Jaws

The poster for Chops also appeared on a French postcard.

Kermit's impersonation of Jaws.

Jaws is a 1975 thriller directed by Steven Spielberg, with music by John Williams. The first blockbuster of its kind was based on a best-selling novel by Peter Benchley set in Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts. The plot of the film centers around a town sheriff who finds himself in a new job just as a great white shark begins to terrorize the waters of a local beach.

Despite the film's reputation for decreasing beach attendance in the years following its release, Jaws spawned several sequels and video games, and has been subject to a number of spoofs and parodies in its honor.

References

• In the At the Dance sketch from episode 215 of The Muppet Show, a whatnot asks his dance partner what she thought of the movie Jaws. In reply, she turns to the camera to reveal a full set of razor sharp teeth.

• The fictional behind-the-scenes book The Great Muppet Caper!: The Making of the Masterpiece claims that Animal and Miss Piggy starred in the movie "Chops." The spoof poster in the book was later released as a postcard in France.

• The score for a scene with Gonzo sneaking up on Rowlf underwater in Rocky Mountain Holiday spoofs Williams' famous two-note motif. The home video release replaced this music with something more generic.

• In a "Bay of Pigswatch" sketch from episode 101 of Muppets Tonight, Miss Piggy and a shark share an exchange similar to a scene from the beginning of the Spielberg film. Again, Williams' score is very loosely interpreted for dramatic effect.

• A Brief History of Motion Pictures features a shark who chases several characters, underscored by the Williams score. He looks to the camera and says, "Just when I thought it was safe!" paraphrasing the famous tagline used to promote the film's theatrical release.

• Gonzo gets to play Jaws again in the parody "Schnoz" from the Muppet Movie Parodies 1999 Calendar.

• The music was again referenced on Sesame Street in a series of live-action shorts in which the camera films a pool full of children from underwater and builds up to a climax with the Jaws theme to reveal a letter of the alphabet.

• When Elmo asks some kids how they pretend to be a dinosaur in Elmo's World: Dinosaurs, Dorothy (a fish) says they remind her of her Uncle "Jaws".

• Dorothy imagines Elmo as a construction worker in Elmo's World: Open and Closed. Elmo addresses the "jaws" portion of a vehicle when attempting to pick up a teddy bear. Although the term appears coincidental, John Williams' famous two-note motif from the film is referenced in the underscore for the scene.

• Big Bird appeared with Bob Hope in The Bob Hope Christmas Special (1977). Explaining his effort to find a co-host, Hope quips "Then I called the star of Jaws, but he's having lunch and he's so polite, he never talks when he has someone in his mouth."

• A video created for Disney Xtreme Digital features Kermit's impression of Jaws as he pans his open mouth past the frame. Williams' two-note motif is used to accent the impression.

• The waiting queue at Muppet*Vision 3D features a parody poster of Die Hard. It quotes the tagline from the original promotional campaign from Jaws 2: "Just when you thought it was safe to go back in the water..."

• In the Muppet Babies episode "I Want My Muppet TV!," Baby Animal attacks his friends in a cardboard box boat with a fin attached to his back and announces himself as "Animal Jaws" before he takes a bite out of their boat.

• In the Muppet Babies episode "This Little Piggy Went to Hollywood," Baby Piggy dreams of being discovered by a famous director in a record store. In walks Steven Weirdbird (played by Baby Gonzo) looking to cast a role in his latest film, "ET's Close Encounter with Indiana Jaws."

• Piggy visits Kermit's home under the swamp in the Muppet Babies episode "The House That Muppets Built". She names the shark outside his window, Jaws.