My Favorite Christmas Special » DVDs Worth Watching

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December 16, 2010

I’m beginning to get into the holiday spirit — which unfortunately means feeling stressed over everything that has to be done by the end of the year as much as enjoying the lights and goodwill — so I was happy to see the Henson Company posting this clip to YouTube:

It’s one of the best musical numbers (written by Paul Williams) from my favorite Christmas special, Emmet Otter’s Jug-Band Christmas. I advise everyone own and watch it every year, because it’s wonderfully done and a great reminder of what’s important without being holiday-heavy. Where else can you see woodland creatures singing about picnics?

I have the Collector’s Edition DVD, which has a lot of nifty behind-the-scenes and flashback extras, although it’s no longer in print. Now, there’s a Jim Henson-branded version available. I can’t seem to find any useful information on how they differ, though. Hopefully, not much.

5 Responses

Eden writes:

December 16, 2010 at 8:29 PM

Emmet Otter was an institution at my house during the holiday season. I need to find my copy of it.

Chris Howard writes:

December 16, 2010 at 9:09 PM

See, I gotta go Muppet Family Christmas. If only cause I lose it every time Jim shows up at the end. I tear right up. Just watch out for the icy patch.

Johanna writes:

December 16, 2010 at 10:10 PM

I wish it was possible to get a real copy of Muppet Family Christmas. I love it so, but now all the various families — Muppets, Fraggles, Sesame Street — belong to different people.

James Schee writes:

December 16, 2010 at 11:02 PM

Wow, never even heard of that one before.

Mine’s a tie between Frosty (still get a tear in the corner of my eye when They finds him melted in the hot house) and the Alvin & The Chipmunks one.

Jim Perreault writes:

December 17, 2010 at 9:08 PM

“It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie” is worth seeing as well. It’s basically a riff on “It’s a Wonderful Life” where Kermit wishes he never encountered all the other Muppets.

I don’t want to spoil it, but it is incredibly inventive as to where all the various Muppets end up.

This one was a bit of a sleeper ; I don’t think there was much advertisement when it came out.