The Muppets 1976
Jim Henson - Kermit the Frog/Rowlf/Dr. Teeth/Waldorf//Swedish Chef
Frank Oz - Miss Piggy/Fozzie Bear/Animal/Sam the Eagle/Marvin Suggs/Swedish Chef
Richard Hunt - Scooter/Statler/Janice/Sweetums/Beaker (voice)
Jerry Nelson - Floyd Pepper/Robin the Frog/Crazy Harry/Lew Zealand/Camilla/Dr. Bunsen Honeydew (assistant)
Dave Goelz - The Great Gonzo/Dr. Bunsen Honeydew/Zoot
Reviewed by Fox6150 from London
The Nostalgia You've been waiting for, here at Last!,
I just purchased this collection in the U.S. where it has been available for a while, and I can honestly say it is what every muppet fan has been waiting for.
There have been various compilations of best bits in recent years, but here is the whole series of each whole episode in all it's zany, explosive 70's glory. The great moments from season one are all here - including "Munah Munah", "Lydia the tatooed lady", exploding pickles and Gonzo growing a tomato plant whilst playing the 1812 overture on the violin. Fabulous. The sound is as good as it could possibly get, and the re-mastered picture quality is sharp, fresh and colourful. I didn't know a few of the 70's guest stars (I think the celebrities got bigger as the seasons went on until they were queing up to get on the show!), but all the acts were brilliant fun. I was paticularly interested to note the gift of an "imitation muppet" given to each guest as a gift at the end of show. This rather unflattering idea seems to have been dropped by episode 4. My childhood came flooding back.
The Muppet show was the foundation of my style/sense of humour and gave birth to a love of the stage musical which has never gone away. I was getting fed up with way The Muppets have been treated and marketed since Jim Henson's death, but it seems that finally we are being properly reminded of what made the Muppets truly great family entertainment. Roll on season 2!
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