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1[[quoteright:506:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/muppets_from_space.png]]
2 [[caption-width-right:506:♫ ''[[Film/TheMuppetMovie I'm going to go back there someday.]]'' ♫]]
3
4->''"Kermit is a frog. Fozzie is a bear. Gonzo is...what exactly is Gonzo?"''
5-->-- '''Creator/TheHub's commercial for this movie'''
6
7''Muppets From Space'' is a 1999 [[Franchise/TheMuppets Muppets]] movie starring their regular cast of characters, focusing on Gonzo's back story. It is directed by Tim Hill. It is so far the only Muppet movie to not be a musical, with the score being filled with already-popular oldies soul and funk (some of which are covered for the film), and the first Muppet film since Creator/JimHenson's death that has an original story and is not a spoof/tribute to a popular work of literature, its humor based on the more recent ''Series/MuppetsTonight'' show.
8
9It also has the distinction of being the last Henson-related film featuring Frank Oz before he retired his characters to successor Eric Jacobson, and the Muppets' last independently-released feature film before they were bought by Disney in 2004 (though ''Film/KermitsSwampYears'' & ''Film/ItsAVeryMerryMuppetChristmasMovie'' arrived on home video & Creator/{{NBC}} respectively in 2002).
10
11In this film, the Muppets are living communally in an old house ([[NegativeContinuity apparently it's their vacation home]]), with Piggy's motivation to become a successful TV reporter being the only clear source of their income. Gonzo feels lonely, because there's no one like him; he has friends, but no family, and everyone else does. Feeling despondent, he is contacted through his breakfast cereal (no, really) and told to watch the sky. Eventually, he is convinced that he is actually an alien that somehow wound up on Earth; elated at the thought that there may be more of his kind in space, he tries to communicate with the other beings, while being thought of as crazy by his friends. Between being duped into building a Jacuzzi for the aliens, being captured and interrogated by an [[TheMenInBlack anonymous government agency]] headed by Creator/JeffreyTambor, and nearly being dissected by a (Muppet) MadScientist, it takes a while before Gonzo finally gets to meet his space-brethren.
12
13It received mixed reviews, with some minor backlash, though the majority seem to consider this to be a fairly good Muppet film. It also seemed, for a while, that it might be the last of its kind - the [[Film/TheMuppets2011 next theatrically released film]] would not come for another twelve years!
14
15Within the Muppets continuity as a whole, Gonzo has stated that [[http://www.toughpigs.com/dave-goelz-at-the-walt-disney-family-museum/ the concept of him being an alien was just made up for this movie]].
16----
17!!The film provides examples of:
18
19%% * AlienAmongUs: Gonzo.
20* AliensSpeakingEnglish: Gonzo's family all speak English.
21* AloneAmongFamilies: Looking at photos of the other Muppets, Gonzo notices that each of his friends has relatives, whereas his photo is of him standing all alone, way off on the distance.
22* AngryItemTapping: PlayedForLaughs when the COVNET lab rats put off their own escape and return to help Rizzo save Gonzo from being experimented on, lead rat Bubba gives the musophobic MadScientist a PreAsskickingOneLiner while tapping his palm with a cotton swab.
23* ArbitrarySkepticism: A mild case, as Gonzo's friends openly doubt his claims that he's from outer space. Granted, Gonzo's an oddball, but he is the only "whatever" they've ever seen before. Not to mention his alien status is being doubted in a world full of talking frogs, pigs, bears and rats.
24* ArcWords: '''"R U THERE"''', the message that Gonzo's people use to contact him throughout the film. C.O.V.N.E.T's global surveillance reveals that the message has been etched/scrawled/written into various landmarks across the world, including the Pyramids of Giza, Stonehenge, The Great Wall of China, and the Hills of California (in the style of the Hollywood Sign).
25* TheArk: The movie begins with Gonzo having a nightmare about Noah refusing to let him onto the ark because he can't identify his species.
26* ArmiesAreEvil: Mostly because Ed's organization are dedicated to deal with alien ''invasions''.
27* BadassBoast: From Pepe when Rizzo thinks he has left them behind at the lab, and calls him a "shrimp":
28-->'''Pepe:''' I am not a shrimp! I am a KING PRAWN!
29* BadBadActing: Piggy finally get her turn as a newscaster, and the second they go live, she freezes up and has to be urged from offscreen to begin robotically reading the teleprompter.
30* BadNewsInAGoodWay: How Piggy reports that Gonzo's been kidnapped;
31-->'''Piggy:''' Great news! Gonzo's been kidnapped by the government, and it could be a life-threatening situation!\
32'''Kermit:''' What!? How can that be great news?!\
33'''Piggy''' Because... ''(Sing-song)'' I've got the story! I've got the story!
34* BedtimeBrainwashing: Pepe and Rizzo use this and a fan to get Gonzo to build a jacuzzi.
35--> "Build a jacuzzi and we will come, okay..."
36* BerserkButton: Don't laugh at Ed.
37* {{BFG}}: "The Really Big Gun" that Ed uses at the climax [[spoiler:...which Bobo disarms before Ed ever gets to fire it.]]
38-->'''Kermit''': Gee, that was close...
39-->'''Bobo''': Not as close as you think, my friend. [[spoiler: ...*Holds up the BFG's power source* "Please load weapon!"]]
40%%* BlandNameProduct
41* {{Brainwashed}}: Miss Piggy is given a container of a spray that will make people cater to her every whim.
42* BrainTheft: The government threatens to suck Gonzo's brain out with a huge machine that is like a cross between a drill and a vacuum cleaner (and is big enough to require a cart). Cue Gonzo screaming "[[BigNo NOOOOOO]]! I NEED MY BRAIN!"
43* BrickJoke:
44** In the beginning, Pepe and Rizzo trick Gonzo into building a jacuzzi because "If you build a jacuzzi, we will commmme, okaayyy..." Once the movie comes to a close, Gonzo wonders ''why'' he had to build a jacuzzi in the first place.
45** A smaller example occurs earlier in the movie. After the opening sequence, Kermit explains to Robin that he is hiring some house painters. A few scenes later, Clifford tells Kermit that the house painters are here… and are leaving because Animal bit one of them. Much later, Kermit is shown having to paint the house himself.
46* BuffySpeak
47-->'''Ed:''' ...The really big gun!
48-->'''Bobo:''' Oh!
49* BigNo:
50** Gonzo after he wakes up from the nightmare about Noah denying him entrance to the ark.
51** Gonzo again at the end of the film when [[spoiler:Singer is going to kill him and his family]].
52* TheBusCameBack: Scooter makes his first appearance since Richard Hunt’s death back in 1992.
53* TheCakeIsALie: Just before the rats escape they're confronted by the scientist.
54-->'''Scientist:''' Hey, rodents! You know all that cheese I promised you after you ran that maze and took those tests....it was delicious. ''(EvilLaugh)''
55* CallBack: The cheer Kermit does at the climax is ''exactly'' like the one he does in the opening of ''Series/TheMuppetShow''.
56* TheCameo: Done a bit more low-key than in other Muppet movies, but they're still here--Creator/AndieMacDowell as Shelley Snipes, Creator/RobSchneider as her producer, Creator/JoshCharles as a C.O.V.N.E.T. agent, Creator/DavidArquette as a sadistic scientist, Wrestling/HulkHogan (in his "Hollywood Hogan" phase), Creator/RayLiotta and Creator/KathyGriffin as C.O.V.N.E.T. security guards, Creator/JoshuaJackson and Creator/KatieHolmes as their ''Series/DawsonsCreek'' characters, and, in Gonzo's nightmare, Creator/FMurrayAbraham as [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Noah]].
57* CanonDiscontinuity:
58** According to ''ComicBook/TheMuppetShowComicBook''. This is likely not so much because of the quality of the movie though, more just for [[DontExplainTheJoke actually resolving]] what Gonzo is (and the fact it's a Muppet movie Disney doesn't own).
59** It did get a brief MythologyGag in ''Film/TheMuppets2011'', though. In that movie, when Gonzo is preparing to blow up the plumbing factory that he owns so that he can rejoin the cast of ''Series/TheMuppetShow'', he addresses the crowd of baffled onlookers as "People of Earth!", likely as a nod to his alien heritage.
60** Earlier in that film, you can see a DVD copy of the film in Walter's house, so it's possible that in the universe of that film [[RecursiveReality this was also a film]].
61* CerebusRetcon: All those one off gags about Gonzo being a "Whatever" are looked at here in a more dramatic light.
62* ChuckCunninghamSyndrome: You'd think Camilla, Gonzo's decades-long girlfriend, would be a major player in a movie about Gonzo being reunited with his alien family and potentially leaving the planet forever, but the chicken is nowhere to be seen.
63%% * TheCuckoolanderWasRight: Gonzo
64* ADayInTheLimelight: Unlike most Muppet movies, this one focuses more on Gonzo, than on Kermit.
65%% * DeadpanSnarker: Rizzo, of course.
66* DeadlyEuphemism: Parodied. When Ed's boss realizes he's gone off the deep end and terminates his employment, Ed is visibly nervous about the word choice.
67%% * DoctorDoctorDoctor: Kermit and Pepe.
68* DreamIntro: The film opens with Gonzo's dream wherein he is denied passage on Noah's ark since there is only one of him on Earth.
69* DVDCommentary: A fun example, as director Tim Hill is joined by Gonzo and Rizzo. They spend as much time doing a ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]'' style riff or absurd in-universe stories as they do actual commentary, complete with the signature silhouettes. To make it even funnier, Kermit is initially with them, but leaves to get popcorn and doesn't return until the end of the film; he explains that on his way back, he accidentally entered the wrong DVD and ended up in a commentary for ''Film/ThePhantomMenace''. It took him until the very end of that movie to realize that he'd mistaken Jar Jar Binks for Gonzo, prompting him to return to the correct DVD.
70* EasilyForgiven: Bunsen and Beaker apparently have no ill will over the gang accidentally leaving them behind at the gas station.
71* ExpospeakGag: The sub-atomic neutro-destabilizer. In other words, "the really big gun," for those who are intellectually impaired, like Rentro.
72%% * FishOutOfWater: Gonzo.
73* FreezeFrameBonus: Look closely at the newspaper Kermit reads- it's the "Hensonville News Observer".
74* GroinAttack: Miss Piggy on the unlucky Man in Black.
75* HeelFaceTurn:
76** Ed and Bobo, though Bobo wasn't all that bad to start.
77** Dr. Phil van Neuter ends up befriending the lab rats, having been beaten into submission by them.
78* IChooseToStay: Gonzo doesn't go "home" to his planet, but stays on his adopted home, Earth.
79* IdiotBall: Fozzie, as per usual. This time, it was going to the bathroom, and washing his hands while wearing invisibility spray, while sneaking around in a heavily guarded compound. Kermit realizes this, and the first thing he says is "Tell me you didn't wash your hands." His mom tells him to always wash his hands after going to the bathroom, "no exceptions".
80* IfItWasFunnyTheFirstTime: Statler and Waldorf's 'life on other planets' exchange quoted at the bottom of the page was originally done on ''Series/TheMuppetShow'' years earlier. Statler groans and screws up his face after he laughs for a moment, possibly remembering that this isn't the first time he's suckered himself in this specific manner...
81* InsistentTerminology: Pepe is not a shrimp. He is a king prawn, [[VerbalTic okay]]?
82%% * InvisibilityCloak: Well, spray.
83* ItRunsInTheFamily: Scooter's dialogue in this film is voiced by the late Richard Hunt's brother, Adam, though he did not perform the puppetry. Despite his vocal similarity to his brother, Adam's only other Muppets-related voice role was as the Two-Headed Monster (with Jerry Nelson) in a ''Series/SesameStreet'' video game.
84%% * ItWorksBetterWithBullets: [[spoiler: Bobo makes sure Ed doesn't do any real harm.]]
85* KarmaHoudini: The scientist in charge of the lab rats, who acts like a jerk ass to them, and happily reveals that he ate the cheese he promised them for doing all their hard work. The closest he gets to karma is [[spoiler:the fact that he likely became unemployed after the company is terminated by the government.]]
86* LittleGreenMen: A kid mistakes Kermit for one of these.
87* {{Lobotomy}}: It nearly happens to Gonzo. The man attempting to perform the lobotomy is a classic MadScientist.
88%% * TheMenInBlack
89* MinionWithAnFInEvil: Bobo. Justified, in that the facility they work at is a legitimate military intelligence organization and his boss has gone off the deep end.
90* MsFanservice:
91** The girl dancing on the beach and baring her midriff, causing ''Sam the Eagle'' ([[NotSoAboveItAll of all characters!]]) to watch her with a slackjawed expression.
92** Kathy Griffin in a security guard uniform.
93* NamedAfterSomeoneFamous: K. Edgar Singer is named after J. Edgar Hoover, the famed FBI Director.
94* NoOneGetsLeftBehind: Kermit gives this speech to the team just prior to rescuing Gonzo... and then Fozzie tells him they just left Bunsen and Beaker at the gas station.
95* NoodleIncident: It's never quite explained how or why Gonzo got separated from his alien brethren and ended up on Earth.
96* NoodleImplements: Gonzo tells Rizzo he had "that weird dream again," and Rizzo asks if it's "the one with [[BestialityIsDepraved the goat]] and the dwarf and the jar of peanut butter."
97* OneLetterPun: One message in cereal reads, "R U THERE".
98* OneShotCharacter: The way things are now (as of 2014, after the release of ''Film/MuppetsMostWanted''), it seems likely that this film will be Clifford's only appearance in a theatrically-released Muppet movie.
99* OneSteveLimit: The villain is named K. Edgar Singer and one of the lab rats is named Fast Eddie. And both get referred to as Ed at least once.
100* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: Gonzo was set to perform at a bar mitzvah but, not feeling up to it, he gets the Electric Mayhem to sub for him instead. Kermit takes notice.
101-->'''Kermit:''' You never miss the chance to shoot yourself out of a cannon.
102%% * PaperThinDisguise: The aforementioned lab coats.
103* ParentalBonus:
104** Bunsen and Beaker trading their bags of snack food to a van full of stoner hippies in exchange for a ride to the beach.
105%% ** Not to mention that whole business of [[spoiler:Animal getting some]].
106** The score being comprised of 70's funk makes some wonder if ParentalBonus was the direction a family-friendly Muppet film was supposed to go. 'Brickhouse' is played over the Muppets waking up and getting ready for the day, but only in reference to how they live in a brick house. A few Muppets say uncharacteristic 70's one-liners, such as Kermit's "Way to get down with your bad selves." Even the poster on the top of this page has the tagline "The Ultimate Muppet ''Trip."''
107** Sam the Eagle's line about how there are only Americans in the house has got to be a reference to [[IncrediblyLamePun illegal aliens]].
108* ThePowerOfFriendship: Gonzo chooses to stay with his friends instead of his family, who he's only known for a short time.
109%% * PowerPerversionPotential: Pepe and the invisibility spray. ''Twice''.
110* ProductPlacement: This ''is'' a Creator/ColumbiaPictures movie, after all.
111** The government agency's monitors are Creator/{{Sony}} television screens. The product placement is so shameless they don't even ''bother'' covering the logo from of the sets!
112** Beaker is seen holding a bag of Fritos.
113* PunctuatedForEmphasis: "DON'T! ...LAUGH! ...AT ME!"
114* PunnyName: K. Edgar Singer. Initial, "Edgar", name of domestic appliance company, in reference to J. Edgar Hoover.
115* RingRingCRUNCH: Sweetums' alarm clock meets this unfortunate fate in the opening.
116* RunningGag: Gonzo keeps asking if his people look like anything other than what he looks like.
117* SayYourPrayers: PlayedForLaughs when Rizzo is terrified as the alien starship lands, and prays, reminding God that he never carried the plague, not even once!
118* ShooOutTheClowns: Bunsen and Beaker accidentally get left at a gas station on the gang's way to rescue Gonzo.
119* ShoutOut:
120** To ''Film/IndependenceDay'' when Dr. Phil van Neuter tries to remove Gonzo's brain. The BigBad marches his superior officer into an observation room and raises the shades -- to reveal a lab filled with smoke and rats running rampant, before the surgeon is slammed face-first into the window:
121--->'''Dr. Phil van Neuter:''' ''[[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments Release ... me ...]]'' May turn into LateToThePunchline for the kids who watched this movie before they were old enough to watch ''Film/IndependenceDay''.
122** And earlier in the movie, one to ''Film/FieldOfDreams'' when Pepe and Rizzo convince a barely-conscious Gonzo that "If you build it, we will come ... build a ''jacuzzi'' and we will come, [[VerbalTic okay]]?!"
123** And at the film's climax, the ''Franchise/StarTrek'' theme can be heard when Ed agrees to leave with the aliens.
124*** Speaking of Trek, there was also the [[Film/StarTrekFirstContact group of aliens descending in their craft to meet humans for the first time]], and earlier still, the gang had to [[Film/StarTrekIVTheVoyageHome escape from a medical facility after saving their friend from imminent brain surgery]].
125** Pacey and Joey from ''Series/DawsonsCreek'' show up on the beach chatting with Pepe and Clifford; Pacey laments that Dawson would love it.
126** The escape hole Rizzo has concealed behind a poster in the science lab is a nod to ''Film/TheShawshankRedemption''.
127** The beacon that the aliens send down ahead of their ship looks a heck of a lot like a certain [[{{Film/Alien}} alien egg]].
128** While in a TotemPoleTrench, Kermit and Pepe address the other COVNET doctors by nodding and saying "[[Film/SpiesLikeUs Doctor... doctor...]]"
129* SkywardScream: "I DON'T WANNA BE ALOOOOONE!"
130* StayWithTheAliens: [[spoiler: Ed goes with the Gonzo aliens after they make him ambassador to their planet because they find him amusing.]]
131%% * StolenMacGuffinReveal
132%% * SupportingLeader: Kermit.
133* ThatPoorCat: When Gonzo mows his message in the lawn, we hear an unseen cat yowl as the mower runs it over.
134%% * TheyCalledMeMad: Gonzo and Ed, but especially Ed...
135* ThoseTwoGuys: Gonzo and Rizzo, though it's a subversion since they're more prominent characters this time around. Rizzo and Pepe fit this as well, especially during the scene where they trick Gonzo into thinking the aliens called upon him to build a Jacuzzi.
136%% * TooFunnyToBeEvil: Ed. Provides some of the basis for his VillainousBreakdown and HeelFaceTurn.
137* TrueCompanions: The reason why Gonzo doesn't leave Earth to be with his alien family. The Muppets, for all intents and purposes, ''are'' his family, and he just can't bear to leave them.
138* TrustMeImAnX: When Ed, examining Gonzo, notices that Gonzo has no nostrils, he asks, "How do you smell?" To which Rizzo the Rat responds, "Awful. Trust me, I'm his roommate."
139* TotemPoleTrench: The Muppets don labcoats to infiltrate COVNET with Kermit on Fozzie's shoulders and Pepe on Piggy's.
140%% * UnusuallyUninterestingSight: Well, par for the course for a Muppet film, but a bear M.I.B.?
141* VerbalTic: Pepe has one, okay?
142* WhatHappenedToTheMouse: In-universe example, when Gonzo is puzzled why he was instructed to build a Jacuzzi. Rizzo and Pepe (who conned him into doing it) just start laughing.
143* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: In a world where several humanoid animals co-exist with humans as equals, Rizzo comes to Covnet with Gonzo and Edgar has him get sent to the rat testing labs like a prisoner, and Edgar later gets Rentro, a bear who serves as his assistant, to reveal what he overheard by threatening to send him to the petting zoo or circus.
144* WhereTheHellIsSpringfield: The Muppets appear to live in the town of "[[MythologyGag Hensonville]]" (as evidenced by the newspaper Kermit's seen reading, the "Hensonville News Observer"), but a definitive location isn't given. When Singer points out the pattern of "R U THERE" messages early on, he notes it forms into a spiral pattern; the spiral seems to end somewhere in UsefulNotes/NorthCarolina (which is likely because the film was shot in Wilmington NC, making it a case of CreatorProvincialism)
145* YouAreNotAlone: The whole premise. On two levels: Gonzo finds out there are others like him, and at the end Gonzo realizes although he's "one of a kind" on earth he still has his Muppet family.
146* YouCanTalk: Gonzo is shocked to hear his sandwich apparently talking to him. The voice then clarifies that it isn't a sandwich speaking, but rather one of his people sending messages through it. Gonzo [[ComicallyMissingThePoint asks if his people are sandwiches]].
147-->'''Voice''': ''(angry)'' "Forget the sandwich!"
148* YouGetMeCoffee: Miss Piggy's job at the UFO Mania before using MindRape to get anchor Shelley Snipes to do it.
149----
150->'''Statler:''' I wonder if there really is life on other planets?\
151'''Waldorf:''' Why do you care? You don't have a life on ''this'' planet.\

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