Just about every popular show from the 1980s has been re-released by now, whether through disc media like DVDs or through streaming…with a handful of exceptions. Muppet Babies is a big one. The show was remade in 2018 by Disney Junior, and that version is still readily available, bur the original 2D animated CBS version has never been seen since it left syndication in the early 90s.
People have had theories, but never any real confirmation until this week. Cartoonist Guy Gilchrist, who worked for Henson Associates on Muppet Babies back in the day, recently opened up on the reason why. It’s what you think.
Yes, it’s the clips. “Besides using the stuff that was in the public domain, like the silent stuff that we used in the dream sequences…Remember, the editing on that was incredibly wonderful. We used a lot of film clips from a lot of different things, including Raiders, Star Wars, and all of that,” Gilchrist said in a podcast (which was reported by Deadline). According to Gilchrist, in some cases there was not even a legally binding license, just handshake deals because people trusted Henson that much.
“Back in those days, everyone loved us. They loved Jim — would do anything for us. We didn’t fill out forms, requests, this or that. We basically did whatever we wanted to do with the blessing of all of the studios. These days, things are owned by Disney, Universal… and there’s not the camaraderie at the creative level that we had in the eighties.”
Of course Disney owns the Muppets AND Lucasfilm, so ironically, it’s not the BIG clips like the TIE fighters appearing in the intro that would get this show shelved anymore. It’s all the smaller clips where the rights would be impossible to track down and re-negotiate.
While he was there, Gilchrist decided to answer the age-old question of what Nanny looks like above the shoulders. I’d take his answer with a grain of salt because we’re not talking to Henson himself (and can’t, unless you have a really reliable Ouija board). But according to Gilchrist….
“Barbara Billingsley, Mrs. Cleaver, she was Nanny,” he said. “Now you know what Nanny looks like.”
In the original Muppet Babies model sheet, which you can find online, Nanny was depicted as headless. This is my canon.
