The Muppets/Fridge

Fridge for The Muppets theatrical film:

Fridge Logic

• Fridge Logic: After the screen calculating the donations is corrected, it may take a while for you to realize that the family we first saw who donated actually only gave twenty-five cents.
• Fridge Logic: $10 million is a lot, but it isn't that much. Why wouldn't the Muppets' many celebrity friends, most of whom are rich and in one case (James Carville) politically connected, be able to raise that simply by themselves donating and getting some of their celebrity/politician friends to pitch in? (The real reason, of course, is that it wouldn't be a movie, then.)
  • For that matter, why wasn't Gonzo, the world's biggest plumbing magnate, able to liquidate $10 million in assets from his company?
    • The original script had Gonzo realizing a bit too late that all his money was in the building he just blew up.
    • So it's a Fridge Brilliance: for story reasons they had to get rid of Gonzo's company.
  • Fridge Brilliance: They had very little notice of it happening, and then only had 90 minutes or so to actually do anything. Plus, this is in a musical world were NOBODY except a handful of long-time fans ever HEARD of the Muppets in years, making them even more obscure than they would've been in Real Life. The viral videos never happened, and the DVD releases of The Muppet Show were never made. No one would be interested in supporting a cause nobody's heard anything about except for some fan off the street.
    • Not to mention that Kermit tried calling all his previous Muppet Show guests to be a part of their reunion show and found that none of them could make it, let alone probably wouldn't give them the time of day for a last-minute donation. He was using his card system from 1981, which brings up the question of how many of those phone numbers were still functional in the first place! It was the reason why Piggy and the gang kidnapped Jack Black in a last ditch effort.
• Why didn't someone throw a dollar bill on stage?
  • In the junior novel version that's exactly what happens, and Statler and Waldorf of all people are the ones who threw it.
• Fridge Logic: They got Honeydew and Beaker in the montage from the CERN facility somewhere between Switzerland and France... why did they make such a big deal about going to Miss Piggy in Paris?
  • There's one of those in the USA, but I don't remember what it's called right now, and it's closed. Or maybe 80s Robot traveled by montage and didn't tell anybody they were in the CERN.
    • Even if 80s Robot did, Kermit wouldn't have said anything about Piggy being close by. They didn't even notice they forgot to get her until the rest of the gang was gathered, and Kermit tried convincing them they didn't (albeit rather weakly).
• To be honest, the entire concept of the film is just one big Mind Screw, as its sole purpose was, in fact to do for the Muppets in real life the exact thing they were trying to do in the movie. Mission accomplished.
• You'd think that serious drama between a puppet frog and pig would be alarmingly inconsistent with the bright humor they are remembered for. ... but just watch the Loretta Swit episode of The Muppet Show, and tell me the break-up in this movie seems out-of-place! Kermit and Piggy CAN FIGHT, and fight very effectively too! A break-up is more plausible than you realize.
• So, The Muppets have severely declined in popularity, and this (combined with their location in Reno) implies that The Moopets aren't particularly successful as a tribute group. Which means the only logical reason they would be a tribute group is out of respect and goodwill towards The Muppets. So... why exactly do they disrespect the only actual Muppet they know, and help the person attempting to totally bulldoze their legacy, exactly?
  • They originally formed when muppets were popular, trying to cash in on their popularity.
• So, Camilla and the chickens singing "Fuck You" is just a neat Parental Bonus Getting Crap Past the Radar, right? Listen to the song again. It's all about being passed over because you've got no money. Camilla chose it for its thematic appropriateness!
• Fridge Logic: The point ends up moot, but when they (and everyone else) think they are one dollar short of their goal, no one in the theater happens to have a dollar to spare?
  • Hobo Joe made off with the contents of everyone's wallets.

Why does everybody forget about Hobo Joe?

• • • There's a blink and you'll miss it scene where Hobo Joe is shown collecting "entrance fees" and "seating fees" from the guests, he likely just scammed everyone blind.

Fridge Brilliance

• • Fridge Brilliance: Maybe that is a way of showing that they were actually just a dollar short. Fozzie didn't fix the display, he actually broke it.
    • That's what I thought at first, until everyone gave up hope. If that were the case, anyone could've just taken a dollar out of their pocket and hand it to Kermit personally at that very second! Too bad.
      • In the junior novel version, they actually asked for that dollar, but the audience was robbed and no one had money.
• Fridge Brilliance: For the first time ever, a possible origin for where Muppets come from is given in the form of Walter: Walter is never implied to be adopted or anything other than Gary's actual biological brother. The implication? Muppets are biological anomalies, born to the normal versions of whatever species they resemble, but fully sentient and, well, obviously deformed. This is why they are sometimes still subject to persecution, threats to their life, etc. based on their species (Doc Hopper, the numerous instances of Muppet cannibalism). Some are more obviously members of their original species (Bobo and Fozzie are both bears, but the former actually LOOKS like one), and this can sometimes be traumatic (in addition to Walter's ongoing "man or Muppet" angst in the new movie, this could also explain Piggy's obsession with beauty, fame, and glamour, considering she would've LITERALLY been raised in a barn and be originally intended for the butcher shop, thus prompting her to pull a Wilbur to try and keep from ending up someone's dinner). This just leaves the question of where the Muppet monsters come from...
  • Or it could be that Gary and Walter came from an Interspecies Romance, where one parent was human and the other a Muppet.
    • So be careful what you do with those old wank socks, guys...
  • There are many real life animals that resemble and have many of the capabilities of fantasy monsters. The Muppet monsters may have each been related to any one of those.
  • Wait, Bobo's a bear? I thought he was a frog. Bears have hats, don't they?
• The quick gag with Wayne and Wanda making out when the power goes down seems like a standard, fairly amusing stock gag...until you remember that Sam the Eagle was always trying to promote their act as the last bastion of class, integrity, and decency. Then it becomes a Crowning Moment of Funny.
• 80s Robot announced when Tex Richman backed the car into the phone pole that he was contacting the authorities. So while it looked like getting hit by Gonzo's bowling ball is what made him sign the rights back over, it was the fact that he was revealed to have been sabotaging the telethon for his own gain. So even if his head injury wasn't involved, his lawyers would've had to have cut a deal to keep him out of jail and the story out of the papers.
  • Tex is a Corrupt Corporate Executive, but it also is HIS property, given to him by the "Rich and Famous Contract," If he wants to axe the fuse box and cut the telephone wires, he can and it's legally ok.
    • OTOH, deliberately sabotaging the electrical system of a crowded theater might be construed as a few hundred counts of reckless endangerment. It was a fire hazard, and people could well have panicked when the lights went out and gotten someone hurt in the resulting stampede.
    • There's also the tiny issue that it's not his property until midnight, to say nothing of the fact that while he would own the property shortly enough that it'd be difficult to prove he'd jumped the gun, power lines are generally municipal property.
  • Speaking of 80s Robot, it seems likely that the reason Kermit has him is because that's around when most of the Muppet movies were released, and since it's suggested that The Muppets Take Manhattan was at or near the end of The Muppets' golden age...
    • He probably bought him with that 80's swag he had when he could afford extravagant purchases.
    • Also when Kermit tries to get a celebrity guest, he only calls celebrities from the 80s.
• The film opens with the Paul Simon song "Me and Julio Down by the School Yard." It seems out of place but it's subtle foreshadowing, The song has a whistling solo, which is what Walter did for his talent on the telethon.
• At first, it seemed silly that the Muppets couldn't get a guest celebrity to host the show and raise the money, given how many celebrities cameoed in the movie. I mean, no one said no to being in that movie! But then I realized that that was the point! In reality, the Muppets are loved by all because of how funny and fantastic they are. It's not about the money; it's about that love that we've had for years and years, the love that had so many famous actors get into ridiculous cameo spots on-camera, just to be with the Muppets.
• Fridge Brilliance: Walter has a point when he says, "Mary, it's Kermit the Frog!" An electric fence doesn't seem like something Kermit would have. But when you keep in mind that Piggy actually had the house built, as is revealed in a later conversation, it makes perfect sense.
• Tex's inability to laugh is the result of malfunctions he's always had. That bowling ball didn't inflict any brain damage, it repaired it. When you think about this, it makes Tex seem LESS of a Karma Houdini as he figures out that there was something wrong with him the whole time, not the muppets. The repairs to his head cause him to see the error of his ways. One is not a Karma Houdini when they realize the errors of their ways and actively try to make amends for them (so long as they did not go too far).

Fridge Horror

• Fridge Horror: Muppet Man. Fozzie gets the idea for them to steal the outfit of a tall Frenchman in order to see Miss Piggy. All well and funny, until you realize you have no idea what happened that man if the Muppets stole his clothes! They never show him naked and comically running away! What if they had to beat him up or knock him out?? Kermit seems fine with it too! This is the same Kermit who was vocally against kidnapping a celebrity!
  • Maybe it was stolen...from a fancy outfit store.
  • It sounds like they've done this before, so they probably still had the original suit in the trunk.
• Swedish Chef roasts the fridge full of food that had become sentient. Did he really just burn to death a bunch of... singing food beings? I thought this was supposed to be a kids movie!!

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