The evolution of Miss Piggy.
Image | As seen in / Year | Notes |
---|---|---|
The Tonight Show (1974) |
The original Miss Piggy puppet here is the same one that would be used on the first season of The Muppet Show. She wears a silver silk gown with pearls and gloves. Blue cloth is attached to her gloves, possibly to hide the rods connected to her arms. Jim Henson refers to her as "Piggy Lee." | |
Herb Alpert and the TJB (1974) |
The same puppet appears with Hoggie Marsh, who also introduces her as Piggy Lee, the girl who he discovered while waiting at a train station. | |
The Muppet Show: Sex and Violence (1975) |
Piggy is more of a generic pig in the Muppet Show pilot. She has beady eyes and possesses hooves instead of hands.[1] | |
The Muppet Show Season 1 (1976-1977) |
Her beady eyes are replaced by large blue eyes with lashes and eyelids. She is commonly seen wearing the same apparel she wore in her variety show appearances. | |
The Muppet Show Season 2 (1977-1978) |
Her head has a new shape, with a much shorter snout. Her eyes also change and are larger in comparison to her new smaller head. In the second half of season two, her tongue changes from red to pink. | |
The Muppet Show Season 3 (1978-1979) |
Miss Piggy's head has been entirely resculpted and flocked for the first time: it is a bit taller, with her snout on a strong downward angle. Her eyes are a little bigger and her hair is updated to a much more realistic, less tangled-up look.
She sports a larger variety of new costumes, slowly phasing out her previously standard silver dress. Even though the first foam latex Miss Piggy was introduced in The Muppet Movie, one of the first foam latex versions could apparently have appeared part way through this season on the show as well.[2] | |
The Muppet Movie (1979) |
Her eyes change once again, getting fuller lashes. Her hair becomes a bit longer, sometimes with curls. Her head is resculpted yet again, her nostrils are darkened slightly, and her skin has more of a pink hue. This movie was the first time a foam latex Miss Piggy was used. | |
The Muppet Show Season 4 (1979-1980) |
Miss Piggy's head is resculpted yet again, sporting a larger snout. The shape of her eyes is different than in The Muppet Movie. Her hair is fuller. | |
The Muppet Show Season 4/5 (1980-1981) |
Piggy has a different head shape, her eyes are repositioned, and she has a lighter skin color. Different hairstyles and more outlandish costumes become more common through the final two seasons of The Muppet Show. Her hair reaches its longest stage. During certain scenes in season 5, the puppet's tongue is missing. | |
The Great Muppet Caper (1981) |
Piggy's head shape is slightly updated and her hair is mostly a darker blonde than on The Muppet Show. Several full body and "stunt" Piggy puppets appear throughout the movie, with various design differences. | |
The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984) |
Piggy begins to sport a perm. She gets larger, her head is reshaped, and her eyes change position slightly. | |
A Muppet Family Christmas (1987) |
Piggy still has the perm. | |
National Wildlife Federation PSA (1989) |
Piggy sports the short, straight do for the first time. The perm reappears only sporadically, such as in The Muppets Celebrate Jim Henson, though promotional material shows the straight do. | |
The Disney Christmas Special (1989) |
An entirely unique, much skinnier head was used for Piggy's appearance on The Disney Christmas Special, which aired in the UK. Her eyes were oddly placed, drooping downward for this appearance, and her appearance on The 1989 Emmy Awards only. | |
Various appearances until the mid-1990s (1996) |
Piggy's head shape is back to something more familiar. Her hair varies in length but stays mostly short and straight throughout the early to mid-1990s. | |
Muppets Tonight (1997) |
Piggy's hair stays shorter, and even though the perm is back, it often stays more wavy rather than tightly curled throughout the run of the show. Her eyes have been re-adjusted to focus slightly outward and up, rather than forward, for most of her appearances on the show. The same can be seen during an earlier appearance at the 1996 Academy Awards. | |
Muppets from Space (1999) |
Piggy's hair is still short, but straight again. Her eyes are moved closer together again. | |
It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002) |
A few different Piggy puppets pop up around this time, one with obviously larger eyes (not shown). Piggy also begins wearing a flipped up shorter hairdo (not shown). | |
The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005) |
Miss Piggy sports a shorter hairstyle. Also in the movie, she has long black curls, white hair, and brown hair. | |
Premiere of The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005) |
Piggy has brown hair. | |
America's Funniest Home Videos (2005) |
Miss Piggy's hair is back to being long and blonde. | |
The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2007) |
Piggy goes back to curly hair. Occasionally, a puppet head with a shorter/tighter snout is used. | |
A Muppets Christmas: Letters to Santa (2008) |
Miss Piggy gets a rounder, fatter head. Her hair is changed to a whiter blonde and bangs are added. She begins sporting longer, fuller eyelashes. | |
Disney Xtreme Digital (2008-2010) |
Miss Piggy's head remains round and fat, but her hair is short and looks layered. It is also flipped up at the end, and she still has bangs. There are also many photos of a curly haired Miss Piggy on Disney Xtreme Digital (not shown). | |
The Muppets (2011-present) |
Miss Piggy's head is modified with light blonde hair; commonly either long and curled, or short and straight with bangs. | |
Alternate Piggy Puppets | ||
Disney's Honorary VoluntEars Cavalcade (2010 only) |
A slightly larger "weatherproof" version of Piggy, covered in fleece skin (rather than flocked), with a glued-on wig and thicker, sturdier eyelashes was built for Disney's Honorary VoluntEars Cavalcade parade that ran in early 2010.
The puppet was later re-used for special sing-along performances at the El Capitan Theatre, preceding screenings of The Muppets and Muppets Most Wanted. |
See also[]
- Miss Piggy's Alternate Identities
- Miss Piggy's Alternate Ages
- Miss Piggy's Emotion Eyes Variants
- Miss Piggy Impersonators