RiffVib

So, here's a weird thing: It turns out the Muppets are puppets, actually? Okay, so, hearing the words "Muppets" and "puppets" back to back, it is, in actuality, pretty obvious, but it's sometimes easy to forget thanks to the life imbued into the performances of these characters by the uniquely talented Muppet Studio puppeteers, even when the regular cast of Muppet characters are themselves playing other iconic characters.

Such was the case in 1992's The Muppet Christmas Carol, which it turns out was based on *checks notes* Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol, the 1843 novella that still proves that Christmas is the right time for ghost stories. In the classic Muppet adaptation, the main cast of Kermit and Piggy and Fozzie and so on are placed in the roles of Dickens' characters — or in Gonzo's case, Dickens himself — and transported to Victorian England to interact with an all-too-human Ebenezer Scrooge, played delightfully by Michael Caine. Between the impeccable art direction and costume design (not to mention the rad new puppets for the various Christmas ghosts), it's very easy to get transported in your mind to the 19th century for a classic Christmas full of, like, wassail and figgy puddings and what have you.

Until you see this set photo. Steve Whitmire (who was Kermit from 1990 to 2016) has a truly epic mullet and ... whatever that shirt is that bring you crashing back to Earth, 1992 A.D. Michael Caine seems pretty disoriented by the chronal dissonance himself.

ncG1vNJzZmivp6x7qL7Up56eZpOkunB9km1uamtfqLK1ec%2Bhpq2no2LBqa3TpaNmm5iWu6ixjKGmsGWppMJuw8CtmqFlk52%2Fqr%2FTppisZZ2kw6qx0mg%3D