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| Written by | Susan Hamilton Douglas James Katsaros Arthur Willmore Stead |
| Publisher | Fuzzy Muppet Songs |
"The Jim Henson Hour Theme" is an instrumental song used as the opening and closing theme for The Jim Henson Hour.
The opening begins with a shot of The Gryphon from Dreamchild, sitting in a temple on a hill and holding a crystal ball. With a flash of lightning, the title appears on-screen (with the ball seen inside the "O" of "Hour"), as some creatures (Droop, a lizard from "I Go to Rio", The Snail from The Tale of the Bunny Picnic, and a cave creature from Fraggle Rock) approach to observe the ball. Droop pops the ball, which causes a tornado to appear.
Inside this tornado are various characters from the show (and other Henson productions). This sequence includes:
- Bean Bunny in a cup
- Digit
- Gonzo, fishing
- Emmet and Ma Otter in their rowboat
- Miss Piggy
- Mad Dog in a vehicle
- The Swedish Chef tossing a pie at Fozzie Bear (who is in a TV set)
- Kermit the Frog on a bicycle
- Prince Leo riding a wolf
- a picture of the Storyteller
The sequence ends with a shot of Jim Henson entering the room in which he makes his introductions.
Producing the opening sequence cost nearly half a million dollars. After watching it, producer Larry Mirkin remarked to Henson, "This is great, but I'm worried about the remaining twenty-two minutes."[1]
The closing features a TV monitor zooming back from frame at Muppet Central. The monitor image features something to do with the second half hour program, sometimes with still images, other times (especially with The StoryTeller episodes) with a moving image. Monster Maker and Living with Dinosaurs are the only episodes where the closing credits sequence does not feature Muppet Central (but the same ending music is featured). Whenever the specials and StoryTeller episodes were shown outside of the program, the programs ended with what was in the monitors, but not presented in any monitors. Secrets of the Muppets is the only exception (as that's the only special from the show to be shown outside the series with regular opening and closing credits, as well as Jim Henson's intros and outros).
Sources[]
- ↑ Jim Henson: The Biography, page 422