50 Greatest Muppet Movie Moments

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Restart the music, relight the lights

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Kermit's Dream

The Moment: Kermit meets himself as he discusses the reasons he moved to Hollywood, in a scene that was surely the inspiration for the Gollum/Smeagol head-to-head in The Lord Of The Rings .

Muppet Magic: Are Kermit's stated reasons - alternatively "I sat through too many double-features," or "an agent said I had talent" - autobiographical reflections of creator Jim Henson's past?

Just Shopping

The Moment: In Mr Magorium's Wonder Emporium , Kermit pops up as one of the titular shop's customers.

Muppet Magic: Going against the grain of the premise of The Muppets , Kermit is treated like the celebrity he is by fellow shoppers.

Au Revoir

The Moment: The torch song from The Muppets Take Manhattan , 'Saying Goodbye', leaves a lump in the throat as the Muppets are forced to go their separate ways after the initial failure of their attempt to crack Broadway.

Muppet Magic: The Brief Encounter -esque parting of Kermit and Piggy at the train station, especially when Kermit looks at the handkerchief she's left him to remember her by. Sob.

Credit Where Credit's Due

The Moment: Fozzie's panic at being stuck in a hot-air balloon at the beginning of The Great Muppet Caper is calmed by Kermit, who explains, "Listen, nothing's gonna happen. These are just the opening credits."

Muppet Magic: Things couldn't get much more meta as Fozzie clocks the actual credits in mid-air. "Nice title."

All Is Welles

The Moment: Kermit and co. finally reach Hollywood for a meeting with studio boss Lew Lord (Orson Welles), who immediately asks his secretary to "prepare the standard 'Rich and Famous' contract" to allow them to make The Muppet Movie .

Muppet Magic: This is how it happened in real life, more or less, since Welles' character is based on Lew Grade, the cigar-chomping ITC boss who green-lit The Muppet Show .

Chulo Casino

The Moment: In The Muppets , Kermit, Gary and Walter learn that Fozzie is performing with bizarro tribute act, The Moopets - including Dave Grohl as Animool on drums.

Muppet Magic: The Moopets play a terrible cover version of Muppets classic 'Rainbow Connection', with the lyrics changed to showcase the amenities in their Reno hotel.

Goofy Garcon

The Moment: Kermit and Miss Piggy's date in The Muppet Movie is disrupted by their surly shorts-wearing waiter, played by Steve Martin.

Muppet Magic: Martin can barely pull himself together after trying the atrocious wine, clenching his teeth as he congratulates the frog on "an excellent choice." "It should be," says Kermit, "for 95 cents."

Brothers From The Grave

The Moment: Ebenezer Scrooge comes face to face with the ghosts of his old business partners, Marley and Marley. Hang on - two of them? The Muppet Christmas Carol rewrites Dickens to give starring roles to Statler and Waldorf, the latter playing reggae-inspired newcomer Robert Marley.

Muppet Magic: "It's good to be heckling again," reckons Jacob. "It's good to be doing anything again!" Robert replies.

This Is Happiness?

The Moment: The gang check into London's 'Happiness Hotel' during The Great Muppet Caper , where the existing guests promise that "there's no fire in the fireplace / There's no carpet on the floor / Don't try to order dinner / There's no kitchen anymore!"

Muppet Magic: The hotel look suspiciously like a redressed version of the backstage set from the old Muppet Theater.