Joseph Gordon-Levitt Signed On to Star in Fraggle Rock Movie

[Iscah]

I don't think Doc will be in it. It would be odd to recast him.

Possibly a new human character could have Sprocket with him, but I would rather that didn't happen either. (I know, realistically speaking, a man and his dog can't be together forever - but if you don't show them apart, then we can pretend otherwise.)

The Fraggle world is so complex I don't think we are going to see everyone and every part of it within a single movie, without it feeling squashed in. It might be necessary to leave some things out for the sake of a better movie - and if the movie is good (as a stand-alone story and not just for fans' nostalgia) then there is more chance that people will want to go and watch the original series as well.

 

[muppetperson]

I don't think Doc will be in it. It would be odd to recast him.

There were different versions of Doc for different countries, so if the FR Movie were to get a Worldwide release, some people would be seeing a different Doc in any case.

 

[Drtooth]

I completely agree with what Dr Tooth mentions a few posts above, although Chipmunks, Smurfs and in my opinion even the Looney Tunes ruined characters venturing out into the real world in this case this is completely different.

Ehhh,... The Chipmunks, in their own universe were in "the real world." Their film at least felt natural compared to the others. And frankly, as far as Looney Tunes goes, Tiny Toons had it right. "When it comes to cartoons, us old guys only have a 7 minute attention span." Other than that, yeah. The first Smurfs movie did it only because of the Chipmunks film. Then again, it was better than the even worse concept... a Belgian girl crying Smurf toys to life. Shudder... I remember when Corey Edwards gave up completely on that Fraggle movie saying the scary coincidence was that the studio was pushing the Fraggle Movie to essentially be what the Smurfs movie was, right down to the completely gratuitous BLAM where they're playing Guitar Hero.

While I'm not opposed to the idea of the Fraggles having to run out of the Rock and into the real world at some point, I certainly don't want the entire movie to be them running around asking "what's this" and "what's that" to a gratuitous extent. That was done much more subtle with Uncle Matt in the original series. I'd say, take a cue from Sponge out of Water. Make it the last half hour or so of the movie, and spend most of the time having an adventure in the rock. Maybe with cutaways to Traveling Matt topside.

Above all, what I'd love to see, but probably won't, is having original script writers for the show as consultants to shape this to be a more Fraggle Rock feeling film than just a film with FR characters in it.

 

[Rugratskid]

Would some of the Fraggles have to be recast? I can't imagine Karen Prell saying no to this, but aren't Steve Whitmire and Dave Goelz under a contract with Disney? (Maybe not, I'm just guessing they are) I shudder at Wembley, Boober AND Traveling Matt being recasted.. Gobo has a performer (who in my opinion, did very well, and could do even better with practice) and I have no idea about Kathy Mullen returning. But recasting 3 main Fraggles (not counting Gobo) is too much for me.

 

[cahuenga]

Dave did some voice over on the music clip they did 3 years ago...and I think his contract would be like Eric`s, Matt`s or Rudman´s contract on sesame street, so I guess he would be involved in the film... Kathy did Mokey two years ago in a convention...so she would be involved in the film too...another solution its looping dialogue for their characters, like did Frank Oz in most scenes of Muppets from Space..

 

[minor muppetz]

I can't imagine Karen Prell saying no to this, but aren't Steve Whitmire and Dave Goelz under a contract with Disney?

When Steve Whitmire was interviewed for Tough Pigs back in 2008, he said that Disney surprisingly hadn't put the performers under contract, and that all Muppet performers under Disney, Henson, and Sesame Workshop are freelance performers. Not sure if it's changed since, but I doubt it.

Years ago I wondered how likely Steve and Dave would be to do the movie, having to balance time with the Muppets, but now that Muppets Most Wanted didn't do well, I sort of feel more confident that they'll have time to do it (even though there are supposedly Muppet projects planned that we don't know about).

 

[beaker]

One cynical part of me has to ask the obvious question: Given the public wasn't too gangbusters for MMW even after zillions of dollars in advertising, how the heck is the public going to be super excited for a FR movie in this day and age? I could write a book about how amazing, magical, and important FR was and still is...but at the end of the day it was a show on not just cable, but premium cable that a lot of households in the 80s could afford. Especially in the early 1980s. Compared to Muppets and Sesame which was on free channels. Coupled with the fact JHC hasnt truly done anything in the public eye with the property...hard to see how they will be able to market this.

 

[Iscah]

how the heck is the public going to be super excited for a FR movie in this day and age?

I think, basically, they don't sell it as "a Fraggle Rock movie", they sell it like a stand-alone film (even if it does keep series continuity) and get people excited about it because it looks good.

 

[Drtooth]

but at the end of the day it was a show on not just cable, but premium cable that a lot of households in the 80s could afford. Especially in the early 1980s. Compared to Muppets and Sesame which was on free channels. Coupled with the fact JHC hasnt truly done anything in the public eye with the property...hard to see how they will be able to market this.

Which is, I'm sure, a huge part of the reason why the movie hasn't been made yet. Sesame Street is instantly recognizable and still on the air going on 46 years. The way SW has been totally promoting Cookie Monster to Elmo levels of media absorption has been amazing. The Muppets are slightly less recognizable, having to rely on older movies and TV shows, and I'm sure some of the resistance to MMW was that they have 7 movies other than that. But it doesn't quite have the presence that SW has.

Then there's FR. It's never not been cable connected, unless you want to count the cartoon series. Even the reruns went to cable channels of varying levels of accessibility. Even the Hulu episodes require premium hulu pay accounts. Only way for anyone under the age of 30 to have gotten any exposure now was the long ended Hub reruns and DVDs. A film based on something kind of obscure is a hard one to sell to anyone. Especially the studios.

Of course, what baffles me is how Yogi Bear managed to get an audience of not 40 year olds (who would have been disgusted enough to not want to see it) when the character hasn't been in anything of note since that even worse than the dishwater dull movie could have been Yo Yogi series. He was far from accessible. Like the pop culture osmosis spread the name of Yogi Bear, and people of a certain age only know him through parody and reference. I mean, Marmaduke thankfully flopped because it was a piece of turd based on a piece of turd comic that was never funny not even in the early 70's when people kinda cared. And then there's Lone Ranger. Overly politically correct 20 somethings that angrily snarked all over the film because they didn't bother to do the research that the Tonto character was insane, and I think just got mad that Johnny Depp said he was 0.0000000000009% percent something aside... they took a character that wasn't relevant since the 50's and anyone under the age of "waaaay too old to see blockbusters and get any enjoyment out of them" only heard of the character through reference and parody.

 

[Iscah]

With "starting from scratch" to appeal to a new audience, especially kids, I feel like the Fraggles have more potential than the Muppets. They're designed to be cute and likeable, whereas the Muppets are a bit ragged and strange. (I vaguely remember, being really young and used to Muppet Babies, first seeing stuff with the 'adult' puppets and thinking they looked ugly.) Different styles for different audiences, even if they're now trying to sell the Muppets as "kids entertainment" anyway....