KERMIE, HONEY, THAT'S OUR CUE\Miss Piggy, her frog prince and the rest return to film, TV.

Byline: Janet Weeks Daily News Staff Writer

Forget "Babe." Forget those croaking amphibians in the Bud-wei-ser commercials. Or any other pretenders to the throne.

The real talking pig and frog - the originals - return to the screen today in "Muppet Treasure Island," a swashbuckling pirate adventure starring Kermit, Miss Piggy, the Great Gonzo, Rizzo the Rat and, oh yeah, a few humans.

The movie - and a new Muppet TV show debuting March 8 - is part of a planned Muppet renaissance in film and television. The Muppeteers at Jim Henson Productions are hoping to rekindle the Muppetmania of the '70s, the decade when the fuzzy little guys nearly dominated pop culture with a television variety show, three movies and mountains of merchandise.

But Muppet magic seemed to wane in the '80s. The show was canceled in 1981. The Muppet movie-making machine went into hiatus for 10 years after 1984's "The Muppets Take Manhattan."

Then Muppet creator Jim Henson died unexpectedly in 1990 at age 53. Henson's death threw the company into turmoil, said his son, Brian Henson, now company president and director of "Muppet Treasure Island."

"It was so all of a sudden we didn't know what to do," he said. After a brief adjustment period, Brian Henson took control.

"It just became obvious and logical that this was the right thing to do," he said. "My creative interests are as a performer and a director, and my father's interests were the same. So the whole company was structured and balanced for that kind of mind being at the head of the company."

Henson lobbed the first salvo in the war to worm the Muppets back into America's collective heart in 1994, when he directed "The Muppet Christmas Carol."

Then Kermit served as grand marshal of this year's Rose Parade. Now comes "Muppet Treasure Island," the second movie in a trilogy of films in which the Muppets update classic tales.

At 8:30 p.m. March 8, KABC (Channel 7) will premiere "Muppets Tonight!" a new prime-time variety show. The guest for the debut show will be Michelle Pfeiffer.

After that, expect a cookbook from Miss Piggy to hit the stores.

Henson said the revival is partly a savvy business plan and partly a response to a '90s need for silly-but-smart entertainment.

"American culture is rebounding from the '80s," said Henson. "The '80s weren't a Muppet-friendly decade. It was a very professional, cold time. Adults were into competition and winning, and there wasn't much lightness. The arts became less and less important.

"I think right now we're trying to get back to finding enjoyment in life and not wasting it in material goals."

Henson also thinks audiences are ready to move away from reality-based entertainment and return to fantasy fare. Like musicals.

"I think a musical is the best kind of movie and television experience you can have. But television and cinema have become so reality-based that it's virtually impossible in a live-action film or television show to be a musical because you wouldn't believe it. People don't burst into song when they're considering an emotional shift in their lives in real life."

Of course, with "Sesame Street," the Muppets never really went away. But "Muppet Treasure Island" and the new TV show are more of the any-audience variety of the Muppets' '70s ventures. They are aimed as much at adults as children.

"We really make Muppet movies for everyone," said Henson. "We hope for a college audience, seniors. Everyone."

Indeed, the human stars of "Muppet Treasure Island" aren't the sorts normally associated with children's programming. Long John Silver is played by Tim Curry, the fishnet-stocking-clad star of "The Rocky Horror Picture Show." Mrs. Bluveridge is played by Jennifer Saunders, the drug-taking, booze-swilling Edina of "Absolutely Fabulous." And Scottish comic Billy Connolly of the TV show "Head of the Class" plays Billy Bones.

Yet Curry, 49, said the leap from "Rocky Horror's" skin-flashing Frank N. Furter to a Muppet foil isn't that big. He sees many similarities between his pirate character and the sweet transvestite from Transylvania.

"It's exactly the same spirit," he said. "It's bravura more than anything. It's about a great deal of energy applied carefully."

Curry is a longtime Muppet fan. In the '70s, he worked on a BBC series about the life of William Shakespeare (in which Curry played the Bard) that was filmed in a London studio next door to "The Muppet Show's."

He often would venture to his neighbors' set, and he fell in love with the little critters.

" 'The Muppet Show' was, in a sense, the last gasp of vaudeville, with the people in the boxes and the curtains opening and that great vaudeville tradition of insulting the audience," he said.

"Muppet Treasure Island" is littered with such trademark barbs. In one scene, one of the wooden figureheads on the boat's bow complains: "Here we are, stuck on the front of this ship." Then the other figurehead responds: "It could be worse, we could be stuck in the audience."

In another scene, the writers take a jab at Disney, which helped produce the film and is distributing it. As the Muppets marvel at Silver's pet lobster, Polly, one says: "Talking lobsters? What's next? A singing, dancing mouse with his own amusement park?"

It's that kind of witty, insider-ish stuff that drew Curry to the project. But when he signed on, he didn't realize the difficulty of performing with the puppets. That's something he learned during the 14 weeks of shooting on a London sound stage.

"The sets, by the nature of the proportion of the muppets, have to be small. So it's very cramped," he said. "I found that a little difficult at first. You're used to a bit more space."

Because humans on Muppet sets generally are shot from the waist up, the camera was also closer than usual, Curry added.

"You have to be aware of how big you are." When the camera is in tight, movements must be small, he said. "You have to be careful you don't become a Muppet yourself."

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Photo (1--Cover--Color) Ahoy! Move over, Babe. The Muppets are back (2) The Muppet menagerie returns to television March 8 with the new half-hour series "Muppets Tonight!" (3) It's Muppets and a moppet in "Muppet Treasure Island" as child actor Kevin Bishop plays the cabin boy on a veritable Noah's ark of animals, including Kermit the Frog, left, Gonzo and Rizzo. (4) "We really make Muppet movies for everyone, "says new Muppet guru (and Jim Henson's son) Brian Henson, right, with "Muppet Treasure Island" star Tim Curry. "We hope for a college audience, seniors. Everyone."