The Christmas Toy

The Christmas Toy is an Emmy Award-nominated Christmas special produced by The Jim Henson Company, originally aired on ABC on December 6, 1986. The special spawned the 1994 spin-off series The Secret Life of Toys.

Synopsis
In this one-hour Christmas special, Christmas Eve is celebrated at the Jones' home, where the toys in the playroom magically come to life when people are not around. But since a toy will be frozen forever if a person catches it out of position, they have to be very careful.

Following an introduction by Kermit the Frog, who provides a glimpse into the Jones' household as the family makes holiday preparations, the toys talk about the meaning of Christmas and how they will prepare to welcome the new toys that will be given to the Jones children, Jamie and Jesse. Rugby the Tiger, who was Jamie's Christmas present the previous year, remembers that special day, and decides to find a way into a gift box under the tree again this year, as he does not want to be replaced as Jamie's favorite. However, he doesn't stop to think that if Jamie unwrapped him again this year, she'd see him out of his normal place that she usually puts him and he'd be frozen forever. Apple the Doll, whom Rugby supplanted as favorite toy, tries to tell him what will happen if he does this. But Rugby won't believe her, and he tries to get into the Christmas package, letting Meteora, Queen of the Asteroids loose. Unfortunately, she doesn't know that she's a toy and thinks that she's landed among aliens. It's up to Apple, Mew (the cat's toy mouse), and the other toys to get Rugby out of the box and Meteora back in it before they're found and frozen forever.

Edits

 * When the special was released on VHS in 1993, the opening sequence (before the main titles) was cut.
 * When HIT Entertainment released the special on DVD in 2008, Kermit's scenes were cut, due to The Muppets franchise having been acquired by The Walt Disney Company in 2004. Kermit's scenes were also cut from the special's broadcasts on the Hub Network.