Your Muppet Canon

[Mo Frackle]

Yes, we all know the Muppets have never really had a canon. Yet a lot of people seem to have their own theories about how the Muppets met, when and how certain characters were hired, where Muppet Babies would fall in, etc. So here's your chance to come up with your own theory about the Muppets' history.

Well, Kermit mentions in TMM that events taking place are "sort of approximately what happened". Maybe on his way to Hollywood, Kermit met Jim Henson, and did Sam and Friends and other projects with him for awhile. And maybe Kermit decided to stay with Henson for awhile, eventually moving to Sesame Street.

Then around the second season of SS, Kermit continued onto Hollywood. How he met the rest of the gang was probably pretty much the same as in the movie. Though I don't think Scooter would have been the EM's road manager. His hiring didn't take place until TMS.

And Kermit already knew Rowlf from Henson, so it's possible that after SS took off, Rowlf went out on his own, eventually reuniting with Kermit.

I'm not too sure where Bunsen and Beaker would fall in. It's possible that neither were hired until TMS (and Beaker came in because Bunsen needed an assistant).

Once they made it out to Hollywood, Kermit got in touch with Jim, and together the two developed TMS.

MB was based on an idea used in TMTM, and never actually happened.

More to come soon, hopefully.

Anyhow, any other theories?

And as for Skeeter... maybe she never existed? Okay, maybe that's going too far. I suppose I would go with the 'getting lost in the amazon' story.

 

[Ignatz]

Do you take the Gonzo is an alien thing from Muppets from Space as canon? My theory MCC and MTI are fictional works that the Muppets played parts like actors in as part of the rich and famous contract.

 

[beatnikchick300]

Do you take the Gonzo is an alien thing from Muppets from Space as canon? My theory MCC and MTI are fictional works that the Muppets played parts like actors in as part of the rich and famous contract.

As far as I'm concerned, MFS was all a dream (except they all do live together in my canon). The idea of MCC and MTI being fictional works and part of the rich and famous contract makes sense, though.

 

[Slackbot]

In my mind, all of the movies and shows are performances. They're based more or less on reality--some more, some less. TMS may or may not be "what actually happened", but even if it is, they would spice it up to make it more entertaining because they are entertainers.

I have a canon that I use for my fanfic which deals with which events are real and which aren't, but for that I've picked & chosen the bits I liked and wanted to incorporate and pushed aside the rest. For example, Skeeter is real, but Muppet Babies wasn't. Fraggles are real, and as for time frames and aging, don't ask.

 

[RedPiggy]

*cracks knuckles*
My fic universe canon, based on my own theories about Muppet canon:

1. Dinosaurs and Dark Crystal take place roughly the same time frame. In Dinosaurs, there are no Muppets, no Muppety fruit/veggies, but there are creatures of various types, as well as a primitive rodent species akin to Philo and Gunge. The problem that I see is that on several occasions, both on the show and in commercials, it is made clear Dinosaurs is just a show, which begs the question if Dinosaurs exist in the current timeline and just made a show about the past, especially since many facets of the vagueness of paleontology are brought up, such as gender and weight issues (none of the weights mentioned are the least bit realistic).

2. Around 500-600 years ago, more muppety creatures begin popping up, especially from Fraggle Rock and the various worlds it connects to.

3. By the time of the modern Muppets, we also have sentient fruit/veggies and other various sentient creatures/objects/whatevers.

4. Kermit was born in the swamp. For a brief time a very young Kermit was cared for by a nanny at a day care center run out of a woman's house, where he met other "Muppet babies". Upon getting older they went their separate ways and largely forgot most of what happened. Kid Kermit was back at the swamp where he lived until an agent inspired him to get into show business. Kermit met Rowlf and they helped develop an educational show on Sesame Street, using the street's inhabitants as characters and funded mostly by the only rich guy around, Count von Count. Begging for money on PBS became more of an issue as the franchise grew, but by that point Kermit wanted more and headed to Hollywood and meeting the TMS Muppets, some of whom he had already met as a youngster but forgot about. The movies and TMS chronicle the projects under the Rich and Famous contract.

5. Muppets Tonight follows the hiatus brought on by the Jim Henson Hour, but it still falls short and pretty much nothing happens until Rachel Bitterman and Tex Richman screw with the Muppets resulting in the protection of the Theater (in New York) and the return of the Studios (where a televised TMS occurred separately as well as the movies).

 

[Piggy The Frog]

I think Muppet Babies really happened, in a way. In MFC, which in my mind is canon, there's an old home movie of the babies. The cartoon probably came about when, after realizing that they actually did know each other as babies, the Muppets wrote stories about the adventures that they might have had. Wanting to share these stories with the world, they got someone to make a cartoon about them. I'm not sure about Skeeter, though. Maybe she was with them at the daycare centre, then lost touch with everyone except Scooter.

 

[robodog]

It's kind of hard to cobble together any kind of Canon with the Muppets. I like to think the events of The Muppet Movie happened but after that I don't know. I know I don't think Gonzo is really an alien. That was more of a what if type scenario. I also don't think Muppet Babies happened. It was more of an alternate universe thing.

 

[Mo Frackle]

I also think that MFS didn't actually happen (despite what the audio commentary indicates; besides, later Gonzo commented on MFS saying that Frank Oz told him it was just a movie). I also think of the movies (including the most recent one) as the gang acting in movies, rather than the events actually happening.

 

[Scooterforever]

Well, TMM must be considered canon, at least certain parts, as events in that film are referenced in The Muppets (2011). As for the other Muppet films, I agree with Slackbot and Mo Frackle that they are more like 'performances' by the Muppets and not actually canon, especially since they often contradict one another (e.g. GMC and MTM).

I wish they'd have a canonical explanation for certain things, such as Scooter's complete absence from Muppet films/shows for a full decade despite his prominence among the original cast (in real life it was due to Richard Hunt's tragic death, but they continued having Statler and Beaker in shows/ films, so why not Scooter?). I'd like to think that when the original show ended, Scooter became a gopher at various computer/ technology companies, reuniting with the Muppets occasionally for get-togethers such as Christmas celebrations (Muppet Family Christmas) or annual vacations (Muppets At Walt Disney). While maintaining friendships with the Muppets, he no longer worked with them, explaining why he was absent from MCC, MTI, and Muppets Tonight. His 'gophering' with computer companies finally led to great success when he got a job at Google in the late 90's, until he reunited with the Muppets again in 2011.

 

[Vincent L]

http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20060320162238/muppet/images/6/60/ZuchiniBros.JPG