Fraggle Blog - The Beanbarrow, the Burden, and the Bright Bouquet

Episode IIIxi, written by B.P. Nichol.

Okay, the Traveling Matt introduction by Gobo and Wembley seemed to actually be ironically aware that the segment was being shoehorned into the episode.

Lanford is funny. The timing seems right that he might be inspired by Audrey II from Little Shop of Horrors, who was of course designed and built by Marty Robinson.

Not an especially distinguished episode, but I enjoyed the evolving relationship between Red and Lanford. It's great that there are off-the-wall characters in Fraggle Rock like Lanford.

Fraggle Blog - The Secret Society of Poobahs

Episode IIIx, written by Jerry Juhl.

I like the Fraggle in the opening with the mustache. Not many Fraggles have mustaches.

I think that Sprocket is never right-handed when he's in his bed. Hole must have been too small for two puppeteers.

Well, that was a fun episode, and yay for Convincing John making an appearance! "Don't take life too serious son; it ain't nohow permanent" would seem to be the moral. The Poobah costumes were really neat and elaborate. Will we ever hear of the Poobahs again?

Wikipedia tells us that "poobah" stems from "The Mikado", and has come to mean a self-inflated person, perhaps fond of titles. Odd that the Fraggles would use this term, and not have their own word. Kind of like them having a genie in the last episode.

Fraggle Blog - Wembley and the Mean Genie

Episode IIIix, written by Robert Sandler.

I wonder if there will be any more new writers?

Interesting how important the subplot with the inn is in the Doc/Sprocket segments. It's almost like they ran out of things for Doc and Sprocket to do, and so they had to create this new environment for them to talk about...but we never get to actually see it.

Wembley's nose seems to have gotten dirty...

Interesting that such a human, "real world" concept like the "genie in a bottle" is playing out inside Fraggle Rock. I thought they had their own myths and magic.

So the overall concept of this one seemed a bit labored. Why a genie? And I'm sitting here, trying to remember what exactly the genie was supposed to prove, or teach, or make clear. Why wasn't it granting wishes? That kind of slipped by me. Not one of the best.

Fraggle Blog - Believe It or Not

Episode IIIviii, written by Jocelyn Stevenson.

An interesting episode. I suppose Skenfrith represents the power of our minds to create our own realities. If we believe something is a problem, then only then does it become one.

I'm not sure exactly how true all that is...but there's at least a grain of truth to it!

Only two Fraggles in this episode, Red and Wembley!

Fraggle Blog - Home is Where the Trash Is

Episode IIIvii, written by Sugith Varughese.

Yay, Philo and Gunge get an episode!

According to Muppet Wiki, this would be the first episode shot after the break in production. Pure hindsight, but things do have a slightly different feel to them. And the "Home" song, which was very catchy, seemed to have different instrumentation than typical Fraggle Rock songs.

Why does Wander McMooch seem like a visitor from the world of Sid and Marty Krofft?

Wow, they sure didn't know how to end the Doc/Sprocket storyline for this episode!

A nice episode. Marjory is dependent upon Philo and Gunge, the Fraggles are dependent on Marjory, so the Fraggles go help Philo and Gunge. And so it goes.

Fraggle Blog - Pebble Pox Blues

Episode IIIvi, written by Laura Phillips.

Gobo's teeth feel ticklish. Gobo has teeth?

Wembley's got the roll-y eyes again. I really think there was just one Wembley puppet with those trick eyes, or Whitmire would use them more often.

Wembley's so sick, he has eyelids! Is that a symptom?

Traveling Matt is attracted to cows? He just said "Hubba hubba" to one. Are all of Dave Goelz's characters attracted to farm animals?

Wow, incredible and cool how far they pulled back from Boober and Wembley in that shot towards the end.

A fun episode. I liked that Boober came to a self-realization about his tendency to exaggerate bad things.

Fraggle Blog - Blanket of Snow, Blanket of Woe

Episode IIIv, written by B.P. Nichol.

Did Ma Gorg just say of her mother "May she shed in peace"?

Wow, Philo and Gunge have feet!

A decent episode. It started out being about "not overextending yourself", but sort of degenerated into a wide-ranging story about Gorgs and soup. And there were some things in it that were pretty hard to believe, like that the Gorgs would just happen to have a set of Fraggle-shaped salt and pepper shakers. And the sequence with Junior sliding around on the ice was kind of hard to believe as well. Not one of the greats, but not without its pleasures.