Kermit's Swamp Years
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| Kermit's Swamp Years | |
|---|---|
| Directed by | David Gumpel |
| Produced by | Ritamarie Peruggi |
| Written by | Jim Lewis (teleplay and story) Joey Mazzarino (teleplay) |
| Starring | William Bookston John Hostetter Christian Kebble Kelly Collins Lintz Cree Summer Muppet Performers: Bill Barretta Alice Dinnean Dave Goelz Jerry Nelson John Kennedy Joey Mazzarino Steve Whitmire |
| Music by | Joe Carroll Peter Thom |
| Cinematography | Stephen Campbell Rufus Standefer |
| Editing by | Katina Zinner |
| Studio | Jim Henson Home Entertainment |
| Distributed by | Columbia TriStar Home Entertainment |
| Release date(s) | September 3, 2002 |
| Running time | 82 minutes |
| Country | USA |
| Language | English |
Kermit's Swamp Years is a live-action, direct-to-video film 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.
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[edit] Plot
The movie opens in the swamplands that Kermit the Frog calls home. He recaps an adventure about his childhood where he enjoyed a serene amphibian's life with his buddies Croaker the Frog and Goggles the Toad, 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 (voiced by Cree Summer), 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. Back in the present, Kermit enters the swamp to meet up with his old friends.
[edit] Cast
- William Bookston - Wilson
- John Hostetter - Hugo Krassman
- Christian Kebble - Young Jim Henson
- Kelly Collins Lintz - Mary
- Cree Summer - Pilgrim the Dog, Kermit's Mom (voice)
[edit] Muppet Performers
- Bill Barretta - Croaker the Frog, Horace D'Fly, Roy the Frog, Turtle #2
- Alice Dinnean - Vicki the Snake, Performer of Kermit's Mom
- Dave Goelz - Waldorf
- Jerry Nelson - Statler
- John Kennedy - Arnie the Alligator, Blotch the Bullfrog, Monkey
- Joey Mazzarino - Goggles the Toad, Turtle #1
- Steve Whitmire - Kermit the Frog, Jack the Rabbit, Chico the Frog
[edit] Crew
- Ginny McSwain - Voice Casting
[edit] 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 Barretta, who also performs Pepe the King Prawn. Goggles was performed by Joey Mazzarino, a writer, lyricist, and Muppet performer 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 D'Fly (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 "The 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).
[edit] External Links
- Kermit's Swamp Years at Internet Movie Database
- Kermit's Swamp Years on Muppet Wiki, an external wiki
