u/TheGreatCornholeo

Whenever I think of things like The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth and The Storyteller, it reminds me of how Jim desperately wanted to create these beautiful fantastical worlds. Despite putting his heart and soul into doing that, each of them was a financial failure. Dark Crystal and Labyrinth were box office bombs while Storyteller got stuck as the second half of a weird Muppet Show reboot.

As Jim got older, he wanted to move past the more comedic Muppet stuff, but he was unable to. He was only able to create a handful of serious fantasy productions before his tragic passing.

One of my friends recently called Jim Henson a "comedian". While I get where she was coming from, I don't personally believe he would've wanted to be remembered that way. As time went on, he dipped his toes into more serious writing and each time it was amazing! People just weren't able to appreciate it until after he was gone.

This came up again when I saw a video earlier today of a guy exploring a Henson museum tour when he encountered the majestic Thought Lion puppet. I literally thought to myself that if that was me, I would break down crying in it's presence! I know it's just a puppet, but knowing the history of it all, that lion represents such a bittersweet thing to me.

While I was at work this morning, a Kermit the Frog quote randomly popped into my head and it's driving me crazy trying to remember where it came from.

All I know is that it was an episode of The Muppet Show (or one of the movies) where Kermit says to Miss Piggy,

"Read my lips... AH-LEE-GAY-TORS!" (spelling out the word "alligators" for emphasis).

I don't remember the context, unfortunately. I'm certain it was most likely Jim Henson's Kermit, probably not Steve Whitmire and definitely not Matt Vogel's interpretation.

I don't think it was from one of his many appearances on Sesame Street, either, because I do recall him saying it to Miss Piggy in particular.

I remember having a particularly rough day when I was 14-years-old. My computer got a completely unfixable virus and my pet rabbit died on the exact same day. To say that I wasn't in a good mood would be an understatement.

That evening, my parents and I watched The Muppets (2011) movie together. I swear as soon as I heard that Paul Simon song play in the opening credits, the whole vibe changed. This wasn't even the first time I'd seen it, we previously saw it in the theater.

It made me laugh during a day that I desperately needed it. I just adore their wholesome but not overly saccharine brand of humor. It's very Bob's Burgers or early Simpsons-coded, in my opinion.

I was actually able to go to bed happy on a night where everything seemed to be going wrong! I thank Kermit and the gang for helping change my mood.

Whenever she sends me a message about him, in my head, I always hear his name the way that Nigel obnoxiously says it (COAT-y).

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Dammit, Logan! 😆