The first one was delightful. I'm definitely in.

I heard it's going to be a telling of A Fighting Man of Mars, acted out by muppets.

I just got in the first one on Blu-ray from Netflix so we will be viewing that one any day now.

Wait. A SECOND Muppets movie?

This is UNPRECEDENTED!!!

Tharks covered with green ostrich feathers? Miss Piggy as Dejah Thoris?

I'm there.

Only if they hate money.

The next one needs to be 3D. I hear it's the trend.

I find it curious that the next movie is being referred to as the second movie by some. Although the last movie was simply titled The Muppets, it was not a reboot, but rather, a continuation of the previous Muppet movies.

That occurred to me, then I thought: "Fuck it, people know what I mean."

I'm not sure all the other movies happened in current Muppet continuity. It seems to be based in a universe where they got together for a show, it declined in popularity, and they drifted apart to their various endeavors.

Maybe the first Muppet Movie could still be the story of how they all found each other, but the taking of Manhattan, and all that?

Jay makes a good point. I would add that the movie does not, to the best of my recollection, completely contradict the possibility that there were movies along with a show starring the Muppets.

Maybe they did a show, made a few movies of decreasing cultural significance and spent the 13 years since Muppets From Space slowly drifting apart. Those movies of course would not be "canon" per se, meaning they are not things that happened to the Muppets, but rather just movies the Muppets worked on.

As best as I can recall there was nothing specifically contradicting that idea in the movie.

Well, that's almost what it has to be. The first Muppet Movie is "canon" in The Muppets. The "standard rich and famous contract" is shown in the Jason Segal movie, the one mentioned by Orson Welles in the first movie.

In "Caper," "Treasure Island," and "Christmas Carol," the Muppets are playing roles in stories that are nothing to do with their real relationships. (Fozzie and Kermit are biological twin brothers in "Caper," for example.)

I'd say Muppets From Space is canon, as the Muppets are just the Muppets. It's lightly hinted at that the reveal in "Space" that Gonzo is an alien is still in play. (In the Jason Segal film, Gonzo at one point refers to a crowd of onlookers as "people of Earth.")

That just leaves "Take Manhattan," which is the most problematic. It seems in that one that they are just playing the roles of a bunch of theater actors with a show ("Muppet Melodies") that they want to take to Broadway. So did they fall on hard times after the cancellation of The Muppet Show, to the point where they were a bunch of nobodies who had to struggle to try and find a Broadway producer willing to take a chance on them? Also, when they finally do Muppet Melodies on Broadway, it ends with Piggy and Kermit getting married, and it's a bit hazy as to whether this is still part of the show, or if they are "really" getting married.

Is there a reference in the new movie to whether Kermit and Piggy were ever married? I can't recall. But there is an allusion to the events of "Take Manhattan." At one point, Kermit -- I believe -- plunks out the tune of "Together Again" on a piano, which was the theme song to Muppet Melodies, the play within the movie of "Manhattan." (It's the same melody that is subconsciously plunked at one point in "Manhattan" by an amnesiac Kermit, and as such was a pretty key plot point.)

As a further complication, "Manhattan" is the movie in which Piggy wonders about (and has a fantasy about) a "what if" scenario in which the Muppets all knew each other when they were babies. That fantasy sequence acts as kind of a pilot for the "Muppet Babies" cartoon. So Manhattan is almost like a nexus of alternate Muppet realities. I'd say "Manhattan" is canon somehow, someway -- the plunking of "Together again" in the new film is too strong a connection to ignore.

Or, whatever. I mean, it's just a bunch of stupid children's movies.

You had me until that last post. Talk about a cop out. So yeah, they are kids movies. Does not make their canon any less important or meriting discussion. Okay, maybe it does, but that is not going to stop me.

Anyways, I would say that the Muppet Movie and Muppets From Space could be considered at least semi-canon meaning the key plot points probably "happened," but the details could be a bit sketchy. Maybe they were movies the Muppets made based in part upon real events in their lives.

Manhattan could go either way and could be semi-canon, but could just as easily be left out of the semi-canon mix and just be written off as a movie they did together.

Of course I am still assuming that these movies happened at all in the Universe of "The Muppets," which although there is no evidence within the movie of that is definitely an idea I would like to hold onto.

.....

Do I even need to say it?

You had me until the last sentence.

I just gave you a bunch of damn evidence. English your second language?

I was being ironical.

Also:

I consider Seseme Street, Seseme Street street : Follow that Bird,Muppet Show, Muppet Movie, the Muppets all cannon. Maybe Space..

I really don't think that much about The Muppets having a "continuity."

I take them as movies and hope that they're good movies.