SoraRabbit Short Hop 037: A Bunny-Filled Easter Post
Happy Easter everyone! I’ve never done an Easter post before, but seeing as how I recently covered a few Jim Henson Muppet holiday specials, I figured this would be the best time to do one. I talked plenty about the Muppets and Jim Henson in those posts, so in this one we’ll get right down to the special.
Here are the other Muppet holidays I have covered:
Title (Credit: Henson Associates)
The Tale of the Bunny Picnic aired on HBO in 1986 and was produced as an Easter special. The only real connections to Easter are rabbits and Spring.
As I often have to do, I want to put in an apology for the quality of the screenshots. This was the best video I could track down, and this special is not currently on any streaming services.
Happy bunnies. (Credit: Henson Associates)
The special opens with a song, no surprise there. A narrator opens a story book and starts recounting a story of the bunny picnic.
Munch munch. (Credit: Henson Associates)
All the bunnies are singing about spring and decorating for their annual bunny picnic. They want to hurry and get done before the Storyteller gets there. We meet the siblings Twitch and Lugsy.
They’re the same size… seriously. (Credit: Henson Associates)
Their little brother Bean runs up, wanting to help, but makes a mess of things. Lugsy tears him down, insisting he’s too little to help. (Even though he looks to be the same size as his brother.) Lugsy is sarcastic and rude.
That lettuce just makes me laugh. (Credit: Henson Associates)
His feelings hurt, Bean wanders into the farmer’s lettuce patch, singing a song about how terrible it is to be so small.
King Bean. (Credit: Henson Associates)
He imagines that he’s king of the bunny picnic. There’s a pretty cool effect in his fantasy where he’s clear and all the surrounding bunnies are blurred and washed out.
Bark bark. (Credit: Henson Associates)
His fantasy is interrupted by a very enthusiastic dog (performed and voiced by the legendary Jim Henson himself) who chases Bean around. Bean manages to give him the slip, but the dog promises to get him next time and show him who’s boss.
The dog keeps verbalizing his sounds like “woof woof” and “bark bark” like my favorite gag on the Muppet Family Christmas. His other running gag is that he always mixes up the names of his body parts, like calling his head an elbow, things like that.
Dragon Bean. (Credit: Henson Associates)
Bean runs back to the bramble bush where the bunnies all live and hides under his bed. He pretends he’s a fire-breathing dragon who could scare the dog off.
Hiding under the bed. (Credit: Henson Associates)
Lugsy and Twitch don’t believe him. The reason there are so many bunnies is because the farmer doesn’t like dogs. They’re called into their kitchen by their mother, who needs them to go to great great great grandmother’s house to get some pickled parsnips for the bunny picnic pies. Bean’s parents also don’t believe him about the dog, but their dad freaks out at the word, hinting at some deep trauma. Lugsy claims it’s just Bean’s crazy imagination, there couldn’t possibly be a dog and Bean is always imagining things.
Poor whatever his name is. (Credit: Henson Associates)
Meanwhile, the dog is in the hen house, practicing chasing bunnies. The farmer (also a Muppet) is very mean to him and reminds him that the only reason he got the dog from the dump was to get rid of the bunnies that have been eating his lettuce. He’s allergic to them and can't stop sneezing, but he says the only rabbit he’s not allergic to is a rabbit in his stew. He says if the dog brings him all the bunnies so he can make stew of them, he might even give him a name. The dog is scared of the farmer, but more scared of starving. He also wouldn’t mind a name, so he would know what to call himself.
Kooky old bun. (Credit: Henson Associates)
The bunnies meet with their great great great grandmother. She’s kooky, claims to have over 63 trillion great great great grandchildren, and also doesn’t believe Bean about the dog. In her whole life she’s only seen two dogs at a distance. She tells Bean he’s a bunny and shouldn’t pretend to be what he’s not. She’s also working on a sleeping potion. (I have to wonder if granny’s been sampling her own potions.) She gives them the pickled parsnips and races them home. (She wins the race.)
The mighty hunter. (Credit: Henson Associates)
Sleepy and upset that no one believes him, Bean goes off on his own. The dog spots him and comes up with the plan to follow Bean home and get all the bunnies at once. Bean lies down and takes a nap, forcing the dog to wait for him.
The bunnies are all excited. (Credit: Henson Associates)
Back at the village, the Storyteller arrives on his hybrid bicycle/wagon and all the bunnies are excited.
That’s quite a hedgehog. (Credit: Henson Associates)
The Storyteller recounts a tale of a Giant Hedgehog who confronts a mean fox. The moral of the story is “Those who hurt others hurt themselves.“
Tracking Bean back to the village with his scarf, the dog arrives and scares all the bunnies off. They all hide in the bramble bush where their houses are and Lugsy has to admit Bean was telling the truth about the dog.
Sleepy baby bunny. (Credit: Henson Associates)
There’s a cute bunny lullaby as the rabbits all turn in for the night. There’s also a great line where Twitch asks what will happen if the dog never leaves and her mothers says, “No one ever said being a bunny would be easy.“
More munching. (Credit: Henson Associates)
Bean gets a great idea based off the Giant Hedgehog story and there’s a montage of the siblings waking up all the young bunnies for the plan. There’s a moment in this montage that got a laugh out of me. When the bunny who’s always eating (Bulbous) is leaving his room, he pokes his head back in to munch on something in a dish by the door and they yank him back out.
Cool bunny. (Credit: Henson Associates)
Anyway, let’s speed through the rest. The farmer takes away the dog’s food and threatens him more. The bunnies work all night on their secret project and Bean is still being excluded. There’s also a cool 80’s-style bunny there named Bebop.
Tree Bean. (Credit: Henson Associates)
Scared by the dog again, Bean pretends to be a giant tree. They distract the dog so that Lugsy can go get the sleeping potion from Granny’s, but he’s caught on the way back and pinned to the ground. He throws the sleeping potion in the dogs face, but falls asleep himself. Once he’s in the bag, the dog briefly falls asleep. The bunnies put their plan into motion, realizing that Bean being small is an asset— he can be the head.
The mighty giant bunny. (Credit: Henson Associates)
Yes, their plan was to dress as a giant Voltron bunny, made up of all the other young bunnies to scare the dog away like in the hedgehog story. The dog is scared and begs to not be hurt. Bean tells him that those who hurt others hurt themselves, which the dog find profound. The dog lets Lugsy go, but when he mentions the bunny stew, Bean gets scared and the Giant Bunny falls over. The dog chases them again and gets Bean. Twitch and Lugsy fight over the sack with the dog and the farmer arrives.
The bunny boss battle. (Credit: Henson Associates)
Bean sees how scared the dog is of the farmer and promises to protect him, hiding him in the bushes. The dog reveals that the farmer is allergic to bunnies, which gives Bean another idea. He bravely faces the farmer, making him sneeze. The others join him and they all sing at the farmer, chasing him off for good.
Lugsy compliments his brother on his brains and bravery. Bean decides to give the newly-homeless dog a home as long as he promises to be their friend. Bebop even gives him a name— "Mr. Dee-Dop Dee-Diddly-Dog Bop."
Grampa Bean. (Credit: Henson Associates)
We get to see that the narrator of the whole story was Grampa Bean and he’s become the new storyteller. The dog is still with the bunnies. The little bunnies ask about the Bunny Picnic and we get to see that they finally had the biggest picnic ever. The end.
So cute. (Credit: Henson Associates)
And that’s The Tale of the Bunny Picnic! I really enjoyed this special. It felt a lot like Emmet Otter, but with the setting shifted to a meadow and the animal characters being mostly rabbits. With the outdoor setting and the bouncy music, it evoked the same feelings of that earlier special and the outdoorsy folksy sensibility was the same.
Woof woof. (Credit: Henson Associates)
The bunny Muppets were all very cute and had a lot of personality. The sheer number of moving Muppets in the group shots were as impressive as always. One of the high points of the special was Jim Henson voicing and performing the dog Muppet. I’m pretty sure most of his lines were ad-libbed. The dog looked hilarious running around.
The message about getting along and finding your place in the world reminds me of the recurring themes on Fraggle Rock. Also, Henson included a storyteller character, which is a recurring thing in Muppet media. (In fact, there was a whole anthology series called The Storyteller.)
I really liked the misdirect of the dog turning out to not be the villain… he was just a stray who was scared of the farmer. Bean’s wild imagination turning out to not only be his biggest asset, but also his calling in life was a nice story arc. The ending with the dog moving in with the bunnies was a bit obvious, but still satisfying. Conversely, the bit about Bean’s ultimate fate was surprising to me but made perfect sense for the character.
I’m not sure why this special is so obscure. I thought it was cute and entertaining. It was fun and had a good message. There’s just something pure and earnest about these old Muppet specials, something that’s hard to find elsewhere. It’s sad that some of these are so hard to find. I’m glad I was able to track this one down and share it with you all.
The true meaning of Easter. (Credit: Henson Associates)
Easter means different things to different people. For some, it’s family traditions and get-togethers. For others, it’s a religious holiday. For me, it’s mainly about nostalgia. I have a very big family and while I was growing up, we would all get together at my grandma’s house for a big meal and to catch up on each other’s lives. My family tries their best to keep that going, but it’s been several years since I’ve been able to make it. I’m hoping to attend again next year, but I didn’t plan far enough ahead this year, so I’m working on this post (and a couple of other projects) and hanging out with my wife, son, and pets. It’s been a cozy holiday typing about bunnies.
However you spend Easter, or however you define it, I’m sure we can all agree that it’s a good holiday to spend time with family, celebrate the approaching Spring, and sing songs about hopping around in a meadow.
Oh, and also giant Voltron bunnies. Can’t forget those.
SHOCK. (Credit: Henson Associates)
Thank you for joining me for this look at a mostly-forgotten Easter special. I appreciate you all. I hope you all have a nice holiday and join me again soon for more fun stuff!
Story time. (Credit: Henson Associates)
