Welcome to Muppet Wiki!
Rocky Mountain Holiday title card.
Rocky Mountain Holiday aired on ABC on May 12, 1983.
In this one-hour musical variety special (for which an album was produced), John Denver and the Muppets go on a summer camping trip to the Rocky Mountains. As they hike, Denver and the Muppets enjoy the Colorado scenery and mountain wildlife, share stories, sing songs, and reminisce about their fun experiences and misadventures on past camping trips.
Although Miss Piggy was unable to join the others for the trip, she appears in clips of past expeditions: in one, her bizarre arrival in the mountains with an orchestra and entourage prompts the Muppets to sing a humorous rendition of She'll Be Coming 'Round the Mountain When She Comes. In another, she and Denver ride on horseback and sing Tumbling Tumbleweeds and Happy Trails.
Kermit and the other Muppets set up camp beside a lake with a view of the Rockies while Denver and Floyd Pepper go fishing and sing a duet rendition of Gone Fishin', with Muppet musician Zoot on sax. Robin the Frog, who feels discouraged because he's too small to help out, develops a special friendship with Denver. Meanwhile, Statler and Waldorf keep their distance from the campers and spy on them through binoculars.
As twilight approaches, the group gathers around the campfire for a sing-along, featuring the old standards Home on the Range and Down by the Old Mill Stream, and Denver entertains the others with a story about a giant man-eating chicken.
Credits
- Executive Producer: Jerry Weintraub
- Producers: Jim Henson and John Denver
- Director: Jim Henson
- Writers: Jon Stone and Joseph A. Bailey
- Muppet Performers: Jim Henson, Frank Oz, Jerry Nelson, Dave Goelz, Richard Hunt, Steve Whitmire, Karen Prell, Kathryn Mullen
Edits
The special was released on VHS and DVD in 2003. There are slight changes in the presentation of the film on these releases, due to sensitivity and musical issues.
- During the Jaws parody sequence (where Rowlf is in an inner tube floating down the river, and Gonzo is approaching with only his nose above water), the musical underscore was replaced from the original broadcast version. Originally, the music is Jaws-like with a slight disco beat featuring a sax melody. The new release features a slower, sneaky score. The music was changed due to copyright issues with the Jaws theme.
- The flying scene, where John and Rowlf are flying about the Rockies in a plane, was removed from the special. The scene where John is performing one stunt after another in order to cure Rowlf's hiccups was removed, out of respect for John and his family - John Denver died in October 1997 due to a flying accident.