With nearly the entire internet devoid of Emmet Otter music and video, we present a legally irresponsible solution! Finally: Listen and Download all the timeless songs you love from Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas…

[I'm republishing this piece from January since not a lot of people saw it, and more importantly, Emmet Otter and The Christmas Toy are now on Netflix Watch Now. WATCH NOW!]

Last years’ Emmet Otter Jug-Band Christmas article was, by far, the most difficult one for me to write. Although the truncated piece finally debuted on December 15th, it was actually the first special I’d watched in preparation to write up weeks before hand. I fell so batshit in love with the Jim Henson classic, forming coherent thoughts about singing puppets became my own personal Amadeus.

Emmet Otter – Intro (right click/save)

Obviously, part of that struggle came from the ridiculously amazing songs by Paul Williams. Even those with the vaguest familiarity with Christmas Special tend to remember at least a lyric or two, right? Remember that hole-less Washtub?

Emmet Otter – The One Bathing Suit (right click/save)

Now, I’m no music critic… and sure, I almost definitely lack the vocabulary to do the songs justice in prose. But most importantly, I also find most writings of that nature tedious and boring, with too much of the author’s personal baggage projected onto a medium most people enjoy on a indescribable, subjective level.

Emmet Otter – Ain’t no Hole in the Washtub (right click/save)

Instead, I really wanted to let you guys HEAR the music of Emmet Otter, for no better reason than they’re unforgettably awesome. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to exist ANYWHERE!

Emmet Otter – When the River Meets the Sea (right click/save)

Through all my research, I found no evidence of any official soundtrack ever, let alone MP3s available for purchase. Plus, YouTube/Henson/Lionsgate/Whomever holds the current rights continuously blocked my attempts to share them with you, which led to further delays.

Emmet Otter – Barbeque (right click/save)

(Oh, I also did my damnedest to find the special’s original air date, which included looking through archived print TV schedules from 1977 with no success. If anybody knows, please pass that info along!)

Emmet Otter – Our World (right click/save)

The stage play and the DVD are virtually the only mediums keeping Emmet Otter’s music alive. And although they both do a great job in preserving the magic, I wanted to make a few of my favorite cuts available for folks who don’t listen to music exclusively through their DVD player or by visiting seasonal theatrical production solely showing in a remote part of the United States (This ain’t 1970, dammit!)

Emmet Otter – Brothers (right click/save)

I don’t maintain any ownership over these tracks, and post them in lieu of NO OTHER OPTION. Should there ever be an official soundtrack release, I’ll remove these tracks post haste.

Emmet Otter – Riverbottom Nightmare Band (right click/save)

And if any of Emmet Otter’s owners/rights holders take issue, let’s try and avoid the lawyers and Internet Police and just please contact me here and I’ll remove do so immediately.

Emmet Otter – Brothers in Our World (right click/save)

Incidentally, that header image at the top is from the original VHS release of Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas (With Kermit! You can see it in the article.) But I’ve also taken the liberty of adding that as the album art for all of the MP3s on this page. Thought it be a nice treat to see on your iPods and such… you don’t have to thank me.

Emmet Otter – When the River Meets the Sea (credits) (right click/save)

UPDATE: According to my research, only the song “When the River Meets the Sea” has ever been made commercially available, on Volume 2 of the Favorite Songs From Jim Henson’s Muppets record released in 1986. Glad I looked into it – this may very well be the greatest album covers of all time:

Four Muppet factions featured together in a single product… remind anyone else of A Muppet Family Christmas?

PRODUCT INFORMATION (Shop Amazon through us – it helps!)

Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas is available on DVD, albeit with the Kermit footage completely removed. However, the special contains several short sequences that haven’t appeared on other home video releases, and any scene missing is available to watch in the ample bonus features which include a behind-the-scenes documentary and the Outakes video embedded above. Assuming you’re willing to take a chance on Otter, I strongly encourage – no… I beg you, to pick up the version bundled with Jim Henson’s equally stellar Holiday special, The Christmas Toy for just a few pennies more. Oh, and before you go and call Disney mean names for not allowing Kermit to appear in Emmet Otter, I invite you to see what the previous, out-of-print versions featuring the famous Frog are going for on the Amazon Marketplace. You’ll get an idea of what he’s worth.

And it’s OFFICIAL! Oh my… there must be some explanation

Sorry for the misleading headline there, but I never ever though I’d bear witness the demise of Kermit, nor could I have imagined it’d be performed by Jim Henson on national television forty years ago! Okay, I’ll come clean: That clip above comes a November 1966 episode of The Ed Sullivan Show.

It seems Ed Sullivan was a pretty hardcore fan of Henson and his creatures. The clip above marks the third of what would tally in at twenty-five appearances on the variety program, and Sullivan would go on to narrate the Muppets’ very first Christmas Special, The Great Santa Claus Switch in 1970. I found it on this bootlegy DVD called Muppets Magic, which compiles The Muppets’ spots on The Ed Sullivan Show and somehow managed to avoid the wrath of Disney’s lawyers for some time before going understandably out-of-print.

Like Green Lantern references? Then you’re gonna love this new Muppet movie teaser! More kickass The Muppets trailers below…

Good God, I’m so proud of how well Disney is marketing the new Muppet movie! Not only does today’s trailer spoof the upcoming, heavy-handedness of DC’s latest comic adaptation, it pokes fun at it’s own promotional insecurity. Thus far, teasers and trailers for The Muppets haven’t revealed much of anything as far as plot details go, and instead have taken a much sillier road. I can’t imagine what it must of been like to see the trailer below in theaters with no warning that it was related to a film starring the world’s most famous puppets.

The trailer plays for almost a minute as a typical Hollywood RomCom of the shittiest caliber – then BOOM! – Miss Piggy! But that’s what the Muppets do best: Send up popular culture. I’m not a fan of Kermit and Co. being shoehorned into classical adaptations such as Muppet Christmas Carol, Muppet Treasure Island, etc., and I’ve quite controversially (for this site, anyway) gone on record stating my distaste for wasting these characters on cliches and Holiday standards. When you do that, The Muppets become standard.

And they’re not! The Muppets are a reactive force against modern entertainment, with an added mix of earnest heart and adorable failure. I love these trailers. Muppet Studios has done a sensational job in keeping with the true spirit of these characters in general, and the movie’s marketing is doing an equally fantastic job towards setting up these sincere showmen with tongue-in-cheek expectations they can’t possibly live up to. After all, The Muppets just want to put on a show for the nice people, only to be kicked in the ass by the pitfalls of the entertainment industry. Or at least, that’s The Muppets to me anyway…

Oh, those legs

EMMET OTTER’S JUG-BAND CHRISTMAS
Original Air Date: 1977

A poor otter family struggles to make their musical Christmas wishes come true

[UPDATE: I've posted the entire Emmet Otter's Jug-Band Christmas soundtrack here for your listening/downloading pleasure. Get it while ya can!]

BACKSTORY:

Many are unaware that Emmet Otter’s Jung-Band Christmas is based off a book by Russell Hoban, published in 1971.

A picture from the book, but it may as well be a storyboard

Perhaps that’s because the Christmas special directed by Jim Henson mirrors both the story and look so well, it might’ve all but replaced the source material within the public consciousness. Even the memorable certain songs written by Paul Williams come from fully fleshed out references and titles from the book.

On right, Henson and Frank Oz, who puppeteered  Ma Otter

This one-hour special was produced for HBO during a break between The Muppet Show’s first and second season. Since then it has aired on ABC and Nickelodeon. Unfortunately, not only is the special shown less frequently these days, in every subsequent airing and home video release it has also suffered various edits, additions and omissions to its original runtime.

A Home Video release and the musical stage production

However, The Jim Henson Company and Godspeed Opera House recently revived the special in the form of a live stage musical in 2008, featuring people in costumes and many recognizable versions of the original puppets.

BREAKDOWN

Without a doubt one of the greatest Christmas Specials of all time, and a heartwarming showcase of everything that makes the Jim Henson company special. It’s down to earth, tragic, musical, then soulfully uplifting by the end. That said… it sucks to kick this article on a sour note, but here ya go:

What you won’t be seeing anymore

Kermit the Frog. More than likely, that’s how most of you remember seeing it. Tragically, due to The Muppets acquisition by Disney, you’ll probably never see it that way again. Kermit’s intros, outros, and narration have been removed from the all recent and currently available versions of Emmet Otter on DVD.

“There Ain’t No Hole in the Washtub“

Although, to be fair, the special has rarely appeared as it originally aired on HBO, so we’ll look at some of the edits as we go. Plus, it’d be a shame if harping on a couple of negatives got in the way of celebrating, not only one of the finest thing Jim Henson has ever produced, but one of the more beautiful Christmas productions ever cobbled by puppet-engulfed hands.

Even the animal kingdom has no-goodniks

And I do not say that lightly. Emmet Otter took a few years to take hold. As a child, I didn’t find the look of all too enticing and had little patience for musical numbers. But it eventually grew on me, to the point where I found my last viewing over far too quickly. Understand this: When I call Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas absolutely phenomenal, I’m saying that from the perspective of someone who did not watch it repeatedly as a kid, but as an adult who hadn’t seen it in many years.

These Muppets have legs

Of course, being a little older helps one fully appreciate the technical scale on which the whole production was pulled off. Song composer, Paul Williams has stated that Emmet Otter was produced almost as preparation for the impending Muppet Movie, and it really, really shows. Whereas The Muppet Show used static sets (apropos of a production themed as a variety show) the camera in Emmet is constantly moving, framing seemingly impossible shots that’ll still leave the viewer asking the question, “How the hell did they do that?!”

This is how they did that

You’re looking at a far more elaborate production here, and it’s not only perhaps the first time Henson employed remote control puppeteering, it’s one of the only times marionettes were used in a Muppet production! Right from the start, the special wows you with scenes of Emmet and his mother Alice rowing a boat down a river, and the technical feats like these remain as astonishing as ever, IMO.

Remote animatronics were used for the mouths and heads, but the boat is actually rowing Emmet

But let’s not ignore the story! The scenes in the boat are also the heart of the interaction between two characters coping with the loss of a father and a husband. They laugh, sing, and make jokes. But the harsh reality is that they’re barely scrapping by, doing odd jobs around Frogtown Hollow due to the death of Emmet’s dad.

Foxy lady

We see the mayor’s wife screw Emmet’s mom out of a laundry bill in one of the very first scenes. This is also one of the first bizarre edits done to the production over the years. As Gretchen Fox walks away after denying payment, Alice had originally told her to go “jump in a lake!” The edit wouldn’t be a huge deal, except that it rather abruptly cuts to Will Possum saying “That’s tellin’ her, Alice.”

Gorgeous

Without the lake comment, it looks like he’s saying “Way to go, you spineless coward.” instead of the “That sucks, but you still showed her,” aside it was intended to be. Emmet and Alice move past the shady transaction, singing that no matter how bad it all gets, at least there “Ain’t No Hole in the Washtub,” kicking off one of the many unforgettable songs in Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas, as well as foreshadowing events to come.

With pearl inlay!

As it turns out, the Otter family is pretty screwed out of a decent Christmas this year. After stopping by a music store, both get the idea of giving each other musical instruments they could never afford. Emmet wants to put a down payment on a piano for Ma, and she desperately wants to purchase him a used guitar. Oh, yeah and it’s here we first meet the River Bottom Gang.

Here comes trouble

Both shrug off the items as hopeless luxuries they could never possibly afford, that is, until opportunity presents itself. There’s a talent show coming up featuring and prize money to the tune of $50! Which is a practical fortune down in Frogtown Hollow.

A Washtub band? Genius!

They entertain the prospect of participating, and we’ve seen that the Otters clearly have the musical chops to place in the competition. But once again, their financial situation denies them dreams of entering the low rent puppet version of American idol.

They weren’t lyin’ about the lack of holes

Ma seems to think she wouldn’t be able to present herself at the talent show without a new dress, yet the only way she can get the money needed for one on such short notice is to hock Pa’s old tools, which Emmet still uses to perform odd jobs for extra cash.

“But what if there was a hole in the washtub?”

Emmet’s dilemma is far more prickly one indeed. He’s approached to join -surprise! – a jug band, yet gets assigned to the worst possible instrument: The Washtub Bass. To do that, he’d have to… well, they just spent five minutes thanking the dear lord Jesus that “there ain’t no hole in the washtub!”

Doesn’t Emmet look weird without his hat on?

Obviously, that song was a bit of a metaphor pertaining to being thankful for the things they do have. Or maybe that’s just the way Emmet interprets it, because he goes and destroys the one thing his family has left shamble-free, all in the name of music most fine.

Don’t feel bad, Ma lightly screws over Emmet too

Of course, both eventually find each other backstage at the talent show, but not a word is spoken about the things they’ve sold or broken to get there.

Barbeque!

Don’t try and tell yourself each other’s deeds didn’t occur to them. As a family who has so very little, I’m pretty sure they would’ve noticed fairly quickly what one another had done once it came time to fix or wash something.

Fuck foxes, there I said it

Yet instead of bitching or making accusations, they both root for one another and provide the much-needed support to perform at the talent show. And, oh yeah, Ma gets up there and really belts it out.

Only a frumpy fashionista could tell that’s a new dress

But let’s be honest, and maybe I’m just speaking for the guys my age with no children, but c’mon: We’re pulling for Emmet! Let’s see what he’s up against:

Spastically dancing squirrels? Shouldn’t be too tough to beat

Not sure why, but these dancing bunnies have been cut out of more than one version of Emmet Otter. Odd, because I’ve had the cornball vaudeville tune stuck in my head ever since

Wait? Who’s this guy?!

Oh crap! That dickheaded possum is singing the very same BBQ song Emmet and his buddies had been practicing to perform. Rather than give up, they tear the roof off the fucker, to thunderous applause.

Fucking love this song, but YouTube wouldn’t let me post it! (UPDATE: I’ve gone ahead and posted the entire Emmet Otter soundtrack because I’m a goddamned renegade! Listen/Download here)

Given crowd response to the other acts, you’d assume either Emmet or Alice Ma are a shoe in to take home the prize. But trouble has another name: The River Bottom Nightmare Band.

RIVER BOTTOM NIGHTMARE BAND

In any other situation Muppets performing prog-rock would be the greatest thing in the world. But it just so happens these plushie thugs, who have spent the majority of their screen time treating Frogtown Hollow like a toilet, steal the prize right out from under the Otters.

They should get an award just for teaching a snake to play bass

Fucking SIGH! Ma and the Frogtown Jubilee Jug-Band sulk home, penniless, presentless, prideless.

This should never have happened

Okay, that last “less” isn’t all that true, because if there’s one thing the Otter family knows how to do well, it’s make the best of an utterly depressing situation.

Two songs are better than one

While wondering what they could’ve done differently back at the talent show, the get an epiphany: Combine both their songs together a into one enormous, skullcrushing Supersong!

“Damn! Why didn’t you do that an hour ago?”

The ditty captures the attention of the people in the city, and better still, Doc Bullfrog has a change of heart. He can’t take the talent show prize money back and I don’t blame him. Would you risk your life and limb demanding a refund from a band of aggressive animals with nothing to lose? Didn’t think so!

The next best thing to a record deal

But he does score the newly formed supergroup a gig performing at his restaurant on a regular basis. It’s better than a prize or a handout; it’s a steady paycheck for the first time since Pa passed.

Sadly, the DVDs also cuts Kermit’s appearance in the restaurant

No more laundry jobs gone bad, and I’m pretty sure a “professional musician” can afford all the used guitars they’d ever want. Yes, even with pearl inlay!

I’ve always considered Henson stuff to be pretty nonreligious, The Bells of Fraggle Rock being ample proof of that, but not even the original songs contain any reference to the savior or even Christmas.

Nope… I wish I had a joke here, but I find the fact that Santa doesn’t visit rural otters desperately in need of Christmas cheer too depressing.

I can’t say enough nice things about Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas. Trust me, plenty of time had passed between my last viewing and now, so I went in with glasses 100% free of rose tint. Jug-Band Christmas still won me over on every conceivable level. The whole production remains a marvelous technical feat, and I can’t think of any other special chock this full of charm, hope and lessons on the strength you can find through depending on others. Honestly, I just wish I could hug everyone involved in the project. If you take nothing else away from the childish text I’ve vomited on rest of this page, remember this: You should really watch Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas.

Oh yeah, and this blooper reel might be The Greatest Thing on the Internet!

PRODUCT INFORMATION (Shop Amazon through us – it helps!)

Emmet Otter’s Jug Band Christmas is available on DVD, albeit with the Kermit footage completely removed. However, the special contains several short sequences that haven’t appeared on other home video releases, and any scene missing is available to watch in the ample bonus features which include a behind-the-scenes documentary and the Outakes video embedded above. Assuming you’re willing to take a chance on Otter, I strongly encourage – no… I beg you, to pick up the version bundled with Jim Henson’s equally stellar Holiday special, The Christmas Toy for just a few pennies more. Oh, and before you go and call Disney mean names for not allowing Kermit to appear in Emmet Otter, I invite you to see what the previous, out-of-print versions featuring the famous Frog are going for on the Amazon Marketplace. You’ll get an idea of what he’s worth.

Yesterday’s Christmas Special
A VERY VENTURE CHRISTMAS

2009′s Dec. 15th Christmas Special
SANTA CLAUS IS COMIN’ TO TOWN

THE CHRISTMAS TOY
Original Airdate: December 6, 1986

SYNOPSIS:
An extremely unique tale from Jim Henson starring a playroom full of Muppety toys come to life! A young girl’s favorite toy from last Christmas, Rugby Tiger, doesn’t understand that the holiday means that his status as alpha plaything can change on an annual basis. He leaves the playroom, and it’s up to the rest of the toys to stop him before he’s spotted out-of-place by unsuspecting humans. Because - unlike in other toy stories - for the toys of The Christmas Toy, that spells DEATH!

BACKSTORY:
Not only my favorite Muppet Christmas Special (and there are many), but one of my favorite Christmas Specials of all time!

The Christmas Toy never got the repeated airplay that Emmet Otter Jug-Band Christmas or A Muppet Family Christmas received, but I recall that it was shown pretty consistently on The Disney Channel back when that was still a premium channel, although it originally aired on ABC.  No surprise, though, given that I now learned that Disney spun it off into a short-lived series called The Secret Life of Toys eight years later.

The 1994 Disney Channel show that lasted a single season

Of course, The Henson Company’s various dealings with Disney are one of the things that has came back to bite The Christmas Toy in the ass. Historically, Jim Henson regularly brought Kermit the Frog out to introduce new characters during specials, but under their new ownership, Kermit’s narration has been cut from both Emmet Otter’s and A Christmas Story’s DVDs due to rights issues.

The fact that there are two title screens almost leads me to believe they knew Kermit would get cut out eventually

…Much to fans chagrin, I might add, according to the last time I check the Amazon ratings. Luckily, Kermit’s omission didn’t altogether ruin my enjoyment of the DVD, but his original inclusion during the finale reprise of the song “We’ll Be Together at Christmas (Old Friends)” is sorely missed.

A Scandinavian YouTube vid is all we have to know that Kermit ever appeared in The Christmas Toy

BREAKDOWN:

God, I wish I could buy one of these guys

Not only do I feel like The Christmas Toy doesn’t get the respect it’s due – namely, by never being included in the pantheon of alleged “classics” we see trotted out on TV each year - but I also never hear anyone call out its glaringly obvious similarities to Pixar’s Toy Story. Now, I love the Toy Storys and I’m not saying they ripped off Jim Henson, since the plot isn’t all that similar. But once you compare the premise and scenario, you’ll find a shitload of overlap:

Rugby vs. Woody – The star toy uncomfortable sharing the spotlight

Meteora vs. Buzz Lightyear – The new space-themed toy soon to become the new favorite

Mew vs. Slinky Dog – The favorite toy’s loyal companion willing to risk life and limb

Apple vs. Jesse – The once loved, now forgotten toy

“Barbie” vs. Barbie© – C’mon, look at ‘em!

But there’s one thing The Christmas Toy takes a step further. Whereas Woody and Co. simply hide from people, The Christmas Toy explains why toys need to hide, and what the consequences are.

See Ditz in the middle? Don’t get too attached to him

Rugby Tiger, almost an antihero in the beginning, is oblivious to the fact that Christmas brings new toys anually, since he’d just been unwrapped last December 25th. So once the lovable egomaniac learns that it’s Christmas Eve, he sneaks out of the playroom to take what he believes to be his rightful place every year: inside a wrapped box, under the tree.

Mew, the adorable cat toy widely despised by the rest of the group for smelling like catnip, warns everyone about Rugby’s plans during the Holiday preparations, and the entire playroom begins to run around like one of Gonzo’s girlfriends with her head cut off.

There are a lot of moving Muppet legs in this

Amid the chaos, Ditz, the moronic clown toy, idiotically figures that the simplest thing to do is run outside and get Rugby back. Unfortunately, the humans are still awake and…things don’t go well:

And that’s why you never leave the playroom.

Toys found in motion by people are “frozen forever,” or, to remove the sugarcoating: DEAD! This is part of the reason I’m not entirely upset about Kermit being cut out of the DVD.

A Very Merry Funeral Procession

The story stands pretty firmly on its own, plus it always seemed to me that whenever Henson was freed up from the legacy of Kermit and Big Bird, we got a more unique, touching, and compelling story. And yes, often times a little darker one than we were anticipating. (Look at The Dark Crystal, The Storyteller, Labyrinth, and Fraggle Rock, and I think you’ll agree with me.)

A pile of dead toys

I’d agree that it’s a little scary, but I think that taking that kind of risk is what makes the stories feel more personal. Putting something as dire as death on the line is admirable, plus I also love that the closest thing The Christmas Toy has to a villain is People! An absurdly normal family of five going about their Christmas Eve are portrayed like fearsome giants, ghoulish guards capable of ending the life of any toy they spot.

Anyway, Mew finally earns a little respect for himself by aiding Rugby in avoiding the parents and their Medusa-like gaze, and they make their way down to the Christmas Tree.

Love the scale here

But once Rugby opens the box to take his ill-perceived throne, an all-new terror is unleashed:

Meteora!

Again, like a certain other space ranger, Meteora takes herself very seriously. Completely unaware that she too is in fact a toy, she shouts battle cries at Rugby, Mew and the other toys who have come along for the rescue mission…which would be amusing if it didn’t WAKE THE HUMANS!

Ever the badass, Mew belts out an impromptu kitty cat impression

Thank Christ a quick-thinking Mew keeps the crew unseen. Getting close to the brink of death teaches Rugby a lesson of humility, and he and the lovable Mew coax Meteora back into her Christmas packaging with a song that’s too fucking adorable for words.

The outlook is good as the gang makes one last mad dash for the sancterrific confines of the playroom with the aid of some motorized toys, but poor, poor Mew loses hold and is left in the hallway. Please… don’t… open… the door!

SHIT!

Seriously?! Mew – my candidate for greatest character of all time – DEAD?! Once again, here’s the heartbreaking loss and sadness that the Henson group sneaks upon families so well.

Gets me every time

And not to harp on the Toy Story connection, but remember that Sarah McLachlan montage about Jesse and her obsolescence in the second film? Rugby is grounded by a tear-jerking tune sung by the admittedly creepy Apple, who provides an alternate perspective to the egocentric version the precious had Tiger belted out.

Flashback Version 2.0

She’s the toy that’s been outgrown, she’s the toy that’s been replaced…by Rugby in fact. And if I haven’t praised the music enough, let me say that it rules, skipping from the relative tragedies found in the climax to the comparatively un-Henson opening rock-out that explains why toys come to life in the first place: They’re built to play, and the need to do so doesn’t go away just because humans aren’t around.

So yeah, songs… Rugby visits Mew for a final time in his open-casket kitty resting place to sing Mew a touching little tune about how much his friendship of this little mouse-that-nobody-liked meant to him. And yeah, Mew comes back to life:

I know, I complain about miraculous endings that appear to serve no purpose other than to end happily…but to me what separates and redeems the situation in The Christmas Toy is that Mew actually talks about the experience of dying and being dead in way that still gives me goosebumps.

Rise of the fallen

And I’m cool with the rest of the toys getting sung back to life, too, because the last thing in the world I want to think about is characters who sound just like Gonzo and Wembley Fraggle dying forever. I can’t be walking around crying over departed Muppets – I’m a man approaching my thirties, dammit!

The Christmas Toy closes out with everybody back together and loved, and if that ain’t Christmas-y enough for you then maybe you’d be happier celebrating Chaunakkah, mister!

Sadly, the DVD released by HIT Entertainment cuts out Kermit’s reprisal of “We’ll Be Together at Christmas, (Old Friends, New Friends)” but the song would later find its way into other Muppet projects, including the epically ensemble A Muppet Family Christmas released a year later. Oh, you’d better believe I’ll be writing that one up…

Given that it was created by Jim Henson and his company full of filthy, long-haired liberals: None. Although The Christmas Story does contain more resurrections than The Old Testament.

Once again, a certain frog was acting as Claus for this one, so in terms of the DVD, Disney owns the right to this Santa and isn’t letting go.

Five out of five Balls! Can’t help it, this might be my favorite Christmas Special of all time, so I’ll be damned if I’m going to let Fat Albert or Fred Flinstone walk away with more Flaming Balls of  Spirit!

PRODUCT INFORMATION (Support the site!)

The Christmas Toy is available alone on DVD and bundled together with Jim Henson’s Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas at a great value. Neither version contains the Kermit the Frog introduction, unfortunately. A Muppet Family Christmas is out-of-print, and will likely remain that way. I link to it since it contains a fantastic Holiday tune that originated in The Christmas Toy and you may still pick it up inexpensively used.

Yesterday’s Christmas Special
A WISH FOR WINGS THAT WORK