Thoughts on Fraggle Rock after a rewatch

[TheRealFraggle]

I recently rewatched all of Fraggle Rock over the last couple of months (I just finished yesterday). I hadn't seen the show in years, and I think it still holds up very well (though there were parts I didn't like much). Here are some thoughts I had about the show while watching it.
- I could care less about Mokey. She is just an annoying hippie Fraggle.
- Ma Gorg's face was hideous in the first 12 episodes. I can't believe anyone ever thought it was a good idea to make her look like that. I also don't think her voice sounds great in the first season, though that might be because I'm more used to her voice actress from the later seasons.
- I'm very surprised that they never reshot the opening theme with the newer puppets of Gobo and Ma Gorg.
- Speaking of which, if you look closely in the opening theme, you can see Gobo hitting the wall of the Gorgs' well very hard when Junior throws him.
- Everyone looked terrible in "The Thirty-Minute Work Week", especially Marjory.
- Why the **** is Mokey so much taller than all the other Fraggles? And why is she the only one with live hands?
- Cantus is annoying. Why can't he just make sense?
- The Gorgs turning invisible when they don't wear their radish cream makes NO SENSE and I want to throw something.
- The Mokey dummy from "Mokey's Funeral" is the most horrific thing I have ever seen.
- Marjory didn't appear nearly often enough after season 1.
- The story arc about the Captain's Inn and Ms. Ardath is among my favorite parts of the show.
- Cotterpin has the most annoying voice in the world. I hate her so much.
- Any episode about the Doozers is bound to be terrible. Especially "The Doozer Contest", "Doozer Is as Doozer Does", and "The Trial of Cotterpin Doozer".
- Wander McMooch completely changes his size in between his two episodes. He goes from almost as big as a Gorg to Fraggle size. How the **** is that possible?
- "Wembley and the Mean Genie" is an absolutely terrible episode. Maybe the worst one on the whole show.
- I miss the postcards after season 3. Why they decided to stop putting those in every episode is beyond me.
- The dragon from "Red's Blue Dragon" looks so stupid it's almost great. Ditto for the set where you first see it.
- I can't believe they missed the opportunity to slip in a Kermit reference in "Space Frog Follies".
- Half of the episodes in season 4 are awful and feel like they were slapped together at the last minute without any effort put into them whatsoever. I mean, mermaid Fraggles, singing cactuses, time travel, Wembley flying, singing mirrors, singing Doozer courts, and Red's terrible detective outfit?
- Mudwell looks a bit like Jim Henson.
- Marlon is the worst character ever.
- "Baby" Junior from "The Gorg Who Would Be King" is a hundred times cuter than regular Junior and he should have stayed Fraggle size.
- Doc shouldn't have moved away if he has a job at the Captain's Inn.
- Doc claiming Sprocket is his grandfather makes for a great gag in "Change of Address", but is another one of those things that makes no sense. I've seen that same joke before in other places (for example, cartoons like Garfield), but always with the pet owner claiming that the pet is their child. At Doc's age, his father wouldn't even be alive anymore, so his grandfather still being alive is out of the question. Doc is over 60; my grandfather died when I was 12, and he was old. Maybe I'm just overthinking things...

 

[Beige Fraggle]

- Why the **** is Mokey so much taller than all the other Fraggles? And why is she the only one with live hands?
- Cantus is annoying. Why can't he just make sense?
- The Gorgs turning invisible when they don't wear their radish cream makes NO SENSE and I want to throw something.
- Cotterpin has the most annoying voice in the world. I hate her so much.


Mokey's original puppeteer, Kathy Mullen, said that she's taller because she's older, but that doesn't really make sense considering how many older fraggles there are, including Uncle Matt and the Storyteller.

Cantus is meant to be mystical and wise, and his metaphors make plenty of sense. I don't see how they don't.

Yeah, that plot line about the Gorgs, while creative on one hand, is really dumb. They should have at least explained that they were under a curse or something. Or maybe instead of turning invisible, they grow ugly polyps on their faces without the radish cream. Then it would still make sense to have Mokey panic upon seeing Junior.

Cotterpin's voice is weird, I'll give you that, but that's not a good reason to hate her. Her voice has nothing at all to do with her character. Personally, I can't stand Marlon or Large Marvin's voices, but I don't hold it against them at all. They're still okay characters in my book. Well, Large Marvin is. Marlon is creepy. And I'm autistic, so a ton of stuff bugs me to no end.

 

[TheRealFraggle]

Cantus is meant to be mystical and wise, and his metaphors make plenty of sense. I don't see how they don't.

I know that, I just mean that he gets on my nerves a little bit after five episodes where he never says a logical sentence. I like Convincing John more. It's funny what you said about the Gorgs turning invisible because them being under a curse is a theory I'd already come up with to explain that episode. I might have to put that in a future fanfic.
Large Marvin's voice never bugged me, Marlon a little but I generally like Steve Whitmire's voice so not that much. Cotterpin is the one I can't stand, she sounds like she has earplugs stuffed up her nostrils. I don't like the way Wrench or Flange sound either but she's the worst.

 

[Beige Fraggle]

- "Wembley and the Mean Genie" is an absolutely terrible episode. Maybe the worst one on the whole show.
- I can't believe they missed the opportunity to slip in a Kermit reference in "Space Frog Follies".
- Half of the episodes in season 4 are awful and feel like they were slapped together at the last minute without any effort put into them whatsoever. I mean, mermaid Fraggles, singing cactuses, time travel, Wembley flying, singing mirrors, singing Doozer courts, and Red's terrible detective outfit?
- Doc shouldn't have moved away if he has a job at the Captain's Inn.
- Doc claiming Sprocket is his grandfather makes for a great gag in "Change of Address", but is another one of those things that makes no sense. I've seen that same joke before in other places (for example, cartoons like Garfield), but always with the pet owner claiming that the pet is their child. At Doc's age, his father wouldn't even be alive anymore, so his grandfather still being alive is out of the question. Doc is over 60; my grandfather died when I was 12, and he was old.

In what way was "Wembley and the Mean Genie" a terrible episode? You don't give an explanation. Sure, it has bad things happen in it, but that was the entire point.

I never thought of that! But Kermit IS referenced in another episode where Doc is looking through his mail and says "here's a letter from Kermit."

Fraggle Rock is a whimsical place, and it's a kid's show. I don't know what you were expecting, but you have to remember that it's just your personal opinion, and that a lot of people (myself included) enjoyed all of these things about it.

Doc moved to be with his friend, which is far more important than a job. He can get a new job in his new city.

I believe Doc was implied to be younger than Gerry Parkes actually was at the time the show was filmed. There was an episode where Doc mentioned that it was Ms. Ardath's 39th birthday. It would have been creepy for a man in his sixties to be in love with a woman over 20 years younger than him, especially in a kid's show. Plus Doc was still working rather than being retired. BTW my great grandma died when I was in my early teens. She was in her 90's.

 

[Beige Fraggle]

I know that, I just mean that he gets on my nerves a little bit after five episodes where he never says a logical sentence. I like Convincing John more. It's funny what you said about the Gorgs turning invisible because them being under a curse is a theory I'd already come up with to explain that episode. I might have to put that in a future fanfic.
Large Marvin's voice never bugged me, Marlon a little but I generally like Steve Whitmire's voice so not that much. Cotterpin is the one I can't stand, she sounds like she has earplugs stuffed up her nostrils. I don't like the way Wrench or Flange sound either but she's the worst.

Yeah, all the doozers are weirdly nasally-sounding. That's one reason I don't care for doozer episodes. They're both boring and annoying.

That would be cool to write about a curse on the gorgs. I had thought about doing a rewrite of that episode in which they grow polyps, but I've never gotten around to it, and probably never will.

 

[TheRealFraggle]

- "Wembley and the Mean Genie" is an absolutely terrible episode. Maybe the worst one on the whole show.
- I can't believe they missed the opportunity to slip in a Kermit reference in "Space Frog Follies".
- Half of the episodes in season 4 are awful and feel like they were slapped together at the last minute without any effort put into them whatsoever. I mean, mermaid Fraggles, singing cactuses, time travel, Wembley flying, singing mirrors, singing Doozer courts, and Red's terrible detective outfit?
- Doc shouldn't have moved away if he has a job at the Captain's Inn.
- Doc claiming Sprocket is his grandfather makes for a great gag in "Change of Address", but is another one of those things that makes no sense. I've seen that same joke before in other places (for example, cartoons like Garfield), but always with the pet owner claiming that the pet is their child. At Doc's age, his father wouldn't even be alive anymore, so his grandfather still being alive is out of the question. Doc is over 60; my grandfather died when I was 12, and he was old.

In what way was "Wembley and the Mean Genie" a terrible episode? You don't give an explanation. Sure, it has bad things happen in it, but that was the entire point.

I never thought of that! But Kermit IS referenced in another episode where Doc is looking through his mail and says "here's a letter from Kermit."

Fraggle Rock is a whimsical place, and it's a kid's show. I don't know what you were expecting, but you have to remember that it's just your personal opinion, and that a lot of people (myself included) enjoyed all of these things about it.

Doc moved to be with his friend, which is far more important than a job. He can get a new job in his new city.

I believe Doc was implied to be younger than Gerry Parkes actually was at the time the show was filmed. There was an episode where Doc mentioned that it was Ms. Ardath's 39th birthday. It would have been creepy for a man in his sixties to be in love with a woman over 20 years younger than him, especially in a kid's show. Plus Doc was still working rather than being retired. BTW my great grandma died when I was in my early teens. She was in her 90's.

"Wembley and the Mean Genie" is an episode I never liked because I feel that, of all the episodes in the whole show, "Mean Genie" delivers its message with the least subtlety. I feel like I'm being hammered over the head with a giant mallet that says "stand up for yourself, and don't let yourself get bullied". At least, I THINK that's the message, but what with the brainwashed Nazi Fraggles, I'm not quite sure what they were trying to say.

As for those episodes in season four, I don't like them (the ones I mentioned; over half of the episodes in the last season were good) because they have plots that feel too outlandish. In the earlier seasons they would just do plots about the characters and the normal locations. Not too much fantasy BS.

And that makes sense about Doc, he may have only been in his 50s during the events of the show.

 

[Beige Fraggle]

At least, I THINK that's the message, but what with the brainwashed Nazi Fraggles, I'm not quite sure what they were trying to say.

It was kind of a weird episode, especially when it took that turn. The genie's song, and all the fraggles lined up under his spell, was not a turn I had expected it to take. And when I think about it, it's not the first episode to have the same basic message, but it was definitely the hardest hitting.