED VideoDisc and laserdisc in the early 80's. Copies can be found on eBay fairly easily.

"The Frog Prince" and "Hey Cinderella!" were re-released on VHS in the early 90's, and are easily obtainable through eBay. "Emmet Otter's Jug-band Christmas" is currently available on VHS and DVD, although this is a re-edited version - see http://www.muppetcentral.com/help/faq/collectibles.shtml#10 for details of the changes. "Musicians" has not been re-released.

 

[MuppetDanny]

They were all available on VHS, Betamax, CED VideoDisc and laserdisc in the early 80's

What's the differance to CED VideoDisc and laserdisc ? Aren't their both the same ?

 

[anathema]

What's the differance to CED VideoDisc and laserdisc ? Aren't their both the same ?

Heh...nope! Despite what several confused eBay sellers seem to think, they are completely different technologies.

Laserdisc is an optical format, much like CD and DVD, although it's actually analogue, not digital. CED is a capacitance format - it works on a similar principle to the vinyl record, except the groove is much much finer. A CED disc comes in a large plastic caddy; the disc is about 12" in diameter, and if you were to open the caddy and extract the disc, you'd be looking at what appears to be an LP covered in a fine oil slick.

CED was intended to compete with laserdisc; I believe it lost out due to technical issues. Much like vinyl, it wears out with repeated playing, as there is physical contact between the stylus and the disc. The stylus itself also has to be replaced periodically. Laserdisc does not have these problems. Picture quality is reputedly comparable to laserdisc. So far as I know, only RCA manufactured the discs and players, and when they collapsed, that was that for the format, although it had been dying for a few years by that point.

Further information - and a complete list of all CED titles - can be found here: http://www.cedmagic.com/selectavision.html


There were nine Muppet titles:

- The Muppet Movie, both PAL and NTSC
- The Great Muppet Caper, both PAL and NTSC; also an NTSC release with surround sound
- The Muppets Take Manhattan, NTSC only
- Tales from Muppetland, NTSC; this contained Emmet Otter and Musicians
- Tales from Muppetland Vol 2, NTSC; this contained Hey Cinderella and Frog Prince
- Fraggle Songs, NTSC


I have all of them except the surround version of GMC, and Fraggle Songs