15 Completely Made Up Facts About Jim Henson's Muppets

These Muppet facts will blow your mind! Here are some things that even the most hardcore Muppet fans probably don't know about the Muppets... probably because they're 100% made up.

1. The same puppet is used for both Kermit the Frog and Fozzie Bear

The puppet design of Kermit the Frog is exactly the same as the puppet for Fozzie Bear... the only difference is that Fozzie generally wears a hat.

2. The character of Walter was based on Walter Matthau

The design, personality, and voice of the Muppet Walter (from 2011's film "The Muppets") were all based on legendary actor Walter Matthau.

3. Intense restorations are the reason why seasons 4 and 5 of "The Muppet Show" haven't been released on DVD.

The real reason that seasons four and five of "The Muppet Show" haven't been released on DVD mostly have to do with the intense and time-consuming restorations and enhancements that Disney and ILM are doing to the episodes -- among them is digitally adding Pepe the King Prawn to all of the episodes and replacing Mark Hamill with Jar-Jar Binks in the "Star Wars" episode.

4. The original title for "Muppet Treasure Island" was "The Great Muppet Caper"

Originally the working title for the 1996 Muppet film about pirates, treasure and gold was "The Great Muppet Caper." Producers had to scramble at the last minute and changed the title when they discovered there was already another movie with the same title.

5. Telly Monster was original called Etchy Monster

The character known as Telly Monster was originally called Etchy and was obsessed with Etch A Sketches. Producers moved away from the Etch A Sketch fixation and changed the character's name after his second season on the show.

6. The Count has never actually counted the number 13

Due to the immense superstitions of the show's producers, the Count on Sesame Street has never actually counted to 13 or said the word "thirteen" on camera. The scrips usually just have him only count up to 12... if there is a needs to count higher, they will either do a time cut to skip the counting of 13, or they'll have another character say the number 13, or they'll just have him skip from 12 right to 14 and figure that most young viewers won't even notice.

7. Eminem got his start working on Sesame Street

Prior to breaking out on the rap scene in the late 1990s, Eminem was known for writing songs for Sesame Street. His hit song "My Name Is" was originally written for Bob and Oscar the Grouch.

8. Jim Henson won a special achievement Emmy for his work on the show "Cheers"

During intense contract negotiations with actor Ted Danson, Jim Henson was hired by NBC producers to build and performed a complex anamatronic puppet of Sam Malone for six episodes of the NBC sitcom's fifth season. The episodes were praised by critics as some of the show's best and earned Henson an Emmy award for his work.

9. Production of "Labyrinth" was delayed for four days beacuse David Bowie got lost in the film's set

Filming on Jim Henson's fantasy film "Labyrinth" had to stop for four days when actor and musician David Bowie wondered into the film's complex maze set and couldn't find his way back out.

10. The original Kermit the Frog puppet was purple

Jim Henson made the original Kermit puppet out of the cloth from his mother's purple coat. Audiences never knew because TVs were black and white back then. It wasn't until 1970, when Kermit was asked to sing "It's Not Easy Being Green," that Henson changed the frog to green... and he's been green ever since.

11. Morgan Freeman was hired to play Jim Henson in a biopic.

A biopic based on the life of Jim Henson was in development at Warner Bros in the early 2000s. A director was hired and actor Morgan Freeman was cast in the lead role as Jim Henson. However the project fell apart due to scheduling conflicts with Freeman's obligations to shooting the film "Bruce Almighty."

12. The original Bunsen Honeydew's head was an actual honeydew

During the first season of "The Muppet Show" the head of Dr, Bunsen Honeydew was made out of an actual honeydew melon. However by the time season two rolled around the melon had rotted, so the Muppet Workshop decided to rebuild his head out of foam.

13. In Jim Henson's original pitch for Muppet Babies, Kermit was a tadpole.

When developing Jim Henson's Muppet Babies, the original idea was make Kermit a tadpole. However it limited the story possibilities having Kermit stuck in a bowl of water so the idea was scrapped.

14. "The Muppet Christmas Carol" was based on the Charles Dickens novel "Oliver Twist"

Gonzo played Charles Dickens in the Muppet's 1992 feature film. The movie was a very loose adaption of Dickens' novel "Oliver Twist," however the screenwriters made some alterations to Dicken's original story, such as setting the movie at Christmastime and changing the protagonist from a waif named Oliver Twist to a stingy businessman named Ebeneezer Scrooge... like we said, it was a very loose adaptation.

15. Miss Piggy wasn't originally a pig

The character that we know today as Miss Piggy wasn't originally conceived a female pig. Originally the character was a male bear! Puppeteer Frank Oz gave the early Piggy puppet a very different voice and personality. Rather than being a diva and Kermit's love interest, the character was more of a comedian and simply Kermit's best friend. Also the early proto-Piggy wasn't called "Miss Piggy"... the character went by the name "Fozzie"! It wasn't until later in the first season of "The Muppet Show" that the Miss Piggy we know and love today emerged.