Muppets The Jim Henson Hour RESTORED Bobby McFerrin / Louie Ande

Muppets The Jim Henson Hour RESTORED Bobby McFerrin / Louie Anderson


The Jim Henson Hour: Ratings / Bobby McFerrin / Miss Piggy's Hollywood
with
The Jim Henson Hour: Outer Space / Louie Anderson / The Heartless Giant

Painstakingly restored from VHS and other sources. Starring Jim Henson's Muppets.

Image galleries are provided in the DVD-ROM folder, and can be deleted if you're burning to disc and need more space.

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The Jim Henson Hour Episode 5

Ratings / Bobby McFerrin / Miss Piggy's Hollywood

May 14, 1989, NBC. Director Peter Harris

Guest Stars: Bobby McFerrin, Marc Weiner

Miss Piggy's Hollywood Guest Stars: Dudley Moore, George Wendt, Justine Bateman, and Bob Hope.


Kermit struggles to keep the show's ratings up, while Digit experiences a malfunction which Lindbergh tries to fix with a sledehammer. Bean Bunny proves strangely popular, and Waldo and Vicki change the show's format with technology. Featuring:

-Bobby McFerrin and the Graffiti Muppets.
-A documentary about the tranquility of nature turns into a war film, as caterpillars and butterflies try to destroy each other
-Hurting Something, a yuppie drama from another planet
-Gorilla Television: Ubu, Chip and Zondra interrupt the MuppeTelevision broadcast to feature Marc Weiner and his puppet Rocko
-Bobby McFerrin reads the musical news, with the Muppet Newsman providing interpretation for the totally unhip
-Link Hogthrob is at the mercy of the Response-o-Matic, a machine which changes the genre of the show based on what the audience wants to see
-Bean Bunny and the cast sing "La Bamba."

(This script was intended as the first episode, and it is sometimes called "First Show.")


Miss Piggy's Hollywood:

Miss Piggy and her associate producer Gonzo attempt to take viewers on a star-studded trip around Hollywood and fail miserably. The concept is built around how Hollywood is home of the "family of the stars," but Piggy's encounters with actual stars are either near-misses (Bob Hope arrives after she's left) or rather one-sided (cornering George Wendt at his tailor's, while Justine Bateman shoves Piggy into a swimming pool).

Meanwhile, Fozzie Bear tries to find his way to the famous nightclub, the Comedy Store, for a perpetually delayed special report. The show closes with a Miss Piggy-obsessed Dudley Moore finally meeting his idol and singing a duet with her, "Our Love Is Here To Stay."

Featured Hollywood and Los Angeles locations include Grauman's Chinese Theater, Universal Studios, Rodeo Drive, the Tail o' the Pup hot dog stand, and even a brief glimpse of the Bullwinkle statue on sunset strip.

Jim Henson - Kermit the Frog, Link Hogthrob, Waldorf, The Newsman
Camille Bonora as Fern
Fran Brill as Vicki, Zondra
Kevin Clash as Leon, Bob the Game Show Host
Dave Goelz as Digit, Gonzo
Richard Hunt as Statler
Frank Oz as Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear
Dan Redican as Anthony
Gord Robertson as Lindbergh
Bob Stutt as Ubu
Steve Whitmire as Bean Bunny, Waldo C. Graphic
Sandra Shamas

with Chris Langham
Jerry Nelson as Mr. Harry Stapleton
and Dave Goelz as a comedian

This was restored from a VHS source, with different VHS sources used for audio and additional footage. Titles are from laserdisc. Miss Piggy's Hollywood is motion-converted from a PAL DVD, with some footage filled in from VHS. Some special effects trickery was required to make the DVD and VHS sources match.


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The Jim Henson Hour Episode 1

Outer Space / Louie Anderson / The Storyteller: The Heartless Giant

April 14, 1989, NBC. Director Wayne Moss.

Guest Star: Louie Anderson


The first episode is themed around science fiction. Digit tells Kermit that he can pick up shows from other planets. Eventually, Digit breaks down, so Kermit, Lindbergh, and Waldo C. Graphic go inside Digit's brain to get him fixed.

The Extremes sing "Neutron Dance."

In "My Dinner with Codzilla." Louie Anderson and Codzilla have a dinner date.

Miss Galaxy Pageant hosted by Marty the Earthling.

War and Peace, part 1: War

Bootsie and Brad become astronauts.

Waldo helps Kermit and Lindbergh try to fix Digit from inside his head.

Louie Anderson stars in The Adventures of Space Guy, with his crew of lobsters under attack by an army of bunnies, led by Bean.

The Muppets and their alternate-universe equivalents The Teppums sing "Chattanooga Choo-Choo."


The Storyteller: "The Heartless Giant"
A young prince is tricked into helping a heartless giant escape from the king's dungeon. The evil giant unleashes terror across the land and those who go off to fight him never return. The young prince becomes the servant of the giant and tries to find where the giant's heart is hidden.


Jim Henson as Kermit the Frog, Timrek the Gorf, and Link Hogthrob
Dave Goelz as Digit and Gonzo
Steve Whitmire as Waldo C. Graphic, Bean Bunny, Foo-Foo, and one of the Extremes
Fran Brill as Vicki and Lobster Debbie
Jerry Nelson as a Combat Lobster, narrator, Jo Beth Garfdoohoo, and one of The Extremes
Kevin Clash as Leon, Clifford, Codzilla, and one of the Extremes
Gordon Robertson as Lindbergh
Rob Mills as a Combat Lobster
Sharon Lee Williams as one of The Extremes
Dan Redican as Zsa Zsa Porkmustard

with Chris Langham as Marty the Earthling
Jennifer Lee as Bootsie
Andrew Wilson as Brad


Restored from a VHS source. Titles are from laserdisc. "The Heartless Giant" is from a DVD source.

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Fraggles Look for Jobs was the Fraggle Rock wrap video screened on May 16, 1986.

When the show wrapped production after its fifth season, this 15-minute mini-episode was made as a goodbye-gift for the cast and crew. The five main Fraggle characters try to find new jobs after the last episode has been taped. They mention the names of many members of the crew, as they notice how strange it is without them around.

This version has been restored by Garrett Gilchrist, ending with footage from the wrap party itself.
The wrap tape closes with a new song to the tune of "Children of Tomorrow."

Jerry Nelson as Gobo
Steve Whitmire as Wembley
Kathryn Mullen as Mokey
Dave Goelz as Boober
Karen Prell as Red
Richard Hunt as the director (himself)
Gerry Parkes

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Special Features:

Alternate audio on The Jim Henson Hour Episode 5
(Ratings / Bobby McFerrin / Miss Piggy’s Hollywood)
The restored audio was taken from several different VHS recordings. I've included mixes based on the best and second best audio sources, for comparison's sake.

Bobby McFerrin Alternate Jim Henson opening:
This episode originally aired on Mother's Day in the U.S., and Jim mentioned the holiday in his introduction. Here is that version.

Louie Anderson Alternate Ending:
Here's what the "Chattanooga Choo Choo" song sequence looks like with the color effects removed.

Chromosaurus (Don Venhaus, Pacific Data Images, 1985)
This early example of CGI animation appears on the monitors in every Jim Henson Hour episode.

Fraggles Look For Jobs (Fraggle Rock Wrap Party mini-episode)

Reconstructed Jim Henson Hour trailers: Ted Danson, Louie Anderson, Smokey Robinson, KD Lang, Buster Pointdexter, Dog City

Eight alternate intros: "The Jim Henson Show" (web quality)
Eight episodes of "The Jim Henson Show" aired in Canada. This was a half-hour version of The Jim Henson Hour, including all the MuppetTelevision episodes with Kermit and company, minus the cold openings (and closings) and without The Storyteller and the other fantasy features. (Dog City, Secrets of the Muppets, Living With Dinosaurs and Monster Maker were not included.) Jim Henson's introduction to each episode was different (though shot at the same time). Here are all of those alternate introductions