It’s spring! Time for sunshine, picnics, and lovely Muppet bunnies. As somebody who had it recorded on VHS as a child, Beth has seen “The Story of the Bunny Picnic” much more occasions than Fraggle Rock. Insisting on its present political relevance and Fraggly vibes, she acquired as many ToughPigs as attainable collectively for a bunch watch-along.
That includes ToughPigs writers Beth Prepare dinner, Becca Petunia Shane Keating, Joe Hennes, Katilyn Miller, J.D. Hansel, and Matthew Soberman.
Be happy to watch alongside with our commentary!
Becca: I’m able to study all about bunnies!
Shane: I’m able to study all about pic-a-nics.
Becca: So wait, KT and I are the one Bunny Picnic Virgins (I really feel soiled saying that).
Joe: I’ve solely seen it as soon as!
Katilyn: Oh, Balsam and Lee. Ought to I get excited?
Shane: Sure.
Beth: YUP.
Shane: The songs are just about Fraggle songs.
Joe: It’s a must to be excited each time you see Balsam and Lee. It’s Muppet regulation.
Shane: Even in “Muppet Traditional Theater”.
Katilyn: I don’t need Joe the Authorized Weasel to come back to my home.
[The opening song “Hello, Sunshine” begins]
Beth: What the heck are these lyrics they maintain singing over one another? GOOD QUESTION.
Joe: Oh, that is 100% a Fraggle Rock track, isn’t it?
Some moon track or one thing?
Beth, what track am I pondering of?
Becca: @Joe “Shine On Us Now” from “Seize the Moon”.
Beth: @Joe “Moon Come Quickly”?
@Becca That’s the chap.
Joe: Balsam and Lee are common Aaron Sorkins, stealing from themselves.
Katilyn: Have a look at all these background Frag—bunnies.
Shane: Patti LaBelle ought to sing this track.
Becca: It’s so bizarre that the primary character of this unrelated particular turned a most important Muppet. it will be like if Rugby Tiger was in Muppets Tonight.
Katilyn: Is that this Bean’s first look? He doesn’t fairly sound like himself. Extra nasally.
Beth: Sure! OG Bean! It’s nonetheless Steve Whitmire tho.
[Lugsy telling Bean he’s too little to help]
Becca: Bean is legit taller than this different rabbit, Richard’s rabbit must shut up.
Katilyn: @Becca It’s all ears. These don’t depend.
[Bean starts singing “I Had a Dream”]
Shane: this track is 100% a Wembley track for positive.
That fanfare was completely the identical as the beginning of “Dream a Dream and See”.
Bean is so cute tho.
Joe: If he calls himself a “wimp,” I’m calling Wembley shenanigans.
Becca: It actually feels like Steve doing a Cotterpin impression.
Katilyn: Sure, this!!
Joe: It’s the stuffy nostril.
[Bean imagines himself as King of the Bunny Picnic]
Katilyn: So do rabbits have a monarchy?
Shane: Solely through the Bunny Picnic.
Katilyn: Oh, so it’s like a Mardi Gras state of affairs.
Beth: Precisely.
J.D.: Bunarchy?
Joe: God, I completely love the truth that Jim solid himself because the canine.
Completely no cause he had to try this.
Shane: Think about Jim as Bean.
Becca: Utilizing that very same joke of utilizing “woof” as a form of expletive that he does in Canine Metropolis.
Beth: The canine is the perfect character!
And I say that as somebody who identifies with Bean perhaps an excessive amount of.
Joe: You do look good in scarves.
Beth: And cardigans!
[Bean pretends to be a fire-breathing dragon]
Becca: I like this Bean who’s a dreamer.
It’s a enjoyable hook for him.
Katilyn: Okay, that’s cute.
That is the form of creativeness they may have achieved on Muppet Infants.
J.D.: I really feel prefer it goes hand-in-hand with Bean casting himself as Rambo in The Jim Henson Hour.
Becca: Man, I really like Richard. I do know that’s the least controversial assertion.
@J.D. I used to be pondering the identical factor, JD!
J.D.: As a result of we at all times agree!
Becca: Besides on largely every part!
Katilyn: Have a look at that home structure. These beams!
Joe: Beams bunny.
Becca: Beam Bunny.
Dammit.
Katilyn: lol
Joe: We did it.
J.D.: Since you at all times agree!
[The father bunny panic-wails at the mention of a dog]
Katilyn: Bunny PTSD.
Joe: Dad has PTSD.
We did it once more.
Katilyn: Oh no, we’re changing into a hive thoughts.
Shane: Beam Bunny!
Joe: Fairly quickly we’ll be ending one another’s
Katilyn: sandwiches
Joe: Please don’t eat my sandwich.
[Transition to a new scene with a page turning in a storybook]
Becca: ooh, the transitions are cool.
Oh hey, the common chickens are right here!
Beth: Brace yourselves.
This villain is terrifying.
[The Farmer enters, but only shown from the waist down]
Katilyn: It’s Nanny!
Joe: What is that this southern accent that Jim does for lots of his characters?
Is it a Mississippi factor?
Shane: @Joe he’s a canine.
It’s a canine accent.
J.D.: That is such a wierd use of Marty [Robinson].
Becca: Yeah he feels like Monty’s cousin from Alabama.
Yeah, it is a Southern accent on the canine.
It’s form of a Goshposh factor.
It’s good that Marty will get to play with the Fraggle staff.
[Great-Great-Great-Great Grandmother is introduced]
Joe: Oh man, she has the identical voice as Outdated Woman Possum from Emmet Otter.
Shane: She has the identical voice as Ollie the Tapir from The Animal Present.
[Grandmother: “I haven’t had sixty trillion, eight hundred seventy-five billion great-great-great-great-grandchildren for nothing, you know.”]
Joe: Rattling, grandma’s been BUSY.
[Bean lowers his ears against his head]
Katilyn: Oh! Ear mechanism.
Shane: Yeah!
Joe: God it seems to be so good.
Shane: I don’t suppose they used that within the puppets after.
Joe: Realizing Steve, he would’ve performed with it on a regular basis if Bean saved the ear mech.
Becca: There simply actually isn’t a lot Bean stuff! However he doesn’t use it in MCC, even when cowering below the newspaper, which is when it will be used.
[Grandmother: “Now, Bean, you don’t have to be a nasty old owl. Why? Because you’re a little bunny. At least, that’s what you are on the outside. Get it?”]
Becca: OK wait is that this transphobic or trans affirming?
Beth: I feel affirming, however you get to be the ultimate choose on that.
[A snail appears and has two lines]
Shane: Oh, no, that is the perfect character.
Joe: David Rudman snail?
Becca: Talking of The Animal Present!
Shane: That’s the chap gastropod.
[The Dog starts singing “Bunny Stew”]
Becca: I do know the Kermitment boys have stated this, however wow Muppet canines are the perfect Muppets.
Joe: Bean and a butterfly – similar to in MuppetVision 3D (RIP).
Matthew: “He’s gonna get you if you happen to come play peekaboo”? SOMEBODY WARN THAT BUNNY FROM THE PLAY-ALONG VIDEO!
Shane: I’ve by no means seen that.
Becca: it’s the one play alongside video I didn’t watch rising up.
Joe: Perhaps it’s the voice, however that track sounded loads just like the Convincing John track.
Katilyn: This canine is a combo of Rowlf and Sprocket. He’s very dog-like till he does the human-like gestures.
Matthew: That canine’s voice feels straight out of Mupppet Musicians of Bremen.
Joe: He’s a mixture of each Muppet canine.
A Muppet Mutt, if you’ll.
Becca: Beam Bunny.
Shane: https://muppet.fandom.com/wiki/Mutt
Joe: “That’s utilizing the previous elbow” feels like a Shane-ism.
Shane: what an odd quirk to introduce this late within the particular.
Beth: He does many physique half mixups and little Beth used to say them advert nauseam.
Becca: Jim is certainly having enjoyable with the canine. He appears like an actual throwback to an older comedy fashion for Jim.
[The Storyteller enters and “The Story Show” starts]
Becca: OOOH I really like that cart.
Katilyn: Wait, is he actually driving that coach?
Matthew: “Smells like 3D glasses cleaner and a digital TV studio.”
Shane: This could be my favourite track in the entire thing.
Katilyn: That is completely a Fraggle track.
Joe: Wow, Jim actually favored together with characters named Storyteller.
Becca: Man I’m nonetheless not over how cool that is.
Beth: Boomers: What’s your retirement plan? Me: (gestures)
Becca: The Triangle Is Proper: three characters named Storyteller.
Beth: @Becca I’m writing about this sometime!!
Joe: Additionally, ballsy for Balsam and Lee to jot down a second track referred to as “Observe Me”.
Becca: Oh after all Kevin performs the COOL Bunny.
Joe: Zippity Zap Bunny.
Shane: To cite Kermitment, he’s actually the Poochie of this particular.
Beth: @Becca I assumed it was tremendous problematic again once I thought it was Brian redoing his Cool Taxi Driver from Christmas Toy.
Shane: Oh yeah that’s no good.
[The puppet show “The Tale of the Giant Hedgehog” starts]
Matthew: Hans?
Becca: Love Muppets performing puppet exhibits.
Matthew: Man, Paramount’s going too far with the Sonic universe.
[In the Storyteller’s puppet show, the Giant Hedgehog emerges and eerily calls to the Fox]
Becca: oh I DID NOT HEAR FOX.
Joe: HE DEF SAID F*CK.
Becca: RIGHT?
Katilyn: Wow.
Joe: An actual “Gee, Gobo” state of affairs right here.
[The Giant Hedgehog gives the lesson “Those who hurt others hurt themselves”]
Matthew: See the Republican Social gathering.
Katilyn: Storyteller into microfiction.
Shane: Wow, I really feel like I’ve realized an excellent lesson right here.
Beth: I really like the irony that that is Lugsy’s favourite story.
Becca: @Katilyn bunnies don’t have an excellent consideration span.
[The dog runs into the group of bunnies]
Shane: He ought to be capable of catch no less than a type of guys.
Joe: He’s dangerous at canine.
Becca: Into the bramble bush? Disney ought to’ve retooled Splash Mountain into this.
J.D.: Then… Disney ought to present this within the MV*3D theater earlier than they tear down the constructing so we will watch it with Bean Bunny within the theater field.
Katilyn: I don’t really feel like that mayor has any actual energy anyway.
Joe: I didn’t vote for him.
Katilyn: Everyone knows that political energy is a sham anyway.
[The lullaby “Bunny Go High” starts]
Joe: “It’s time for saying goodbyeeeee”.
Shane: @Joe wow you’re proper.
Matthew: “Fall asleep, little ones, as loss of life surrounds us all.”
J.D.: The angelic singing on this!!!
Shane: Yeah this one guidelines too.
[Mother: “Goodnight, Bean.” “I’m not Bean, I’m a giant hedgehog.” “Good night, giant hedgehog.”]
Katilyn: Aww, parental help.
Beth: Good job, Mother.
Becca: Yeah, mother is an effective mother.
Joe: What colour is his Hans now?
Katilyn: The element in all of those bunny homes/rooms is simply insane.
Like can we pause and recognize each single area?
[Upbeat instrumental music as Bean, Twitch, and Lugsy wake up the other young bunnies]
Becca: this track guidelines.
J.D.: LOVE this music.
Beth: It’s how you already know Shenanigans are Afoot.
Joe: Arabbit’sfoot.
Joe: In fact Be-Bop wears his sun shades to mattress.
Shane: I have to know what Be-Bop does subsequent.
Joe: I hope he groups up with Rocksteady.
[The farmer sneezes another button off]
Becca: I’m making an attempt to foretell the importance of those buttons.
Matthew: Chekhov’s Buttons.
[Bebop shows off a piece of the costume he’s made]
Becca: Oh, Be-Bop can sew, he’s nicely rounded.
Katilyn: The rabbits use the buttons to make the disguise that thwarts every part!
[Lugsy again saying Bean is too little to help]
Matthew: THERE ARE BUNNIES SMALLER THAN BEAN TAKING PART IN THIS PROJECT.
Beth: I feel they’re all imagined to be older, although.
[Bean imagines himself as a tree]
Matthew: Beanbo Returns.
Beth: Good old style dissociation as coping mechanism.
Joe: That is how Bean turned Pocahontas’s grandma.
Katilyn: That’s how a rabbit turns into a home beam.
Shane: Beam Bunny.
[Bean tells Lugsy “I hate you, I hate you, I hate you”]
Matthew: Bean, you have been the chosen one!
[Be-Bop kicks the Dog, who goes flying head over heels]
Shane: wow.
Katilyn: Dang.
Joe: Wait… did he simply deck the canine?
Katilyn: Be-Bop’s been doing Jiu Jitsu.
Becca: Yeah, he did a rabbit kick.
Joe: They may do this the entire time?
Becca: Be-Bop can.
He realized it from Rocksteady.
Joe: This film needs to be about Be-Bop.
Beth: Be-Bop for mayor.
Joe: Beam-Bop Bunny.
Katilyn: Mayor needs to be decided in an MMA fashion match.
[Lugsy gets captured by the Dog]
Becca: OH NO.
And Bean simply stated he hated him.
Katilyn: Now Canine goes to do what my canine does when he catches a rabbit…
Becca: Bean should really feel horrible.
Shane: Lugsy’s gonna die.
Katilyn: Stands nonetheless trying round ready for somebody to inform him what to do now.
[The Dog considers naming himself Rover]
Matthew: Rattling, we have been one letter away from having these bunnies chased by Grover.
[Babble, performed by Karen Prell, says they need someone little to stand on top]
Becca: Pink Fraggle Bunny, you might be SO MUCH LITTLER THAN BEAN.
Katilyn: There needs to be a Babble Fraggle.
Beth: Very enjoyable to say.
Becca: oh that’s her identify.
I used to be gonna say Loquacious Bunny.
Joe: The job is to be small and do the speaking. Actually describing Babble.
[The Giant Bunny enters]
Matthew: Bunzilla!
Becca: I really like this large bunny costume.
Katilyn: I really like that the enormous Bunny has arm rods!
Joe: Muppet ladder!
Katilyn: Fraggle stack.
Becca: these bunnies crammed in right here like “DID SHE SAY IT YET?”
Joe: You are able to do-bop-de-diddly-dee-bop-a-zoomabafoo-bee-doo-dah-blop-glorp it, Bean!
Joe: BUNNY VOLTRON!
Katilyn: 49 bunnies in a trenchcoat.
Becca: See, I’d be much more scared if a large bunny fell over and dozens of bunnies popped out.
Shane: like Oogie Boogie!.
Becca: it’s prefer it spawned offspring, like a Sumatran toad.
Matthew: Jim Henson’s Story of the Bunny Slaughter.
Becca: Has anybody right here eaten rabbit?
Shane: I’ve eaten lamb. That’s shut, proper?
Beth: Positive, Easter animals.
Becca: Properly once we watch Story of the Sheep Picnic you’ll be prepared.
Joe: In that case, I ate an egg.
Matthew: Can’t say I’ve. Perhaps a Bugs Bunny ice cream pop.
Katilyn: I may need. I’ve some imprecise remembrance of consuming it once I visited Eire.
Beth: Yeah, I’ve eaten loads of chocolate rabbits.
Katilyn: Bunny Peeps.
The place are the entire grownup rabbits? We’re well past dawn.
They need to be awake and questioning what their youngsters are doing.
It’s 11am, are you aware the place your bunnies are?
Joe: It’s 10am. Do… rattling. Beat me to it.
[The Farmer enters, demanding the Dog produce the rabbits he was supposed to catch, sneezing in proximity to all the hidden bunnies]
Matthew: So he calls for one thing he’s allergic to for his stew?
Joe: Do we expect the farmer is said to Cloris Leachman’s secretary character?
Katilyn: @Matthew He’s allergic to the dander, not their scrumptious meat.
Matthew: So the canine goes to pores and skin them for him?
Katilyn: Doc Hopper has a brand new hopper to catch.
[“Drum of Time” starts]
Shane: There are the adults!
Beth: Once I say my favourite protest track is sung by a bunch of Muppet bunnies.
Becca: oh man it’s about how collective motion can defeat villains.
I can dig that.
Beth: Sure!!
Joe: SOLIDARITY FOREVER.
J.D.: The choral sounds these individuals may make usually are not of this world.
Matthew: Viva la revoluti-bun!
[The farmer sneezes all his buttons off and his pants fall down. He gives up and scrambles away.]
Shane: Wow we got here actually near seeing his butt.
Katilyn: If solely politicians’ pants falling down might be as efficient.
Becca: OK I have to get my ACLU working group to make our native representatives sneeze.
Bought it.
If I had a nickel for each Muppet story solved by the protagonists making a human sneeze, I’d have two nickels.
Beth: In S1 finale of Again to the Rock I used to be satisfied they have been gonna a pull a Bunny Picnic.
[The Dog wails “Oh, now what am I gonna do? I got nowhere to go, I got nowhere to eat, I got nowhere to sleep…”]
Matthew: Have you ever tried the Group of Muppet Canine?
[Bebop suggests “Well how ‘bout we call you De-Dop de Diddly Dog Bop”]
Becca: oh now his identify is smart.
I realized his identify from Hubba-Wha
and was very confused.
Shane: Positive why not.
Joe: That’s appropriation.
[The narrator is revealed to be an elderly Bean next to the Storyteller’s cart]
Katilyn: Bean just isn’t into microfiction.
Beth: I really like that Bean turns into the Storyteller.
Becca: yeah that’s beautiful.
Katilyn: Yay reprise!
Joe: You both die the hero or stay lengthy sufficient to see your self turn out to be the Storyteller.
Matthew: “Now I’ll inform you the time of when Michael Caine threw a wreath at me and I slept on the street!”
[The end credits roll]
Shane: Jim who?
Shane: Marian Keating, no relation.
Matthew: “That is beautiful Jim, however may you please end filming Labyrinth now?”.
Becca: What a delight that was!
Katilyn: Yeah, that was great!
J.D.: That was bunderful.
Beth: Huzzah! Thanks for becoming a member of, everybunny!
Katilyn: That music was good.
Shane: Wanted extra Be-Bop.
Joe: It actually did really feel like a bizarro episode of Fraggle Rock.
Shane: yeah, a bunch of little guys, a canine, and a imply previous man.
that’s what Fraggle Rock is all about.
Joe: A Balsam, a Lee.
Beth: And don’t overlook a Jocelyn Stevenson!
Joe: Was anybody else following together with the ebook?
J.D.: Bean Bunny’s Jug-Band Easter.
Matthew: I used to be following together with the ebook, however the ebook was “Miss Piggy’s Information to Life.”
Joe: How did they sync up?
Becca: Frank isn’t on this one.
So poorly, I assume.
Katilyn: Easy methods to be fabulous with a shawl.
Shane: I had Darkish Facet of the Moon enjoying alongside.
Katilyn: Additionally, can we by no means come again to Granny Bunny being a witch?
What different magic can she do?
Beth: Look, I don’t want extra fanfic concepts.
Katilyn: However this could be a very good one!
Becca; Gotta say, I do want Kermit launched and closed this one.
Katilyn: @Becca: Nevertheless it already had a framing machine. So that you wished framing for the framing?
Becca: oh truthful.
And I do like the top with previous Bean.
Joe: It’s similar to the film Clifford.
Becca: Perhaps Kermit introduces, after which he’s hanging out with Outdated Bean on the finish within the viewers.
Joe: Perhaps Outdated Bean is telling the story to Kermit, who says he’ll adapt it right into a storybook.
Shane: However then why wouldn’t Kermit be previous.
Joe: Bunny Picnic is a prequel, Shane.
Shane: To Sam and Buddies?
Joe: Additionally unusual, have a look at this record of Bunny Picnic puppets they bought: Bean, Twitch, the dad, and the grandma. No Lugsy, no canine.
Shane: That appears nothing just like the dad.
However the granny seems to be fairly okay.
Matthew: No Be-Bop…
Katilyn: Simply add sun shades.
Becca: Twitch Bunny is a streamer.
Beth: What?? Properly now I want that Nice-Nice-Nice-Nice-Grandmother puppet.
Shane: You could find them on eBay for as little as $79!
Beth: By Grapthar’s hammer. What a financial savings.
Remaining ideas:
Beth: Mwahahaha, you all thought you have been getting lovely bunnies with Fraggly vibes, however they secretly snuck in an ethical concerning the cycle of the abuse of energy! My work right here is finished. (Besides it’s tremendous not, I nonetheless have way more to say about Bean and the three Henson Storytellers.)
Becca: I assumed this was very cute. I favored it, however I’m undecided I favored it sufficient to look at it once more. Nonetheless, it’s an vital a part of Muppet historical past, and I’m glad I acquired to listen to extra Balsam and Lee stuff. Oh yeah, and to shut the loop on whether or not this particular is trans affirming? It’s… not likely about that! Most likely may’ve guessed that from the start!!
Shane: Why didn’t Jim maintain Balsam and Lee on retainer and write all of the Muppet music going ahead?
Joe: That is such a cute particular… however perhaps too cute? If it had just a bit bit extra of that Muppet chew, I feel we’d think about this particular on the identical degree as Emmet Otter or The Christmas Toy. However hey, no less than it gave us the Beta model of Bean Bunny, who’ll turn out to be a fan favourite simply as quickly as they work out the way to flip his cuteness right into a punchline.
Katilyn: This particular really appears to have been an excuse for the entire puppeteers, puppet makers and the props division to go nuts in one of the best ways attainable. They’ve acquired absolutely realized bunny properties with bedrooms and kitchens and all of the teeny accoutrements that go along with them. There are extra rabbits than there are puppeteer arms. There are pleasant Fraggle-y songs. I can’t assist however love Bunny Picnic only for current. It crystalizes a particular time for puppetry and for the Jim Henson Firm.
J.D.: That is my favourite Fraggle Rock reboot, largely as a result of its music has the appropriate timbre and manufacturing. Makers of any Muppet media would do nicely to check this particular and attempt to seize its basic, heat, fuzzy, and tremendous duper analogue attraction.
Matthew: What the hell did this must do with Passover?
Click on right here to vote Be-Bop for mayor on the ToughPigs Discord!
