History Film / MeetTheFeebles

* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler: Bletch and Trevor murder the Fly in the Sky in a brutal, sadistic manner, ripping his wings off one after the other before flushing him down the toilet. If the Fly hadn't been such a pesky, invasive JerkAss, the audience ''might'' have felt sorry for him.]]

* DysfunctionJunction: Other than Roerr, Lucille, and Arthur, we have Heidi, a depressed Hippo with an eating disorder, Sidney, an elephant caught up in a paternity lawsuit, Harry, a hare with a sex addiction, Wynard, a smack addicted Vietnam vet, Bletch, a full-blown criminal who cheats on his girlfriend, and that's just scratching the surface.

* NaiveNewcomer: Robert, predicting [[Film/TheMuppets Walter]] by a whopping 22 years.
* NationalStereotypes: The only German in the movie sells cakes and pastries, and Abi, an Indian, is into mysticism and contortion. Let's not get into the Vietnamese... '''[[MixandMatchCritters things]]''' in Wynard's flashback.

*** Wynyard's voice is heavily based on that of Reverend Jim Ignatowski, [[Creator/ChristopherLloyd Christopher Lloyd's]] character on ''Series/{{Taxi}}''.

* KillEmAll: [[spoiler:The climax, courtesy of Heidi. There are some survivors, though.]]

WARNING: Once you have met the Feebles, you will ''never'' be able to watch ''The Muppet Show'' the same way again.
Also, do NOT confuse it with ''Film/MeetTheParents'' sequel ''Film/MeetTheFockers''.

* DeathBySex: Sort of played straight with [[spoiler: Bletch, Samantha, Harry and Dennis]]. Sebastian, [[spoiler: who only ''sings'' about sex, survives.]]

* KnifeNut: Wynyard has a knife-throwing act, but has a terrible case of the shakes. The result is just as bad as you think.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: With the exceptions of Arthur, Robert, and Lucille, basically everyone in the cast range from [[{{Jerkass}} Jerkasses]] to drug abusers and perverts, to borderline criminals.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: With the exceptions of Arthur, Robert, and Lucille, basically everyone in the cast range from [[{{Jerkass}} Jerkasses]], to heavy drinkers and drug abusers, to borderline criminals.

* BlackAndGreyMorality: With the exceptions of Arthur, Robert, and Lucille, basically everyone in the cast ranges from [[{{Jerkass}} Jerkasses]], to heavy drinkers and drug abusers, to borderline criminals.

* AnimatedShockComedy: Fits this category pretty well, despite not technically being animated.

* AssShove: Abi the indian contortionist accidentally gets his own head shoved up his rectum during rehearsal. [[spoiler:When he finally gets it out, [[YankTheDogsChain it's crushed by a bed of nails]].]]

* DirtyCoward: Sebastian. [[spoiler: The only non-nice guy to survive, only does so because he ducks into a giant carrot during Heidi's rampage. He still ends up losing an eye though. And wrote a best-selling autobiography that painted him as a hero.]]

* TooDumbToLive: Samantha the Cat. [[spoiler: When she walks in on a desperate, emotionally broken Heidi about to blow her brains out with Bletch's light machinegun, she taunts her and tells her she should take the safety off first. Heidi follows her advice... Then promptly turns Samantha into swiss cheese before going on a rampage.]]

* BeatBag: [[spoiler:What's said to be cocaine is actually borax. The results are ''not'' pretty!]]

[[caption-width-right:300:[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids They're]] ''[[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids definitely]]'' [[WhatDoYouMeanItsNotForKids not your average, ordinary puppets.]]]]

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Despite being a crookish manager, even Bletch thinks that Sebastian's infamous song is not the right place for a kid's show, and he’s pretty horrified when [[spoiler:Wynyard accidentally kills himself.]]

->''This is a family show, for Christ-sake!''
-->-- '''Bletch''', [[GenreBlind who'd]] ''[[GenreBlind really]]'' [[GenreBlind ought to know better]].

* BondOneLiner: Mr. Bletch and Trevor swap Bond One-Liners as [[spoiler: Bletch tortures and kills F.W. Fly. First, after Bletch rips off his right wing, Trevor snarks "Well, what do you know, Boss? A left-wing reporter!" Bletch then adds that they "can't have a biased press" and rips off F.W.'s other wing. Finally, after flushing what's left of the fly down the toilet, Bletch remarks "Now that's what I call an impartial journalist!"]]
** [[spoiler:Heidi gives one to Samantha: "Eat lead, you man-stealing slut!!!"]]

** Ironically after Sebastian performed "that song", Bletch orders Trevor to "eliminate the fudgepacker" but Heidi's rampage managed to prevent this.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Despite being a crookish manager, even Bletch thinks that Sebastian's infamous song is not the right place for a kid's show.

''Meet the Feebles'', a 1989 musical comedy directed by Creator/PeterJackson (yes, ''[[Film/TheLordOfTheRings that]]'' [[Film/TheHobbit Peter]] [[Film/KingKong2005]], is basically the cast of the ''Franchise/TheMuppets'' [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs reimagined as depraved, coked-out lunatics]]. It's set in a world where everyone (with one exception, the contortionist Abi) is some sort of animal, anthropomorphized to varying degrees, and of different sizes, from the size of a small fish to a giant sea creature. The smaller characters are portrayed by puppets, but the larger characters are portrayed by people in costumes.

''Meet the Feebles'', a 1989 musical comedy directed by Creator/PeterJackson, is basically the cast of the ''Franchise/TheMuppets'' [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs reimagined as depraved, coked-out lunatics]]. It's set in a world where everyone (with one exception, the contortionist Abi) is some sort of animal, anthropomorphized to varying degrees, and of different sizes, from the size of a small fish to a giant sea creature. The smaller characters are portrayed by puppets, but the larger characters are portrayed by people in costumes.

''Meet the Feebles'', a 1989 movie directed by Creator/PeterJackson, is basically the cast of the ''Franchise/TheMuppets'' [[ThisIsYourPremiseOnDrugs reimagined as depraved, coked-out lunatics]]. It's a movie set in a world where everyone (with one exception, the contortionist Abi) is some sort of animal, anthropomorphized to varying degrees, and of different sizes, from the size of a small fish to a giant sea creature. The smaller characters are portrayed by puppets, but the larger characters are portrayed by people in costumes.

The story revolves around a {{show within a show}}, the ''Fabulous Feebles Variety Hour''. The movie starts 12 hours before the show is planned to go live, but the actors in the show all have problems of their own. For example, Heidi wonders if Bletch is cheating on her, Bletch needs to get a drug deal through, Harry's been diagnosed with The Big One and doctors say he has hours to live, Robert needs to get the girl of his dreams Lucille, Sid needs to train a new batch of creatures after his old batch is run over by a barrel (and deal with a paternity suit), Wynyard needs to get his Heroin fix, Trevor needs to find new people for the porn movie he's been filming, and Abi literally needs to get his head out of his ass. All without a single F-bomb dropped onscreen.

It eventually ends in a [[ItWasHisSled surprise ending]], but in the trailer, it said "Please, [[DoNotSpoilThisEnding don't tell your friends how it all comes out in the end]]", despite the fact that the [[TrailersAlwaysSpoil preview already shows the surprise ending]], and all the viewer needs to do is connect the dots. (Plus, the cover hints at the surprise ending and the cover of the soundtrack album is an actual screencap of the ending.)

Also, do NOT confuse it with [[Film/MeetTheParents Meet the Parents sequel Meet the Fockers]]

!!This movie provides examples of:
* AllPartOfTheShow: When [[spoiler: a drugged-up Wynyard accidentally kills himself with a knife during his knife-throwing stunt]], the audience thinks it's just part of the show. [[spoiler: Still, they run out screaming when Heidi bursts through the curtains on a swing with a machine gun.]]

* FurryReminder: One of the film's many ways to shock the audience is by having its FunnyAnimal characters do things that their real animal counterparts do - such as Mr. Bletch (a walrus) eating a fish character, F.W. Fly (a fly) eating crap out of a toilet (on top of that, Harry tries to kill him with bug spray), Trevor the Rat gobbling up the corpses of Sidney the Elephant's dead pets, Harry's illness [[spoiler:turning out to be myxomatosis]], and Robert (a hedgehog) [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking curling up in a ball when he's feeling shy.]]

* TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed: "The Big One." What exactly it is is unknown, but the doctors think Harry caught it from sex.

The story revolves around a show within a show, the ''Fabulous Feebles Variety Hour''. The movie starts 12 hours before the show is planned to go live, but the actors in the show all have problems of their own. For example, Heidi wonders if Bletch is cheating on her, Bletch needs to get a drug deal through, Harry thinks he has "The Big One" (Initially seems like AIDS, though whatever disease it is, it leaves him with an estimated 10 hours to live), Robert needs to get the girl of his dreams, Lucille, Sid needs to train a new batch of creatures after his old batch is run over by a barrel and deal with a paternity suit, Wynyard needs to get his Heroin fix, which he got addicted to in Vietnam, Trevor needs to find new people for the porn movie he's been filming, and Abi literally needs to get his head out of his ass. All without a single F-bomb dropped onscreen.

%%* AffectionateParody

%%* AnimalStereotypes

%%* BerserkButton

** [[spoiler:Heidi's Bond One-Liner to Samantha, "Eat lead, you man-stealing slut!!!"]]

* {{Contortionist}} Abi, who is a send up to the Rubber Men.

%%* CrapsaccharineWorld: As Robert, the newcomer, soon discovers.

* DepravedKidsShowHost: Pretty much everyone in the show's cast has some serious vices and ''very'' not-kid-friendly problems offstage, be it Harry the MC's addiction to sex, Wynyard's smack addiction and Vietnam PTSD, or Sidney's paternity suit. On top of that, the manager is a full-blown criminal who deals with drug pushers, has a cabinet full of heavy weaponry, and cheats on his girlfriend, and the show's director has his heart set on singing a big show-stopper number about the joys of sodomy.

* DoingItForTheArt: In-Universe: Sebatian clamors this loudly throughout. This apparently includes declaring the whole show a bust on more or less flimsy pretenses without bothering to check audience reactions and hijacking the ostensibly family-friendly affair to sing a song about sodomy.

* EvenEvilHasStandards: Despite being a crookish manager, even Bletch thinks that Sebastian's infamous song is not the right place for a kid's show (Like it is stated in the quote above).

* FanDisservice: The sex scenes would still be thrashy and unappealing even if they weren't shot with puppets.

%%* {{Fauxreigner}}

* FurryReminder: One of the film's many ways to shock the audience is by having its FunnyAnimal characters do things that their real animal counterparts do - such as Mr. Bletch (a walrus) eating a fish character, F.W. Fly (a fly) eating crap out of a toilet (on top of that, Harry tries to kill him with bug spray), Trevor the Rat gobbling up the corpses of Sidney the Elephant's dead pets, Harry thinking he's coming down with AIDS after sex with several other rabbits ([[spoiler:Actually myxomatosis]]), and Robert (a hedgehog) [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking curling up in a ball when he's feeling shy.]]

* HopeSpot: Twice. Once, when Harry learns the doctor made a mistake, he is happy to be alive, [[spoiler:only to get gunned down by Heidi moments later]]. Second, [[spoiler:it looks like Heidi might stop massacring people when she sees Seymour being dragged away by Sandy, only to shoot Sandy's head off and leave Seymour splattered with his mother's blood.]]

** Ironically after Sebastian performed "that song", Bletch orders Trevor to "eliminate the fudgepacker" but Heidi's rampage managed to prevent this. Also Sebastian "enjoys the act of sodomy" but claims God doesn't like the very act yet manages to survive the rampage.
*** Sebastian surviving Heidi's [[RoaringRampageofRevenge massacre]] was a BaitAndSwitch because we see him hiding out in a Rocket launcher carrot used in the act but then the carrot goes off, crashes and explodes, so we're left to assume Sebastian died until The WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue where it's revealed he not only survived [[MilesGloriosus but became rich and famous writing a book about how he survived and stopped Heidi's massacre]]

** Bletch and Trevor's murder of F.W. Fly is an UnintentionalBackupPlan for Harry the Hare. Harry makes a few attempts to kill The Tabloid Reporter but fails. He had nothing to do with what Bletch and Trevor did and he has no clue about it either, but he would be perfectly happy with it just the same.

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler: Right after killing Bletch, Heidi snaps out of her state feels guilty of what she’ done to everyone.]]

* RRatedOpening: The opening number contains nothing that would be objectable to any parents who mistakenly rented this for their kids, other than the line "Samantha the pussy will show you some action" (Samantha's a cat, but the audience doesn't know this yet), which is easily missed anyway. But as soon as it's over, Trevor (who is smoking a cigarette, at that) tells Heidi "Alright, you fat slag, move yer ass!" And if that wasn't enough to scare parents away, we're then treated to [[FanDisservice the sight of Mr. Bletch and Samantha having sex]].

** Wynyard's Vietnam flashback begins with a scene spoofing ''Film/FullMetalJacket'''s urban combat and then has a scene where they are forced to play Russian Roulette, as a reference for ''Film/TheDeerHunter''.

* SignificantMonogram: The fly reporter's name is F.W. Fly. What do his initials stand for? Well, consider that he's a literal ''f''ly on the ''w''all.

* SoundtrackDissonance: Sebastian's hilarious "Sodomy" number plays as [[spoiler: we see Heidi gun nearly the entire cast and crew of the show. And the film ends with Heidi performing "Garden of Love" on stage one last time, with the set in shambles and Bletch's and Trevor's mutilated corpses surrounding her.]]
* StuffyOldSongsAboutTheButtocks: [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin The Sodomy Song.]]
* StunnedSilence: The audience's reaction to the above. [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Sebastian takes a bow anyway]].

* TheDiseaseThatShallNotBeNamed: Both the disease Harry thinks he has (AIDS) and what he actually has ([[spoiler:myxomatosis]]). They're referred to as "The Big One" ([[NamesTheSame not to be confused with]] [[Series/JAKQDengekitai the Sentai hero]]) and "Bunny Pox", respectively.

%%* TwoForOneShow

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: [[spoiler:With all the bullying she receives from Trevor and even her "lover" Mr. Bletch, it's hard not to feel sorry for Heidi, even if her massacre at the end is wrong and ends up killing some characters who didn't deserve it so much.]]