Recommended music: The Doors – People Are Strange
Strangely enough, this #SomethingElseSunday, we’re still celebrating 70 years of the Muppets! Here’s a character you’ve likely seen a few times, but you likely only remember from one particular sketch. From the Palisades Toys Muppets line, it’s Dr. Julius Strangepork!
The German-accented doctor made his debut on The Muppet Show in Season 2, specifically in Episode 203 (Milton Berle). As the resident scientist aboard the Swinetrek spaceship, he performed diagnostics and routine repairs during the recurring Pigs in Space sketches. 28 of the character’s 35 appearances on The Muppet Show were during Pigs in Space. This period was the character’s high point. By the time Muppets Tonight aired, he appeared in only one sketch.
While Pigs in Space was where the character got the most attention, he did appear in select other sketches and Muppets productions, though he only garnered silent cameos in the Muppet films. Strangepork was performed by Jerry Nelson from his 1977 debut up until Nelson’s passing in 2012. In 2016, Matt Vogel began performing the character in an online Pigs in Space series, and in The Muppets Take the Bowl and The Muppets Take the O2 in subsequent years.
In the Palisades Toys line, Strangepork made his action figure debut, appearing in series 4 along with his Swinetrek captain, Link Hogthrob. This was a full two waves before First Mate Piggy and the Pigs in Space Playset were released. As always, the figure is an excellent likeness of the character in a metallic purple suit. His accessories include the Dissolvatron gun from The Muppet Show Episode 314 (Harry Belafonte) and the M.A.M.M.A. robot as seen in Episode 407 (Dudley Moore).
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