Pre-Order Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series

[GonzoLeaper]

I grew up watching both the live action and cartoon versions of Fraggle Rock and I've always enjoyed both equally, but I guess that's just me. Anyway- it's exciting to see all of the Fraggle Rock series out on DVD!

 

[Baby Gonzo]

Woah. Now that's an unexpected release! The cover art looks cute too.

 

[minor muppetz]

Although I only bought the first season and a few of the single-disc releases, this news is exciting.

 

[zns]

I'm surprised at how soon the release date is for this beauty. Despite the not so stupendous animation and akward voices that were used in this version of the show, I will definately want to add this to my Henson collection. "The Rock Goes On".

 

[Drtooth]

The only voice I really hated in the series was Junior Gorg's. They really should have auditioned more people before casting. And no matter how hard Townsend Coleman tried NO ONE can emulate Jerry's voice at all. Even new puppeteers recast as his roles. But Rob Paulsen was beautiful in this show. He took characters like Boober and Marjorie and made them his own. And when Rob does that, you know you're gonna have fun.

As for the animation... it's a large step up from the last few seasons of Muppet Babies.... I mean, look at that one. Like they didn't even try.

The sad thing here is I might just get the animated series before I get any of the live action sets (don't have a single one yet... financial stuff don't ya know)... but I think any money I get after Christmas will go to the Mighty Mouse series. They really gave that one an unreasonably high SRP...

 

[GonzoLeaper]

Despite the not so stupendous animation and akward voices that were used in this version of the show

I've always thought the animation was great and so are the voices. The same goes for Muppet Babies, for that matter. I'm a big fan of both.
Oh well- to each his own.

 

[zns]

Yes there was a good amount of effort put into the animated version of the show. Unfortunately though, it just did not seem to meet the standards of the Fraggles that we all know and love so well. As Karen Prell had mentioned once, the animation had been done too quickly, which did not allow enough time to really fix things up and make it more beautiful.

Of course, I personally look forward to this DVD release. Even though the bonus features may not be too much, probably because the series did not last very long on television, it will make an excellent addition to anyone's Henson video library.

 

[Drtooth]

Yes there was a good amount of effort put into the animated version of the show. Unfortunately though, it just did not seem to meet the standards of the Fraggles that we all know and love so well. As Karen Prell had mentioned once, the animation had been done too quickly, which did not allow enough time to really fix things up and make it more beautiful.

The thing I want to know is why didn't they just together 13 episodes of the actual series and just show that on Saturday Mornings instead. Sure, cable rerun viewings were unheard of then (good ol' days and everything), and they wanted original programming.

I really think the major problems were the production deadlines. Could you imagine if they had a syndication weekday deal? 65 episodes? Could you imagine that quality? Worse than what we had. Then of course, there's the factor of originality... They basically continued what had happened in the series (and ignoring the original concept of the animated show by shoving Doc an Sprocket in there)... whereas, say Muppet Babies and Little Muppet Monsters had the same characters, but in different settings that really worked well in animation.

Of course, I have to say, FR has much better animation than Muppet babies had at the time. I think the second season TOEI really got a handle on the characters... but the last seasons Akom did... poor eye placement, bad depth perception (Kermit's eyes would almost be on top of each other in certain circumstances) and over all bad coloring and film development (Muppet Babies The Next generation... the scene where Scooter is angry that bean replaced him... it has a bad film quality that makes everything look purple).

 

[frogboy4]

Fraggles and Babies did have some quality in their storytelling and purpose, but were initially created to generate cash for the Jim Henson Company's variety of other projects. Hence the lesser production standards in quality. However, if they hadn't met Jim's approval he would have yanked them like he did Little Muppet Monsters. Fraggle Rock is such a dense world with a lot more opportunities to explore through animation that didn't really come to fruition. I wouldn't mind a revival of new animated Fraggles if they had higher standards like Foster's, Samurai Jack or like the fantastic stuff Marvel's been doing with Wolverine and the X-Men.

And maybe this time they could ask the performers to lend their voice talent. I don't believe they were even approached before.

 

[Drtooth]

Fraggle Rock is such a dense world with a lot more opportunities to explore through animation that didn't really come to fruition. I wouldn't mind a revival of new animated Fraggles if they had higher standards like Foster's, Samurai Jack or like the fantastic stuff Marvel's been doing with Wolverine and the X-Men.

I see what you mean there... seems like the only thing that it really added was to chase sequences and more complex camera angles to various scenes... stuff they just couldn't really have done with puppetry due to their complexity. And there is some action that they just couldn't have replicated in puppetry, unless they had a really large movie budget. But over all, there could have been much, much more done had they had a really high budget for animation, and the technology to meet deadlines to the second.

And maybe this time they could ask the performers to lend their voice talent. I don't believe they were even approached before.

Hmmm... I remember someone saying that Karen Prell said that they were considering using the original puppeteers, but there was some sort of odd schedule conflict that they just couldn't get together.

That said, a Pigs in Space cartoon (much like the one on LMM, the highlight of the animated segments, I think) with the original voice cast and writers (ala the Star Trek series from the 70's) would have had a lot of potential...