The Muppet Show

"Excuse me Master Luke, but what is this strange world we’ve come to?" "Beats me, Threepio. Seems like we’ve landed on some sort of comedy-variety show planet."

- C-3PO and Luke Skywalker

The Muppet Show was a TV series which aired in syndication from 1976 to 1981. With a cast of puppets, called Muppets, each show featured a special guest star. The Muppets were designed by The Jim Henson Company.

Mark Hamill, Anthony Daniels and Peter Mayhew guest starred as their respective characters on the show's January 16, 1980 episode, which was four months before the release of The Empire Strikes Back. Although the other two men play only their respective Star Wars roles, Hamill plays Luke Skywalker, as well as himself&mdash;known as "Luke's cousin".

Star Wars episode
Luke Skywalker (Mark Hamill), C-3PO (Anthony Daniels) and R2-D2 (remote controlled) have crash-landed on Earth and into the The Muppet Show sets. After meeting Luke's "cousin" Mark Hamill (playing himself), they reveal that they are searching for Chewbacca (Peter Mayhew), who has been "captured by a bunch of turkeys". They hijack the cast of the skit Pigs in Space to "borrow" the ship (the Swine Trek) for the search. Suddenly infatuated with Luke, Miss Piggy costumes herself as Princess Leia.

After accidentally crashing onto the planet Koozebane, the team confronts "Dearth Nadir", who is the Muppet Gonzo dressed in a Darth Vader costume. (A previous episode had "Nadir" invade the Swine Trek with a team of chickens as his "stormtroopers"). He had a device that neutralized any blaster, rendering Luke's useless.

Chewbacca was being held hostage on the planet, and managed to escape and attack Nadir. Luke and his "cousin" again meet. Right before major action is about to begin, Kermit the Frog gives the cue for a musical number. The Star Wars characters happily join in, with C-3PO displaying his dancing skills with a soft-shoe. Mark Hamill, who is shown as a completely different person than Luke in the show, dances along, while Luke becomes frustrated and walks away.

Behind the scenes
In addition to Hamill, Anthony Daniels and Peter Mayhew reprised their roles (though they were credited as their characters). Daniels also guest starred as C-3PO in an episode of Sesame Street, another Muppet production, in which he and R2-D2 befriended Big Bird and R2 fell in love with a fire hydrant. Although R2-D2 appeared in The Muppet Show episode, it was the "three-legged" R2, operated by a radio control and not by Kenny Baker. However, Baker did later work with Jim Henson, playing a goblin in the film Labyrinth (with George Lucas as executive producer).

From 1985 until 1989, Marvel Comics produced a monthly comic book of the Muppet Babies with their Star Comics imprint. The series lasted for 26 issues. One such issue contained a Star Wars-related fantasy, with baby Piggy once more as Leia, and baby Gonzo once more as Darth Vader. The Muppet Babies cartoon also included numerous episodes spoofing Star Wars, most notably Gonzo's Video Show.

Frank Oz, the puppeteer of Yoda, was a lead puppeteer and creative consultant on The Muppet Show, performing Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal, and several others. Another Muppet Show regular, Kathryn Mullen, served as Yoda's right hand in The Empire Strikes Back.

Mark Hamill discussed this episode of The Muppet Show in a Hyperspace celebrity chat.

A clip from the Star Wars episode of The Muppet Show was included as part of the 2004 MTV documentary When Star Wars Ruled the World.

During Anthony Daniels' event at Celebration IV, he showed some clips of his career as C-3PO&mdash;ranging from his The Muppet Show episode and Sesame Street episodes, to a C-3POs cereal commercial and The Star Wars Holiday Special. Daniels gave insight into these appearances, and told some stories of his experiences working on them.

The episode is officially available on DVD as part of "The Best of The Muppet Show - Mark Hamill / Paul Simon / Raquel Welch" DVD. However, it has been widely bootlegged by fans, and is often included with bootlegs of The Star Wars Holiday Special.

Koozebane was later included in the Appendix of The Essential Atlas.