I've been meaning to post this for ages now...
This is the complete and (hopefully) definitive list of differences between the original 1977 edit ("Edit1") and the later re-edit of the show ("Edit2").
After the opening titles:
Edit1:
Underscored
Kermit (v/o): "Our story begins on a chilly day in late autumn. Emmet Otter and his ma were headed up the river, rowing and singing."
(song starts)
Edit2:
Just the underscore
After "Bathing Suit":
Edit1:
Emmet: "Say Ma, that sounded pretty nice!"
Ma: "Nice? I should say it did, Emmet. Why, you can hear the fish applaudin'!"
Emmet: "Oh...I think you're right! Maybe I should pass the hat!"
Ma: "Pa used to say, 'If you pass the hat to fish, all you get is a wet hat!'"
(both laugh)
Ma: "Still...I suppose the fish have just about as much money as any of us this year..."
Emmet: "Couldn't have much less. Ma?"
Ma: "Mmm?"
Emmet: "What are we gonna do about Christmas this year?"
Ma: "Ohh...better lean into that starboard oar - there's old Gretchen Fox on her dock waitin' for her laundry. Ooh, she looks friendly as a pole-cat today!"
Gretchen: "Well, it's about time you got here!"
Ma: "Same time we always get here."
Gretchen: "Yes. You're late every week. And last week when I opened the laundry parcel, there was a scorch-mark on one of the sheets!"
Ma: "Ohh, well, maybe I can knock off a little bit on the price...I, er...?"
Gretchen: "You certainly shall. Remind me of that when I pay you - next week. Ta."
Ma: "Well, I got the bill right he...here - and since it's three days 'til Christmas I'd really appreciate it if...you'd...fall off the dock."
(Emmet laughs)
Emmet: "Way to go, Ma!"
(Ma laughs)
Ma: "Yeah, well sometimes you gotta talk tough to these people."
Will: "Yup, that's tellin' her, Alice!"
Ma: "Mornin', Will Possum!"
Emmet: "Mornin'!"
Ma: "I didn't see you sitting there!"
Edit2:
Emmet: "Say Ma, that sounded pretty nice!"
Ma: "Better lean into that starboard oar - there's old Gretchen Fox on her dock waitin' for her laundry. Ooh, she looks friendly as a pole-cat today!"
Gretchen: "Well, it's about time you got here!"
Ma: "Same time we always get here."
Gretchen: "Yes. You're late every week. And last week when I opened the laundry parcel, there was a scorch-mark on one of the sheets!"
Ma: "Ohh, well, maybe I can knock off a little bit on the price...I, er...?"
Gretchen: "You certainly shall. Remind me of that when I pay you - next week."
Ma: "Well, I got the bill right he...here - and since it's three days 'til Christmas I'd really appreciate it if..."
Gretchen: "Ta."
Will: "Yup, that's tellin' her, Alice!"
Ma: "Mornin', Will Possum!"
Emmet: "Mornin'!"
Ma: "I didn't see you sitting there!"
In Waterville:
Edit1:
Emmet: "Well, Pa *should* have gotten rich on snake-oil. But there just aren't enough..."
Emmet & Ma: "...people who want to oil a snake!"
(both laugh)
Emmet: "Wait, now! Would ya look at that!"
Ma: "What?"
Emmet: "That swell guitar!"
Edit2:
Emmet: "Well, Pa *should* have gotten rich on snake-oil. But there just aren't enough..."
Emmet & Ma: "...people who want to oil a snake!"
(both laugh)
Emmet: "Oh, Pa used to always say that when business was bad..."
Ma: "Yup...he said it a lot!"
Emmet: "Wait, now! Would ya look at that!"
Ma: "What?"
Emmet: "That swell guitar!"
On the way home:
Edit1:
Emmet: "Well, at least there ain't no hole in the washtub!"
Ma: "Oooh! There ain't no hole in the washtub! That's what you call your basic keepin'-warm-while-you're-rowin'-home kinda song."
Emmet: "I'm rowin'. Where's the singin'?"
(song starts)
NB: Ma's line is *very* out of sync with the puppet's mouth movements - so much so that it's possible that a) this is why it was cut from Edit2; and b) it may in fact have been a different line of dialog to that performed on-set
Edit2:
Emmet: "Well, at least there ain't no hole in the washtub!"
(song starts)
"Ain't No Hole in the Washtub":
Edit1:
Ma: "...I'll be there to treat you to a soothing back-rub!"
Emmet: "When there ain't no hole in the washtub!"
(instrumental)
Wendel: "Hey, Emmet!"
Edit2:
Ma: "...I'll be there to treat you to a soothing back-rub!"
Emmet: "When there ain't no hole in the washtub!"
(instrumental)
Ma: "Lunch with the upper-crust, Dinner at the club, High on the hog when there...
Emmet & Ma: "...ain't no hole in the washtub!"
Emmet: "Watermelon gardens, Berries on a shrub, Cookies in the kitchen..."
Emmet & Ma: "...when there ain't no hole in the washtub!"
(instrumental)
Wendel: "Hey, Emmet!"
Start of the second day:
Edit1:
(underscore)
Kermit (v/o): "One morning, Frogtown Hollow woke to discover winter had arrived, with ice on the river and snow in the fields. Emmet did his chores, not knowing that it would be a very special day."
Edit2:
(underscore)
Deciding to enter the contest:
Edit1:
Emmet: "We *would* make a good jug-band...but to put a hole in Ma's washtub...!"
(Emmet returns home)
Emmet: "Ma! I'm home! I cut the Christmas Branch!"
Edit2:
Emmet: "We *would* make a good jug-band...but to put a hole in Ma's washtub...!"
Ma: "He sure would like that guitar..."
Emmet: "Nothing would make her happier than having a good old piano again..."
Ma: "I just don't know..."
Emmet: "I just can't decide..."
(Emmet returns home)
Emmet: "Ma! I'm home! I cut the Christmas Branch!"
After rehearsing "Barbecue":
Edit1:
(the Riverbottom gang ride off on their snowmobiles)
Wendel: "What was *that* all about?"
(the shot pans left and dissolves into a left-panning shot leading up to the Town Hall)
(underscore)
Kermit (v/o): "And so the evening came for the talent contest."
Harrison (v/o): "Er...contestants, contestants, I'd like you all to go to your dressing rooms now please if you would..."
Edit2:
(the Riverbottom gang ride off on their snowmobiles)
Wendel: "What was *that* all about?"
(fade out)
(underscore)
(fade in on a left-panning aerial shot of Waterville, which dissolves to the left-panning shot leading up to the Town Hall)
Harrison (v/o): "Er...contestants, contestants, I'd like you all to go to your dressing rooms now please if you would..."
After Yancy Woodchuck sings "Barbeque":
Edit1:
(cut to Will and Harrison backstage)
Will: "Better fill, Harrison, we're off to a shaky start."
(Harrison nods)
(fade out)
(fade in on the alley where the boys are rehearsing)
Edit2:
(cut to Will backstage closing the curtains as Yancy takes a bow)
Harrison (v/o): "Welcome if you will, George and Melissa Rabbit."
(the curtains open and the rabbits do their act)
Will (to himself): "Well...it's gonna be a long night..."
(cut to the alley where the boys are rehearsing)
In the Riverside Rest:
Edit1:
(the song ends and the camera pans right to Kermit)
Kermit: "And so, Ma and Emmet and the boys started to make a little regular money and a lot of really fine music. And from then on, Christmas was a little merrier on the river."
(fade out)
(fade in on Ma and the boys walking home, with soft underscore)
Ma: "I sure enjoyed our first night's work!"
Edit2:
(the song ends and the shot dissolves from Ma and the boys on-stage to Ma and the boys walking home, with the song's instrumental as underscore)
Ma: "I sure enjoyed our first night's work!"
"When The River Meets The Sea (reprise)":
Edit1:
Ma and the boys: "Though our minds be filled with questions, In our hearts we'll understand, When the river meets the sea. When the river meets the almighty sea."
(instrumental)
Edit2:
Ma and the boys: "Though our minds be filled with questions, In our hearts we'll understand, When the river meets the sea. Patience my brothers, And patience my sons; In that sweet and final hour, Truth and justice will be done. Like a baby when it is sleeping, In its loving mother's arms; What a newborn baby dreams is a mystery. But his life will find a purpose, And in time he'll understand, When the river meets the sea. When the river meets the almighty sea."
(instrumental)
End Credits:
------------
Edit2 omits the Henson Associates copyright from the credit roll, and cuts to the JHT logo as soon as the last credit leaves the screen.
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