40 Fun Facts About Muppet Treasure Island

In Muppet Treasure Island, what kind of creature is Polly, the stand-in for Long John Silver's parrot?

A lobster called Polly is the Muppet version of the famous parrot. The director reckoned Polly, Clueless Morgan and Mad Monty stole the show.

Which Rocky Horror Picture Show star plays the one-legged pirate Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island?

Tim Curry had always wanted to play the character, and said Muppets can upstage an actor far more easily than animals or children.

Which Muppet plays Captain Smollett, who knew Jim Hawkins's father, in Muppet Treasure Island?

Kermit the Frog had three versions of his captain's uniform made for the role, and every coat was embroidered by hand.

Miss Piggy's castaway queen in Muppet Treasure Island is a gender-swapped take on which novel character?

Ben Gunn is a pirate left alone on the island for three years in the novel. Miss Piggy's Benjamina instead reigns as queen of the island's wild boars.

Which two Muppets play themselves as Jim Hawkins's best friends and shipmates in Muppet Treasure Island?

Gonzo and Rizzo were first pencilled in as the heroes, a duo named Jim and Hawkins, until the writers decided the story needed a real boy at its centre.

The maker of which grocery brand sued over the name of a wild boar character in Muppet Treasure Island?

Spam maker Hormel objected to a tribal boar called Spa'am. It lost at trial in 1995 and again on appeal, where the judges wrote that it might welcome a link to a genuine source of pork.

Finding a wooden prosthetic too uncomfortable, how did Muppet Treasure Island's Long John Silver actor play the role?

With his leg strapped up whenever it was in shot, he hopped through the shoot. In some shots the limb was removed with green-screen effects instead.

Captain Smollett and his old flame sing Muppet Treasure Island's love ballad in which predicament?

Hanging over a cliff upside down, the pair sing Love Led Us Here. Long John Silver has strung them up there to fall to their deaths.

Which Adam Sandler comedy opened the same weekend as Muppet Treasure Island in February 1996 and out-earned it?

Happy Gilmore and the second weekend of Broken Arrow both beat the Muppets, who opened in third place with $7.9 million from 2,070 cinemas.

Which Scottish author wrote the classic novel that Muppet Treasure Island turns into a musical comedy?

Robert Louis Stevenson used the pseudonym Captain George North for the story, which ran as a serial in 1881 and 1882 before it became a book.

Which Muppet plays Squire Trelawney, the half-wit who arranges the treasure voyage in Muppet Treasure Island?

Fozzie Bear was puppeteered by a stand-in for most of the shoot, because Frank Oz was busy directing films and added the voice afterwards.

Which Muppet plays Mr. Arrow, the strict first mate of the ship, in Muppet Treasure Island?

Sam Eagle usually watches Muppet plots from the sidelines, but as first mate he takes a far more active part in the story.

Bunsen Honeydew, with Beaker as his assistant, plays which character from the novel in Muppet Treasure Island?

Dr. Livesey is the doctor and magistrate who sails with the squire, and in the novel he even narrates a few chapters.

Which two Muppets appear in Muppet Treasure Island as the figureheads on the front of the ship?

Statler and Waldorf usually heckle from a theatre balcony, so bolting the two old critics to the bow gives them a front-row view of the voyage.

Who directed Muppet Treasure Island, his second Muppet feature in a row in the director's chair?

Brian Henson, son of Muppets creator Jim Henson, wanted this adaptation to be funnier and more absurd than his first, with far more action.

Which composer scored Muppet Treasure Island soon after winning an Oscar for The Lion King?

Hans Zimmer was brought in by the film's songwriters, and he composed the island natives' number Boom Shakalaka himself.

Which married songwriting team, the director's first choice, wrote the songs for Muppet Treasure Island?

Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, married since 1961, had written 1960s hits for the Crystals and the Animals long before they wrote for singing pirates.

Which reggae star performs Love Power with the Melody Makers over the end credits of Muppet Treasure Island?

Ziggy Marley released the song as a single, promoted with a video in which some of the Muppets wear dreadlocks.

Which Scottish star plays the old pirate who gives Jim Hawkins the treasure map in Muppet Treasure Island?

Billy Connolly, the comedian nicknamed the Big Yin, plays Billy Bones, who dies of a heart attack soon after handing over the map.

Which Absolutely Fabulous creator plays Mrs. Bluveridge, the fearsome innkeeper, in Muppet Treasure Island?

Jennifer Saunders's innkeeper can overhear conversations from far away, and she fights off the pirates herself so the boys can escape.

As in the novel, which ship carries Jim Hawkins and the crew to the island in Muppet Treasure Island?

The Hispaniola was an 18-ton set of fibreglass and wood on a computer-driven gimbal, and its rocking was realistic enough to make cast and crew seasick.

Jim Hawkins works at which inn at the start of Muppet Treasure Island, a name kept from the novel?

The Admiral Benbow takes its name from a real admiral, John Benbow, who died in 1702.

Which pirate buried the treasure and killed his own crew to keep the map secret in Muppet Treasure Island?

Captain Flint also abandoned Miss Piggy's character on the island. In the novel, Long John Silver names his parrot after him.

Which ominous pirate summons does Blind Pew deliver to Billy Bones at the inn in Muppet Treasure Island?

The black spot was invented for the novel by its author, perhaps inspired by Caribbean pirates who showed an ace of spades to a condemned traitor.

Which keepsake of Jim Hawkins's late father does Long John Silver take from him in Muppet Treasure Island?

A compass is Jim's link to his father, a first mate who died when the boy was seven. Silver gives it back before rowing away at the end.

What job does Long John Silver hold aboard the ship before leading the mutiny in Muppet Treasure Island?

Cook is his post in the novel too, which its author first planned to call The Sea Cook.

How does Long John Silver get the first mate Mr. Arrow off the ship in Muppet Treasure Island?

Silver has him test a rowboat, then tells the crew he drowned. Mr. Arrow turns up alive later and poses as his own ghost to scare the pirates.

With Frank Oz away directing, which Elmo performer puppeteered Miss Piggy on the Muppet Treasure Island set?

Kevin Clash studied a recorded read-through of the script by Oz to match each character, and Oz dubbed the voices in afterwards.

Which legend did co-writer Kirk Thatcher also favour for a Muppet film before the team chose Treasure Island?

King Arthur, with medieval dragons and knights, was the rival pitch, but the group agreed the pirate tale was a better fit for the Muppets.

Which Charles Dickens story did the Muppets film four years before Muppet Treasure Island?

A Christmas Carol set the template in 1992: human actors took the key roles, with the Muppets in support around them.

Muppet Treasure Island was the second Muppet film made with which studio, the Muppets' eventual owner?

Disney released the film through Buena Vista in February 1996 and went on to buy the Muppets outright in 2004.

Which future British TV comedian made his film debut as Jim Hawkins in Muppet Treasure Island?

Kevin Bishop was the very first boy to audition, out of about a hundred hopefuls, and later fronted his own sketch series, The Kevin Bishop Show.

The actor playing Long John Silver in Muppet Treasure Island based the pirate's voice on which seafaring relative?

His grandfather had been a seafarer, and the actor borrowed the old man's voice for a role he had long hoped to land.

Muppet Treasure Island was shot on seven stages at which famous film studio complex in England?

Shepperton housed a complete seaport, an inn and a 40-foot beach with palm trees and 200,000 gallons of surf for the shoot.

What did designer Polly Smith use to make Miss Piggy's island skirt in Muppet Treasure Island?

Feathers, each one dyed individually and dipped in two tones, came from a specialist supplier in New York that the designer visited.

James V. Hart, a co-writer of Muppet Treasure Island, had earlier scripted which Steven Spielberg film?

Hook, the 1991 Peter Pan sequel, is one of several literary adaptations Hart wrote, alongside Bram Stoker's Dracula.

Which Muppet starts Muppet Treasure Island among the pirates but switches sides in the final beach sword fight?

Sweetums defects to Captain Smollett's side, and the fight goes on until Long John Silver is the last pirate standing and surrenders.

Which Muppet Treasure Island song was written purely as a ridiculous, over-the-top number for the middle?

Cabin Fever and one other big number needed 25 extra puppeteers, signed on to help operate more than forty Muppets.

Which artist, known for Star Wars and Indiana Jones posters, painted the poster for Muppet Treasure Island?

Drew Struzan was no stranger to the Muppets: his posters also include The Muppet Movie, alongside E.T. and the Back to the Future films.

Which English port's docks were rebuilt on a sound stage as the ship's home in Muppet Treasure Island?

Bristol Docks filled a whole stage, with 80,000 gallons of water on one side and houses built smaller and smaller to fake the distance.