The Muppets Go To The Movies (or The Muffets Go To The Movies as misspelled by Fozzie Bear) is a 1981 one-hour special that aired on ABC. It was used to help promote The Great Muppet Caper.
With the aid of Dudley Moore and Lily Tomlin, Kermit the Frog and the Muppets show spoofs of different movies at the Muppet Theater. The special opens with a 20th Century Fox logo….as announcer Jerry Nlson provides an introduction over clips from the upcoming special….as Kermit the Frog comes on stage to introduce the show….while informing the audience that the Muppets plan on paying tribute to some of their favorite movies….then come the entire cast of Muppets who sing their rendition “Hey, a Movie!” from The Great Muppet Caper…..as Fozzie Bear introduces the first film, which is a spoof of The Three Musketeers….as Gonzo the Great, Scooter and Link Hogthrob play Athos, Porthos and Gummo. \
Next comes the Muppets interpretation of the film Invasion of the Unpleasant Things from Outer Space….which has Moore and Tomlin facing giant alien rats in a parody that also pokes fun at foreign films….as Moore spends most of the sketch speaking in foreign tongues with English subtitles…..which is followed by Janice introducing her favorite film The Wizard of Oz…..as she mentions that she likes the Land of Oz and might move there. As the scene begins, Miss Piggy (as Dorothy) and Foo Foo as Toto, start out in black and white….when Miss Piggy sings Somewhere Over the Rainbow….when it changes to color and Miss Piggy is joined by Scooter as the Scarecrow…..Gonzo as the Tin Man…..and Fozzie Bear as the Cowardly Lion in a rendition of If I Only Had A Brain/a Heart/the Nerve and We’re Off To See the Wizard.
Gonzo introduces the next parody, The Fool of the Roman Empire….as Dudley Moore portrays a jazz piano playing Julius Caesar….as he plays a melody on the piano while Gonzo, Beauregard and Lew Zealand have a chariot race…..all the while backstage, Rizzo the Rat complains to Kermit about the previous sketch….by claiming that it was an insult to rats….as Rizzo and his rat buddies try to convince Kermit to put them in a glamorous rat production number.
Lily Tomlin attempts to flirt with Kermit….but Miss Piggy interrupts them….as Kermit suggests that Lily introduce the horror movie genre….and in her introduction, Lilly insists that she hates horror movies…. which sets off an attack by a group of Muppet mosters. She’s soon attacked by a group of Muppet monsters. In J. Arthur Rank’s The Nephew of Frankenstein….as Fozzie Bear visits his uncle….who is working on a comedian monster played by Mulch….as he tries to do a “Hot Cross Bunnies” joke….as the experiment blows Mulch up and burns the film screen….when firefighters are called….but they joke that they are unable to put out the fire caused in the 19th Century…cuz “our hoses won’t reach.”….when the segment ends with Kermit parodying Porky Pig’s ‘That’s All Folks” line.
Along with these segments of the program….there are several other sketches that are simply hilarious…. which you simply have to watch….as the program ends with the credits as the Muppets leave the Muppet Theater….as Kermit the Frog locks up the stage door unaware that he has locked Dudley Moore and Lily Tomlin inside…..and any way you cut the pie….this is classic Muppets that is worth the watch any time you might need a laugh.
