The Shining

Dog City

Muppets Haunted Mansion

The Shining is a 1980 horror film directed by Stanley Kubrick, based on the Stephen King novel of the same name.

The movie was filmed at Elstree Studios during the same time The Muppet Show was taping on the lot. Richard Hunt made the acquaintance of cast members from The Shining who were invited to visit the Muppet Show set. Danny Lloyd (Danny Torrance) toured The Muppet Workshop with Hunt, who performed Statler and Kermit for the young boy as seen in photos acquired by Pixar's Lee Unkrich for his 2,200-page book about the making of the film and shown at screenings as promotion for the same book. Shelley Duvall also visited the set during taping of episode 317 where she performed one of the background Muppets.

References

• In the Dog City episode "Comedy of Horrors," Bowser busts a hole in Eliot Shag's apartment wall and exclaims, "Here's Bowser!" This directly references the scene from the film where Jack Torrence (Jack Nicholson) breaks down his family's door and exclaims, "Here's Johnny!"

• In the Farscape episode "Crackers Don't Matter," John Crichton peers his head through a doorway and yells, "Here's Johnny!"

• The featurette "A Little Screen Test on the Way to the Read-Through" includes a shot of someone's desk with a photo of Jack Nicholson's character peering through the broken bathroom door from the film.

• Andy and Randy Pig appear in Muppets Haunted Mansion playing the twins from the movie who terrorize Danny in the hallways of the Overlook Hotel. As Gonzo runs down a corridor of the haunted mansion, they creepily urge him, "Come and play with us, Gonzo; forever and ever... or not."

Muppet Mentions

• The original 1977 novel describes Danny's reading level this way: "Danny, prepared by four years of Sesame Street and three years of Electric Company, seemed to be catching on with almost scary speed."

Connections

• Shelley Duvall played Wendy Torrance
• Barry Dennen played Bill Watson
• Anne Jackson played the doctor