On this day, 30 years ago today...

[Schfifty]

...the first episode of an outstanding cartoon that Jim Henson created was broadcast. That's right. Muppet Babies is now thirty years old! And yet, it doesn't seem that old...

To celebrate the show's 30th anniversary, I'm going to watch several episodes this week, including the first episode (Noisy Neighbors). What do you folks plan to do in favor of the show?

 

[Rugratskid]

Wow... 30 years. I actually have a plan to remaster EVERY Muppet Babies episode in the next 5 or so years; I have 3/4 of the Season 01 episodes from official PAL VHS, so that's a good start.

 

[VP Weirdo]

It's amazing I now! I've been meaning to post a list of my favorite episodes on this site for a long time...but I've also had an outline for an essay in my head summarizing the layers of intrigue I get from my number one pick. Problem is I'm not sure where to post once I've finished since it's bound to be a little too long for a forum even after much condensing.
Still this give does me the kick in the pants I needed to get started.
So a happy anniversary to all!

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Wow- The 30th. anniversary of Muppet Babies airing! It doesn't seem that long ago when it was brand new and still on the air. LOVE this cartoon! Still one of my all time favorites- Maybe I'll pull out all my Muppet Babies VHS tapes and try to watch all of them. Anyway, here's something related that might be fun to watch- a commercial for the Muppet Babies books back from when the show was still brand new and on the air in the 1980s.

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Here are a few other videos Muppet Babies fans should enjoy.

("We Love Cartoons")

And where it all started- from "The Muppets Take Manhattan"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=967_ROjG2WU
("I'm Gonna Always Love You" music video)

And check out this commercial for a Muppet Babies Live show!
[URL='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3aPEm8gMLQAnd']https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U3aPEm8gMLQ

And some live action Robin and Kermit footage from one of the Muppet Babies VHS tapes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yFciGuF-Ank

And the short-lived spinoff version- the intro to Little Muppet Monsters[/URL]

And these videos are pretty cool- fanmade live action versions of the Muppet Babies theme song-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDaK41SU87Q

and

and of course- the classic intro for the Muppet Babies series.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9z9FcCRj3s


And now-
Go bye bye!

 

[BeakerJanice]

30 years!I'm going to watch many many muppet episodes,include my favorite episode ,,who's afraid of the big,bad dark?"

 

[Drtooth]

I've always felt that the Muppet Babies was what younger audience cartoon shows (specifically the preschool to first grade set) should strive for. There are a lot of cartoons made in the 80's for that specific viewership that really don't hold up and become saccharine and painful. Like the early DIC episodes of Care Bears (I really dislike the show, but I'll admit the Nelvana ones are actually not terrible, especially with Mr. Beastly and the wonderful job John Stocker did voicing him). Or rather the Millenial kid's shows featuring Dora shouting slowly to find some background Maguffin only to answer her own question.

The show has a great balance of young kid friendly moments with some great aspects of an adventure cartoon thrown in, full of hip (at the time) references when cartoons were just slavishly doing bad Indiana Jones clones. They did it right here... also Ducktales which Indiana Jones technically stole from first (the iconic rolling boulder was introduced in an old Scrooge McDuck comic, the Indie movies homaged those aspects).

I personally like the older episodes over the newer ones and Toei's animation over AKOM's (they did a much better job on Fraggle Rock, though).

 

[GonzoLeaper]

I've always felt that the Muppet Babies was what younger audience cartoon shows (specifically the preschool to first grade set) should strive for. There are a lot of cartoons made in the 80's for that specific viewership that really don't hold up and become saccharine and painful. Like the early DIC episodes of Care Bears (I really dislike the show, but I'll admit the Nelvana ones are actually not terrible, especially with Mr. Beastly and the wonderful job John Stocker did voicing him). Or rather the Millenial kid's shows featuring Dora shouting slowly to find some background Maguffin only to answer her own question.

The show has a great balance of young kid friendly moments with some great aspects of an adventure cartoon thrown in, full of hip (at the time) references when cartoons were just slavishly doing bad Indiana Jones clones. They did it right here... also Ducktales which Indiana Jones technically stole from first (the iconic rolling boulder was introduced in an old Scrooge McDuck comic, the Indie movies homaged those aspects).

I personally like the older episodes over the newer ones and Toei's animation over AKOM's (they did a much better job on Fraggle Rock, though).

Indiana Jones homaged a lot of things in the movies. (Gunga Din, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, '30s movie serials in general, etc.) and yeah- DuckTales has definitely been around longer in the comics. (and DuckTales paid Indy homage in "DuckTales: The Movie- Treasure of the Lost Lamp")
And I definitely agree that Muppet Babies is a great show that cartoons today would do well to emulate (in terms of quality, not meaning to blatantly rip it off, of course.)

 

[Daffyfan4ever]

...the first episode of an outstanding cartoon that Jim Henson created was broadcast. That's right. Muppet Babies is now thirty years old! And yet, it doesn't seem that old...

To celebrate the show's 30th anniversary, I'm going to watch several episodes this week, including the first episode (Noisy Neighbors). What do you folks plan to do in favor of the show?

And they're still babies after all these years.

BTW, I loved the live action intro, GonzoLeaper. It's a shame that they never made Baby Skeeter, Baby Animal, or even Nanny in puppet form. Yet I do recall seeing a calendar somewhere that has a puppet Baby Skeeter.

 

[Rugratskid]

It's a shame that they never made Baby Skeeter, Baby Animal, or even Nanny in puppet form.

Baby Animal was in A Muppet Family Christmas as a puppet, so he was made. Baby Skeeter was probably just a poster.