50 Greatest Muppets
Ladies and gentlemen, it's Jim Henson's finest creations. Yaaay!
Crazy Harry
The Muppet: The Muppet Show 's resident pyro and all-round loon.
Muppet Magic: In his first appearance he was known as Crazy Donald, named after crew FX technicial Don Sahlin. Notably, the renamed Harry actually handled FX for the Muppets in The Muppet Movie .
Greatest Moment: Playing the Explodaphone, a series of detanators lined up in order of musical note.
Ghost of Christmas Present
The Muppet: Stern Dickensian plot device reimagined as jovial giant to help Michael Caine give up his Scrooge-like ways. Proof that great bespoke characters could be created for the films.
Muppet Magic: Originally, existing Muppets were down to play the Ghosts (Present would have been Scooter) but it was felt they would detract from the plot's seriousness.
Greatest Moment: The showstopping 'It Feels Like Christmas,' of course.
Robin
The Muppet: Kermit's dimunitive nephew and enthusiastic Frog Scout.
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Muppet Magic: Robin debuted in TV Special The Frog Prince in 1971, and wasn't officially labelled as Kermit's nephew until the second season of The Muppet Show .
Greatest Moment: Performing top 10 hit 'Halfway Down The Stairs' on Top of the Pops .
Manah-Manah
The Muppet: Crazy caveman-style Muppet with a limited vocabulary but a delight in singing it to anyone who'll listen. Usually accompanied by The Snowths on "do doo do doo doo" duties.
Muppet Magic: The song wasn't a Muppet original. It was written for an Italian documentary about life in Sweden, which suggests maybe the composer hadn't actually been there.
Greatest Moment: Singing that song is pretty much it.
Red
The Muppet: Fiery redheaded Fraggle whose sportiness makes her hyper-competitive... or maybe just hyper.
Muppet Magic: Crossover time! Red is the Fraggle that Kermit and Robin meet in A Muppet Family Christmas .
Greatest Moment: Discovering a plot by the Gorgs to destroy Fraggle Rock.
Dr Teeth
The Muppet: Grinning keyboardist and lead singer of the Electric Mayhem, whose bearded bohemian look and love of jamming inspired Mumford and Sons. Probably.
Muppet Magic: Two puppeteers were needed to perform Dr Teeth because of his unusually long arms.
Greatest Moment: For sheer rock'n'roll pizzazz, performing 'Night Life' on a London double decker in The Great Muppet Caper takes some beating.
Sweetums
The Muppet: Don't let this hairy ogre's appearance put you off. As the name implies, he's a sweetie really.
Muppet Magic: Sweetums was often paired with Robin the Frog, most notably dueting "Two Lost Souls" in The Muppet Show .
Greatest Moment: His dogged cross-country trip following the Muppets to Hollywood in The Muppet Movie .
Lew Zealand
The Muppet: He throws the fish away...and it comes back to him!
Muppet Magic: Created as a one-episode gag, Lew was made from a 'Whatnot' (the crew's generic Muppet heads). A bespoke puppet was built later when the character's popularity was assured.
Greatest Moment: On his debut appearance, his boomerang fish inadvertently thwarted Miss Piggy's plans to marry Kermit in a guise of a wedding 'sketch.'
Sir Didymus
The Muppet: Labyrinth 's chivalrous, one-eyed fox, who escorts Jennifer Connelly to her showdown with David Bowie's Goblin King because she's kind enough to ask permission.
Muppet Magic: Technically, the characters built by The Jim Henson Creature Workshop for films like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth aren't Muppets. We're making an exception because Didymus, crucially, feels like a Muppet.
Greatest Moment: Faced with an army of goblins pointing their spears at him, Sir Didymus thinks they're surrendering: "throw down your weapons and I'll see you're well-treated."
Pepe The King Prawn
The Muppet: Elevator operator in Muppets Tonight who convinced the Muppets he was more than a shrimp to become a regular in the ensemble.
Muppet Magic: Originally Pepe was partnered with Seymour the Elephant. Why a prawn? According to the crew, because "a mouse was too easy."
Greatest Moment: His series of adverts for Long John Silver's restaurant chain made him one of the highest-profile Muppets in America during the past decade.