It's Time to Start the Music: 12 Muppet-tational Moments

It would be tough not to realize that The Muppets opens in theaters today, since Disney has been promoting it just a tiny bit over the last few months.  For those of with The Muppets permanently embedded in our childhoods, this is a very welcome return of some old friends.  But it's hard to believe there's now a whole generation who've never seen The Muppet Show or watched a Muppet movie. 

Well, it's time to remedy that.  For anyone who needs to catch up, here are some classic Muppet moments:

1.  The Muppet Show theme song

It's time to start the music, it's time to light the lights...this kicked off every episode of The Muppet Show during it's original run from 1976-1981.  It wasn't always the same every week, since Kermit would need to introduce the guest star, Statler and Waldorf would start the heckling from the balcony, and Gonzo's closing note would always end in catastrophe:

2.  The Rainbow Connection

This is the song that opened 1979's The Muppet Movie.  Still the best Muppets song of all time:

 3.  Mahna Mahna

It's possibly the silliest song and sketch in the world, but it's still funny as hell and you'll never get the song out of your head:

4.  "A bear in his natural habitat...a Studebaker":

Kermit and Fozzie headed out for Hollywood in The Muppet Movie with one of the best road trip songs of all time.  This clip also featured a Sesame Street cameo:

5.  The Muppet News Flash

Nearly every episode of The Muppet Show had a breaking news update...which usually broke the newscaster:

6.  Never Before, Never Again

Originally, Johnny Mathis was supposed to sing Miss Piggy's love song to Kermit in The Muppet Movie, but that was scrapped in favor of letting Miss Piggy do the song herself, with earsplitting results:

7.  Pigs in Space Meets Star Wars

The Muppet Show's "Pigs in Space" sketch was a spoof of sci-fi TV shows like Star Trek and Lost in Space, but when guest star Luke Skywalker (and his "cousin" Mark Hamill) dropped in with a few Star Wars friends, it led to the ultimate space sketch:

8.  The Swedish Chef vs. a Chicken

The Swedish Chef's unintelligible cooking segments usually ended in disaster, but this particular one led to (what else?) a running gag that ran through several more sketches:

9.  Muppet Movie Cameos

Cameos were a major part of the Muppet movies, and 1981's The Great Muppet Caper featured a wacky converstation between Kermit and Peter Falk:

10.  Muppet Labs

Dr. Bunsen Honeydew would present exciting glimpses into the future, much to the dismay of his assistant Beaker:

11.  Statler and Waldorf

Everyone's favorite hecklers would always give their opinions on the show:

12.  "Together Again"

In honor of The Muppets return to the big screen, a song from 1984's The Muppets Take Manhattan:

Well, hopefully that gives you an idea of the awesomeness of The Muppets.  Even before all of the parody trailers.  The Muppets is in theaters today - so go check it out!