History Film / TheMuppetMusiciansOfBremen

* ComicallyMissingThePoint: When Leroy, T.R., and Rover Joe first find Catgut lying motionless on a tombstone, Rover Joe remarks "It's a lady cat and she's dead." "No, I ain't" says Catgut, and Rover Joe replies "You sure look like a lady cat!"

Narrated by Kermit the Frog, first aired in broadcast syndication and later rerun on Creator/{{HBO}} during the '80s, this special is a retelling of ''Literature/TheBremenTownMusicians'', moving the location from a city to a southern town in Louisiana. It involves four runaway barn animals—Leroy the Donkey, T.R. the Rooster, Rover Joe the Dog, and Catgut the Cat—whose mean-spirited owners have either thrown them out or were set to kill them. With Leroy hauling a wagon of instruments (which his owner, Mordecai Sledge, had stolen), Leroy decides to become a traveling musician, in hopes that families will give him food and shelter. As he finds the other animals, they all join together to become traveling musicians.

* TheDogBitesBack: Or cat, in this case. After thirteen years of chasing rats out of Caleb Siles's pantry, only to receive little in return save beatings when a rat occasionally got past her, Catgut decided she had had enough and let the rats have their way with the place.

* MeaningfulName: Lardpork.

* OhCrap: T.R., when Lardpork interrupts his song by slamming his axe onto a log right beside him.

* DramaticIrony: When the animals take a wrong turn and find themselves lost, Leroy sees a shack, thinks it's the home of a family, and that they'll adopt the animals when they hear their music. T.R., skeptical, suggests that Leroy go check it out to be sure. As Leroy is standing by a shaded window, trying to see what's going on, the scene changes to show the robbers having a meeting inside the shack. The animals remain unaware of who's really there, though, even when Leroy's friends sneak up to the window and take a look themselves.
** Also invokes the BaitAndSwitchSilhouette trope.
* EntertaininglyWrong: The animals sneak up to the window of the robbers' hideout, which Leroy thinks is the house of a lovely family. Since the shade is drawn, all they can see is the silhouettes of their former owners, and they can't hear any of the action. This leads to such mistakes as thinking that, when the robbers are bending their heads over their money to count it, the family is saying grace before supper.

%% * GettingCrapPastThe Radar: Due to overwhelming and persistent misuse, GCPTR is on-page examples only until 01 June 2021. If you are reading this in the future, please check the trope page to make sure your example fits the current definition.

* TheDogBitesBack: Or cat in this case. After thirteen years of chasing rats out of Caleb Siles's pantry, only to receive little in return save beatings when a rat occasionally got past her, Catgut decided she had enough and let the rats have their way with the place.

* YouKeepUsingThatWord: When Leroy and T.R. invite Rover Joe to join them...
-->'''Leroy:''' Uh, by the by, how are you with a trombone?\\
'''Rover Joe:''' I'm very good with a ham bone!\\
'''T.R.:''' Uh... yeah... well, if you practice a little bit, I think you'll see the difference between the two of 'em.

* NotSoHarmlessVillain: For the most part, Mean Floyd doesn't exactly live up to his name, being more of a childlike coward (though the others have their fears as well). However, when Rover Joe wouldn't attack when Floyd thinks there is a ghost (Rover Joe is sleeping and his snoring sounds like ghost sounds to him), and finds out that it had been Rover Joe the whole time, he throws him out.

Narrated by Kermit the Frog, first aired in broadcast syndication and later rerun on Creator/{{HBO}} during the '80s, this special is a retelling of ''Literature/TheBremenTownMusicians'', moving the location from a city to a southern town in Louisiana. It involves four runaway barn animals—Leroy the Donkey, T.R. the Rooster, Rover Joe the Dog, and Catgut the Cat—whose mean-spirited owners have either thrown them out or were set to kill them. With Leroy hauling a wagon of instruments (which his owner, Mordecai Sledge, had stolen), Leroy decides to become a traveling musician, in hopes that families will give him food and shelter, and after finding the other animals, they all join together to become traveling musicians.

* DramaticIrony: When the animals take a wrong turn and find themselves lost, Leroy sees a shack, thinks it's the home of a family, and that they'll adopt the animals when they hear their music. T.R., skeptical, suggests that Leroy go check it out to be sure. As Leroy is standing by the window, trying to see what's going on, the scene changes to show the robbers having a meeting inside the shack. The animals remain unaware of who's really there, though, even when Leroy's friends sneak up to the window and take a look themselves.
* EntertaininglyWrong: The animals sneak up to the window of the robbers' hideout, which Leroy thinks is the house of a lovely family. All they can see is the silhouettes of their former owners, and they can't hear any of the action. This leads to such mistakes as thinking that, when the robbers are bending their heads over their money to count it, the family is saying grace before supper.

* FantasySequence: We get one when the animals sing "Family Song," imagining the lovely family that they believe lives the shack—though [[DramaticIrony the audience knows it's the robbers' hideout]]. To drive home how EntertaininglyWrong the animals are, the sequence shows the robbers in an old-fashioned picture frame, with each of them dressed to resemble a different person in a family: Mordecai as the father, Lardpork as the mother, Mean Floyd as the son, and Caleb Siles as the daughter.

* FantasySequence: We get one when the animals sing "Family Song," imagining the lovely family that they believe lives in a nearby shack—though the audience knows it's the robbers' hideout. To drive home how EntertaininglyWrong the animals are, the sequence shows the robbers in an old-fashioned picture frame, with each of the robbers dressed to resemble a different person in a family: Mordecai as the father, Lardpork as the mother, Mean Floyd as the son, and Caleb Siles as the daughter.

* ImagineSpot: When the animals sing about the "family," with each of their former owners dressed to resemble a different person in a family—Mordecai as the father, Lardpork as the mother, Mean Floyd as the son, and Caleb Siles as the daughter.

* JustFollowingOrders: Leroy does not approve of his master's robberies but has no choice but to haul them off (until he runs away). Similarly, when Catgut makes friends with rats, she tells them it was all because of Caleb Siles, who would be mean to her if she missed a rat.

* MisplacedRetribution: Mordecai blames Leroy for the fact that they only had time to steal one bag of goods before the guard interfered and that it turned out to be musical instruments. When Mordecai trips over the wagon, he blames Leroy for that as well.

* DisproportionateRetribution: What leads to Leroy, T.R., Rover Joe, and Catgut's departures from their homes. Mordecai blames Leroy for the fact that the loot turned out to be musical instruments and decides to "retire" him by shooting him. Lardpork misses breakfast (for the second time in one week) because T.R. overslept and didn’t crow, so he decides to eat him. When Mean Floyd finds out that the ghost sounds were actually Rover Joe's snores, he throws him out the window (straight through the glass). Similarly, when Caleb Siles finds Catgut singing to and befriending the rats, he immediately throws her out the window and into a barrel of water.

* ButtBiter: Rover Joe bites Mean Floyd on the backside after Floyd steps on him thinking he’s a ghost. He later bites Lardpork on the butt during the climax.