Fraggle Rock: 25 Years Complete Series Collection
By Karen WilsonMPAA Rating: Not Rated
Genre: Fantasy/Musical/Puppets
Theatrical Release Date: 1983 - 1987
DVD Release Date: Nov. 4, 2008
Running Time: Over 47 hours
Plot Synopsis: In a subterranean world of caves live the Fraggles, a happy, playful, and thoughtful group of monsters. Five of the Fraggles are best friends--Gobo, Mokey, Boober, Red, and Wembley. Gobo's uncle Matt, a Fraggle with a penchant for traveling , has ventured outside of the Fraggle Rock to explore the wide world of humans. Every week he sends a postcard home to Gobo, which Gobo must pick up--without being detected by Sprocket the dog--inside the human tinkerer Doc's workshop. The Fraggles also live alongside the giant Gorgs--Ma, Pa and their son Junior, the tiny builders called the Doozers, and the wise Trash Heap, also known as Marjorie.
Sex/Nudity: A slight flirtation occurs between Wembley and his crush, Red.
Violence/Gore: The Gorgs, particularly Junior, want to capture Fraggles when they run into the Gorgs' garden in search of radishes. The Fraggles also run away from Sprocket when he barks at them.
Profanity: None
Which Kids Will Like It?
The brightly colored plush puppets and catchy songs should enchant elementary age children in particular, though the complex cosmology of the Fraggle universe could also entertain older viewers as well. Like much of Jim Henson's work, Fraggle Rock exists on multiple levels of comprehension and enjoyment, so this is programming many age groups in the household will want to watch.
Will Parents Like It?
For adults who recall the Fraggles from their own childhood, it'll be a welcome trip down memory lane when watching their kids enjoying the singing and stories as much as they did.
Special Features: This 20 disc set includes seasons one through four plus 13 unreleased episodes from Season Four. Also included are a number of featurettes, interviews with cast and crew, and behind-the-scenes footage from the making of the show. In addition, the box set contains an original illustrated poster of the Fraggle Rock world.
Kaboose Review: Following the tremendous success of Sesame Street, The Muppet Show, and his various puppet-populated movies from the '70s, Jim Henson created yet another hit television series for children in the '80s called Fraggle Rock, originally airing on HBO for four years. Now 25 years after its debut, the full series will be available on a massive 20-disk DVD set of all 96 episodes and numerous extra featurettes. That's a whole lot of happy, fuzzy, frolicking Fraggles for your family to enjoy!
Like all of Henson's work, the simplistic premise of Fraggle Rock (silly monsters living in a cave) belies the complexity of its fully formed universe, so amidst the songs and the soft puppets lie sophisticated stories about friendship, society, faith, and identity.
Fraggle Rock is a series of caves inhabited by a race of happy-go-lucky creatures called Fraggles, with the focus on five Fraggles in particular. Gobo is the group's de facto leader. He's a practical and brave Fraggle who promises his traveling Uncle Matt that he'll venture up to an outer corner of Fraggle Rock every few days to pick up the message his uncle has sent him from "outer space" (aka the human world).
When Gobo has adventures he takes along his indecisive yet loyal friend Wembley, the morose, hat-wearing Boober, sensitive Mokey or the exuberant, athletic Red. Together the friends explore their world, mostly playing or eating radishes and doing a little work during their 30-minute workweek. In adjacent areas live the human inventor Doc and his dog Sproket, as well as the giant Gorgs--the king Pa, queen Ma and their idiot son, Junior. Junior desperately wants to capture a Fraggle, though his ineptitude rarely succeeds.
25 years later Fraggle Rock holds up remarkably well, despite glimpses of the very '80s looking people in Uncle Matt's outer space. It stands as a true classic of children's television programming because it doesn't pander to kids or simplify their concerns. Like their young viewers, the Fraggles wonder about their purpose in life, sometimes feel insecure, and often go astray despite their best intentions to do good deeds.
But despite the depth of the Fraggles' conflicts, the shows are really incredibly upbeat and entertaining. Each episode features a number of catchy, witty songs that aren't cloying or childish. The brightly colored, plush puppets are beautiful and cleverly constructed, as we learn on one of the informative behind-the-scenes featurettes included on an extras disc. Like all of Jim Henson's Muppets, these adorable creatures are more than just characters on television--they become friends.
Created by: Jim Henson
Cast: Jerry Nelson (voice of Gobo and The Trash Heap), Kathryn Mullen (voice of Mokey), Karen Prell (voice of Red), Steve Whitmire (voice of Wembley and Sprocket the Dog), David Goelz (voice of Boober, Uncle Matt), Gerard Parkes (Doc), Gord Robertson (voice of Pa Gorg), Trish Leeper (voice of Ma Gorg), Rob Mills (voice of Junior Gorg)
Karen Wilson is a freelance writer living in New York City.
