The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson RESTORED Muppet Special

The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson

The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson aired on CBS on November 21, 1990.

This one-hour special, "a tribute to a man and his imagination," celebrates the
life and career of Jim Henson. The retrospective includes appearances by celebrity
guests, a variety of clips from Henson's television and film work, and candid,
behind-the-scenes footage of Henson working with his creative team.

As the program begins, Fozzie Bear receives a postcard from Kermit the Frog, who
asks him to prepare a lavish production number in tribute to Henson. But Fozzie and
the other Muppets don't know who Henson is, and feel ill-equipped to give him a
fitting tribute. Carol Burnett, John Denver, Ray Charles, Steven Spielberg, Harry
Belafonte, and Henson's friend and close collaborator, Frank Oz, offer via film
their impressions of Henson and reminisce about working with him and the characters
that he invented, which helps the Muppets to learn more about him.

The version was carefully restored from two copies of the special, plus a third for
the "Read More About It" tag with Gonzo (and some audio). The main version of the
special given to me was in pretty good shape apart from major color fluctuations at
the top of the screen. The other copy lacked horizontal clarity. I ran noise
removal and color correction on both sources and used the color from the alternate
source at the top of the screen, before overlaying the second source on top of the
first to gain a little more highlight detail (while softening the image slightly).

Any video errors were painted out by hand in Photoshop during the first 10 minutes
of the special. Restoration was by the editor of The Thief and the Cobbler:
Recobbled Cut.

The version I was working from is a slightly different "international edit." A
Wilkins Coffee clip was replaced with a shot of the prototype Cookie Monster
exploding after eating a computer. Also, Kermit has been redubbed at the end. I've
put Wilkins Coffee back in, and both Kermit versions are included on the disc.

All special features (apart from the Disney Legends Tribute Reel) were carefully
restored as well, by running noise reduction via Neat Video, color correction via
Final Cut Pro and audio noise reduction via Audacity as per usual.

The disc includes:

Alternate Ending - Kermit was later redubbed with a pitch-shifted performance
intended to make Steve Whitmire's voice sound deeper. Here is that version, as an
alternate audio track for the special.

Television Academy Hall of Fame, November 30, 1987 - Kermit the Frog and all his
friends honor Jim Henson (who is in the audience) with a musical tribute as he is
inducted into the Hall of Fame. The Muppets from The Muppet Show, Sesame Street and
Fraggle Rock appear, along with Harry Belafonte, Frank Oz, Bernie Brillstein, Joan
Ganz Cooney, Lord Lew Grade and the crew of the Muppet workshop (including Michael
Frith), in this 18-minute tribute.

The Arsenio Hall Show - On May 22, 1989, Jim Henson, Kermit the Frog and a slightly
injured Rowlf the Dog joined Arsenio Hall (and LeVar Burton) for a quite funny
appearance where Rowlf compliments Hall by calling him a "Son of a bitch." On May
4, 1990, in his last television appearance, Jim Henson and Kermit the Frog appear
to promote "The Muppets at Walt Disney World." Kevin Clash and Clifford join Jim
and Arsenio for the second segment, with Clifford dominating the proceedings to
Jim's delight. In terms of video, the second appearance is lower quality than the
first.

Disney Legends Tribute Reel - A very recent montage of clips put together by
Disney, looking over the career of Jim Henson, plus the 2011 film "The Muppets."

Fraggle Rock Countdown Clock - The complete countdown clock used on episodes of
Fraggle Rock, and in this special.

Muppets at Walt Disney World Clip - The Muppets sing "More More More," in this
terrific closing number from Jim Henson's last television special. My NTSC copy of
this special isn't particularly good quality. I used an alternate PAL source for
the audio, which helps, but if I ever restore "The Muppets at Walt Disney World"
for DVD release it would be from a different source than this, I think. Possibly a
PAL one.

The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson

Producer/Director: Don Mischer
Co-Producers: Martin G. Baker and David J. Goldberg
Writers: Jerry Juhl, Bill Prady and Sara Lukinson
Associate Producer: Ritamarie Peruggi
Muppet Performers: Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Richard Hunt, Kevin Clash, Jerry Nelson,
Steve Whitmire, Kathryn Mullen, Caroll Spinney, Pam Arciero, Fran Brill, Camille
Bonora, Joey Mazzarino, Jim Martin, Peter MacKennan, Carmen Osbahr, Martin P.
Robinson, David Rudman
Clip Segments: David Gumpel and Sara Lukinson
Music: Larry Grossman
Scenic Designer: Lyndon Mosse
Lighting Designer: John Rook
Technical Director: Tom Guadarrama
Audio: Jim Anderson, Blake Norton
Special Thanks to The Muppet Workshop