Skeeter’s redesign from, ITTL, Muppets Tonight.
Performed by: Jerry Nelson (1984-1985), Kathryn Mullen (1985-1996), Leslie Carrara-Rudolph (1997-present)
Voiced by: Howie Mendel (1985), Barbara Goodson (1985)
Not quite a new show, but multiple IOTL shows altered by the inclusion of one character- Skeeter. Originally introduced in
Muppet Babies like IOTL, but in this timeline she was not to be exclusive to that show. Her career as a grown-up Muppet began in 1984 at the world premiere of
The Muppets Take Manhattan, slightly predating the premiere of
Muppet Babies- but intended to build hype for the show, and the new Muppet. This was the idea of Michael K. Frith, a head creative at the Henson company at the time, especially on
Muppet Babies. For this event, Skeeter was represented by the puppet of her twin brother Scooter in a wig! Like her infant counterpart, and fellow female Muppets such as Miss Piggy and Janice, Skeeter was performed by a male performer- in this case, Jerry Nelson. In in-character interviews, while Skeeter was excited to join the Muppets, she also expressed frustration for barely missing filming of the new movie (joining just after it wrapped) and instead making her debut as a cartoon toddler.
With
Muppet Babies being a ratings hit and the red carpet debut drawing much attention to the new Muppet, quick work was taken to give Skeeter more focus. Her next role was in the live show
The Muppet Show on Tour: 2nd Edition in 1985, with Nelson reprising the voice role and Skeeter (and most of the other Muppets) being represented by walkaround costumes. Skeeter is given her own skit, “The Amazing Skeeter”, a stunt act which was originally written for Gonzo, only to be rewritten for the athlete after the runaway success of Muppet Babies (Skeeter’s inclusion itself was last minute). This is explained by having Gonzo help on her act due to his experience, though the stage version of Skeeter was also loopier (and more Gonzo-like) than normal. She also inherited her brother’s old “my uncle owns the theater” nepotism schtick to convince Kermit to put on her act, combined with Scooter being nothing but supportive of his sister’s ambitions, another case of early installment weirdness for Skeeter.
Skeeter’s next appearance was in the ill-fated
Muppet Babies spinoff
Little Muppet Monsters. A new puppet was made especially for Skeeter, with slight design tweaks such as the pink framed glasses of her
Muppet Babies counterpart and a more slim, feminine build. This seperate puppet allowed Skeeter to actually appear side by side with her brother. Skeeter also appeared in animated segments where she performed comical stunts, like Gonzo normally did. (Gonzo, meanwhile, hosted a series of “Freaky Facts and Oddball Achievements”.) While she was initially performed by Jerry Nelson for the first few episodes, and intended to be voiced by Muppet Babies counterpart voice Howie Mendel in the animated segments, Frith and his wife Kathryn Mullen informed Jim Henson of the lack of notable female performers in major roles- even major characters like Miss Piggy and Janice were played by men. While it was too late to change Piggy’s performer and now-iconic voice, the year-old Skeeter was another story. The animated segments and existing footage of Nelson’s performance would be redubbed by voice actress Barbara Goodson, who would also take over the role on
Muppet Babies, while Mullen herself would be given the puppeteering role in future episodes. Not like it mattered anyways- due to numerous production issues, only three episodes of
Little Muppet Monsters ever made it to air, all of them with performances by Nelson and dubbing by Goodman.
Mullen’s official debut as Skeeter would come early the next year on
The Muppets: A Celebration of 30 Years, as one of the many guests at the anniversary banquet. She appeared again in
A Muppet Family Christmas, where she sings “Let It Snow” with her brother Scooter- with lyrical changes to make the love more familial than romantic (thank God). Scooter and Skeeter in general have a teasing but very friendly relationship in this special. But it would be 1989’s
The Jim Henson Hour where Skeeter would make her next full-time appearance. In the MuppeTelevision segments, while Skeeter occasionally performed stunts, she more often worked backstage with Kermit, Gonzo, and the new characters. She essentially filled the role of her brother Scooter from
The Muppet Show, much to her chagrin and less than stellar track record. While Skeeter was always an energetic and witty character,
The Jim Henson Hour gave her a slightly more downbeat and cynical edge, due to being aimed towards an older audience than
Muppet Babies and
Little Muppet Monsters and being placed in less positive scenarios than an anniversary banquet or a Christmas get together. This snarky side had previously been seen in her debut at the premiere of
The Muppets Take Manhattan, but
The Jim Henson Hour cemented Skeeter’s personality as a daredevil with an attitude. Unfortunately, like
Little Muppet Monsters,
The Jim Henson Hour would be cancelled before all of its episodes could air.
Skeeter filling Scooter’s role would not stop at
The Jim Henson Hour. After Richard Hunt’s death in 1992, Scooter was (at least temporarily) retired, and Skeeter started taking his place due to family resemblance. Her next big role would come in
The Muppet Christmas Carol in 1992, where she, not Rizzo, played the assistant to Gonzo (as Charles Dickens). Between
The Muppet Show on Tour: 2nd Edition,
The Jim Henson Hour, and later episodes of
Muppet Babies, Skeeter had developed a friendship and student-teacher relationship with Gonzo, bonding over their love of stunts. This time, however, their relationship was slightly more adversarial, as they snark and argue and bicker quite a bit, especially over Gonzo’s role as Charles Dickens- including the memorable opening scene where Skeeter introduces herself as “Charlotte Dickens” and attempts to introduce the film, only for Gonzo to catch her in the act. In essence, Skeeter takes the role of Rizzo as Gonzo’s sidekick, and here it becomes a permanent part of her character, at Rizzo’s expense. It‘s not a complete shift in character, however- the ribbing is much more good natured than anything, and it still feels like they’re friends, while Skeeter herself had recently developed a more sarcastic edge, and her persona in the film is more reflective of that.
Skeeter‘s next major film role was in
Muppet Treasure Island in 1996. Due to the script already being full of characters, and as a result of positive reception to Skeeter and Gonzo in
The Muppet Christmas Carol, Skeeter would be given the role of the narrator, Roberta Louise Stevenson (as opposed to Robert Louis Stevenson). Unlike last time, she would fly solo, as Gonzo was a character in the story this time. (Skeeter was also considered as an in-story character, but the notable scene in Christmas Carol where she played “Charlotte Dickens” influenced the decision to have her narrate here.) However, she would occasionally interact with the other characters, as well as pepper in some quips with her storytelling. And much like Gonzo, much of her narration came straight from the text. She also teased another adaptation at the end of the film, of Robert Louis Stevenson’s other famous work- Dr. Jekyll and
Miss Hyde, starring Scooter (cameoing in the mock up poster) as Jekyll and Skeeter herself as Hyde. As Scooter was still retired at the time, this idea was not seriously considered, although the idea would be revisited in the 2000 video game
Muppet Monster Adventure, as the transformation of the Muppets into monsters (such as Gonzo as Noseferatu or Fozzie as the Wocka Wocka Werebear) also seems to have merged Scooter and Skeeter into one person as Dr. Scooter and Miss Skeet. The idea of Scooter and Skeeter as Jekyll and Hyde would then be revisited again in the future, but I’m getting ahead of myself. Most notably, this was Skeeter’s last appearance with her “classic” appearance, as filming for
Muppet Treasure Island predated her other major appearance in 1996.
This, of course, was
Muppets Tonight. Skeeter got a redesign in the show, with a new hairstyle, a different style of glasses, and a new outfit. The explanation for this, both in-universe and out, was so she could differentiate herself from her brother. She was one of the few older Muppets to get substantial focus in the show, which was otherwise mainly focused on a new cast. This was due to a mix of her recent popularity and otherwise lack of focus in proper puppet-based non-kiddy Muppet TV projects. (And The
Jim Henson Hour failed.) In the first episode she played a similar role to
The Jim Henson Hour, the square peg in Scooter‘s round hole. Unlike that series, however, the rest of the cast realize she’s not a good fit for the role, and she’s not exactly happy in it either. So for the rest of the series, she took Gonzo’s role of stuntwoman, though with less “stranger” and more “danger” in her performances, with Gonzo kicking back, relaxing, and focusing on less physically intense- but still very weird- acts. Skeeter was also given a catchphrase (like Kermit’s “hi-ho”, Fozzie’s “wocka wocka”, or Miss Piggy’s “moi”) in a confident and somewhat smug “uh-huh”, often repeated. In the second season, Kathryn Mullen stepped down from Henson to work on other projects, and Leslie Carrara-Rudolph took her place as Skeeter’s performer. (This even happened IOTL on other Henson projects, such as the second season of
The Wubbulous World of Dr. Seuss.) While
Muppets Tonight would also flop, it would introduce several permanent pieces of Muppet canon even IOTL, most notably Pepe the King Prawn as a main character. ITTL, it would also crystallize Skeeter’s main role as stuntwoman and her new permanent appearance.
In
Muppets from Space, not only is she a major character (again replacing Rizzo in the plot), her brother Scooter finally makes a reappearance, voiced by Richard Hunt’s brother Adam, and even having more lines than IOTL. Skeeter and Scooter’s dynamic is finally crystallized, with them still loving and caring for each other as siblings do, but more akin to annoying each other as siblings do, with Skeeter’s daring and impatient persona clashing with Scooter’s cautious and meticulous one. In the film, Skeeter actually kickstarts the plot by wondering what exactly Gonzo is, which prompts Gonzo’s self-doubt, search for answers, and alien reveal. He turns the tables on her in the end, asking what exactly she and Scooter are. This prompts a similar quest for answers with Skeeter and a reluctant Scooter, setting up a sequel. The film’s failure and later separate ownership from the Muppets (Sony as opposed to Disney) ensures that sequel never happens.
The sparse appearances of the Muppets afterwards would mean sparse appearances for Skeeter. She appeared in
It’s a Very Merry Muppet Christmas Movie, including sharing her brother Scooter’s position as “exotic club dancer” in the world where Kermit was never born. She got her own You’re Watching Disney Channel bumper alongside Kermit, Piggy, Gonzo, Fozzie, Animal, and Pepe after the Disney acquisition in 2004. She appeared in
The Muppets Wizard of Oz, taking the role of the Good Witches of the North and South from Miss Piggy, who keeps the role of the Wicked Witches of the East and West. (This is explained as them being twins.) Early on, she was considered as the role of Dorothy, but the tradition of casting non-Muppet characters as the lead character dashed those thoughts pretty quickly (although most people would agree that having Skeeter play Dorothy would not only be more fitting for her, but also more entertaining than Ashanti, who actually played Dorothy in the special). And she appeared in a few Muppet viral videos in the late 2000s, including a stunt or two of hers, but most notably the Muppet performance of
Bohemian Rhapsody, where she appears in the ending with Scooter and Kermit. When Kermit tells Scooter to stop doing these video conferences because “they’re not very productive”, Skeeter says “well, I thought it was a good idea”. She also takes Beaker’s place in the “Galileo” exchange with Bobo, though Beaker still does the giant “MEEEEEEEEEE” before the big rock and roll part with the Electric Mayhem. These are the most notable roles for Skeeter amidst a period of side roles and cameos.
In
The Muppets (2011), after the Muppets have broken up, she’s gotten a successful job as an ESPN sportscaster (Disney synergy and all). Notably, she does not quit when asked to rejoin the troupe, instead choosing to take both jobs. She also even uses her ESPN connections to get more people to watch the telethon. This even tied into a promotional campaign for the film, where Skeeter appeared on ESPN as a guest sportscaster leading up to the film. In
Muppets Most Wanted, Skeeter becomes suspicious of Constantine taking Kermit’s place after he agrees to include a ton of her most dangerous stunts without question- the real Kermit would never do such a thing! This also tips off Scooter, who work with Animal to expose Constantine. In
The Muppets (2015), she’s the stunt coordinator on Up Late with Miss Piggy and occasionally does stunts of her own, while Gonzo focuses on being the writer for the show- though the two are close friends. And on
Muppets Now, she cohosts hidden talent search Muppet Masters with Walter.
This brings us to
Muppets Haunted Mansion. Skeeter does not appear in
Muppets Haunted Mansion because there is no
Muppets Haunted Mansion. Instead, the Muppets’ 2021 Disney+ Halloween special is also meant to celebrate the 25th anniversary of
Muppet Treasure Island, with them finally bringing back Skeeter’s teaser from the end of that film as
Scooter Jekyll and Skeeter Hyde- a TV-14 special, and another attempt to orient the Muppets towards an adult audience. Due to Skeeter’s obvious commitments, Gonzo takes over as Robert Louis Stevenson, mentioning that he’ll have to make it up to Skeeter by letting her play Charlotte Dickens in a future Dickens adaptation. In the special, Scooter and Skeeter aren’t called Scooter Jekyll and Skeeter Hyde like the title would suggest, but instead Scooter takes the role of Dr. Henry Jekyll, while Skeeter is Ms. Edna Hyde.
While Jekyll and Hyde are still given the focus of the story over Kermit and Fozzie’s portrayals of Utterson and Enfield (focus characters of the original book, in which the infamous split personality was a twist ending, which can’t exactly be done nowadays), the story is otherwise truer to the text, though initially lighter in tone. Jekyll creates the potion not as a way to separate good and evil, but as a way to trigger a physical change to do the things he’d like to do but can’t due to his respected status. In the book, these were unspecified “base urges”, while in the Muppets version, it’s just Jekyll wanting to go out and have fun. Similarly, Ms. Hyde is a physical change (as well as a gender change) like in the book as opposed to the split personality of pop culture, though in this version there is still a personality shift as the transformation from Jekyll into Hyde also removes the inhibitions of Jekyll. Hyde still has the mind of Jekyll, but she still has a different personality. While this dynamic works for a while, Ms. Hyde’s “intrusive thoughts” personality gets her into trouble when she tramples a little girl and eventually murders an old man, which is where the TV-14 rating comes in and the “lighter in tone” I mentioned earlier is booted out. Things get further intense when Jekyll starts transforming into Hyde without the potion, and Utterson and Enfield become suspicious of Jekyll and Hyde’s connection (though they merely suspect Hyde is blackmailing Jekyll). Eventually, Hyde is unable to turn back into Jekyll at all despite her attempts, and when attempting to back away from a confrontation with Utterson, she falls out of the window, killing her instantly.
Despite the dark plot (especially later on), the script still has touches of Muppety humor even in macabre moments. For example, Hyde’s “death” is followed up with Scooter checking up on his sister to see if she’s okay, in a scene similar to Kermit confronting Piggy over her overacting in
The Great Muppet Caper. (“Is anything broken?” “No, but I’m dead.”) While controversial for its darker tone and more adult content,
Scooter Jekyll and Skeeter Hyde received acclaim from critics and audiences alike. Skeeter didn’t appear in
The Muppets Mayhem, due to its focus on the Electric Mayhem. And, of course, she appeared in the Muppet Babies revival.
Overall, Skeeter is seen as a great addition to the Muppet family, not only for adding another female character aside from Piggy and Janice, but for her energetic yet snarky personality and show-stealing appearances. She’s many modern Muppet fans’ favorite Muppet, and for good reason.