Original air date: September 21, 1985
When ToughPigs editor-in-chief Joe Hennes suggested that we do this Little Muppet Monsters: 40 Years Later series, I eagerly signed up. I wanted to write one of the reviews for a simple reason – I’d never actually seen the show before. This seemed like the perfect excuse to finally make time for it! So what did I think of Boo, Tug, Molly, and their various supporting penguins? Read on to find out!
But first, let’s talk about what happens in “Space Cowboys.” The previous episode had to establish that the Little Muppet Monsters are making a TV show in the basement. But now, with that setup out of the way, we join their basement show already in production. To my surprise, the show’s premise feels a lot like that of The Jim Henson Hour later in the decade. The monsters are using clips from a number of different sources, just like how Kermit pulls video feeds from all over for MuppeTelevision.
In the pitch reel for what became The Jim Henson Hour, Jim describes that conceit as “the Muppet Show of the future.” No one uses that phrase here, of course, but it really does feel like this was Jim’s first pass at creating a variety show made up of video feeds. As a certified Jim Henson Hour obsessive, it makes me so happy to see the seeds of it here.
We start with Tug doing a Star Trek parody, delivering his Captain’s Log in the basement. Molly and Boo show up dressed as cowboys, and the three of them argue about whether they’re doing a space show or a Western. Throughout the episode, they all keep switching costumes between the two genres, finally deciding to invent Firefly early instead.
Along the way, they watch Fozzie (puppet), Pigs in Space (animated), Gonzo (puppet), Bunsen & Beaker (animated), and Kermit the (animated) private eye. That list of sketches was exciting for me. Until I watched the first episode in preparation for this article, I never knew that the Muppet Show characters appeared in new content on Little Muppet Monsters. But here they are!
So it’s a genuine thrill to get new scenes with Jim Henson, Frank Oz, and Dave Goelz as their classic characters. I won’t claim that this is their all-time best material, but these guys are pros and it’s always a joy to watch them work. Fozzie’s doing extremely dumb jokes about a cartoon chicken, but Frank gives it his all. The same is true when we see Gonzo and Kermit later. These segments alone are enough to make the show worthwhile for any Muppet fan.
I did know about the new characters, of course, but it’s really fun getting to know them. At the time, the casting of Richard Hunt (as Tug), Camille Bonora (as Molly), and David Rudman (as Boo) must have felt like an exciting look at the future. Richard was the youngest of the original core Muppet Show performers, and the other two were up-and-coming puppeteers who were just starting to make their mark.
Watching this for the first time in 2025, it’s bittersweet to see the three of them together. We know now that Richard Hunt died only seven years later, and Camille Bonora stopped performing with the Muppets just a few years after that. David Rudman really was the future of the Muppets, as he remains a core performer to this day. As you (a person reading Tough Pigs) almost certainly know, he’s even taken over many of Richard Hunt’s characters. That makes it really fun to see them as brothers here. Indeed, the three leads make for a charming trio, and I’d certainly be happy to have more time with them.
I always knew that Little Muppet Monsters had animated segments featuring Pigs in Space and Detective Kermit, but I was surprised by how well I knew them. In this episode, both of those segments were recycled in “Eight Flags Over the Nursery,” the series finale of Muppet Babies.
That episode happens to be one of the ones I own on VHS, and my kids have watched it dozens of times. So both of these cartoons are burned into my brain from all those repeated viewings. Neither of them is very funny – the animated segments are easily the worst thing about this show – but they’re just old friends at this point, so it was a pleasant surprise to see them.
For some reason, I had it in my head that those cartoons were in Muppet Babies because Little Muppet Monsters was canceled before they had a chance to incorporate them into the series. Well, no. That’s backwards. They shot a bunch of live-action footage for Little Muppet Monsters which they never had a chance to use (and which we’ll discuss in a couple of weeks), but they used all of the finished animation.
So when these cartoons showed up on Muppet Babies six years later, they really were just reruns. As it turns out, the later show only used half of each cartoon. My son Miles watched this episode with me today, and he was so excited to see how they got resolved. He never expected to see the ending of those stories, and this was like a buried treasure for him.
Honestly, that’s how I feel about Little Muppet Monsters in general. If the show is mentioned by Muppet fans at all, it’s as a punchline. But this is a fun, fascinating little show, and I’d recommend it to any Muppet fan.
Most Valuable Muppet: Tug, the oldest sibling, is really the lead character of the series, and it’s easy to see how he would have developed into a great one. He’s a genuinely caring older brother, but he’s also snarky and cocky about being in charge. It’s a great Richard Hunt performance, and it’s too bad he got so little to do.
Best Segment: Gonzo’s Weird Stuff consists of Gonzo narrating silent film footage because “it’s even weirder than me!” This episode’s installment is very short, but I love the idea so much that I’m shouting it out anyway. They should have made a million of those. Get Dave Goelz to narrate bizarre old silent clips right now! It isn’t too late!
Weakest Segment: The Muppet Labs segment is just a regular Bunsen & Beaker premise, except they’re animated. Animation allows Pigs in Space to do more complicated stories than on The Muppet Show, and Kermit, P.I. is a whole new premise. But this is just regular old Muppet Labs, except animated. It’s not unpleasant, but it would have been much nicer to see the puppets instead.
Most Prophetic Cultural Moment: Tug convinces the cows to join in their play by asking them to “do it for Clint Eastwood.” Fifteen years after this, Clint Eastwood directed and starred in a movie about aging astronauts. The title of that movie? Space Cowboys, the same as this episode!
Dumbest Joke That I Laughed at Anyway: The mops from “Ragg Mopp” play aliens, which isn’t really a joke, but I guffawed in delight.
Most Astonishing Cameo: In the theme song of all three episodes, there’s a shot of the Electric Mayhem watching the show. They all look so excited, and Dr. Teeth says “That’s all right” out loud. In this one, we get a quick shot of Janice and Floyd reacting to the picture being upside down. I love that Little Muppet Monsters is the Electric Mayhem’s favorite show for some reason!
One More Thing: The episode opens with Baby Kermit as Indiana Jones, who looks directly into the camera and says “Would you guys mind if I change the title to . . .” and then the theme song starts up, containing the lyrics “Muppet Babies and Little Monsters too!” It’s a cute bit, and it probably would have been fun to see what variations they did on it if the show had continued.
Click here to be recycled for the Muppet Babies finale on the Tough Pigs Discord!
by Anthony Strand
