What Do the Muppets Mean to Micah Mann?

Micah Mann - When I was around three or four years old, my parents rented Muppet Classic Theater. I watched it and, I'm gonna be honest, at first I was scared of the Muppets. Must've been Miss Piggy's close up during the song in The Three Little Pigs. Anyway, despite my fear of them then, I've still learned to enjoy shows like Sesame Street and Bear In The Big Blue House, but I couldn't bear myself to sit through whole Muppet productions because of my fear of the Piggy Muppet Classic Theater close up.

It wasn't until about 2005, around when I was 10, and also after the Muppets were sold to Disney, I started to lighten up to The Muppets when I saw The Muppets' Wizard of Oz on ABC. (Yes, I still sort of have a soft spot for it today.) Then I finally brought myself to watching Muppet films on DVD. Starting with The Muppets Take Manhattan, I started enjoying ALL Muppet productions, and looked at them optimistically. I know many of the songs from "Rainbow Connection" to "Together Again." I even love some the Muppet movies and specials that many Muppet fans today consider to be "not-so" great, that I think are decent.

When the YouTube craze came along, I ended up seeing a lot of Muppet stuff. I saw a lot of the episodes of The Muppet Show and Muppets Tonight, I saw a lot of Muppet specials like A Muppet Family Christmas, and I even lightened myself up to Fraggle Rock, and in 2009, I saw the Muppets sing Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," and NOT only was it awesome, but I actually first heard that song when I was in summer school earlier that year, didn't know what it was, and when Bobo and Beaker did the Galileo part, I immediately remembered it.

About the same time as "Bohemian Rhapsody," a then-unknown to me Jason Segel announced he was writing a NEW Muppet movie to be released by Disney. On November 23rd, 2011, I saw The Muppets. And I really loved it! It looked like the Muppets had a bright future ahead of them, and they did. Then earlier this year, I went to see Muppets Most Wanted in theaters, twice, and I still think is even better than it's predecessor. And don't be surprised if "Something So Right" gets Bret McKenzie another Oscar nomination next year. I can't wait to get it on Blu-Ray this August! NOT just because it was a great Muppet film, but also Disney is marketing as an Extended Edition which I think The Muppets (2011) should've had.

So the Muppets really mean a lot to me. I matured on them growing up, saw the two most recent films in theaters, and I'm an all around Muppet Of A Mann, (Wocka Wocka Wocka!)





The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com