Question for you Fraggle builders?

[crazy chris]

Ive just recently began rewatching Fraggle Rock, being a die hard Muppet Show fan and being too poor to have HBO in the 80's... i never really formed the same bond with Fraggle Rock... but i am finding it quite enjoyable to watch!

My question is about Wimbleys eye mech... ive only noticed it in a couple episodes... but he can sort of roll his eyes or look up into the corner of his eye on either side... so far i havent noticed any other Fraggles doing it

it really defies all physics given that its essentially a ping pong ball and a black piece of felt... so im curious how it works... its almost like a "controlled" version of cookie monsters eyes...

cc

 

[Slackbot]

Wembley's eyes can roll all around. He's the only Fraggle who can do that, the rest just have eyelid mechanisms if they have anything at all.

I don't have any concrete knowledge of how his eye mechanism works, so this is my educated guess: there's an electronic mechanism on the back of his eyes, opposite the pupil, which moves the eye around. It's hidden by that lush hair-splosion of his. It's operated by someone else the way Mokey's eyelids are (check out the "Mokey puppet test" video on the official Henson Youtube channel) and, considering how his eyes can whirl around, is probably controlled by a joystick.

Cyborg Wembley. Heh, Wembley of the Borg? "You will be assimilated! Er, um, if that's okay with you."

 

[crazy chris]

Thanks for the info slackbot!!

I know the set of fraggle rock sure was a hot bed of innovation for the henson crew...

cc

 

[Slackbot]

There is an extra about Faz in one of the DVD sets which discussed his innovations in Fraggle Rock. Puppet mechanisms, Doozer vehicles, Gorg Vision, and so on. Wembley's name never came up, alas.

I'm guessing that they only built one Wembley with moving eyes, or maybe a few if the first puppet showed signs of age or the design changed a little, and only used that puppet when his eyes had to move. Otherwise, it would have been one of the regular, fixed-eyes puppets.

 

[Iscah]

I hope it's not 'bad manners' to bump up old posts here (it varies from forum to forum) but I came across this while searching, and I think I have the answer to your question.

I'm fairly sure that Wembley's eyes simply rotate on an angle, so his pupils "orbit" the spin axis and move in circles. (Because he tends to bounce around a lot, his eyes seem to have more movement range than they really do.)

I made a diagram a little while ago.

 

[crazy chris]

I hope it's not 'bad manners' to bump up old posts here (it varies from forum to forum) but I came across this while searching, and I think I have the answer to your question.

I'm fairly sure that Wembley's eyes simply rotate on an angle, so his pupils "orbit" the spin axis and move in circles. (Because he tends to bounce around a lot, his eyes seem to have more movement range than they really do.)

I made a diagram a little while ago.

Great post Iscah!! thanks so much for the info!!

cc

 

[Buck-Beaver]

This is (probably) a fairly simple mechanism that is manually operated. I don't believe it would be mounted in the back of the head. While that's possible, it makes very little sense from a puppeteering standpoint. Likely, there would have been some kind of loop or lever that Steve Whitmire could have operated using one his fingers.

If it was a remote control mechanism (which seems unnecessarily complicated) I don't think you would want to mount it in the back of the head because that would throw the balance of the puppet off. You could stash the servo in the puppet's body, much like the Creature Shop often did for characters like the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but again that seems unnecessarily complicated to create such a simple movement.

Simple eye rolling mechs are used commonly in Vent Figures and typically "self-centre" meaning that they can be moved in whatever direction is needed and then when the control is released they return to a fixed "centered" position. It's a very old idea that has been around for (at least) a century. Here's a video of an older mechanism from the 1930s:

Although it's unlikely that this is the exact approach they would have used on Fraggle Rock, the basic principles are the same.

 

[Iscah]

Interesting looking mechanism. Can it make the eyes go round and round repeatedly? Because I'm pretty sure Wembley has done that.

I still think it's more likely that his eyes simply rotate on a point, but I don't know much about puppet building so maybe I just don't know what I'm talking about.

I did read/hear that they used remote-control on some other characters, so I assumed it could have been used for this too. (Mostly larger/full-body characters, come to think of it, though I think the Gelflings had a lot of remote-control details? And I remember the Fraggle Rock behind-the-scenes stuff mentioning they applied stuff they first worked out in Dark Crystal... could have been anything though.)

 

[Buck-Beaver]

Remote control is definitely possible, but you would need a separate head or a separate puppet because of the weight issues. Also, R/C is notoriously buggy and loud, so it can cause sound recording problems.

The eyes could have been mounted on a pivot. Does anyone know where a video clip of this can be found online? I can't remember what exactly the movement looks like.

 

[FoxWorthy]

I often have a hard time finding video and detailed explanations on rolling eye mechanisms. I'm sure it's rather simple but I seem to always end up pulling my hair out once I get thinking about it.
I think Buck is right, I really doubt Wembley had RC worked in to him. I think it was a simple pull on a spring.....now, if I could just figure that out!