Does Disney own Fraggle Rock?

[PanthraDion]

I know that Disney owns the Muppets, but does Disney also own Fraggle Rock? Saying that, does Disney own the Henson Company? I am really confused, because I am getting different information from different sources. Does anyone know for certain?

 

[beakerboy12]

In short, in 2004, Disney purchased the Muppets characters and Bear in the Big Blue House and its characters. The deal between Disney and the Jim Henson Company excluded the Sesame Street and Fraggle Rock characters and productions. And though the Walt Disney Company bought Henson Company properties, Disney does not own the company.

 

[CaseytheMuppet]

Beakerboy12 pretty much said what I would have! Disney should buy FR. I think kids need to see more Fraggle Rock. I mean, if you go up to a five year old and ask them if they like FR, they look at you funny. It would be nice to live in a Fraggle world.

 

[panmanthe2nd]

I think kids need to see more Fraggle Rock.

I agree completely, it should be on TV more. But personally I'm not 100% sure Disney would be doing any better.

 

[Slackbot]

If Disney had bought Fraggle Rock, I guarantee we would still be waiting for the final season on DVD.

 

[Drtooth]

If Disney had bought Fraggle Rock, I guarantee we would still be waiting for the final season on DVD.

I'd guarentee we'd still be waiting for the second season DVD...

wait...
they did release all of Dinosaurs with no problems. I still assume The Muppet Show seasons 4 and 5 are due to music renegotiations that have hit walls.

Still, Disney DOES suck at releasing box sets of anything.

 

[Slackbot]

I'm wondering what the brick wall keeping them from completing the Darkwing Duck DVD series is. Grrrr.

 

[Drtooth]

I'm wondering what the brick wall keeping them from completing the Darkwing Duck DVD series is. Grrrr.

Some crap about not selling a zillion copies on the first release day, I bet... They basically dumped ALL of the Disney Afternoon DVD releases after second volumes. Still, I heard that the comic brought sales of the DVD up to a noteworthy status years after their release. They really need to capitalize off the Disney Afternoon brand. often times, I got that last Darkwing or Rescue Rangers comic they had, and I went in the early afternoon on the Wednesday of the release.

Still... no excuse to not even bother with any of the other current shows. I'm not about to pay 15 bucks for 3 episodes of Phineas and Ferb.

But anyway... music rights... can't really do anything about that. I'm guessing that's the problem. Something had to be renegotiated after they got the okay years before.

 

[charlietheowl]

I agree completely, it should be on TV more. But personally I'm not 100% sure Disney would be doing any better.

I think that if Disney owned Fraggle Rock, there would be a lot more merchandise (plushes, shirts, etc.), though it's very easy to have more stuff than is out now. I don't actually know what they would have done with the project itself, because it's tough to say what commercial influences would have made them do with it. Perhaps they would have made a cartoon, perhaps a full-fledged revival of the show, it's tough to say. But I think they would at least of had the common sense to market everything better.

 

[Drtooth]

I think that if Disney owned Fraggle Rock, there would be a lot more merchandise (plushes, shirts, etc.), though it's very easy to have more stuff than is out now. I don't actually know what they would have done with the project itself, because it's tough to say what commercial influences would have made them do with it. Perhaps they would have made a cartoon, perhaps a full-fledged revival of the show, it's tough to say. But I think they would at least of had the common sense to market everything better.

It depends. There's a long list of stuff Disney owns that it frankly seems like they don't even realize they own. I've been on this soap box before, but that includes a LOT of Saban/Fox kids programming they got due to the buyout of Fox Family. And while Saban did purchase back the rights to all the live action shows (mainly for Power Rangers, but that includes everything.. even the live action TMNT series), Disney still owns the cartoon series... even anime dubs (which is why Hakushan Daimao's big fat Genie character couldn't be in the US version of Tatsunoko vs Capcom). But of course, they do nothing with it... yet, they're not in a hurry to pull them all down from Youtube. Which means we may never see a legal release of Eek the Cat in the foreseeable future, as well as the rest of The Tickseries of the 1990's.

Sure, we have to realize how lucky we've been in the Muppets department since about 2008, that they're actually acknowledging them (just not to the extent we want, other than a feature film we thought we'd never see). If anything, I'd say Fraggle Rock could be treated as the other Muppet thing they own. We'd probably get backing for the movie... but I wonder how much else we'd see. Kermit is more instantly recognizable than Gobo, after all. And it isn't like Disney's burning to do anything with the other Muppet license they own, Bear in the Big Blue House...