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Muppet Treasure Island was the fifth feature film to star The Muppets, and the second produced after the death of Muppets creator Jim Henson. Released in 1996 and directed by Jim Henson's son Brian Henson, it was one of many film adaptations of Robert Louis Stevenson's Treasure Island.

As in the earlier Muppet Christmas Carol, the key roles were played by human guest stars, while the Muppets filled in supporting roles. Tim Curry plays Long John Silver and Kevin Bishop is the putative protagonist Jim Hawkins. Muppets Kermit the Frog plays Captain Abraham Smollett, Fozzie Bear is Squire Trelawney, Sam the Eagle is Mr. Samuel Arrow and Miss Piggy (who Tim Curry states is the prettiest co-star he's ever had^{[citation needed]}) is Benjimina Gunn. Following their success as the narrators of The Muppet Christmas Carol, The Great Gonzo and Rizzo the Rat appear in specially-created roles as Jim Hawkins' best friends.

The film featured a non-specific ocean referred to as the "Big Blue Wet Thing," though Silver (using the stars) determines they are heading southwest. The only ocean they could be in is the Atlantic Ocean if they set off from England.

Contents 1 Plot 2 Changes from the novel 3 Trivia 4 Quotes 5 References 6 External links

The movie begins as Jim Hawkins, the Great Gonzo, and Rizzo the Rat as slop boys at an inn, listen to Billy Bones (Billy Connolly) telling stories of his days as a pirate and Captain Flint's treasure. When a pirate, Blind Pew, arrives at the inn and gives Bones the Black Spot, they realize his stories are true. Before Bones dies of a heart attack, he gives Jim a treasure map. Gaining a ship from young Squire Trelawney (Fozzie Bear) (and the man who lives in his Finger, Mr. Bimble), they set out, but Captain Abraham Smollett (Kermit the Frog) is concerned that the crew (consisting largely of Muppet monsters) cannot be trusted. It transpires that most of them were hired on the advice of the ship's cook, Long John Silver, who had befriended Jim.

After the disappearance of the first mate, Mr. Samuel Arrow (Sam the Eagle), Jim and his friends learn that the crew are pirates, and Silver is their captain. They warn Smollett, who asks them to go for provisions, planning to sail away and return when the fight has gone out of the pirates. This plan is abandoned when the pirates take Jim with them.

Arriving on the island, Smollett, Gonzo and Rizzo are captured by wild boars, and are to be sacrificed to their Queen, who turns out to be Benjamina Gunn (Miss Piggy), still furious that Smollett left her at the altar. Simultaneously, the pirates use Jim's compass to locate where the treasure should be buried, but it has gone. Silver holds the mutinous pirates off while Jim escapes.

Jim rescues Smollett and his friends, while Silver talks the pirates round. The three cabin boys head back to the ship, while Smollett stays to talk to Benjamina. They are interrupted by Silver, who has realised that Benjamina must have the treasure. After she tells him where it is, he leaves her and Smollet to die.

Jim and his friends retake the ship with the help of Mr. Arrow. They then rescue Benjamina and Smollett. With the good guys reunited, they take on the pirates. Smollett has a swordfight with Silver which goes well, until his sword suddenly slips out of his hand. However, Jim stands to protect the captain, and the rest of the crew stand to protect Jim. When Silver tries to escape, he finds himself faced with Benjamina and the wild boars.

Everyone returns to the ship with the treasure. In the ship's brig, Silver realises he still has the keys from when he stranded Arrow. Jim, who is on watch, allows him to escape, but says he never wants to see him again. The movie ends as the life boat Silver is rowing sinks, and he winds up stranded on the island with only a joke-telling Easter Island Head for company.

While the film is mostly true to the novel, there are changes, mostly to make the characters fit the Muppet personalities, or to tighten up the plot. Amongst them are:

• The Admiral Benbow is no longer run by Jim's family. Instead, Jim is an orphan, and the inn's owner is a Mrs. Bluveridge.
• Jim Hawkins is given two companions: Gonzo and Rizzo
• In the book, although Blind Pew appears in only two chapters of the story, he is an extremely intimidating and even sadistic character, whereas in this depiction he is shown as bumbling, mistaking Jim for a "little girl" and is oblivious even to the inn blowing up all around him.
• In the novel, Captain Smollett initially appears as a stern and forbidding figure, overly concerned with regulations, although he later proves to simply be appropriately cautious. In the film he is sympathetic from the first, with a strictness only, it seems, for the consumption of alcohol.
• By contrast, Mr. Arrow is shown as obsessed with regulations and the correct way of doing things (though he meekly follows Smollett's orders), as suits a character played by Sam the Eagle. In the book, he is a drunkard, and overly-familiar with the men. He is also killed by being thrown overboard, whereas in the film he is merely tricked into taking one of the boats for a test run (and presumed dead).
• Benn Gunn is female, and renamed Benjamina. She has had former relationships with Smollett, Flint and Silver.
• Squire Trelawney is a "rich half-wit", who takes advice from a man he believes to live in his finger (Mr. Bimble).
• Dr. Livesey (played by Bunsen Honeydew) is an inventor with an assistant (Beaker).
• Captain Flint (the parrot) is replaced by Polly, a lobster whom Silver "raised from a fingerling".
• An attack on Gonzo and Rizzo by three of the pirates is added; this leads both to the stranding of Mr. Arrow (so Silver can let them out of the brig), and from there to the scene in the book when Jim hears Silver conspiring while in an apple barrel.
• Much of Parts Four and Five, "The Stockade" and "My Sea Adventure" is omitted.
• A running subplot, which has very little effect on the main course of the film, involves the ship's rats, who believe they have signed onto a modern-day Caribbean cruise. They are not treated like other characters; for example, while the ship's crew, pirate or not, are greeted with hostility by the boars, the rats are met with indifference, if acknowledged at all.

• Hormel Foods Corporation, makers of Spam, sued the film production company for making the name of the ugly villain "Spa'am". Their suit was defeated on September 22, 1995. The judge dismissed it on the grounds that "The American public can tell the difference between a puppet and a lunchmeat."

• Tim Curry tried a peg leg, but the discomfort forced him to change to using a crutch.

• Upon Jim Henson's death, it was said that Rowlf the Dog would never be used again, as this was Henson's signature character. As a memorial of sorts Rowlf is seen in a few shots, once when the creatures are leaving the tavern, and also in a few shots beforehand. However, out of respect for Jim Henson, he never speaks.

• Brian Henson said that Frank Oz was not originally a fan of Fozzie Bear's "Mr. Bimble" (the man who lived inside of Fozzie's finger). However, by the end of filming, Oz decided that it was one of his favorite jokes.

• Brian Henson was nervous that the whole cast and crew would get motion sick as the ship rolled on the gimbals. He gave everyone seasickness pills for the first day of the shoot, and not only did the cast and crew not get seasick but they almost fell asleep on the job.

• Tim Curry had been a huge fan of Muppets for years before doing this movie. He has stated in many interviews he regards this role as one of his favorite roles.^[1]

• In the original script, Polly Lobster was a sultry female parrot who flirted with Silver. When this got "too weird," according to Brian Henson, she was replaced with a male parrot named Stevenson (after Robert Louis Stevenson) who pointed out the changes made from book to movie. Although Stevenson was replaced by Polly Lobster for the film, he later appeared in the PC game based on the film.

• David Bowie and Mick Jagger were both considered for the role of Long John Silver until Tim Curry was cast.^[2]

• Miss Piggy's rather inept entrance as Benjamina Gunn gained her another critical accolade, where 'No Sex Symbol is at her best in these conditions' as she hurtles down a set of stairs.

• Zoot: I'm confused. Are we with the pirates, or with the frog-captain?
  Floyd: Just play the gig, man. Never get involved in politics!
  Animal: Politics! Politics!

• Billy Bones: Jim! Jimmy-Jim Jim-Jim Jim Jim Jim
  Gonzo I'm not Jimmy-Jim Jim-Jim Jim Jim Jim, he's Jimmy-Jim Jim-Jim Jim Jim Jim (Pointing to Jim)

• Billy Bones: Beware!
  Jim: The one-legged man?
  Billy: Aye! And also, running with scissors and other pointy objects. It's all great fun until someone loses an EEEEYYYYEEEE! (Billy dies)

• Pirate #1: Dead Tom is dead! Long John shot him!
  Pirate #2: But Dead Tom's always been dead. That's why he's called "Dead Tom".

• Muppet Treasure Island at the Internet Movie Database
• Muppet Wiki: Muppet Treasure Island

v • d • e Films and television specials by The Muppets
Feature films	The Muppet Movie (1979)  · The Great Muppet Caper (1981)  · The Muppets Take Manhattan (1984)  · Jim Henson's MuppetVision 3D (1991)  · The Muppet Christmas Carol (1992)  · Muppet Treasure Island (1996)  · Muppets from Space (1999)
Television specials	A Muppet Family Christmas (1987)  · The Muppets at Walt Disney World (1990)  · It's a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie (2002)  · The Muppets' Wizard of Oz (2005)