A Muppet Family Christmas Uncut - Peter Harris - (1987) DVD

When Fozzie and the Muppet Show gang drop in unexpectedly on Fozzie's mother, she is forced to cancel her winter vacation plans and entertain them all. Soon the Sesame Street gang comes by as carolers, and then Kermit and his nephew Robin discover a Fraggle Rock hole in the basement. A snow storm blows in, stranding everyone at the house, except for Miss Piggy, who arrives just in time for all the Muppets to celebrate Christmas together.

In my opinion, this ties with "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" for being the best Muppet Christmas special out there.

You get to see many classic Muppets from the Muppet Show, with their original performers (Jim Henson, Richard Hunt, Frank Oz, and others). The show is also chock full of classic Sesame Street characters, too! Elmo is here, but thankfully, he has no lines. A bunch of rare, forgotten Sesame characters are here, too, including Simon Soundman (a guy who can make sound effects), Sherlock Hemlock (a Sherlock Holmes-wannabe), Forgetful Jones (a cowboy with bad memory), and even Guy Smiley! This is a great way to see many old Muppets (just as "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" is a great way to see Mr. Hooper).

Also, the live-action Muppet Babies are SO CUTE! Their voices are the same as on the "I'm Gonna Always Love You" song in "The Muppets Take Manhattan," but I prefer the cartoon voices for them better, even though the cartoon makes Gonzo sound like a girl. I also think that the REAL star of this special is Jerry Nelson, a talented veteran Muppet performer whom has worked with the Henson company since 1970. He gets to do many of his Muppet Show characters, including Robin the Frog, Emily Bear, Lew Zealand, Crazy Harry, Camilla the Chicken, and Floyd Pepper. But he seems to be more well-known for his Sesame Street work, for this special also features Herry Monster, Count Von Count, Biff the Construction Worker, Fred the Wonder Horse, Simon Soundman, Sherlock Hemlock, and a few others. He also performed Gobo Fraggle on "Fraggle Rock." He seems to be a man of many voices, and he has also done announcers on those shows, too.

In the official release, the following scenes were deleted:

• A very funny joke scene between Fozzie and his snowman
• Rowlf playing the piano when he first arrives at the farm house
• Piggy singing "Home for the Holidays" when she's first brought to the farm house and slipping on the icy patch
• Statler and Waldorf's" I Heard the Bells on Christmas" song
• When the Muppets watch the film strip of themselves as the Muppet Babies, the cute scenes of them singing and the adults complimenting on it were cut and it goes right to Animal bursting through the screen
• Mrs. Bear putting up Fozzie's stocking, Fozzie says he's too old for that stuff, but doesn't want her to take it down
• During the medley at the end, Kermit and Piggy sing, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"

These are all restored here.

Quality Rating Score:
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