Recasts for Fraggle Rock movie

[CensoredAlso]

Well, technically Belle wasn't a princess for ost of her moie. But I find the "Belle (Reprise)" very relatable because I've lived in a podunk little town my whole life and there's nothing I wouldn't give to to have at least a little adventure.

Oh I know they're not all princesses but it's the same old story. Independent free spirited girl wants more. And it was great in the beginning but it really got old. And every time Disney would pretend it was a brand new, creative idea, lol.

 

[Princeton]

After seeing the interstitials for the Hub marathon, I sincerely hope that John Tartaglia is not the official Gobo recast. I love John dearly, but he was not attempting to emulate Jerry in any way.

 

[Vicki Fraggle]

After seeing the interstitials for the Hub marathon, I sincerely hope that John Tartaglia is not the official Gobo recast. I love John dearly, but he was not attempting to emulate Jerry in any way.

I really wish that they had gotten Matt Vogel to do his voice in the recent clips, I do agree though, I adore John, he made a good try. I just think Matt could do it better.

 

[Bliffenstimmers]

I disagree. I think John's done a great job as Gobo so far. Honestly I could barely tell the difference between his and Jerry's voice at first.

 

[Drtooth]

I hate when fans complain about "wrong sounding Muppets."

Remember, when recasting a character, sounding the same isn't the first requirement. If you don't get the character, it doesn't matter if your voice is a complete perfect imitation boarding on forgery. Remember, the requirements (based on observation) are personality, availability, and sounding like them at the very end. Look at how many Scooters we went through to get David Rudman, who's been doing recasts of Richard Hunt characters since before Richard died (Look at Cliff's Nightmare. David was performing Sweetums while Richard was performing a sausage sandwich).

John does sound similar enough to Jerry (he just doesn't have Jerry's signature raspy voice, neither does Matt), but darned if he didn't act like him and have amazing chemistry with Karen Prell's Red. Gobo wasn't some guy playing Gobo that wasn't Jerry... he was Gobo.

That said, if the movie even happens at this point, I'll eat my hat. And trust me... I'm in the mood to eat that hat, but that hat looks very safe.

 

[CensoredAlso]

I hate when fans complain about "wrong sounding Muppets."

Remember, when recasting a character, sounding the same isn't the first requirement.

I don't think people are upset that the voice sounds physically different. It's deeper than that. I remember an interview with some of the original Disney animators saying that changing a voice makes a different personality. It would be like if you or I suddenly had different voices. Even if an actor has a good grasp on a character, they can't recreate another actor's personality. It's just not possible. There will be differences and it's understandable that some fans just wouldn't be interested. You're not going to like every actor who plays a character.

 

[Drtooth]

The best you can get is very very close.

You're stuck with the options of a character being pretty close to the same or just having a huge hole in the cast either going empty or being filled with a character that no one's going to like.

Yet, when Rowlf and Scooter were finally officially recast in the last film, most fans weren't happy with them. They didn't get nearly enough screen time! I never thought retiring characters accomplished anything. It sounds respectful, but then you wind up forgetting they ever existed. And worse, newer generations never get to see these characters. I admit, there are times that it is done out of respect and accomplishes it... not having the Joker in the last Batman film (though I have no idea why he couldn't have been refereed to at least), and retiring Troy MacLure from the Simpsons. I don't think Jim would have wanted the likes of Rowlf and Scooter out of the picture permanently.

As far as voices go, you can't get the same exact performance out of the same actor. Every character goes through a voice transformation, usually from going hyper cartoony to something closer to the actor's natural voice... happened to Bugs Bunny, Homer Simpson, Pinky AND the Brain. And usually the relaxed versions get more emotive.

 

[Oscarfan]

I'm tired of the "Oh, Matt should have all of Jerry's characters" argument; it's completely invalid. YES, Jerry hand-picked him to take over his characters. But let's look at this:

• Steve didn't Rowlf or Dr. Teeth; he wasn't ever recasted as them. Heck, David did the Swedish Chef in MCC. Steve got TWO of Richard's characters.
• Eric didn't get Sam at first or even Cookie Monster

Sure, we'd like to see how Matt would do Gobo, but he doesn't HAVE TO perform him just because he's doing the rest of Jerry's characters. Matt isn't really even involved in the Henson Company's escapades anyway.

Oh, but he doesn't sound the same? Watch the videos again; John actually does the Jerry-type-manipulation of skipping syllables in the mouth movements from time to time. That kind of attention to detail shows he clearly knows his stuff, so don't be so quick to dismiss him.

 

[Vicki Fraggle]

Well, everyone has an opinion, I think it's time to agree to disagree, I'm sure we all feel that the most important thing is to get Fraggle Rock back in to the world, and I am so happy they've done just that. Not everyone has to like who's playing who. And when I comes down to it, when I have my own children, I won't care who's doing the voices as long as the characters are there, spreading the same message of happiness and tolerance. That said, I gracefully bow out of any more recasting arguements.

 

[jvcarroll]

If up to me, the casting would be:

John Tartaglia (He did a pitch-perfect job in the promos!)
Karen Prell (I don't think her fans would have it any other way!)
Dave Goelz (I think he'd come back for it.)
Steve Whitmire (I still view Wembley as Steve's signature character.)
Kathy Mullen (I hope she'd be available.)

David Rudman for Junior and Bill Barretta for Convincing John.

The others, like the Trash Heap, Ma and Pa Gorg, would be filled out as needed.

As for Doc, I think it's important for Gerry Parkes to appear. Maybe they could pair him with a younger actor in order to give him an opportunity to pass the torch when needed. I think it would be great to include the international Docs too. Some sort of inventor's convention could take care of that. Think of all of them in the same room!