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The Muppet Movie Extended Edition (Released)

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 (Edited)

Okay, well, along with Howard the Duck widescreen and some of the Thief and the Cobbler/Roger Rabbit stuff, this is ANOTHER thing Ben (Tequila Mockingbird) has but hasn’t transferred yet. He’s a busy guy, but he’ll transfer his PAL copy of this eventually.

I thought this deserved its own thread. I DO have a copy of this material that I got from Guillermo Gomez, but I just have the individual deleted bits, and they’re in pretty bad quality and probably missing stuff at the beginning/end of the clips. Presumably Ben will transfer this whole version of the movie in good quality. Or at least the deleted bits.

Here’s the deal: There is an extended version of The Muppet Movie. I think it was only released in England on VHS tape. It’s pretty rare. It has an extended version of Rowlf’s song, and most notably it has a funnier and I think far superior ending.

It’s a pan & scan transfer, but it’s pretty close to full frame and could be cropped to widescreen without losing much I think.

My copy of this material shows up at the end of a DVD with two episodes of The Jim Henson Hour (probably my favorite Henson series) on it.

I don’t have a copy of the normal Muppet Movie on hand to compare, but I’ll assume that the bits that Guillermo specifically copied for me are the deleted bits. So here’s what they seem to be.

  • More of Fozzie’s unsuccessful comedy onstage when he and Kermit meet.
  • Longer commercial for Doc Hopper’s Frog Legs and he and Kermit meet.
  • Fozzie hands Dr. Teeth the script and he reads it and recaps the entire movie at length. I presume this is in the movie but shorter?
  • Longer (I guess) chase scene as Doc Hopper follows the “rainbow colored Studebaker.”
  • Longer version of the Rowlf/Kermit duet, “I Hope That Something Better Comes Along”
  • Longer version of the giant Animal scaring Doc Hopper et al away.
  • At the end, before Kermit sings “Life’s like a movie …” there’s a long (I assume longer) sequence of explosions going off to blow the roof open.
  • Here’s the real gem of this version … the Muppets all talk over the credits, talking to each other in the theater. Fozzie and Miss Piggy want desperately to be told that they were good in the movie. Kermit is nice and tells everyone they were great. He tells Lew Zealand he can be in “the next one.” Janice and Floyd snuggle up - Janice runs from Animal - “Woman!” Rowlf tries to converse with Beaker. “Yeah, whatever.”

I’d like to check this against the real version to see if the ending there is actually the same without the audio of the Muppets talking. I know some of it is the same as the real version visually, so I’m curious if they just muted all the audio of what everyone was saying for the released version. If so, all you’d have to change there would be the audio.

Also, Dr. Teeth’s recap of the film uses footage from the rest of the film, so that could be cut in in good quality also.

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Since no one else replied I'd just like to say how interested I am in this release in if you need any help let me know.
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We might very well want some help actually. Ben won't be getting round to this for a while sadly, but when he does he'll be releasing a PAL pan & scan transfer.

It would be nice for someone to take an official NTSC anamorphic widescreen DVD of The Muppet Movie and add these extra scenes into it .... cropping these scenes to widescreen of course.

But this won't be happening for months.
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What is the audio like off that tape? I only ask as the dragonfly audio appears complete on The Muppet Movie Album, of which I have a digital copy.

I would love to have a bash at creating an edit but alas I have not the facilities. If you were after some short bonus features at any time though I have some ideas.
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>>What is the audio like off that tape? I only ask as the dragonfly audio appears complete on The Muppet Movie Album, of which I have a digital copy.

What do you mean, "dragonfly?"

I assume that the Rowlf song is on the album.

Both picture and sound are presumably pretty good on Ben's copy - they're terrible on mine!
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Apologies for not being more clear. From what I gather there is a short bit of dialog prior to Rowlfs song that has been cut from most home video editions. Kermit asks for a drangonfly drink from the bartender. This clean audio leads into the song on the soundtrack album.
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Oh - the guy didn't send me that clip. I wonder if it's in this version or not. Probably is actually.
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Originally posted by: Andrew Smith
Apologies for not being more clear. From what I gather there is a short bit of dialog prior to Rowlfs song that has been cut from most home video editions. Kermit asks for a drangonfly drink from the bartender. This clean audio leads into the song on the soundtrack album.
I thought he asked for a 'grasshopper'?
Originally posted by: ocpmovie

Here's the deal: There is an extended version of The Muppet Movie. I think it was only released in England on VHS tape. It's pretty rare. It has an extended version of Rowlf's song, and most notably it has a funnier and I think far superior ending........


+ More of Fozzie's unsuccessful comedy onstage when he and Kermit meet.
+ Longer commercial for Doc Hopper's Frog Legs and he and Kermit meet.
+ Fozzie hands Dr. Teeth the script and he reads it and recaps the entire movie at length. I presume this is in the movie but shorter?
+ Longer (I guess) chase scene as Doc Hopper follows the "rainbow colored Studebaker."
+ Longer version of the Rowlf/Kermit duet, "I Hope That Something Better Comes Along"
+ Longer version of the giant Animal scaring Doc Hopper et al away.
+ At the end, before Kermit sings "Life's like a movie ..." there's a long (I assume longer) sequence of explosions going off to blow the roof open.
+ Here's the real gem of this version ... the Muppets all talk over the credits, talking to each other in the theater. Fozzie and Miss Piggy want desperately to be told that they were good in the movie. Kermit is nice and tells everyone they were great. He tells Lew Zealand he can be in "the next one." Janice and Floyd snuggle up - Janice runs from Animal - "Woman!" Rowlf tries to converse with Beaker. "Yeah, whatever."


I saw this film in the theater in 1979 and I also have a very old (U.S.) VHS tape of it. I remember most of the scenes you listed, including the end where they talk over the credits (that was in the U.S. theatrical version as well as my tape version). However, I have no way of telling if it is really different than the British VHS version without a copy to compare. I haven't seen the DVD, either.

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Just piping in that this project would be most welcomed by me and many other people I know...
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Hey Garrett, you ever get that regular version of this yet?

It's funny. Since I listened to the album and read the book so much, I started to think that the extra footage was like the urban legend of kids seeing Biggs in '77.
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I just love the soundtrack from this film- Paul Williams is a genius. I also love the music he wrote for "Phantom Of The Paradise"

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Is there any progress on this?

Dr. M

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Originally posted by: Sluggo
It's funny. Since I listened to the album and read the book so much, I started to think that the extra footage was like the urban legend of kids seeing Biggs in '77.

You know, I think there might be something to that. I recently watched my VHS cassette of The Muppet Movie that was purchased in 1984, and the 'grasshopper' line isn't in it. Then, I listened to the LP, and the 'grasshopper' line IS in it, along with an entirely different exchange between Rowlf and Kermit (which sort of 'explains' the setting of the song), and additional lyrics. That leads me to believe that the difference exists only on the soundtrack, and there really aren't 2 versions of the movie.

A lot of times, when a movie musical soundtrack is released, the spoken parts are very different from the movie's version. What they'll do, is record the spoken parts along with the music in the recording studio- and release that as the movie soundtrack, while for the actual movie scenes, they'll record the spoken parts on set, then break into the songs that were recorded in the studio.

Just out of curiosity, does anyone have one of those 'laservision' discs of the film from 1979? It would be interesting to check that as well.

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i remember the stuff above
from the tv broadcast
the grasshopper bit im not sure of
they will be sent to the danube at dawn
whats that
oh just memories
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Yeah, is there any prgress on this?

If put on DVD, it would be awesome if someone could make some extras for it...
It would be great to find behind the scenes footage (jim henson hour) and include it...and even like a fan made commentary!
I bet the people over at muppetcentral.com would help with rare info about the film...

SSWR’s YouTube channel

Attack of the Clones: Alternate Timeline Edit Thread:
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/SSWRs-Attack-of-the-Clones-Alternate-Timeline-Edit/id/66888

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I'm afraid Ben has given his apologies and I'm not expecting any progress anytime soon on this or his Howard the Duck (although others have Howard in widescreen now), or his Thief and the Cobbler material.

He might help out sometime though.

If anyone else has a copy of this extended cut, please speak up.


There was no Muppet Movie behind the scenes on that one episode of The Jim Henson Hour.
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The episode you're thinking of is talking about The Great Muppet Caper, not the Muppet Movie.
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Ditto on the Great Muppet Caper thing. My fiancee used to have that "Secrets of the Muppets" episode (the one Henson Hour episode rerun on Nickelodeon), and fumed when my college roommate at the time taped over it with "100 Cigarettes".
“The tragedy of your times, my young friends, is that you may get exactly what you want.”
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I have all the episodes of The Jim Henson Hour, if anyone needs them. Also The Cube, Time Piece, Tales of The Tinkerdee, The Muppet Valentine pilot, The Muppet Sex and Violence Pilot, etc. Actually Sex and Violence is on the official DVD now.
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It seems to me that someone just get the tape of the extended film onto a DVD, and send it to a fan editor who get this done quickly and soon. Also, if you ripped the tape to DVD, it could just start circulating for people until a widescreen version comes. I think everyone would love that.
Watch DarthEvil's Who Framed Darth Vader? video on YouTube!

You can also access the entire Horriffic Violence Theater Series from my Channel Page.
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For the record, Time Piece is amazing and The Cube is also pretty cool.

I used to be very active on this forum. I’m not really anymore. Sometimes, people still want to get in touch with me about something, and that is great! If that describes you, please email me at [my username]ATgmailDOTcom.

Hi everybody. You’re all awesome. Keep up the good work.

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I guess I should have clarified...I knew that the majority of it he was talking about the great muppet caper...but I seem to recall (directly before the caper talk) the one shot of Kermit riding-...OK never mind....if I'm right, it was only, like, 2 seconds long anyway...

SSWR’s YouTube channel

Attack of the Clones: Alternate Timeline Edit Thread:
https://originaltrilogy.com/topic/SSWRs-Attack-of-the-Clones-Alternate-Timeline-Edit/id/66888