Fraggle Rock

Fraggle Rock is a children's television series with a total of 5 seasons and 96 episodes running from January 10, 1983 to March 30, 1987. The series was created by Jim Henson, primarily featuring a cast of Muppet creatures called Fraggles, with music by Philip Balsam and Dennis Lee.

The vision of Fraggle Rock articulated by Jim Henson was to depict a colorful and fun world, but also a world with a relatively complex system of symbiotic relationships between different "races" of creatures, an allegory to the human world, where each group was somewhat unaware of how interconnected and important they were to one another. Creating this allegorical world allowed the program to entertain and amuse while seriously exploring complex issues of prejudice, spirituality, personal identity, environment, and social conflict. Fraggle Rock generally refused to over-simplify any individual issue, instead simply illustrating the consequences and inherent difficulties of different actions and relationships. Though the Fraggles do learn important lessons, they rarely are aware that they are learning them. The ideals of friendship, being true to yourself, and learning to love those who are incredibly different, were the cornerstone of Jim Henson's work throughout his 40 year career, and he considered Fraggle Rock to be one of the purest and most successful expressions of that vision.

The inhabitants of Fraggle Rock

Fraggles

Fraggles are tiny humanoid creatures, about 22 inches tall, that come in a wide variety of colors and have tails that bear a tuft of fur on the end. They live in a system of natural caves called Fraggle Rock that are filled with all manner of creatures and features, and which seem to connect to at least two different worlds. Fraggles live a very carefree life, spending most of their time playing, exploring, and generally enjoying themselves. They live on a diet of radishes and "doozer sticks" (see below).

The series focused on one group of Fraggles in particular; Gobo, Mokey, Red, Wembley, and Boober. They form a tight-knit group of friends, and each has a distinctive personality type. Gobo is the "leader", level-headed and practical, and considers himself chiefly an explorer. Mokey is highly spiritual and artistic, being quiet and contemplative. Red, on the other hand, is exuberant and athletic; she is one of the best swimmers among the Fraggles. Wembley is nervous and pathologically indecisive, though no coward when push comes to shove. Boober's cardinal trait is depression and worry, and his favourite activity is washing socks – Fraggles, however, do not seem to use footwear most of the time.

Doozers

Within Fraggle Rock lives a second species of small humanoid creatures, the pudgy green ant-like Doozers. Standing only 6 inches tall, Doozers are in a sense anti-Fraggles; their lives are dedicated to work and industry. Doozers spend much of their time busily constructing all manner of pointless scaffolding throughout Fraggle Rock, using miniature construction equipment and wearing hardhats and work boots. To ensure that they always have a steady stream of work to do, Doozers build their constructions out of an edible candy-like substance (manufactured from radishes) which is greatly enjoyed by Fraggles. This is essentially the only interaction between Doozers and Fraggle; Doozers spend most of their time building, and Fraggles spend much of their time eating tasty Doozer buildings. They thus form an odd sort of symbiosis. The symbiosis was part of an episode where Mokey called upon the Fraggles not to eat the Doozers constructions - because they spend so much time making them. The Fraggle rock was quickly filled with constructions and the Doozers had no space left to build. After running out of space the Doozers finally decided that it was time to move on to a new area because the Fraggles would not eat their construction, and there was even a tragic scene with a mother explaining to her daughter about how things don't always work out but that they would find a new place to live where their construction would get eaten. They finally convinced Mokey that they didn't mind that the constructions were eaten, because this enabled the Doozers to build ad infinitum.

The series had several episodes that featured a Doozer as a main character, the young female named Cotterpin, and reveals much of Doozer culture.

At one point, there was a series of Fraggle Rock books, one entitled "The Legend of the Doozer Who Didn't." This book details the story of a Doozer who went against Doozer tradition when he stopped working and going to school. According to this book, a Doozer who doesn't Do in fact becomes a Fraggle.

The Silly Creatures of Outer Space

Gobo's uncle Matt, known as Traveling Matt, has gone into "Outer Space" (which is what the Fraggles call the normal human world) to explore, and he sends postcards back to Gobo regularly. In the North American version the connection between Fraggle Rock and Outer Space is a small hole in the wall of the workshop of an eccentric inventor called "Doc", and Gobo must go out into Doc's workshop to retrieve the postcards from the wastebasket where Doc throws them. Doc is unaware of the Fraggles' existence, but his dog Sprocket has seen them and goes to great efforts to attempt to prove them to his master. Humans are known to Fraggles by the name "Silly Creatures", bestowed by Matt after observing and interacting with them in his travels.

Doc's true name was revealed in the last episode to be Jerome Christian (or Crystal, according to the official Encyclopedia Fragglia). In the second-to-last episode, he finally learns that the Fraggles exist and befriends them. Matt also returns home to Fraggle Rock.

Gorgs

Outside another exit from Fraggle Rock live a small family of Gorgs, giant furry humanoids standing 22 feet tall. The husband and wife of the family consider themselves the King and Queen of the Universe, with their son Junior as its prince and heir, but to all appearances they are really simple farmers with a rustic house and garden patch. The second episode of the first season reveals that the Gorgs have never actually met anyone besides themselves, (I've never met a subject before!), suggesting that King and Queen of the Universe are self-imposed titles. Fraggles are considered a pest by the Gorgs, as they steal radishes. In one episode it is revealed that the Gorgs use radishes to make "anti-vanishing cream" that prevents them from becoming invisible. Thus, the three main races of the Fraggle Rock universe - Fraggles, Doozers and Gorgs - are all dependent on the radishes for their own particular reason. While the King and Queen consider the Fraggles disgusting vermin, Junior enjoys chasing, catching and imprisoning them, much like a boy would lizards and bugs ("Look, Maw! I caught a Fwaggle!")

The Trash Heap

Also in the Gorgs' world is a sapient compost heap called Marjory, and her two rat-like sidekicks Philo and Gunge. Only Philo and Gunge called her Marjory; the Fraggles called her Madame Trash Heap. The Fraggles consider the Trash Heap to be all-wise and go to her for advice regularly. She wasn't much of a principal character on the show but did appear in nearly every episode. Madame Trash Heap was played by Jerry Nelson. Although the Fraggles refer to her as a "trash heap", Marjory is most definitely a compost pile, and it seems that the fact that she is comprised of immortal matter in the cycle of life (i.e. she has been around more than once), is the philosophy behind her great wisdom. When she is first introduced, Philo and Gunge state: "The Trash Heap knows all!" and "The Trash Heap tells all!", to which Marjory replies, "Let's face it boys; the Trash Heap is all. I'm orange peels, I'm coffee grounds - I am wisdom."

Philo & Gunge

The heralds of the Trash Heap, they often introduced her as the "all-knowing, all-seeing Trash Heap!" Their main job was to provide humor, bad jokes, and puns. Although Gunge professed to be the brains of the pair, neither ever really prove to be a great help. They watched over the Trash Heap; if they left for a long time she would begin to die out. When she was finished speaking, they would announce, "The Trash Heap has spoken! Nyeah!" Philo and Gunge did get two episodes of the series devoted to them: "Home Is Where The Trash Is" and "Gunge The Great & Glorious". After Fraggle Rock ended, Philo went into retirement, but Gunge appeared on Dinosaurs and Mopatop's Shop. Philo was played by Dave Goelz and Gunge was played by Richard Hunt.

Other Creatures

The Blob is a giant rolling blob that has a generally amorphous shape but has some kind of mouth somewhere. In one episode, the Blob comes in and continues to eat Doozer after Doozer. The Fraggles finally find a way to get the Blob to regurgitate all the Doozers by telling jokes and getting the thing to laugh very intensely.
Convincing John is a Fraggle who uses his fast talking musical numbers to convince Fraggles to do anything, from getting Red to wear a blindfold to getting all Fraggles to stop eating Doozer constructions.
The Poisonous Cackler is a large, fearsome, scorpion-like creature who enjoys eating smoke bombs.
The Spider Fly is a flying insect capable of turning into an avuncular Fraggle-like being and granting wishes.
Toe Ticklers are fuzzy caterpillar-like creatures that are despised by the Gorgs since they eat flowers. However they eventually pupate and turn into flying jelly-fish like creatures which the Gorgs admire as beautiful creatures of the skies.

The television show

The first episode aired on January 10, 1983, and the last episode aired on March 30, 1987 for a total of five seasons, with a total of 96 episodes. The show was filmed on a Toronto soundstage and was a co-production between British television company Television South (TVS), the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, U.S. pay television service Home Box Office and Henson Associates. The acclaimed avant-garde poet bpNichol was one of the show's writers.

The series was produced with the intention of being aired in varied forms internationally. The human "wraparound" segments were shot separately for each nation, so that the child viewer could always relate to the world of the program. However, in the Norwegian, Irish and Dutch shows the North American human surroundings were used. The series has appeared now in over ten countries and languages.

In the British version: Fraggle Rock is a rocky sea island with a lighthouse, the actual island shown is the Bass Rock located on the east coast of Scotland. The wraparounds featuring the inventor "Doc" (Gerard Parkes) in North America are replaced in the UK by the character called "The Captain" (played by Fulton Mackay, and after Mackay's death by Simon O'Brien) who lives in the lighthouse. The rock is known as Fraggle Rock by the humans. In the German version, the action takes place beneath the workshop of the inventor Doc, played by Hans-Helmut Dickow. In France, the wraparound segments take place in a bakery.

An animated Fraggle Rock series was aired some years later. Some of the episodes were based on the live-action stories.

All the episodes have been released on VHS at one point or another. A petition to get Fraggle Rock released on DVD was run on the web for many years. For a long time the only DVD release had been in the UK, a "best of" collection that was 12 episodes in a grainy transfer.

Hit Entertainment produced a DVD containing three episodes of Fraggle Rock (titled Fraggle Rock: Where it All Began). It was first released on July 27, 2004, to Wal-Mart Stores in the USA, as a test to see if there still is a market for Fraggle Rock. The test was apparently a success: several more DVDs have been released in the USA, including the Fraggle Rock - Complete First Season DVD set on September 6, 2005 (these DVDs also include some episodes of the animated series, plus episodes of the claymation series Pingu). According to muppet central, HIT Entertainment will release a DVD collection of the complete second season of Fraggle Rock on September 5, 2006.

Episode List

Season 1

101.....Beginnings
102.....Wembley and the Gorgs
103.....Let the Water Run
104.....You Can't Do That Without a Hat
105.....The Thirty-Minute Work Week
106.....The Preachification of Convincing John
107.....I Want to Be You
108.....The Terrible Tunnel
109.....The Lost Treasure of the Fraggles
110.....Don't Cry Over Spilt Milk
111.....Catch the Tail by the Tiger
112.....The Finger of Light
113.....We Love You, Wembley
114.....The Challenge
115.....I Don't Care
116.....Capture the Moon
117.....Marooned
118.....The Minstrels
119.....The Great Radish Famine
120.....The Garden Plot
121.....Gobo's Discovery
122.....Mokey's Funeral
123.....The Beast of Blue Rock
124.....New Trash Heap in Town

Season 2

201.....Wembley's Egg
202.....Boober Rock
203.....The Trash Heap Doesn't Live Here Anymore
204.....Red's Sea Monster
205.....Uncle Matt Comes Home
206.....Boober's Dream
207.....Mokey and the Minstrels
208.....All Work and All Play
209.....Sir Hubris and the Gorgs
210.....A Friend in Need
211.....The Wizard of Fraggle Rock
212.....The Doozer Contest
213.....Red's Club
214.....The Secret of Convincing John
215.....Manny's Land of Carpets
216.....Junior Sells the Farm
217.....Fraggle Wars
218.....The Day the Music Died
219.....Doomsday Soup
220.....A Cave of One's Own
221.....Wembley and the Great Race
222.....Doozer Is As Doozer Does
223.....Boober's Quiet Day
224.....The Invasion of the Toe Ticklers

Season 3

301.....The Bells of Fraggle Rock
302.....Red-Handed and the Invisible Thief
303.....Boober and the Glob
304.....The Grapes of Generosity
305.....Blanket of Snow, Blanket of Woe
306.....Pebble Pox Blues
307.....Home Is Where the Trash Is
308.....Believe It or Not
309.....Wembley and the Mean Genie
310.....The Secret Society of Poobahs
311.....The Beanbarrow, the Burden and the Bright Bouquet
312.....Gobo's School for Explorers
313.....Scared Silly
314.....The Great Radish Caper
315.....Born to Wander
316.....The Battle of Leaking Roof
317.....Playing Till It Hurts
318.....Bored Stiff
319.....The Cavern of Lost Dreams
320.....The Incredible Shrinking Mokey
321.....A Dark and Stormy Night
322.....Gunge the Great and Glorious

Season 4

401.....Sprocket's Big Adventure
402.....Wembley's Wonderful Whoopie Water
403.....Sidebottom Blues
404.....Uncle Matt's Discovery
405.....Junior Faces the Music
406.....A Tune for Two
407.....The Perfect Blue Rollie
408.....A Brush with Jealousy
409.....Wembley's Flight
410.....Red's Blue Dragon
411.....Wonder Mountain
412.....Space Frog Follies
413.....Boober Gorg

Season 5

501.....Mirror, Mirror
502.....The Riddle of Rhyming Rock
503.....The Voice Inside
504.....The Trial of Cotterpin Doozer
505.....The River of Life
506.....Beyond the Pond
507.....Gone But Not Forgotten
508.....Mokey, Then and Now
509.....Ring Around the Neck
510.....Inspector Red
511.....The Gorg Who Would Be King
512.....The Honk of Honks
513.....Change of Address

The movie

In September 2005, it was announced that The Jim Henson Company had begun work on Fraggle Rock: The Movie, with the aim of a release in 2007-2008. The story is said to involve the original Fraggle characters.

Songs on Fraggle Rock

Music was central to Fraggle Rock. Most episodes featured two or three original songs cowritten by Canadian poet Dennis Lee and Philip Balsam, as well as incidental music. Several episodes (usually involving Cantus and the Minstrels) were primarily about music, such as Red Fraggle trying to find "her song" for the Fraggle Medley, or the effect of music on the breaking of winter or the presence of light in Fraggle Rock.

"Follow Me", sung by Uncle Traveling Matt, with Gobo (Trivia: one of the musicians of Fraggle Rock originally submitted this song on his demo tape when applying for work with the television production.)
"Let Me Be Your Song", sung by Cantus and the Minstrels
"The Fraggle Medley", sung by the Fraggles, with Cantus and the Minstrels
"Dixie Wailing" (2:46), sung by Boober, Gobo, Red and The Gorgs
"Gorgs In Glory" (1:18), sung by Pa and Ma Gorg with Boober
"Kick A Stone" (0:44), sung by Mokey
"The Rock Goes On" (1:49), sung by many characters, included on "Music And Magic"

Books based on Fraggle Rock

Each book listed is followed by its author, illustrator, and date of publication.

The Radish Day Jubilee, Sheilah B. Bruce, Lawrence DiFiori 1983
Red and the Pumpkins, Jocelyn Stevenson, Kelly Oechsli 1983
They Call Me Boober Fraggle, Michaela Muntean, Lisa McCue 1983
Wembley Fraggle Gets the Story, Deborah Perlberg, Steven Schindler 1984
Gobo and the River, Joseph Killorin Brennan, Diane Dawson Hearn 1985
Marooned in Fraggle Rock, David Young, Barbara McClintock
Best Friends, Jocelyn Stevenson, Sue Venning 1984
Boober Fraggle's Celery Souffle, Louise Gikow, Kelly Oechsli 1984
Danger: Boober Cooking, Louise Gikow, Kelly Oechsli 1984
Boober Fraggle's Giant Wish, Jocelyn Stevenson, Jeffrey Severn 1984
If I Were King of the Universe, Danny Abelson, Lawrence DiFiori 1984
The Legend of the Doozer Who Didn't, Louise Gikow, Barbara McClintock 1984
No One Knows Where Gobo Goes, Mark Saltzman, Peter Elwell 1984
The Tale of Traveling Matt, Michaela Muntean, Lisa McCue 1984
Traveling Matt's Adventures in Outer Space, Michaela Muntean, Lisa McCue 1984
What Do Doozers Do?, Michaela Muntean, Sue Venning 1984
What's a Fraggle?, Louise Gikow, Barbara McClintock 1984
The Cave of the Lost Fraggle, Michael Teitelbaum, Peter Elwell 1985
Follow That Fraggle, Louise Gikow, Barbara Lanza 1985
Mokey's Birthday Present, Ellen Weiss, Elizabeth Miles 1985
Waggleby of Fraggle Rock, Stephanie Calmenson, Barbara McClintock 1985
Why Wembley Fraggle Couldn't Sleep, H. B. Gilmour, Barbara McClintock 1985
Goodnight Wembley Fraggle, H. B. Gilmour, Barbara McClintock 1985
Cotterpin's Perfect Building, Ellen Weiss, Lauren Attinello 1986
Wembley and the Soggy Map, Louise Gikow, Lisa McCue 1986
Wembley Fraggle and the Magic Stone, Louise Gikow, Lauren Attinello 1986
Gobo and the Prize from Outer Space, Lyn Calder, Frederic Marvin 1986
The Case of the Missing Socks, Rebecca Grand, Jeffrey Severn 1986
Wembley Fraggle's Big, Bigger, Biggest, Harry Ross, Larry DiFiori 1988
The Fraggles Alphabet Pie, Harry Ross, Larry DiFiori 1988
The Fraggles Counting Book, Harry Ross, Larry DiFiori 1988
Mokey Fraggle's New Colors, Emily Paul, Larry DiFiori 1988
The Fraggles Cooperate, Harry Ross, Larry DiFiori 1989

There were also two separate Fraggle Rock comic books, published by the Star Comics imprint of Marvel Comics; the first lasted 8 issues, the second 6.

References

External links

Muppet Wiki: Fraggle Rock
The Muppet Newsflash - Henson/Fraggle News Blog
Postcards from Traveling Matt - Traveling Matt Fan Blog
Chris' Fraggle Rock Page
The Unofficial Fraggle Rock Site - FraggleRocker.com
Fraggle Rock at TV.com
Music from the shows on CD and LP

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