MUPPET BABIES cartoonist reveals why we’ve never seen the series on streaming, and confirms what the nanny looked like

The original The Muppet Babies the series ran for eight seasons, from 1984 to 1991, on CBS’ Saturday morning cartoon programming, and was a fan favorite. I know I’ve seen it live since I was very young and also through syndication. It was a really cute sight, inspired by the flashback dream sequence in the 1984 film The Muppets take over Manhattanalso one of my favourites.

The series featured Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy, and their friends, Fozzie Bear, Animal, Scooter, Skeeter, Rowlf the Dog, and Gonzo as the main characters in their child counterparts. Supporting characters include Bunsen Honeydew, Beaker, and Camilla, Gonzo’s stuffed chick. In the final two seasons, Bean Bunny, Statler and Waldorf began making regular appearances. Several Muppets appeared as guests, including Janice as an older preteen and Kermit’s nephew Robin as a tadpole. The entire series included the nanny, the nanny, and the show took children on exciting adventures through their imaginations.

Everyone who has watched this show has a special place in their heart, so the burning question is… why can’t we stream it? He finally answered this question The Muppet Babies cartoonist Guy Gilchrist in a recent appearance at LA Comic Con, where he explained that it’s all about “copyrights and trademarks.” He said in an interview with Dennis Does LA that in the 1980s there was “camaraderie” among the studios, something that doesn’t exist today among large corporate acquisitions. He continued:

“In addition to using material that was in the public domain, like the silent material we used in the dream sequences… Remember, the editing was incredibly wonderful. We used a lot of film clips from a lot of different things, including Raiders [of the Lost Ark]Star Wars and all that,” Gilchrist said of the collaboration the studios had with each other.

He continued:

“Jim was very good with George Lucas. George came in and worked on Labyrinth with Jim and that wasn’t their first collaboration. Their first collaboration was… they were across the street. Jim was filming The Muppets and George was filming Star Wars across the street. Yoda didn’t work, so Jim, Frank, and Kathy Mullen fixed Yoda. Then, Steven Spielberg was also a close friend of Jim’s, and Jim fixed ET because ET didn’t work.

After establishing how the studios worked with each other, Gilchrist went on to explain how the clips were used The Muppet Babies came into the show and how different it is now.

“In those days everyone loved us. They loved Jim – they would have done anything for us. We didn’t fill out forms, requests, this or that. We basically did what we wanted with the blessing of all the studios. Nowadays, things are owned by Disney, Universal… and there’s not the camaraderie on a creative level that we had in the 80s. That’s why, I’m sorry to say, you won’t see the original Muppet Babies. And it’s the question I get asked most frequently. I had a lot to do with children. I know how much you love children and would love to have them back. But I don’t really know how that will ever happen. Unfortunately it’s about copyrights and trademarks and things like that.”

It is a pity. I wish the studios would make an exception for this show. It would make the fans so happy! But one interesting piece of information Gilchrist revealed is what the nanny looks like! We only saw the character from the knees down, from Muppet Babies eye level, so all we really knew was that she was wearing striped socks. He explained:

“Barbara Billingsley, Mrs. Cleaver [from Leave it to Beaver], it was the nanny. Now you know what the nanny looks like.

As for Nanny’s striped socks, Gilchrist said they were “an ode to The Wizard of Oz.” You can read the entire interview in the post below:

via: Deadline