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Sam and Friends Bookmupcollector1
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As a Muppet / Jim Henson fan who grew up in the 1990s and until I finally got the DVD sets, I have to admit I haven't seen much Fraggle Rock. By the time I got Disney Channel (mainly to see season 2 of Muppets Tonight) the Fraggle Rock reruns no longer played on the channel. I did have all the 90s videos but other then that and having a little knowledge from what I've seen in both the Jim Henson film and book documentaries, that's all I knew of this show. Even though I've had the first three seasons for quite awhile and finally received the final season on DVD this week, due to my busy schedule, I didn't get a change to sit down and enjoy them until this month. Being a huge fan of The Muppets because of not only their unique approach to puppetry and film media but their wild slapsticky humor style, I have to say even though the open credits of Fraggle Rock originally said "with Jim Henson's Muppets"...this show clearly isn't a Muppet show. Sure it has it's humorous moments of Traveling Matt's confusions with The Outer Space world of the silly creatures or the joys of bordom from Boober Fraggle, the show is very serious in nature kind of like a drama in a way. In no way do I think of it as a bad thing, it's a very different project. From what I've studied, the 1980s was a very interesting time in Jim Henson's creativity. In fact if you look at what he was doing in the 1960s with work outside The Muppets it was abstract like Time Piece. By the 1980s Jim was interested in creating new worlds and they were all very imaginative and interesting. Anyway back to Fraggle Rock, I'm starting to get into the show more then I have as a kid. I sort of feel for the first time I want to learn more about the world of the Fraggles and the characters. And from what I've noticed when watching a lot of the episodes I've never seen before, there were quite a few I found quite weird and surprising. Even though Fraggle Rock had it's happy positive moments, I've recently discovered that it has it's dark and strangle moments as well.
One example was the episode where Wembley falls in Love with Lou. He got Love Potion Number 9 (and as being a fan of 60s pop music, I got the inside joke right away
One of my all time favorite songs and it's on my ipod ) and he drops it in the Fraggle Pond. That was a freaky scene. lol Also I never knew there was an episode or even Fraggle Rock ever having characters who had romantic feelings for each other. Lou had been scene in the background a few times, sometimes right next to Wembley. Though it's kind of sad there wasn't plots with them together beyond that episode. Also in Born to Wander, the Storyteller had a crush on Traveling Matt. It might be kind of juvenile for me to mention this but as I watch the show closely, it kind of seems obvious to me that Gobo and Red, Boober and Mokey secretly love each other beyond friends. Reading on Muppet Wiki, there was a rumor that Gobo and Mokey scared a secret crush for each other too. Another surprising episode that I've discovered last night was the first episode where Uncle Travelling Matt returns to Fraggle Rock from season 2. I love how Gobo has so much appreciation for his Uncle as a role model, but when I seen this episode...I was in SHOCK they actually were in an arguing shouting match. Matt told Gobo that he was going to spank him. Some of the episodes I'm thinking, pinch me I must be dreaming, this is actual episodes of Fraggle Rock. But like I said, I'm just getting into the show so it's new to me. But out of the strange episodes I've seen, I think the strangest one of them all was The Incredible Shrinking Mokey. Even though Begoony in the episode was of highlighted as being selffish, I really love Begoony. I feel so bad when he's crying and shouting out how no one loves him and how he's abandon and lonely. I can relate to this because there was a point in my life in the past where I too felt this way and didn't have much self confidence. While looking at the original sketch of him, there was a note on the sketch quoting him being "a Wimp", I personally would love to give this poor guy a huge hug and take care of him. Even if he drains my energy completely. 
Though mentioning a lot of things that I love about Fraggle Rock, the designs of the characters...especially characters that would be scene in one episode and be recycled for later Muppet projects are amazing and beautifully crafted. Other characters I'm starting to like beside Begoony is Sidebottom (aka Boober's hidden free spirit self, I thought Boober's Quiet Day was the only one featuring him. It was one of the other episodes I've seen while renting the videos at Blockbuster back in the 1990s). Also I'm starting to notice Red Fraggle more as I watch the show. I remember hearing quotes on how people can sometimes see either themselves or people they know within Muppet characters, for Red it's so true because she reminds me of a friend that I knew in High School. She was quite hyper, tomboyish one moment and in the next very sensitive. And I must say that the Junior Gorg Funeral Durge song cracks me up. The lyrics are hilarious. I have a bit of a mix of a dark / silly irreverent sense of humor, I love The Addams Family style humor and just an irreverent funeral durge in which you pick up the tempo so you can dance to it, probably one of my favorite scenes in the series. One last thing that I want to mention is the music is incredable. I think my favorite songs are "Rolling On" and "Troubles, Pain, and Woe". I'm not sure what to call Fraggle Rock music other then it being Folk Music mainly because styles change all the time, sometimes Country, sometimes Blue's Rock like in the second episode, and sometimes it's emotional and slow to fill the mood. It's almost like a Musical in a way. So in conclusion for now, it's a totally different show but it's very interesting. I've admire Jim's work from The Muppets to Jim's Fantasy films and loved them and to me Fraggle Rock seems like the lost Jim Henson work that I've never known until now. I know there's many fans who seen the show before my time so it's really great to get the change to see this great magical show now and I can't wait to see them all.
One example was the episode where Wembley falls in Love with Lou. He got Love Potion Number 9 (and as being a fan of 60s pop music, I got the inside joke right away
One of my all time favorite songs and it's on my ipod ) and he drops it in the Fraggle Pond. That was a freaky scene. lol Also I never knew there was an episode or even Fraggle Rock ever having characters who had romantic feelings for each other. Lou had been scene in the background a few times, sometimes right next to Wembley. Though it's kind of sad there wasn't plots with them together beyond that episode. Also in Born to Wander, the Storyteller had a crush on Traveling Matt. It might be kind of juvenile for me to mention this but as I watch the show closely, it kind of seems obvious to me that Gobo and Red, Boober and Mokey secretly love each other beyond friends. Reading on Muppet Wiki, there was a rumor that Gobo and Mokey scared a secret crush for each other too. Another surprising episode that I've discovered last night was the first episode where Uncle Travelling Matt returns to Fraggle Rock from season 2. I love how Gobo has so much appreciation for his Uncle as a role model, but when I seen this episode...I was in SHOCK they actually were in an arguing shouting match. Matt told Gobo that he was going to spank him. Some of the episodes I'm thinking, pinch me I must be dreaming, this is actual episodes of Fraggle Rock. But like I said, I'm just getting into the show so it's new to me. But out of the strange episodes I've seen, I think the strangest one of them all was The Incredible Shrinking Mokey. Even though Begoony in the episode was of highlighted as being selffish, I really love Begoony. I feel so bad when he's crying and shouting out how no one loves him and how he's abandon and lonely. I can relate to this because there was a point in my life in the past where I too felt this way and didn't have much self confidence. While looking at the original sketch of him, there was a note on the sketch quoting him being "a Wimp", I personally would love to give this poor guy a huge hug and take care of him. Even if he drains my energy completely. Though mentioning a lot of things that I love about Fraggle Rock, the designs of the characters...especially characters that would be scene in one episode and be recycled for later Muppet projects are amazing and beautifully crafted. Other characters I'm starting to like beside Begoony is Sidebottom (aka Boober's hidden free spirit self, I thought Boober's Quiet Day was the only one featuring him. It was one of the other episodes I've seen while renting the videos at Blockbuster back in the 1990s). Also I'm starting to notice Red Fraggle more as I watch the show. I remember hearing quotes on how people can sometimes see either themselves or people they know within Muppet characters, for Red it's so true because she reminds me of a friend that I knew in High School. She was quite hyper, tomboyish one moment and in the next very sensitive. And I must say that the Junior Gorg Funeral Durge song cracks me up. The lyrics are hilarious. I have a bit of a mix of a dark / silly irreverent sense of humor, I love The Addams Family style humor and just an irreverent funeral durge in which you pick up the tempo so you can dance to it, probably one of my favorite scenes in the series. One last thing that I want to mention is the music is incredable. I think my favorite songs are "Rolling On" and "Troubles, Pain, and Woe". I'm not sure what to call Fraggle Rock music other then it being Folk Music mainly because styles change all the time, sometimes Country, sometimes Blue's Rock like in the second episode, and sometimes it's emotional and slow to fill the mood. It's almost like a Musical in a way. So in conclusion for now, it's a totally different show but it's very interesting. I've admire Jim's work from The Muppets to Jim's Fantasy films and loved them and to me Fraggle Rock seems like the lost Jim Henson work that I've never known until now. I know there's many fans who seen the show before my time so it's really great to get the change to see this great magical show now and I can't wait to see them all. 
