Questions for Fraggle's Terry Angus

[Rugby]

Hi Terry. I'm the guy that adopted Randall the Red-Nosed Monster. He's still doing fine and had a great Christmas last year and sends you his belated Christmas well-wishes.

I figured I'd throw in a few questions while I was here: As someone that has always dreamed of meeting and working with Jim Henson and the Muppets, I'm wondering what it must have felt like to actually be there and do it. Does it all seem like a dream? Was the whole experience surreal? Was there a lot of pressure working for the Henson company? (One of my brother's friends said she didn't much enjoy working for Sesame Live stitching muppet parts up.) And finally, are you a little bummed out to not be a part of it all anymore?

Congrats Terry for living the dream we all have wished for. I would have felt like I just won the lottery hearing Jim Henson tell me I'm hired. Awesome stuff!

 

[Gorgon Heap]

Thanks Frogster, There where so many episodes that I liked. A couple of my favorites are “Born To Wonder” as I really enjoyed playing two versions of The Storyteller, “The Bells Of Fraggle Rock” I loved the song we did for the closing credits and “The Day The Music Died”. I liked “I Don’t Care” as I think that’s when the stories really started hitting their stride. Oh Boober Rock was another one I liked as I enjoyed playing one of many Boobers. Loved the washtub scene. I liked “Wembley’s Flight” and I liked “Wembley and The Mean Genie” episode. Heck! There are a lot I liked. Now as for songs you’ve given me a hard choice there too as there where lots of songs that I liked. Junior’s song “How wide, How Far, How Long”, Most of the songs that Karen did as Red. “Free And High” from “Wembley’s Flight”, finally the big song that I can’t remember the name but I think it’s ‘We Are The Children Of Tomorrow” from the episode “A Tune For Two”. The list could go on and on but I think I’ll stop here and move on to the next topic. Thanks again Frogster.

All those episodes you listed are among my favorites, too. I haven't seen "Boober Rock" yet, but all the others. My list also includes "Marooned", "The Secret of Convincing John", "The Beanbarrow, the Burden, and the Bright Bouquet", and the final trilogy of episodes, and lots more, actually. I think you're right about "I Don't Care", IMO that has to be one of the all-time best FR scripts. Such a shame Carol Bolt only ever wrote one episode. Anybody know why that is?

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

 

[Fighbird]

It would be nice to see more behind the scenes footage but I don’t believe there was very much done in the way of behind the scenes aside from the Making of episode and that’s in the first DVD set.

I have no idea whether this will reach the right people (i.e. the ones actually working on the boxsets), but I know of some original behind-the-scenes material, that very few fans have ever seen.

In the mid-80s, a german TV-show for kids were fulfilling children's dreams as first prizes (like taking a lucky kid on a real hot-air baloon ride or steering a real train -- stuff like that), and one of the kids wanted to visit Fraggle Rock. I remember being jealous as heck, as they showed footage of Jim guiding the kid around the elevated sets. Although a short segment (AFAIR; it's been 20 years), it could possibly be a fun bonus.

The show was called "1, 2 oder 3", and aired on the TV-station called "ZDF". Can't remember the exact year it was broadcast, but it was definitely during the original host of the show, Michael Schanze, and definitely before production on FR ceased.

Don't know if anyone cares, but I thouhgt I'd mention it just the same.

 

[ButchCat]

Well guys I’ve been very busy lately but I am back again to answer your questions first we’ll start off with Vic Romano who asked:

without being too intrusive, did working on FR allow you to have a comfortable living?

HI Vic,

Thanks for your letter and I am glad that you liked the work we all did on Fraggle. I must admit I was not sure if I should answer this question or even how to answer it. I guess to start of the answer would be a yes and a no. I did ok at the time of doing the production. Keep in mind that most of us Canadians where hired mainly as Background Fraggles and the pay for that was so, so. When you got upgraded to a prince able the pay was much better. So anytime I did the Storyteller or Brio or if Morris had any lines my pay would be much more. Then the next week I would be back as a background Fraggle.

When Blizzard Island came along I was two central characters as well as I did a few one shot characters. For that show I got paid very well. However when you get good money like the government comes along and takes over half of your earnings so the government really loved me that year and I lost a lot of money. It would not have been not so bad if there where more seasons of Blizzard Island but that was not to be and I ended up not getting as much work as I would have liked. From that point on it’s been a lot of ups and downs and I mainly make enough to just get by on.

I hope that helps to answer your question Vic and thanks again.

Now Rugby Tiger’s letter

I'm wondering what it must have felt like to actually be there and do it. Does it all seem like a dream? Was the whole experience surreal? Was there a lot of pressure working for the Henson company? (One of my brother's friends said she didn't much enjoy working for Sesame Live stitching muppet parts up.) And finally, are you a little bummed out to not be a part of it all anymore?

Hey Rugby, I’m very glad that Randall is doing well and I hope that you’re having a lot of fun with him. First off I am sorry that your brother’s friend did not have a good experience working on Sesame live. Stitching/building puppets is not as fun to me as performing them.

My experience with the Henson Company was indeed like winning the lottery. Like everything in life there where bad days and there where good days and the only one that ever gave me pressure working was myself. If I did anything wrong I was always real hard on myself and I always thought to my self “Well they’ll never have me do a speaking role again.” But I did do more speaking parts like the Storyteller and Brio. Thanks for your letter Rugby it was good hearing from you again.

All those episodes you listed are among my favorites, too. I haven't seen "Boober Rock" yet, but all the others. My list also includes "Marooned", "The Secret of Convincing John", "The Beanbarrow, the Burden, and the Bright Bouquet", and the final trilogy of episodes, and lots more, actually. I think you're right about "I Don't Care", IMO that has to be one of the all-time best FR scripts. Such a shame Carol Bolt only ever wrote one episode. Anybody know why that is?

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

Hey David, I forgot about “Marooned” that’s another one of my favorites. By the way check out “I Don’t Care” as I got Morris in two shots in the same scene. One moment he’s behind Boober and then he’s sitting on top of a couple of books being part of the “I swear” song. That show is where I created Morris. Take a step back one episode to “We Love You Wembley” and I have the Morris puppet playing a saxophone before I came up with the idea of putting glasses on him. The “We Love You Wembley” episode was the week that the Canadian puppeteers where asked to create our own background characters. My original idea was to have Morris be a cub reporter for the Fraggle news. So in the “Marooned” episode check his pocket and you’ll see that he has a pad in his pocket. It wasn’t long that I had dropped the reporter idea and he was just my own background character. Ops sorry I got carried away again.

Sadly David I do not know why that was the only episode that she ever wrote as like you said it was a very good episode.

Well I guess that’s it for now. I’ll answer fighbird’s question next week because I’ve got to get my bags packed for my flight tomorrow. I’m flying to London Ontario for a week and I’ll be back on Friday so till then take care one and all.

Terry Angus

 

[dbarrie]

Hi Terry,

We met over 20 years ago when you visited Sunny View Public School in Toronto, a school for children with disabilities. You might remember me as the kid who brought his Kermit and Fozzie hand puppets for the occasion! I have remained a Muppets fan throughout the years, and I am wondering what you are doing to promote the Fraggle Rock DVDs?

We had a photo taken during your visit, and I intend to upload it to my computer soon to share with everyone here.

Great to see you in the forum!

DB (Donald Barrie)

 

[Gorgon Heap]

Hey David, I forgot about “Marooned” that’s another one of my favorites. By the way check out “I Don’t Care” as I got Morris in two shots in the same scene. One moment he’s behind Boober and then he’s sitting on top of a couple of books being part of the “I swear” song.

I do remember that. They were two consecutive shots, too.

That show is where I created Morris.

Thought so, it's the first I remember seeing him.

Take a step back one episode to “We Love You Wembley” and I have the Morris puppet playing a saxophone before I came up with the idea of putting glasses on him. The “We Love You Wembley” episode was the week that the Canadian puppeteers where asked to create our own background characters. My original idea was to have Morris be a cub reporter for the Fraggle news. So in the “Marooned” episode check his pocket and you’ll see that he has a pad in his pocket. It wasn’t long that I had dropped the reporter idea and he was just my own background character. Ops sorry I got carried away again.

Sadly David I do not know why that was the only episode that she ever wrote as like you said it was a very good episode.[/QUOTE]

Yet she did get involved in Blizzard Island. How did so many FR alums come to work on that show? Is it just a small community among folks in Canadian children's entertainment, or was it the same people organizing things?

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

 

[MuppetDude]

By the way check out “I Don’t Care” as I got Morris in two shots in the same scene. One moment he’s behind Boober and then he’s sitting on top of a couple of books being part of the “I swear” song. That show is where I created Morris. Take a step back one episode to “We Love You Wembley” and I have the Morris puppet playing a saxophone before I came up with the idea of putting glasses on him. The “We Love You Wembley” episode was the week that the Canadian puppeteers where asked to create our own background characters. My original idea was to have Morris be a cub reporter for the Fraggle news. So in the “Marooned” episode check his pocket and you’ll see that he has a pad in his pocket. It wasn’t long that I had dropped the reporter idea and he was just my own background character. Ops sorry I got carried away again.

Don't worry about getting carried away; we Muppet fans love those "behind the scenes" stories. Here's my question:

In the above quote you mentioned that the Canadian Muppeteers were allowed to create their own characters, giving birth to Morris. Were there any other Fraggle characters like this (Tosh and Henchy come to mind.)? If you remember, who performed which puppet?

 

[Fighbird]

Feeling a bit guilty that my post didn't really contain any questions to you per se, Terry, I thought I'd make a proper one. Having just seen "Follow that bird" for the first time less than 2 minutes ago as I write this, I noticed your name in the credits (which I didn't know about). My question at hand is:

Can you tell us a bit about working on "Follow that bird" -- which scenes/character you were involved with, what the people/performers were like to work with, and how much it differed (if at all) from the Fraggle production in terms of people involved/settings/characters?

Thank you in advance!

PS: Lila and Humphrey monster sends their love to you, Terry!

 

[Effralyo]

Hi Terry,
Tell me please, does Murray the Minstrel have a tail? (I'd posted in FR section a thread about it before, simply because didn't know about this thread...sah-ree...) I want to draw him, but have to ask about it to do it properly.
~Eff

 

[Gorgon Heap]

Don't worry about getting carried away; we Muppet fans love those "behind the scenes" stories. Here's my question:

In the above quote you mentioned that the Canadian Muppeteers were allowed to create their own characters, giving birth to Morris. Were there any other Fraggle characters like this (Tosh and Henchy come to mind.)? If you remember, who performed which puppet?

I recall that Trish Leeper was Tosh and John Pattison was Henchy, but I don't know if that answers your question per se.

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole