New York State of Mind

Paul has been away at a text analytics conference in the Big Apple.  So I felt like it was an appropriate choice to watch "Muppets Take Manhattan" (1984) last night. It was super dated and pleasantly banal. You could tell that so much of the plot was driven by wanting to show off neat special effects, Like Scooter riding a bike and Piggy roller skating. Jim Henson uses the old Muppet standby plot line of somebody being lost and all their friends try to find them; just like in "Christmas Eve on Sesame Street" (1978), "Don't Eat the Pictures" (1983), and "Follow that Bird" (1985). Except, for once, it's Kermit the Frog that gets lost, and not Big Bird.

One of the more bizarre scenes involves Miss Piggy working a makeup counter in a high end department store with Joan Rivers, appearing in a cameo role. It's terrifyingly manic and makes very little sense.



There's also this strange scene where Piggy fantasizes about being a baby, singing a love song. This scene is what led to us having Muppet Babies.Also, Baby Miss Piggy sings about wanting to make babies.



Overall though it's a sweet, old fashioned movie about the Muppets trying to make it in show biz. It really kind of shows this simpler time. Becoming famous is much different now.