Tag: #SomethingElseSunday

Recommended music: The Rainbow Connection (from The Muppet Movie)

On this #SomethingElseSunday, we’re still celebrating 70 years of the Muppets! This character is certainly the most famous creation of Jim Henson. From the Palisades Toys Muppets line, it’s Kermit the Frog!

Kermit made his debut in 1955, decades before most other Muppet characters, appearing on a Washington, DC based news and variety show called Afternoon. The next year, Kermit was a regular on the same station, appearing in short skits on Sam and Friends. Even though the character was referred to as Kermit the Frog by the mid-1960s during appearances on The Tonight Show, this early version of the Kermit puppet wasn’t as distinctly frog-shaped. By the time the ‘Tales From Muppetland’ TV special covered The Frog Prince in 1971, Kermit was a full-fledged froggy and has retained this design ever since.

With Kermit being a staple of Jim Henson productions through the 1960s, it was no surprise that he was included in the launch of Sesame Street in 1969. By the following year, the character was deemed too commercial for Sesame Street, and he was briefly removed from the program. By season three, however, he returned to Sesame Street in more of a guest character type of role. In the five decades since, Kermit has starred in virtually every Muppet television project and film, on his way to becoming the spiritual symbol and physical logo of The Jim Henson Company.

This popularity continued into the Palisades Toys line, with Kermit having 15 unique releases, including The Rainbow Connection Kermit, seen here. While the figure’s articulation is limited to just the neck and shoulders, the sculpt and paint are excellent. Kermit also comes with a load of accessories, including his banjo, a framed photo, a log, a Muppet cabbage, Muppet eggplant, Muppet scallions, a sitting version of his nephew Robin, and an additional log for Robin.  The included framed photo of a young boy is Cooper Perry, who inspired The Cooper Perry Foundation, as all proceeds from the figure went to the charity.

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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 during season two, specifically on Episode 203 (Milton Berle). As the resident scientist of the Swinetrek spaceship, he performed diagnostics and routine repair work 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 high point for the character. 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 took up performing the character in an online Pigs in Space series, and in The Muppets Take the Bowl and The Muppets Take the O2 during the following 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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Recommended music: The Smashing Pumpkins – Bullet With Butterfly Wings

We’re full of charisma or “rizz” this #SomethingElseSunday, as we’re still celebrating 70 years of the Muppets! From the Palisades Toys Muppets line, it’s Rizzo the Rat!

The most well-known rodent in the world of the Muppets, Rizzo, is a funny and friendly rat. While Rizzo didn’t make his first appearance on The Muppet Show until episode 418, he became a pretty regular character and showed up in 23 episodes over the final season and a half. Following The Muppet Show and a smaller part in The Great Muppet Caper, Rizzo had a much larger role in The Muppets Take Manhattan. The little rat has since been involved in nearly 100 different Muppet productions over the past 45 years, from movies to music to television and video games.

At the suggestion of Frank Oz, Rizzo’s name comes from Ratso Rizzo, who was the character played by Dustin Hoffman in the 1969 film Midnight Cowboy. Steve Whitmire created the character of Rizzo and performed him from 1980 until he was let go in 2016. The character still does not appear to have been officially recast, so Rizzo has been much more of a background Muppet for the past decade outside of his inclusion in the newer Muppet Babies animated series.

In the Palisades Muppet toy line, Rizzo appeared in the fourth wave and was the smallest figure released in the entire line. Though the label shows “From: Muppets From Space,” the figure’s design also looks a lot like his appearance from Muppets Tonight. I believe he would have been the first Muppets Tonight-labeled figure in the line, but the idea was scrapped when there weren’t good reference photos for the Dancing Cheeses from the first episode, and the change was made to highlight the feature film instead.

Due to the small figure size, he came with a good amount of accessories, including a boxing glove on a spring, cheese, a hat, a headset, a slice of pizza with a box, rat poison, and a table. There was a chase version of the figure released that changed the color on a few of the accessories and a rare black jacket version given away at a Wizard World convention.

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Recommended music: Dr. Teeth and The Electric Mayhem – Can You Picture That?

Don’t turn in for the night just yet, as this #SomethingElseSunday, we’re still celebrating 70 years of the Muppets! From the Palisades Toys Muppets line, it’s Dr. Teeth!

The lead singer, keyboard player, and leader of the Electric Mayhem, Dr. Teeth actually made his debut before the rest of the band. He first appeared on both The Mike Douglas Show and The Tonight Show just days before the second Muppet Show pilot, “The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence” in March of 1975. Besides his role in The Electric Mayhem house band performing the theme for seasons 2-5, he was involved in sketches in each of the five seasons of The Muppet Show and appeared in 46 of the 120 episodes. Dr. Teeth has since been involved in nearly every avenue of Muppet productions over the past 45 years, from movies to music to television.

Teeth’s name may have come from never having a cavity, but really, he’s just a happy green guy with a large toothy grin. Jim Henson performed Dr. Teeth from 1975 until his passing in 1990, with another puppeteer working the hands for the keyboard. After Jim’s death, Dr. Teeth was largely unused or silent until 2005, when Bill Barretta took over the role.

In the Palisades Muppet toy line, Dr. Teeth appeared in the first wave to promote the 25th anniversary of The Muppet Show. The standard version seen here came with a red and black striped shirt, pink hat, black keyboard, and a Muppet Show logo base.

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Recommended music: Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers – The Waiting

We’re feeling peppy this #SomethingElseSunday as we’re still celebrating 70 years of the Muppets! From the Palisades Toys Muppets line, it’s Pepé the King Prawn!

Pepe first appeared in the second episode of Muppets Tonight, which premiered in March 1996. In a blink and you’ll miss it cameo, Pepe dances the mambo with the episode’s guest star, Garth Brooks. His frequent scene partner, Seymour the Elephant, also made his first appearance in this episode. However, they did not yet perform their shtick as singing elevator operators. Pepe ended up appearing in 14 of the series’s 22 episodes during its brief two-season run.

Despite his relatively late arrival to the Muppet franchise, Pepe has appeared in dozens of movies, TV series, specials, and other television and web appearances over the past 30 years.

For the Palisades Muppet toy line, Pepe appeared in the fifth wave as the first figure in the line from Muppets Tonight. Since I don’t have that version, I’m sharing this variant of the exclusive Vacation Pepe. This version came with a blue shirt, green diving wear, and a pink inner tube. He was only available at Media Play, Musicland, Sam Goody, and Suncoast, though I’m not sure how many of these retailers still exist. While he also comes with a beach chair and an elephant-shaped inner tube as a tribute to Seymour, my Pepe didn’t take the time to pack those before these unseen Disney vacation photos .😉

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