How A 41-Year-Old Muppets Show Spoiled ‘The Empire Strikes Back’

Hints Of What Was To Come

By Culture SlatePublished 3 years ago • 5 min read

The Muppets and Star Wars have more in common than you would think. 3D CGI was not a thing in 1980 when Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back was released. So, to create the strange, cool, and interesting creatures and characters, Lucasfilm had to use puppets…or more accurately, Muppets.

That’s right. Jim Henson, one of the master puppeteers at Jim Henson Studios, was brought on to create the original Yoda puppet for Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back. George Lucas offered the part of Yoda to Jim Henson himself, whose Muppet credits include Kermit the Frog, Rowlf the Dog, The Swedish Chef, Waldorf, and Sesame Street's Ernie. Jim Henson had to turn George Lucas down because he already had commitments with The Great Muppet Caper. Jim Henson offered the part of Yoda to Frank Oz, who was a puppeteer and voice for Miss Piggy, Fozzie Bear, Animal from The Muppets, as well as Cookie Monster, Bert, and Grover from Sesame Street.

Frank Oz has gone on to become synonymous with Grand Master Yoda ever since fans were introduced to the eccentric Jedi Master in the Dagobah swamp in The Empire Strikes Back.

Because of the connection with the Muppets, and partially due to the popularity of the original Star Wars from 1977, The Muppet Show asked some of the stars of Star Wars to be on their show in 1980, a few months before The Empire Strikes Back was released. The fourth season episode “Episode 417: Star Wars," which aired February 29, 1980, featured Mark Hamill/Luke Skywalker, R2-D2, C-3PO, and Chewbacca among the cast of Muppet characters.

The Empire Strikes Back was released on May 21, 1980, so The Muppet Show was a bit of a preview for the movie. So much so, however, that The Muppet Show ended up spoiling some parts of The Empire Strikes Back. As D23 pointed out:

“As zany as it was, this unique episode boasted some of the only new Star Wars material created between the first movie in 1977 and the release of The Empire Strikes Back on May 21, 1980.”

The episode starts with Kermit who hired the “Argyle Gargoyle,” the Scottish Angus McGonagle to host the episode. However, before Angus can go on, Luke Skywalker, C3PO, and R2D2 burst through the wall looking for Chewbacca who sent them an SOS that led them to the “second rate variety show”. The SOS says:

“Help, I am being held prisoner by a bunch of weird turkeys.”

When the Star Wars characters arrive, Scooter decides that “they’d make much better hosts than McGonagle!” and shoves the gargoyle out. The episode continues with Kermit trying to get the Star Wars characters to be a part of the show, but they are too busy searching for Chewbacca. Then, we meet Mark Hamill, as Mark Hamill, and he tries to put on a comedy act and sing, but Kermit doesn’t like him. The episode escalates until the Star Wars character hijack the spaceship, Swinetrek, and the character of Dearth Nadir shows up, as well as Chewbacca.

Throughout the episode, there are little hints as to what happens in The Empire Strikes Back. First off, the biggest one is Luke’s outfit. That outfit is what he wears during most of The Empire Strikes Back and is not seen in Stars Wars: A New Hope.

In the scene where Scooter is singing a song while playing a guitar, you can clearly see an image of Luke Skywalker behind him that is a promotional still from The Empire Strikes Back, where he is wearing the same outfit.

Susana Polo writing for the Polygon and SF Gate shared these details about how this oddball crossover came to be in the first place:

“This weird mashup of flavors was not merely facilitated by Frank Oz’s work on ‘Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back,’ but by geography: ‘The Muppet Show’s’ Eldon Avenue Studios were just one town over from ‘Star Wars’’ Elstree Studios. Filming on Empire was well underway, so the Lucasfilm folks just hopped over with the props and costumes.”

The Empire Strikes Back wasn’t released until May of that year, four months after the episode aired, so in what Polo calls “a secret bit of Star Wars history,” this episode of The Muppet Show is actually the first time that Mark Hamill appeared on film in his The Empire Strikes Back costume.

At the end of the episode, however, the sketch “Pigs In Space” spoils even more about the then upcoming film. It provides a glimpse of Darth Vader’s true identity.

When the helmeted villain, Dearth Nadir, shows up on their screen and sends shockwaves of fear throughout the cast of characters, their ship crashes (supposedly softly on the planet’s surface, but it is anything but soft, and Luke comments on this, which is a parallel to him commenting on the landing on Dagobah), and they meet Dearth Nadir on the surface of a planet.

The narrator of the episode says, “Stay tuned for part two, when the Swinetrek lands on Koozebane and we learn the true identity of this arch-fiend.” SF Gate notes that the next part of the show nearly gives away the most iconic scene of The Empire Strikes Back.

“’The world will never know!’ Nadir says in a screeching voice that sounds exactly like a certain hook-nosed blue Muppet. The gag is that while the mask is supposed to conceal Nadir’s identity, Gonzo’s profile is a dead giveaway of who is inside.”

This hints at the “No, I am your father” scene between Darth Vader and Luke Skywalker which is so famous that even non-Star Wars fans know about it. This was the moment that changed the entire course of the franchise and became an instant part of the movie lore.

The episode ends with an ever joyous song and dance number where even the Star Wars characters themselves show off their moves.