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The Muppet Show only ran for five seasons, but it managed to cover a lot of ground, including some great science fiction inspired moments. Here are seven of the best science fiction moments of the Muppet Show's unfortunately short run.
The Muppet Show had a built-in showcase for their sci-fi parodies, in "Pigs In Space." Their ship was called the Swine Trek, and they had the eccentric science officer, the heartthrob captain, and Miss Piggy as a snarky officer. The segment featured pirates (John Cleese), a character called Darth Nadir (Gonzo), an alien made of chopped liver, and many more strange sci-fi themed adventures. In this clip, as usual, Captain Link Hogthrob does something stupid.
Invincibility Made Easy
During Wonder Woman star Lynda Carter's visit to the show, the whole cast is inspired to try out the super hero gig themselves. Backstage during the show, each Muppet cast member is seen using the "Invincibility Made Easy" guide to try to become heroes. Even Miss Piggy, as Wonder Pig, tries to defeat a giant chicken. This segment features Lynda Carter singing "Orange Colored Sky" as the various Muppet heroes fall slightly short of "hero" status.
The Star Wars Episode
In season 4 of the Muppet Show, Mark Hamill was billed as the guest star, but the show also gets his "cousin," Luke Skywalker. Luke invades all of the sketches of the latter half of the show. In this final sketch, R2-D2, C-3PO and Chewbacca show up for a medley of songs about stars. C-3PO even does a little tap dancing!
Muppet Labs
Those famous Muppet inventors, Dr. Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker, had their own segment for demonstrating their newest inventions. The inventions ranged from small things like magnetic carrots or very strong glue, to very large and strange things, like a teleporter, a luggage compressor, or a copy machine. That last one produces countless copies of Beaker, which slowly invade the show.
The Jekyll and Hyde Potion
When Alan Arkin visited the show, he was the center of one of the classic sci-fi premises: a Jekyll and Hyde story. Throughout the show, he and other various Muppets are all unfortunately transformed by the Honeydew-invented potion. Here, Alan, in monster form, invades an overly-cutesy rendition of "Zip-a-Dee-Doo-Dah."
Koozebane
Koozebane is a planet that stands in for any strange new world on the show. It's home to such odd creatures as the Phoob, the Merdildops, and the Spooble, a sentient liquid. In this clip, during his visit to the Muppet Show, Dom DeLuise also visited the surface of the planet Koozebane, interacting with one of the planet's more annoying residents.
Shields & Yarnell Robot Sketch
In addition to its more regular sci-fi segments, the Muppet Show also used sci-fi premises as a jumping off point for much more absurd sketches. The show invited mime duo Shields & Yarnell to perform, and the result was one of their stranger sketches. In this wordless clip, the duo performs as two robots apparently having breakfast together.
This list doesn't even include Jim Henson Productions' involvement in other sci-fi projects like Farscape, and the various Muppet moments in The Middleman and Angel. As is evident from some of these clips, the whole Muppet crew had some sci-fi connections.
Send an email to Stephen Goldmeier, the author of this post, at stephen@io9.com.
Original material is licensed under a Creative Commons License permitting non-commercial sharing with attribution.
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