Fraggle Blog - You Can't Do That Without a Hat

Another Jocelyn Stevenson episode.

Boober is a really great character, performed wonderfully by Dave Goelz. Here in the early episodes, he seems the most confident and grounded in his character, and his puppeteering is really terrific. (Although we get a glimpse of his left hand operating Boober's when he and Red are talking to Marjory!)

Boober is a great example of what I perceive as Henson guarding against letting things get too "sweet". Just as Sesame Street has Oscar, this show has Boober to undercut the positive, enthusiastic vibe of the other Fraggles with a note of pessimism and fear. I feel strongly that this is one of the things that sets Henson's worlds apart from the crowd. It creates a much more realistic vibe. Statler and Waldorf are another perfect example of this, even though granted the world of the Muppet Show wouldn't be a harmonious one even without them. Henson creates the show and the hecklers!

Random observation: Marjory the Trash Heap has trash boobs!

Fraggle Blog - Let the Water Run

A Jocelyn Stevenson episode. This one really emphasized the interconnectivity of the various worlds of Fraggle Rock, and particularly how the Fraggles and Gorgs are reliant on Doc for their water supply. I'm not sure if later episodes will show ways in which Doc is dependent on the Fraggles, but probably so.

Towards the end, I liked the long pan upward from the Fraggles' world up through Doc's floorboards. I had to rewind to catch that this was actually accomplished with two crossfades, but the effect was very convincing. In my animation, I would never have relied on the crossfades, but would instead have constructed a huge set where the camera could actually pan from one place to another. (Of course this would be pretty much impossible with puppets.) But really, does it matter? The effect with the crossfades is identical, and the only ones who would notice are those like myself who are looking specifically to see how such things are accomplished.

Oh -- and I wish Sprocket wouldn't get anywhere near his bath while holding a hair dryer!

Fraggle Blog - Wembley and the Gorgs

"Sometimes slavery feels like freedom." Wow, pretty deep stuff for a kids' show!

Another good Jerry Juhl episode. Now I realize we hadn't quite been introduced to all the characters in the first episode, as we met Ma and Pa Gorg and heard of Ned Shimmelfinney for the first time.

I can see how writing a show with so many different elements must be kind of constricting; it seemed odd at first that Gobo remembered about Uncle Matt's postcard when they were all trapped in a cage, but I guess that was the best place to squeeze the Traveling Matt sequence in.

I'll be interested to see if the songs in Fraggle Rock become more integrated into the story than they were in this episode. The plot kind of seems to stop while the characters sing, which is rather a "no-no" in musical theatre.

Fraggle Blog - Beginnings

Lifelong Henson fan though I may be, one show that I feel I haven't seen enough of is Fraggle Rock. And the way the show develops through its run, it seems important to view it in its entirety. So that's what the missus and I started to do at lunchtime today. And I thought I might keep a blog of my thoughts and impressions of the show.

So we started today with the aptly titled "Beginnings", an episode written by Jerry Juhl. It was an excellent episode, with an enormous amount of exposition and explaining to get out of the way about the many interwoven worlds that make up the show. It handled all this quite efficiently, and managed to be entertaining at the same time. I'm not sure how the Fraggles have a grasp on how the postal system works...but why quibble?

I enjoyed the mail Doc got from "Caroly", a nod to Muppet builder Caroly Wilcox!