Picture it! You’re visiting Walt Disney World, you’re spending the day at Hollywood Studios, you make your way to the Muppets Courtyard, and you find yourself ready to bear witness to MuppetVision 3D. But before you get to watch the show, you get a bonus. A second complete and hilarious show.
Throughout this week, we’re celebrating MuppetVision 3D before its inevitable removal in 2025. But although we could go through every moment in the attraction, we’re choosing to focus on just five. Five of our favorite scenes and jokes that we feel represent the whole.
Earlier this week we shared our five favorite moments from the show-before-the-show, which includes the Muppet Courtyard and the waiting area. Today, we’ll be looking at the pre-show, which is presented on three separate screens that often interact with each other in clever ways.
Taking Time
The entire pre-show is just under 13 minutes, which is a long time to ask anyone to stand in a waiting room looking up at TV screens hanging from the ceiling. When the pre-show starts, we’re watching some construction workers (a mix of humanoids and dogs) raise the Kodak logo and the MuppetVision sign. This sequence has minimal action, just a few jokes, and you’re really just watching these guys work. And it takes over three minutes, which as we all know is an eternity for things like this.
And then there are two more minutes being drawn out as Scooter saunters through all of the screens and then they fill with fish. The pre-show was not afraid to take its pretty little time, allowing folks to make their way into the waiting room and not worrying too much about missing Muppety fun. But it’s also a rare example of the Muppets choosing to be quiet and to give space. And that’s especially poignant in a place where everything else in the room is full of absolute chaos.
Nicky Napoleon and His Emperor Penguins
Look, no Muppet project is truly complete without a waddle of penguins. The ones featured here are Nicky Napoleon and His Emperor Penguins (alliteratively named Elmer, Eugene, and Estelle), who strangely originated on the barely-seen series Little Muppet Monsters. They add to the hustle and bustle of the backstage by passing through a few times, generally getting turned around and at one point joined by a chicken. This is not only the closest we come to being a part of the backstage antics we recognize from The Muppet Show, but the penguins are foreshadowing their appearance in the main MuppetVision attraction, seen in actual animatronic form.
The Three Ds
Everyone knows this is a 3D show, but just what do those Ds stand for? The answer is revealed to be the names of three dancers: Dorothy, Dinah, and… Max. (Debbie was sick, so the union sent Max.) The trio stumble through the worst version of “By the Light of the Silvery Moon” that anyone’s ever seen, then quickly ushered out by Scooter. The moment is relatively brief, but it’s almost as if it was ripped right out of The Muppet Show. Honestly, it might be the funniest moment in the entirety of MuppetVision.
Gonzo’s Tap Dance Trio
Gonzo takes advantage of the triple screen by appearing on all three to balance a flower pot on his head and tap dance. But much like his self-duet in “Act Naturally” from The Muppet Show, reality begins to loosen as one of them drops the flower pot, another helps get it back on, they traverse the invisible wall between screens, and still manage to bring it on home back into synchronicity. Strangely enough, it’s a rare Gonzo stunt that actually ends the way he intended!
The One, the Only, Mr. Mickey Mouse
Appropriately, Sam the Eagle is in charge of regurgitating the rules to the theme park attendees. But before he can get into explaining why it’s a bad idea to wear your 3D glasses while walking, he’s interrupted by Gonzo who tells him he needs to introduce the big boss man. Excitedly, Sam introduces Mickey Mouse, only for Rizzo the Rat to enter in a Mickey costume, humming The Mickey Mouse Club theme song. This bit never fails to get a laugh, both because it’s so unexpected and because Rizzo looks adorable. It’s also a clever bit of synergy, showcasing the new relationship between the Muppets and Disney, but not quite as on-the-nose as Kermit and an animated Mickey sharing the screen in The Muppets at Walt Disney World.
Now that the pre-show is over, it’s time to grab your 3D glasses, make your way into the theater, and take your seats for the main attraction. And let me tell you, there are way more than five things we like about the show. But you’ll have to come on back to ToughPigs in just a few days to find out what our five faves are!
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by Joe Hennes – Joe@ToughPigs.com
