MovieChat Forums > Tales from Muppetland: The Frog Prince (1971) Discussion > scared me to death as a child....

scared me to death as a child....

posted 20 years ago by jediharr
23 replies | jump to latest

I was looking through some videotapes of cartoons my mom taped for me off tv as a kid; and i came across this and I remembered being about 3 and watching it over and over again. I loved it. I still do, but..... it scared the crap out of me.

Well, only AUNT TAMINELLA. I remembered being afraid of her as a little kid. And, as a grown up young man; i put the tape in... and the second Aunt Taminella came on screen... I was paralyzed with FEAR. That one sharp fang, those dark circles under her eyes... I was afraid all over again. And i almost cried. Especially during her transformation with the bad early 70s sfx.

and SWEETUMS.... or whatever that big monsters name was.... scared me to death....

But yes, i wish I knew what happened to TRUDY YOUNG. And anything the Muppets do is great; they're like THE BEATLES of puppet entertainment.

VEry fun fun special.

[–] GrannyK 19 years ago

I also found Aunt T. very frightening as a child...Sweetums..well, if you sung to him, he fell asleep so that was pretty easy. But Aunt T, creepy.

And every time we watched this, my sister and I were screaming with the princess who kept saying 'Bake the hall in the candle of her brain' to Break The Ball in the Handle of her Cane!

I'm waiting for them to release this as well as Cinderella and some others on DVD. I would totally buy this in a box set and I'm sure other's would too...

[–] nat915 18 years ago

I saw it in reruns as a kid, but I loved it so much. It was one of my favorites. Aunt T scared the *beep* out of me though. "Have another popover, deary!" That terrified me.

[–] visionary65 18 years ago

I'm a huge fan as well. Does anyone know if it's possible to get a copy? VHS or DVD?

[–] andycool24 18 years ago

This is one of fy mavorite Him Jenson shelevision tows of tall ime!

LOL.

I just found out now it was made in 1972, I thought it was around the early/mid 80's! I was surprised!!!

In God WWE Trust

[–] c_larue816 18 years ago

OMG...I thought I was the only one!

If any of you can remember waaaay back in the day, even before laser discs (huge CDs) I had this story along with Cinderella on what I can only describe as a huge plastic floppy disc. The thing was the size of an album cover, but I distinctly remember it was white, plastic, and had to be put in a specific machine. I swear to God I'm not making this up. ;)

Anyways, that damn witch scared me to death. She was the source of all my childhood nightmares, along with Sweatums. Oh lord it gives me chills just thinking about it now!

It's great to see fans of Hensen, and glad to know I wasn't the only one terrified of that damn purple witch, and that horrific cackle.

[–] gwenbearspecial2 18 years ago

Me too man, me too!

No one except my sister EVER knows what the hell I'm talking about! I always found Sweetums scarier than Taminella...and Carol Channing in that Alice and Wonderland thing. Why are they trying to ter

[–] c_larue816 17 years ago

After several hours searching the internet, including YouTube, I have yet to find any video feed of this movie. So I finnally broke down and bought the VHS (sadly no DVD available) through Amazon.com. If you go to any site for the Frog Prince, they'll have links for you to buy it on VHS. Its not cheap I'll let you know that much, at least for a quality VHS since they are basically extinct.

Also, if you would like to know more about the Frog Prince, Wikipedia has a muppet section and has links for that witch! It doesn't show an exact picture of her from the movie, but does have other creepy photos.

I could be out of my mind for buying this movie and watching it again, but I want to have it at least for my kids, so they can be terrified as well! haha

[–] lollipop_eissac 18 years ago

honestly i thought that this movie was in a dream of mine...thats how foggy it is to me. i just remember the princess singing about her birthday."I'm Einteen, I'm Einteen ooh day." i dont know if those are the exact lyrics, but i know its something like that. i realized that this was a real movie when my older sister new what i was talking about and started singing the song. i asked for a copy of this movie for christmas a few years ago and it wasn't re-released yet... it was like $75 for a copy that wasnt watched...O.o cRaZy!! i hope it gets released soon! i want to re live those childhood memories with my sisters.

[–] smarr 17 years ago

I'm always trying to use the line "Have a popover, froggy!" and nobody knows what I'm talking about.

I saw this a few years back at the Museum of TV & Radio in NYC. It was one of my absolute faves as a child but as I watched it - I realized that I hadn't ever seen it before! I only had the old vinyl LP with full color photos of each scene. (Kermit narrates, things like "Now she's dunking my friend Robin in water!", to cover for action you need to see...) But there were a couple transitional shots I had no memory of at all, and I realized I had put it all together mentally between the record and the photos. So what a treat to basically get to see it for the first after knowing all the words by heart!

Who was your father?
Well...who was yours?
King Rupert the First.
Me too!
Sister!
Brother!

Genius.

[–] TachoX2 17 years ago

I had the LP too way back when and remember repeating some of those lines over and over.

Would like to see this again...

[–] c_larue816 17 years ago

I wanted to let the fans here know that I finnally received my VHS copy last week from Amazon.com. Sadly no DVD release, but I didn't care I wanted a copy. I admit I had to watch the movie with a friend because I was sure if I watched it again it would spark my childhood fears all over again.

But strangely, it did not! In fact, it was very funny! Sometimes hilarious in some specific scenes (Such as Kermit getting drunk at the scene with the King, Princess, Aunt T. and Sir Robin the Brave dining together)

And Sweetums? Ummmm...he was just a dopey muppet. Really didn't even make coherent sentences. I guess it was the whole yellow eyes and teeth thing that scared me.

And of course Aunt Taminella. She was very funny, its true she stole the movie. I can still understand why I was scared of her, and truth be told, some scenes with her still were still kinda scare to watch. No wonder this movie freaked me out!

Definately worth the investment to keep around so one day my kids can enjoy and be scared the bejesus out of. :)

[–] novastar_6 17 years ago

Aunt Taminella always kind of creeped me out when I was a kid, but the movie didn't scare me until she took Robin to the dungeon to see Sweetums.

[–] asampras20 16 years ago

Me too! Me too!

and yet my sister and i kept on watching it! Also the same with, 'The Muppet's Muscians of Bremen.' We tried to watch both again in our twenties but had to turn it off after a lot of screaming, lol!

[–] pkboston 16 years ago

hi,

I missed this as a kid (too old!) but now have 2 little boys who "want" to watch scary movies. The scariest things they've ever seen are The Incredibles, Monsters Ink & Toy Story (Sid is really scary to them).

I know it depends on the kids/family to a certain extent, but I'd be interested to know how old all of you who loved it were when you 1st saw it?

Thx - PK

[–] billytwotimes 16 years ago

I remember seeing this when i was 4 or 5 when it was originally broadcast and being absolutely terrified of Sweetums, I honestly don't remember that much about except that.

[–] sherwoodnights 16 years ago

I was about 4 or 5.. I loved Sweetums, I wanted to keep him as a pet ^_^

The Aunt freaked my sister and me out though.. she's scary, but we would still rewatch it, it was one of our favourite movies.

[–] twistedoldloony 16 years ago

I want this movie so bad! I had the record when I was a kid and listened to it so much. I think I used to have a vhs recording of it a while back but I'm not sure I still have it...hmmm I should pull out all my old tapes to see if I can find it, I hope it's labeled right.

It's been a LONG time since I have seen it or heard the album but I still remember most of the backwards birthday song:

Ni'm ineteen, ni'm ineteen, by mirthdays dotay, a gig burl a loman a wady sey thay. ................................ the onesome who who'll dumsay means thumsing to me.

I can mummble the middle line but don't really remember it right.

It's SO awesome I just have to find it!

[–] user-7099 16 years ago

its on youtube I just watched it.

I as well was freaked out by Aunt Taminella. Even today when I watch it I remember the fear of her I had, its pretty fun!

[–] RowenaMorgan 15 years ago

I was TERRIFIED of the witch when I watched this on TV as a kid. She gave me nightmares!

I happened to stumble upon it on YouTube just now, and I watched some of it, almost twenty years later. I had to skip to the end ... I almost cried watching it, remembering all of those scary feelings!!

[–] UnicornMaiden 14 years ago

I thought Taminella was scary, but I was never scared of Sweetums. Somehow, I just found him to be loveable (There are some muppet specials where he does act sweet). I think if there had been a way to get Sweetums as a pet when I was little and keep him in my room I would have done it.

"The unicorn lived in a lilac wood, and she lived all alone..." ~ The Last Unicorn

[–] xprmnt626cuteandfluffy 13 years ago

Ahh! I love this movie so so much! They never scared me tho. My brothers, myself, and our cousins LOVED Sweetums, and he made us laugh so much. I watch this movie every christmas as a tradition (Watching it at this minute.) My mum recorded a tape when I was super little with The Frog Prince, Muppets of Breman, Bunny Picnic, The Christmas Toy, and Muppet Family Christmas.

The VHS tape is starting to die tho, traction is bad in some parts. So wish I could find all of these on dvd! I know they have Christmas Toy, I've seen it a couple times :) But this has to be one of the greatest Muppet specials!

Melora was so amazing! To memorize such confusing lines!

My mum even sang us the Sweetums sleep song if we were good.

[–] jsoward3819 10 years ago

It scared me to death too! Aunt Taminella & Sweetums with the glowing eyes were terrifying! As an adult, whenever their theme music plays, I get a little nervous/anxious!

[–] richard.fuller1 10 years ago

I was five. Sweetums scared me as well. I just watched the clip of his singing when he was attacking the frogs and it was definitely those two lower fangs, which were removed when he appeared on The Muppet Show years later.

There was another muppet program, the Muppet Minstrels of Bremen, with the donkey, dog, cat and rooster who escaped from mean owners.

The owners scared me. One of them I do believe 'evolved' into the Muppet critic without the moustache, Waldorf or Statler.