The Three Musketeers

Athos, Porthos and Gummo, the Three Musketeers.

The Three Grouchketeers.

The Frogketeers.

The Three Musketeers (Les Trois Mousquetaires) is a French novel written in 1844 by Alexandre Dumas, père. The novel, set in 1625, recounts the adventures of a young man named d'Artagnan after he leaves home to become a musketeer. D'Artagnan is not one of the musketeers of the title; those are his friends Athos, Porthos, and Aramis -- inseparable friends who live by the motto, "One for all, and all for one".

The Muppets Go to the Movies

The 1981 special The Muppets Go to the Movies featured a spoof of the many film versions of the story. Gonzo plays Athos, Scooter is Porthos, and Link Hogthrob is Gummo. The Musketeers are in the castle of the Cardinal d'Escargot, sworn to protect the Cardinal from a rumored kidnapping. A pig assassin sneaks into the castle, and the Musketeers engage in a spirited swordfight. The pig drops a lumpy pumpernickel crumpet from Humperdink's -- a favorite of that simple wimp, the Scarlet Pimpernel. The Pimpernel makes his escape, and Gummo swings on the chandelier through a plate glass window to catch him.

The Muppets' spoof is faithful to the swashbuckling spirit of the movies, but confuses the characters' motivations. In the novel, the Musketeers are sworn to protect the interests of the King, who engages in political struggles with the Cardinal Richelieu. Far from being at risk of being kidnapped, the Cardinal is the one who has others kidnapped -- notably D'Artagnan's mistress, Madame Bonacieux.

Also, The Scarlet Pimpernel is another story entirely. The Scarlet Pimpernel is a 1905 novel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, which is set in 1792 -- more than 150 years after the events of The Three Musketeers.

The Three Grouchketeers

In 2005, Encore Software released a Sesame Street CD-ROM game, The Three Grouchketeers. In this loose adaptation of the story, the grouchy King Oscar instructs his Musketeers -- Grover, Zoe and Telly Monster -- to find his missing Royal Pig. The Musketeers each have a special skill: Musketeer Grover can read very well, Musketeer Zoe is good with animals, and Musketeer Telly knows about shapes. The three Musketeers have to cooperate to complete their tasks.

Mouseketeers

The television series The Mickey Mouse Club, launched by Walt Disney in 1955, coined the term "Mouseketeers" to describe the teenage cast members who swore their loyalty to Mickey Mouse, as the Musketeers did to Louis III.

The term was picked up by Sesame Street in the 1980s, when Oscar the Grouch started his own club, the Grouchketeers. (EKA: Episode 2040) Big Bird followed suit in the 1990s with the Birdketeers. (EKA: Episode 3154)

Since then, the number of "-keteers" clubs has grown to include the Ducketeers, the Bobketeers, the Countketeers, the Spaceketeers and the Seventeenketeers.

Kermit the Frog got in on the act in episode 105 of Muppets Tonight. A spoof clip of The Kermit the Frog Club featured a "young" Cindy Crawford as one of the original Frogketeers.

Connections

Many actors who have appeared in Muppet/Henson productions have also played roles in film versions of The Three Musketeers.

• Gabrielle Anwar: Queen Anne (1993)
• Tim Curry: Cardinal Richelieu (1993)
• Faye Dunaway: Lady de Winter (1973)
• Charlton Heston: Cardinal Richelieu (1973)
• Jeremy Irons: Aramis (1998)
• Gene Kelly: D'Artagnan (1948)
• Hugh Laurie: Pierre (1998)
• Christopher Lee: Count de Rochefort (1973)
• John Malkovich: Athos (1998)
• Spike Milligan: Monsieur Bonacieux (1973)
• Mickey Mouse: Mickey (2004)
• Oliver Platt: Porthos (1993)
• Vincent Price: Cardinal Richelieu (1948)
• Kiefer Sutherland: Athos (1993)
• Raquel Welch: Constance de Bonacieux (1973)