The Muppets

[Dacey]

This one hurts. Bob was a legend. And so sincere.

[Randall]

Bob was near and dear to us in Saskatchewan. He made annual trips here to do what became known as the world's most successful telethon (per capita, called Telemiracle), for nearly 40 years. Proceeds from Telemiracle go to help kids with disabilities. And Bob would come early in the week to visit hospitals, attend ancillary fundraisers, and do publicity for the charity, and he did it because he loved it. So, think about that. He came to help out a place far away for nearly 40 years, because it made him happy, and he did so into his old age. Great guy.

[Daniel]

Didn't expect to lose Bob and Luis in the same year. Very sad. He helped teach so many kids.

[Ben]

I saw this news late last night and as soon as I saw his face I got a thousand warm memories of Sesame Street and his kind approach. And really nice to hear he was as warm-hearted and nice in person as he was on screen. Lovely memories and that was a lovely clip. RIP Bob, and thanks for being a safe and warm person to us as kids.

[Daniel]

Extended version of Christmas Carol is now live! Unfortunately you have to choose it from the Extras tab. To be expected, but after the Imax versions of Marvel films were added as default was hoping the same would happen here. Make those who don't want the song go through the hassle! Ah well, at least it's finally there. Will be watching soon.

[Ben]

Oh! I’d have thought that this just now becomes the default version of the film, and cancels out the cut version (which was never cut here in the UK anyway!).

[Randall]

That's dopey. The extended version is the CORRECT version. Period. That song makes the whole point of what turned Scrooge miserable! Asking Brian Henson to cut it was a total bonehead move.

[Ben]

And yet, as I say, it was never cut in the UK. The prints I saw twice in cinemas in '92 had the song in there. As did our VHS. And, luckily, the LaserDisc also had it in there, so it wasn’t until much later that I’d heard it had been cut for ostensibly bore Yanks. But it was always in the film over here. Guess UK kids are more cultured…

[gaastra]

In america the song was cut from the theatre version but put back in for the vhs release. People who missed it in theatres first saw the uncut version on vhs. Kind of like uncle buck the teen girl hits her cheating boyfriend with golf balls scene was cut in theatres but restored for vhs.

Just the opposite of batman 89 had the extra scene with batman trying to sneak up to joker and Vicky distracting him near the end cut for vhs. Scene weas only in the theatre cut and never in the home releases.

[Daniel]

I'm hoping they swap them. I've already read a bunch of complaints of people watching the film and saying the song is still missing. Being tucked away with the deleted song makes is feel like it's still lost! At the very least give it its own separate tile like those pointless Sing-Alongs...

[Ben]

Xactly. Better yet an anniversary 4K disc!! I don’t want to have to again wait for another "almost 35th anniversary" edition of a Muppets film!

[Daniel]

Handy infographic for the confusing process:

[EricJ]

(In the Streaming era, we have to TELL people how to watch disc bonus extras... )

[Ben]

Er…except this isn’t an extra. That’s the point!

[Dacey]

Both The Muppet Movie and Caper are now in 4K on Disney+.