Weekly Muppet Wednesdays: Skeeter

SKEETER

Performed (Voiced) by...
Howie Mandel (Seasons 1 and 2)
Frank Welker (Seasons 3 through 7)

First appearance...
Muppet Babies Episode 101 "Noisy Neighbors" (1984)

Most recent appearance...
The Muppet Show Comic Book "Family Reunion" (2010)

Best known role...
Scooter's twin sister, tomboy, search party collector, baby.

Nickname for Scooter...
Nerd.


WHO IS SKEETER?
Skeeter is most well-known as Scooter's twin sister. She was a main character on Muppet Babies, the cartoon show from the 1980's that starred some of the main Muppet characters as... well, babies. Skeeter was added to the cast of the show as a foil for Baby Piggy. And if you are wanting to foil Piggy, Skeeter is indeed the perfect foil.

Skeeter is athletic, energetic, and flexible, where Piggy is none of the above. Skeeter acted as a great counter for Piggy's diva attitude and still worked as her own, well-established character. At times, Skeeter even seemed to have a small crush on Baby Kermit, acting against Baby Piggy even more.

In Muppet Babies Skeeter always participated in the imagination adventures of the other babies. She portrayed several famous faces throughout the run of the series, including "Skeetlejuice," "Skeetie Spaceton" (Judy Jetson), and "Skeet-3PO."

Throughout the years after Muppet Babies was taken off the air, Skeeter made a few small, relatively unnoticed appearances in the "Muppet Kids" series of books and computer games that featured the Muppets as pre-teens, and brief illustrated cameos in the book, "You've Still Got Me" and on a bag from Carl's Jr. fast food restaurants.

Very recently, however, Skeeter has made her first official appearance as an adult in The Muppet Show Comic Book: Family Reunion arc. In the comic, Skeeter comes to the Muppet Theater looking for a job and engages in a fine amount of mayhem with the rest of the Muppet crew.

WHERE IS SKEETER?
For years, Skeeter was one of the most talked about Muppet characters of all time simply because she never appeared as an adult in any official Muppet production. In fact, she has never even been seen or made into a true, three-dimensional Muppet character (aside from a poser puppet--see right).

There has never been any official reasoning for why Skeeter has never been seen as an adult Muppet character. The closest to official Muppet fans have ever gotten is a quote from Muppet writer Jim Lewis who said,

"We threw around various bizarre scenarios about what happened to Skeeter after "Muppet Babies," but none of these were ever confirmed. Frankly, I suggest contacting the Federal Witness Protection Program for more info. Let us know what you find out."

Muppet Babies storyboard director Scott Shaw has also said,

"As for the adult Skeeter, Henson Associates art director Michael Frith once explained that she's now a famous explorer, never seen again after an expedition to the jungles of the Amazon!"

So up until Skeeter's appearance in the new Muppet Show Comic Book, there was no official information on what happened to her.

WHY DO THE MUPPETS NEED SKEETER?
Skeeter is to Muppets what the Missing Link is to geneaologists. She represents a very obvious untapped character archetype within the Muppet world: an athletic, tomboyish girl character and a complete foil for Miss Piggy.

I think the Muppets need Skeeter to add another strong (albeit hopefully not as strong as Piggy--for Skeeter's own good) female character into the mix. Skeeter's personality is so much more dynamic than Janice and Camilla that having her there would really spice things up a bit.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier