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They don’t make shows like Muppet Babies anymore.
I’m not talking about the contemporary CGI series your kids watch – I’m talking about the savvy, intelligent children’s program of the 1980s that featured the characters going on epic adventures in their nursery – each episode a knowing send-up of pop culture trends complete with clips of old movies and TV shows. The series also taught valuable lessons, and one episode, “It’s Only Pretendo,” was meant to teach kids that while video games were fun, they weren’t the only way to spend playtime.
That lesson was lost on me and is one of the reasons I’m a lifelong gamer to this day.
In the episode, Gonzo is obsessed with his Pretendo gaming console. We see the babies play through parodies of old NES games: Super Bario Brothers, Son of Super Bario Brothers, Second Cousin of Super Bario Brothers, Skateboard or Doom (based on Skate or Die), Galaxy Invaders (a Space Invaders clone), and my personal favorite, The Legend of Imelda: The Quest for the Golden Key (clearly based on Zelda II, but with more varied gameplay). When Piggy demands Gonzo let her try The Legend of Imelda, the two refuse to let anyone else play, prompting the others to use their imaginations and use toys to recreate the games around the nursery. At the end of the episode, both Gonzo and Piggy find the Golden Key at the same time and argue about who won. Animal declares that it doesn’t matter as long as they had fun, and everyone turns the Pretendo off for the day.
“It’s Only Pretendo” features extensive footage of NES, arcade, and even TurboGrafx-16 games, including Donkey Kong, Keith Courage, Fantasy Zone, and Frogger. The idea that I could go on these grand adventures on my TV suddenly made my big sister’s NES my new object of obsession. Watching this episode as a child, I set out on a journey to find every game the episode parodied. I started collecting video game magazines, rented Zelda II: Adventure of Link from the local mom’n’pop video store, and begged my mom for a Power Pad to play the running game like Scooter and Skeeter (we couldn’t find a working pad, sadly). I was no good at Zelda II, but it captured my imagination in a way that informs the games I play to this day.
Now, as a 35-year-old, I can understand the message the episode was trying to send. Some of my friends’ children are glued to their screens, playing mobile games like Roblox and Fortnite. To me, there’s something less enchanting and imaginative about the games kids play today. I feel like a mobile game-inspired Muppet Babies episode would be a cautionary tale about insidious advertising and screen addiction. In fact, if I had children, I’d likely limit their screen time. “It’s Only Pretendo” was clearly made with affection for the games it parodied, and that affection forever rubbed off on me. You can watch the full episode of Muppet Babies’ “It’s Only Pretendo” on YouTube.
