Disney+ is a go-to destination for family-friendly content during the holiday season, thanks to titles like Home Alone, The Nightmare Before Christmas, The Santa Clause franchise, and a number of streaming originals all being available on the platform. One beloved title that earns a lot of attention is 1992’s The Muppet Christmas Carol, which stars Michael Caine in the loving adaptation of the Charles Dickens story, which lands on the service courtesy of Disney acquiring the rights to the Muppets in 2004. Despite being able to find a number of other fan-favorite Muppets titles on Disney+, there’s one glaring omission: 1987’s A Muppet Family Christmas.
For those unfamiliar with the special, it follows the iconic members of the Muppets gang — Kermit the Frog, Fozzie Bear, Gonzo, and many others — heading to Fozzie’s mother’s house to celebrate the holiday. One missing staple of the Muppets is Miss Piggy, who’s tied up with a photo shoot and shopping, with her arrival complicated by an impending blizzard. With Fozzie’s mother unaware of her son’s plans, she booked a trip out of town and rented out the house to Doc (Gerry Parkes) and Sprocket, with the human being forced to spend the holidays with the Muppets.
Part of what makes this special so much better than virtually any other Muppets or holiday special is that, outside of Doc and a cameo at the end of the special from Jim Henson, there are no humans in A Muppet Family Christmas, allowing the narrative to focus almost entirely on the Muppets themselves. The popularity of the Muppets at the time was aided by Sesame Street, Fraggle Rock, and Muppet Babies, with another standout element of A Muppet Family Christmas being that all four of these brands united for the special, making the event feel like Jim Henson’s version of The Avengers.
We also get time to add some new characters to the mix, as Fozzie makes friends with a snowman who also has dreams of being a stand-up comedian, while Gonzo meets a turkey that has his eyes set on Gonzo’s girlfriend, Camilla the Chicken. The special culminates in Doc going out into the blizzard to find Miss Piggy, the Muppets recreating ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, and characters from all four franchises joining together to sing a medley of songs.
Where Is ‘A Muppet Family Christmas’ Available?
As of this writing, A Muppet Family Christmas isn’t available to buy, rent, or stream on any platform. Jim Henson Productions previously owned the rights to all four of the brands that appear in the special, though with these properties all belonging to different owners with their own respective streaming services, ownership of the program as a whole is a bit complicated. Another complication related to ownership rights pertains to the songs featured in the special, which were licensed for the specific special and not in perpetuity that would allow their inclusion on streaming services.
In fact, there have already been rights issues related to the licensing of the music in the special that resulted in nearly ten minutes being excised from the program. The original A Muppet Family Christmas had a runtime of 52 minutes, though when it landed on VHS and then DVD, many songs weren’t included, as musical numbers weren’t cleared for this release. Even though there haven’t been any sanctioned releases of A Muppet Family Christmas on a streaming platform, versions of the special have landed online, but most of these are the home video version that has songs from the original broadcast cut out.
With the popularity of the Muppets on Disney+ and with a new revival of the franchise on the way, it’s truly a shame that such a heartfelt adventure featuring so many iconic characters not only can’t be streamed alongside other Muppets titles, but nowhere at all. However, given the nature of brands acquiring other companies, we can’t rule out a future merger allowing the rights to all four franchises to come under one umbrella and finally seeing the iconic special released.
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