Jim Henson's Muppet Babies - Production History

Production History

In 1984, The Muppets Take Manhattan, the third full-length Muppet film, debuted. The film included a fantasy sequence in which Miss Piggy imagined what growing up with Kermit would have been like. While Piggy sang, baby versions of Rowlf, Fozzie, Scooter, and Gonzo acted as backup singers. The live-action sequence was so successful that The Jim Henson Company turned the idea into a half-hour cartoon program. In order for 107 episodes to be produced, Henson and Marvel hired two companies: the Japanese-based Toei Animation for Seasons 1–3 and five episodes of Season 4, and the Korean-based AKOM Productions for Episode six of Season 4 through Season 8, both of which also animated G.I. Joe and The Transformers for Marvel Productions and Sunbow Productions.

Muppet Babies proved highly popular and ran from 1984 to 1991, a total of eight seasons. At the height of its popularity it ran in two or three episode blocks.

For a brief run in the second season, the program became Muppets, Babies & Monsters, too!, and a second half-hour was dedicated to a new show called Jim Henson's Little Muppet Monsters. This show featured live action puppets and cartoons starring the adult Muppet characters. The program lasted three weeks before Jim Henson pulled the plug, despite 18 episodes having been made. The show then reverted to an hour of Muppet Babies; however, a portion of the Little Muppet Monsters theme could still be heard in the show's end credits for the remainder of its run. Muppet Babies later expanded to 90 minutes after The Garbage Pail Kids was canceled before it aired.

Muppet Babies is noted for starting a trend of relaunching popular cartoon characters as younger versions of themselves. This trend can be seen in numerous TV series such as A Pup Named Scooby-Doo, The Flintstone Kids, Baby Felix, Tiny Toon Adventures, Tom and Jerry Kids and Jungle Cubs (based on characters from Walt Disney's animated film "The Jungle Book") as well as merchandise items such as Baby Snoopy, Baby (Betty) Boop, Disney Babies, Baby Hello Kitty, Care Bear Cubs, and Baby Garfield. In recent years, Baby Looney Tunes and Sesame Beginnings continued the concept.

Muppet Babies was a critical success during its time on the air: the show won four consecutive Daytime Emmys for Outstanding Animated Program, 1985–88, and won a Humanitas Prize for Children's Animation in 1985.

Muppet Babies was voted "Top Cartoon of the Childhood Days" by the Irvin Hall newspaper's weekly review of the Pennsylvania State University in 2007.