Muppet Babies: The Next Generation

Like most people with a heart in their chest, I was a big fan of Muppet Babies growing up. So when I saw headlines here and there about the reboot just recently launched on Disney Junior, I decided to take a listen and see how much of that flawless theme song they preserved. Turns out they kept a lot, which you can listen to below.

But the big surprise? The new version of the theme song is performed by Renée Elise Goldsberry. Most people might recognize her as the voice of Angelica Schuyler in the runaway hit musical Hamilton. But as someone who likes Star Trek just a little too much, I first knew her as Crewman Kelly from the Star Trek Enterprise episode Vox Sola.

Muppet Babies is obviously a show I closely associate with Star Wars. They even have footage of an Imperial Star Destroyer featured in one of their intros. But they do periodically show a little love for Star Trek, and so I decided to fire up the classic episode The Muppet Babies: The Next Generation to revisit some of that.

Turns out the puns aren’t as hilarious or as clever as I remember them.

The “Plot”

The story has Mr. Woof of the Starship Boobyprize beaming his grandfather Rowlf out of the jam he finds himself in on the planet Endor. Before you get too disappointed by Mr. Woof’s poor nickname, please consider that his uniform now has a keyboard and allows for jam sessions.

Mr. Woof continues flagrantly violating any concept of a temporal prime directive when he decides to beam Captain Kirkmit of the Starship Secondprize out of his time for no other reason than to show off to his Grandpa Rowlf. As if a Muppet Babies crossover with Star Trek TNG and TOS wasn’t enough for one bit, the Boobyprize’s transporters seem to be in the form of the tardis from Doctor Who.

Still craving even more crossover action? Gonzolo and ChewWaka are here to help as they crash the Millennium Falcon onto the bridge of the Boobyprize. Gonzolo changes out of his Han Solo duds and instead becomes First Officer Mr. Weirdo.

As things on the bridge of the Boobyprize descend into chaos, Scooter as Geordi La Forge pops by with some coffee and donuts. Unfortunately they just call him Scooter, and don’t even make a passing effort at coming up with a nickname like Scooty La Forge.

The puns were really going downhill when we got to the USS Boobyprize and First Officer Weirdo, but there was very little reason for them to disrespect my man Scooter like that.

Muppet Babies Conclusion

I didn’t watch this as an adult because I thought it was going to be hilarious or magical. I watched it because I wanted to scope out some opportunities to make some low-resolution GIFs. Mission accomplished!

Anyway, the original Muppet Babies was an amazing show. Unlike He-Man, watching an episode doesn’t fill me with regret and shame over my childhood tastes in television.