A long time ago, there was a guy named Jim Henson. He brought joy all over the world with a TV series and a string of movies starring his ragtag team of dogs, frogs, bears, pigs, chickens, and whatevers, known as the Muppets. Other projects Jim was involved with during his lifetime included the first 20 years of Sesame Street, the irreplaceable Fraggle Rock, numerous TV specials, and the ill-fated Jim Henson Hour.
Then, on May 16th, 1990, something tragic happened: Jim Henson passed away. Slowly, the Muppets started losing popularity. There were three movies: The Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992, Muppet Treasure Island in 1996, and Muppets From Space in 1999. The Muppet Christmas Carol wasn't a box-office hit like The Muppet Movie, but has become a treasured annual holiday classic. Muppet Treasure Island got lukewarm reviews, while Muppets From Space was a box-office bomb. During this time, there was also a TV series called Muppets Tonight, a bit of a remake of The Muppet Show with lots of new characters, but was missing magic from Muppets writer Jerry Juhl, who was actually still alive during that time.
In 2004, The Jim Henson Company sold the (Muppet Show) Muppets to Disney, while the JHC kept the rights to other projects like The Dark Crystal, Fraggle Rock, and Emmett Otter's Jug-band Christmas. In 2005, the atrocity known as Muppets Wizard of Oz premiered on television. It was a disappointment because it felt like something Jim would never do: There was suggestive humor, references to adult shows that single-digit kids wouldn't know about, and a very awkward cast choice for characters. African-American Ashanti as Dorothy Gale, Pepe the King Prawn as Toto (yet in the real world, he's a crawfish), Kermit the Frog as the Scarecrow, Gonzo as the Tin Man, Fozzie Bear as the Cowardly Lion, and Miss Piggy as all the witches. And these are the flying monkeys.
If I were to cast a Muppets version of MGM's The Wizard of Oz, I would cast Liliana Mumy, (daughter of Bill Mumy, who played Will Robinson on Lost in Space) as Dorothy...
Rufus (the dog from the specials Hey, Cinderella! and The Muppets Valentine Show) as Toto...
Beauregard (the slow-witted janitor on The Muppet Show) as The Scarecrow...
Fozzie Bear as the Tinman (as seen in the Brooke Shields episode of The Muppet Show, even though they were actually doing Alice in Wonderland)...
Sweetums as the Cowardly Lion (I think his personality fits the lion better than Fozzie did)...
Tamanilla (from 1962's Tales of the Tinkerdee and 1971's The Frog Prince) as The Wicked Witch of the West...
Mildred (the purple goose-like creature on The Muppet Show) as Glinda the Good Witch...
And Dr. Bunsen Honeydew as the Mighty Wizard of Oz, while Beaker would play the unfortunate Wicked Witch of the East (he does has stripy socks, after all).
In fact, I bet I could write a better Muppets version of The Wizard of Oz than that 2005 atrocity.
To be continued in Part 2...
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