Muppet Babies is an animated spin-off from Jim Henson's The Muppet Show. Inspired by a dream sequence in the Muppet movie The Muppets Take Manhattan, the show depicted the Muppets as toddlers living together in a large nursery. The nursery was presided over by a woman called Nanny, whose face was never seen and whose trademark was green-striped knee socks.

The babies had active imaginations, and often embarked on adventures into imagined worlds - which would often run away with them, leading them into perilous situations from which they were eventually saved when some external event - often Nanny coming to see what the noise was - brought them back to reality, revealing that, for instance, the giant squid that had them in its tentacles was really just the tail end of a curtain. The show often parodied elements of pop culture, from Star Wars to Batman to Beetlejuice; many of the babies' imaginary adventures incorporated actual clips from famous movies.

A reoccurring 'set up' gag was to have one of the kids, usually Gonzo, open the closet door in search of something and find something totally bizarre or scary inside (especially old movie clips superimposed onto the animation).

Although it technically contradicts what is usually considered Muppet canon, a reference clip to the 'real' Muppets is given in one episode where Kermit wishes his friends would stay together and enter show business. According to the Muppet movies, they did not until much later.

A notable Muppet Babies character was Skeeter, Scooter's sister, who appeared only in this series and was never a proper puppet Muppet.

In this series, characters referred to Gonzo as being a "Weirdo", as if it was a sort of creature as much as it referred to his behavior. (Muppets From Space delves more deeply into the matter.)

Baby Kermit, Baby Piggy, and Baby Gonzo made small appearances in the drug prevention video Cartoon All-Stars to the Rescue.

There is rumor that a CGI version of the show is in development.

Voice cast

• Barbara Billingsley: Nanny
• Greg Berg: Fozzie Bear, Scooter
• Dave Coulier¹: Animal, Bunsen, Bean Bunny, Uncle Statler, Uncle Waldorf
• Howie Mandel²: Animal, Bunsen, Skeeter
• Katie Leigh: Rowlf the Dog
• Laurie O'Brien: Miss Piggy
• Russi Taylor: Gonzo the Great
• Frank Welker³: Kermit the Frog, Skeeter, and Beaker

• ¹ Dave Coulier assumed the voices of Animal and Bunsen after Howie Mandel's departure from the series in 1985.
• ² Howie Mandel left the series after the 1985 season.
• ³ Frank Welker assumed the voice of Skeeter after Howie Mandel's departure from the series in 1985.

See Also

• The Jim Henson Company
• Marvel Productions Ltd.
• CBS Television Network
• Nickelodeon

External links

• Muppet Babies, Fan Site (http://members.kingston.net/chloe/Mup/MB_Nursery.html)
• Muppet Babies, Baby Profiles (http://members.kingston.net/chloe/Mup/MB_bios.html)