Kermit's Swamp Years

"Kermit's Swamp Years" is a live-action, made-for-video motion picture starring Jim Henson's Muppets. It was produced in 2002 and is a prequel of sorts to The Muppet Movie, telling the story of Kermit the Frog's early life.

Synopsis

The movie opens in the swamplands that a young Kermit the Frog calls home. He enjoys a serene amphibian's life with his buddies Croaker and Goggles, enduring the occasional unpleasant altercation with an aggressive bullfrog named Blotch. Despite his tranquil existence, Kermit can't help but wonder what else the world has to offer and what lies beyond the swamp, but the sentiment is not shared by his companions, and a swamp alligator named Arnie warns Kermit that to venture into the human world is to court disaster. After a pet store owner named Wilson (William Bookston) spots Goggles and Blotch and snatches them up so he can sell them, however, Kermit and Croaker have no choice but to venture forth in order to save their friends.

Along the way, Kermit and Croaker meet a stray dog named Pilgrim, whose knowledge of the outside world proves vital in helping them reach the pet shop. Along the way, Kermit discovers the excitement of the movies, the power of a wishing star, and even what it's like to fly. Meanwhile, the other animals at the store manage to convince Goggles in a lively musical number that being sold to someone as a pet isn't such a bad idea. What they don't realize, however, is a high school teacher named Hugo Krassman (John Hostetter) and his cheerfully inept assistant Mary (Kelly Collins Lintz) will be collecting all the frogs for use as dissection fodder in Krassman's biology class.

In a daring rescue, Kermit manages to free Goggles from the dissection table and fend off Dr. Krassman using some swashbuckling techniques he picked up at the movie theater. Despite the warnings that Kermit should never talk to humans, Kermit addresses Krassman directly, asking him to please release the frogs. This fortuitous decision reveals that Krassman had encountered another frog who spoke to him as a child, only to be laughed at by his entire science class. With the truth at long last revealed that frogs can indeed talk, Krassman frees all the frogs and enables Kermit and his friends to return home.

Production notes

Although the supporting characters were created specifically for this movie, the performers behind them are no strangers to the world of the Muppets. Croaker was performed by Bill Baretta, who also performs Pepe the King Prawn. Goggles was performed by Joey Mazzarino, a writer and lyricist for Sesame Street who also co-wrote the teleplay for Kermit's Swamp Years and Muppets from Space. Blotch was performed by John Kennedy, who has been a supporting Muppet performer for years.

The opening and closing sequence also introduces Horace the Horsefly (voiced by Bill Barretta), one of the few computer-animated Muppets. (In the outtakes reel that rolls during the end credits, Horace complains about having to be swallowed up by Kermit and asks, "Can't we use CG in this scene?")

The character Pilgrim was realized in some scenes as a trained dog, and other scenes as a Muppet (voiced by Cree Summer) that was identical to the live dog.

The outtakes reel at the end of the film includes an alternate version of the song "Rainbow Connection" performed by Me First and the Gimme Gimmes.

The behind-the-scenes featurette involves a muppet named Joe the Armadillo interviewing various members of the production staff and crew. (Watch for his "big scene" in which he is inserted into the pet store sequence with some clever post-production editing.)

Trivia

This story takes place in 1967, given that Kermit is 12 years old in this movie and that his birth year is 1955.

Several of the scenes in this film serve as direct lead-ins to events from The Muppet Movie. Kermit's first exposure to the cinema inspired his dream to be in the movies some day. Also, his harrowing encounter with a barnyard pig causes him to remark, "I hope I never see one of those my entire life!" Kermit also encounters a young Jim Henson (played by Christian Kebbel), suggesting that this chance meeting would later inspire Henson's creative endeavours, although he is portrayed as a young teen in this movie, while in reality, by 1967, Henson would have been 31 years old.

As an inside joke, the props in the pet store scenes pay tribute to some of the original Muppet performers. Among them are bags of Nelson's Super Fine Cat Food and a box of Goelz Guppy Grub. There's also a sticker on the frog aquarium for Puppet Chow ("It's Handmade!") Also, the little boy who stops by the pet store has a dog named Rowlf, named after one of Jim Henson's most beloved Muppet characters.

Careful observers will note that Wilson, the pet store owner, has a Muppets keychain with Animal on it. It's visible in some scenes in which he is driving his truck.

In the on-the-set interview with Kermit, we learn that Kermit endures three hours in the make-up chair in order for the prosthetics to be applied that transforms him into the young Kermit he plays in this movie.

Look closely at the rear license plate of the red truck driven by Wilson, the pet store owner. It reads "JMH924." This pays tribute to Jim Henson. His full name was James Maury Henson, hence his initials being "JMH" and his date of birth was September 24th, normally written as 9/24, but here as "924."

Dr. Krassman shares his name with a character from "The Muppet Movie" from 1979, Professor Krassman, who is to perform "an electronic cerebrectomy" on Kermit. However, Dr. Krassman's first name is Hugo, and Professor Krassman's first name is Max.