This 1999 Jim Henson Pictures film is a cinematic masterpiece. With Shakespearian conflicts and special effects mastery usually expected from Sci-Fi wizards such as Spielberg and Lucas, the film takes its viewers on an emotional roller coaster ride exploring controversial topics such as racial identity, animal activism, sexual orientation and feminism.

Awe heck, who am I fooling? There are only two possible reasons you might find yourself sitting in front of the tube watching the Tim Hill directed, Brian Henson produced DVD release of Muppets From Space.

Reason A: You’ve just taken several hits from roommate number one’s newly purchased, marijuana stuffed bong. Volume’s 1 and 2 of the Aquateen Hunger Force were lost to your girlfriend during your latest ‘off-again’ episode. And so, in order to have a bit of humor cushion your slow-rising high, you’ve decided to indulge in a bit of roommate number two’s eclectic DVD collection.

Reason B: It’s time for a bit father/son bonding in front of the idiot box. You’re a new parent and you’ve sworn off any entertainment involving singing purple dinosaurs, fuzzy juvenile monsters and trains that eerily talk without moving their lips. Therefore these are the types of films you are forced to resort to.

For better or worse, my reason happens to be the latter. After rummaging through the discount bin at the local video store, I picked up a few low-priced DVDs with snappy titles and G ratings.

On my first viewing I wasn’t quite sure what to expect as I slid the shiny disc into the player and selected the ‘play movie’ option from the menu. “Would this cinematic version be as goods as I remember those childhood televised episodes being?” I recall asking myself. Now I can answer that with an unequivocal “Yes.”

The film opens with the loveable Gonzo caught in a bit of a predicament. It’s biblical times, the floods are about to rid the Earth of its original sinners and Noah is loading various species of animals onto his 1000-foot mega-yacht.

Thunder and lighting accompany Noah’s obstruction of Gonzo’s attempts at entry. “What are you?” demands Noah. The when Gonzo cannot furnish a suitable answer because “put me down as a whatever” wont suffice, he learns that he is “Doomed!”

Gonzo’s screams wake him from his terrible nightmare. In waking he inadvertently endangers then saves the life of his roommate Rizzo the Rat and then after the two share a few awkward moments with Gonzo confiding in Rizzo who has fallen asleep, the film approaches its grand opening scene.

It’s morning at the Muppet mansion, Brick House by the Commodores blasts in the foreground and everyone (or everything) goes about the morning’s chores in prime Muppet fashion. Miss Piggy can’t decide what to wear, Animal washes himself in the toilet and Fozzie Bear showers in a raincoat. This is a musical piece worthy of its grand crescendo and Kermit’s praise. “That was great guys!” he says as the music dies down and everyone falls out of place.

My interest in the film begins to wane after the first few scenes. The plot plods along with Gonzo feeling sorry for himself, the Muppets helping him escape his capture by the C.O.V.N.E.T. “Top secret national security facility” with a “mission is to investigate the threat of extraterrestrial attack” but is “cleverly disguised as a cement factory.”

There are also the inevitable human co-stars, including an intentionally horrible guest appearance by Hollywood Hulk Hogan and Jefferey Tambor as the seemingly psycho government agent Edgar, who add nothing to the film. These actors make me wish I had taken hits of the aforementioned bong in order to help me get through their pallid performances.

The happy compromise to the addition of humans is that in order for you to believe that Muppets and men are essentially the same beings with similar characteristics, they engage in activities contrary to the wholesome image I remember from watching them as a boy.

This is evidenced in various scenes such as the one in which Gonzo, after being contacted by his alien brethren, descends from the roof and happens upon a few Muppets – Rizzo, Pepe (the King prawn), and Kermit included – engaged in a high stakes game of poker. Or the film’s plot that finds Miss Piggy, in order to ascend the slippery rungs of the television media ladder, backstabbing the lead anchor at the Galaxy Channel, while Animal enters into a short-lived off-screen sexual relationship with a “Woo-Maan!” who laments at the sudden termination of their tryst “You are all alike … animals.”

Another surprising lift is the film’s score. Rump shaking tunes accompany most of the more active scenes and I find myself singing along to the likes of Earth, Wind and Fire’s Shinning Star, the O Jays’ Survival and the Isley Brothers’ It’s Your Thing, to name a few.

By the time Gonzo’s alien family lands at Cape Doom, the film is on its last legs and begs for someone to put it out of its misery by jabbing a thumb at the rubbery stop button on the remote control. But to do so would mean missing the show-stopping performance of Celebration, credited to the Alien Gonzo’s in the liner notes, a performance that culminates with Gonzo’s human cannon stunt.

Sadly there isn’t much more to this film, and as the charivari dies down and the whimsical trip comes to and end, there are two possible feelings you are left with.

Feeling A: You have totally sobered from your Cannabis enhanced trip, you’re suffering a serious case of the munchies and can’t remember why the G-rated jokes were so damn funny while giddy on Ganja.

Feeling B: You’re bewildered as to how to deal with your child who has had such a great time viewing this silly film he’s now chanting “More. More. More…” and making attempts at using his chubby little fingers to press at the buttons on the television set.

Again, in case you missed the opening scenarios presented, I am the dad afflicted with the latter feeling. This in turn allows me, a multiple viewer of Muppets From Space, to offer a few humorous verbatim quotes to jog the addled memory of those suffering from ‘Feeling A’.

Funny scene #1: Gonzo wakes from a terrible recurring dream and wants to tell his roommate Rizzo about it.
Rizzo: “You mean the one with the goat, the dwarf and the tub of peanut butter?”

Funny scene #2: It’s breakfast time at the Muppet mansion. Piggy leaves for work as the two old guys, Waldorf and Statler sit in the living room.
Statler: “Is breakfast over?”
Waldorf: “No. Why?”
Statler: “Because the bacon just ran out.”

Funny scene #3: Rizzo and Pepe have decided to take advantage of Gonzo’s disillusioned state by playing an elaborate prank that sees him building a Jacuzzi. Rizzo later feels badly.
Rizzo: “We’ve got to tell him the truth.”
Pepe: “You tell him and I will smack you. I will smack you like a bad bad donkey okay?”

Funny scene #4: The C.O.V.N.E.T. administrator, Edgar, wants to know how his alien specimen, Gonzo, can function without nostrils. Rizzo is present.
Edgar to Gonzo: “How do you smell?”
Rizzo to Edgar: “Awful! Trust me, I’m his roommate.”

Funny scene #5: The Muppet rescue squad has just made themselves invisible with a spray concocted by Dr. Bunsen and Beaker in order to rescue Gonzo from the C.O.V.N.E.T. facility. They can’t see each other and Miss Piggy knocks Kermit over quite by mistake.
Pepe: “Kermit, let my help you up okay… Kermit you are so soft and plump.”
Piggy: “You’ve got one second to get your hands off me shrimp!”

Of course my son is too young to appreciate these jokes, and I, sitting clear-headed through it all, find them droll at best. But I can imagine that if stoned one would find this sort of college humor side-splittingly funny, which makes Muppets From Space one of those rare finds, a G-rated stoner film that kids can enjoy first during their innocent years of abstinence, then later during those inevitable years of experimentation.

+ also published on the Pixel Surgeon website