Episode 316: Back to the Nursery

Muppet Babies
Air Date	December 27, 1986
Written by	Star Kaplan and Maia Mattise

After Fozzie ruins one of Nanny's photos, the babies travel back in time to take a new one.

Plot

The kids accidentally spill hot chocolate and ruin an old picture of Nanny as a roller-skating waitress at a 1950s diner, so they go back in time to take another one. The Babies imagine themselves using a box with wheels as their time machine, but Animal drifts away. The time machine is out of fuel, so they visit a temporal service station to be refueled, and the attendant directs them to Nanny's old business by putting their time machine in reverse (as the past is always behind us). The Babies first search in the Old West, but find no trace of Animal. However, they witness the dawn of the 1849 Gold Rush. They then travel to the 1920s, where they find Animal has fallen in with some gangsters and is working as a bouncer in their speakeasy. The Babies then travel to the 1950s to a business aptly called "Nanny's Drive In", but still cannot find her. Gonzo wins a drag race against a greaser, but it is soon time for the Babies to get back to their own time. Just at the last minute, Baby Fozzie sees a younger Nanny in the same pose as her picture, working as a waitress, and snaps the photo. The Babies then return to their proper time, to find that Nanny was able to clean the hot chocolate and save the photograph. The Babies then show a Nanny a picture they took, which shows Baby Piggy and Baby Kermit in 1950s attire with her supposedly waitressing to Kermit in a pretend car. Nanny is pleased by their thoughtfulness and includes the picture of the Babies in her 1950s era scrapbook.

Songs

• "Runnin' Out of Time"

Characters

Muppet Babies: Baby Kermit, Baby Piggy, Baby Fozzie, Baby Gonzo, Baby Rowlf, Baby Scooter, Baby Skeeter, Baby Animal

Supporting Characters: Nanny

Notes

• The episode title is a spoof of, and the plot features elements from, the Michael J. Fox movie, Back to the Future. The Babies imagined their time machine as identical to the famous Delorean, and the "Go Bye Bye" scene shows Gonzo dressed in a radiation suit with wild white hair, akin to the style that Doctor Emmett Brown was wearing in 1985 when Marty was unknowingly sent to 1955.
• This episode states that Nanny is in her 40s.

Gallery

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