The RHLC!

[Muppet Newsgirl]

I've been away for the weekend, visiting my grandmother in NJ. She's feeling better, happily, but she's none too pleased about her roommate at the rehab center. I've also been trying my hand at another Muppet fanfic.

Ah, Scred. A face only a mother - and Lily Tomlin and Gilda Radner and Queen Peuta - could love. And later on, Lily commented that she felt rather "winsome" holding Scred's rose. It is a priceless moment.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Aw, glad you're Grandmother's doing better. What a coincidence, I was visiting my Grandma at a rehab center/rest home today. She had the flu the last time I visited so I was pretty worried. But thankfully, she was fine today and happy to see us.

Good luck on your fanfic!

Well I finally (and obviously) got my Christmas presents, hehe. Including the ones I ordered for myself from Amazon, the Fraggle book and movie book for MTM. I also ordered the movie book for GMC, but unfortunately it got lost in the mail. Hopefully I can try ordering it again at some point.

Coincidentally, and I didn't even realize this until now, both books were written by the same author, Danny Abelson.

The Fraggle book is entitled If I Were King of the Universe. Of course, we can gather who the focus of the story is, hehe. Abelson does an excellent job; you can definitely picture Junior saying and doing all these things. The plot is basically Junior Gorg telling us how sometimes he gets tired of doing his chores and wishes he was King of the Universe. Some highlights include:

"Hello there! Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Junior Gorg. My Pa is King of the Universe, and my Ma is Queen. So that makes me Prince of the Universe! Ma and Pa spend most of their time ruling over all the Gorgs. Don't they make a handsome couple?"

"I have to do most of the chores around here. I wash the royal windows, I polish Pa's armor...I guard the castle in case of attack, I'm the court jester, and I even take care of the royal accounts." (Complete with a picture of Junior sitting at a desk with a vision and feather quill!)

"But my favorite chore of all is gardening. I grow the biggest, juiciest, most beautiful radishes in the entire universe! If the universe held a radish-growing competition, I know my radishes would win first prize, second prize, and third prize."

"That's why I get so mad at those pesky Fraggles. They're always coming into my garden and running off with my radishes. Hey, Fraggles! Come back here!" (A couple nice cameos by the Fraggle Five, hehe. Also Junior with a butterfly net, reminds me of Spongebob lol)

"If I were king, all the other Gorgs would bow down to me and obey my ever command! (That is, they would if there were any other Gorgs besides Ma, pa, and me.)" (Nice pictures of different kinds of Gorgs, makes you wish they'd done that on the show hehe)

"Instead of stealing my radishes, the Fraggles would all work for me. I'd make them do the gardening. That way, I could play all day long!" (Kinda sad seeing the Fraggles picking up the heavy radishes. I'm glad it didn't come to that on the show!)

"Ma would serve me breakfast in bed, and I could eat all the things she says are bad for me--even chocolate pudding topped with marshmallows and strawberries. Yum!" (They should have mentioned something with garlic! )

"I would lie around all day long if I felt like it, just talking to my toes in the sun. Hello, toes! How are you feeling today?" (I can completely hear Junior saying this! Lol)

"I would stay up late every night, and make Ma and Pa go to bed before nine. They would obey me, because I would be Junior Gorg, King of the Universe!" (Wow, I never actually seen Junior literally look angry before!)

"And then I'd...and then I'd...I'd...You know, I simply can't think of a thing to do next. Can you? I spent the whole day watching Ma and Pa do the chores and the Fraggles do the gardening. Everybody was doing something except for me. Now everybody is asleep and the truth is...I'm board!"

"I guess I like doing my chores. Chasing Fraggles is really a lot of fun. What's more, Ma and Pa really depend on me...So I guess I'll go back to being plain Junior Gorg. I'll take care of the radishes, eat oatmeal for breakfast, and be in bed at nine. Ma and Pa will be proud of me!...After all, being Prince of the Universe isn't all that bad!" (Wembley can be observed in the corner of the last page, stealing a Radish, hehe).

Such an adorable story. Though I did note something interesting. It's pretty obvious that the book is aimed at children, and part of the message seems to be "listen your parents." That is a very good message of course. But on the show itself, we are constantly taught that Junior's parents are doing more harm than good to their son. And that as you grow up, you have to learn when to think for yourself and not just rely on your parents.

Plus, the idea that Junior should be happy with simply being Prince of the Universe and doing all his chores. I guess the message is, "be happy with who you are." And I do agree that Junior would be bored as King of the Universe. But on the other hand, he'll never be happy constantly obeying Pa's endless chores, lol.

Though of course, the book is written a bit tongue in cheek, considering we are talking about the supposed "villians" of Fraggle Rock.

 

[Muppet Newsgirl]

I know - and besides, Junior's played by Richard Hunt, so he can't be all THAT bad, can he?

Chasing the Fraggles or playing with them is kind of Junior's raison d'etre, so perhaps he would be bored as king...and correct me if I'm wrong, but doesn't he get rid of the crown in "The Gorg Who Would Be King?"

And the message of "obey your parents..." if my children's lit professor read that book, she'd immediately put it into the "patronizing" category. The plotlines of some of the FR episodes would be a little more productive, by comparison.

Thanks; the fanfic's coming along okay - I managed to get a little bit posted tonight.

 

[CensoredAlso]

That's right, he does get rid of the crown in "The Gorg Who Would be King."

SPOILER



When Junior is shrunk down to Fraggle size, he eventually discovers how all the species are connected through their mutual love of Radishes. He decides that the Universe seems to work pretty well without anyone bossing it around. So his proclamation as King is that there will be no more kings! (And thus Fraggle Rock becomes a democracy!...pretty soon the Gorgs will start charging the Fraggles for Radishes! Lol)

Junior Gorg is such a unique character, and probably Richard's baby, from what we have heard, lol. It's not often you get the opportunity to perform and develop such a complex character, and also get to tell his entire story from beginning to end.

 

[Muppet Newsgirl]

"It wasn't as much fun, though, as working Junior Gorg, who is one of the easier characters I've ever developed because he came a lot from me." Yes, the big, shaggy, 473-year-old grower of radishes and hunter of "Fwaggles" is very closely connected with the tall, trim, curly-haired (and not too bad-looking ) boy from the Bronx. And there is that photo of Junior with Richard and Rob, all gleefully mugging for the camera...great photo.

And again, I'll bet Richard must have been kind of sad when he heard that someone else would be doing the voice of his Junior for the animated FR. And I've heard a snippet of the animated opening...Richard's Junior voice is the superior one by far.

 

[Muppet Newsgirl]

Well, gang, I'm on New York time, so let me post the first RHLC message of '08. Happy New Year, everyone.

(up in heaven, on the Muppet crew's cloud)

Joe: (at piano) Should auld acquaintance be...uh, what's the next line?
Jim: (chuckle) Be forgot and never brought to mind.
Christine: What's the matter, Joe, you forgetting the lyrics as well as acquaintances?
Richard: I still don't understand Bobby Burns, myself.
Eren: Careful; he's on that cloud over there with Walter Scott.
Richard: That's nice. (opening a bottle of champagne) A toast! A toast!
Jerry Juhl: Richard, for heaven's sake, point that away from us; you nearly took my eye out last year. And Don, where are you going with those fireworks?
Don: Where do you think?
Jim: Come on, everyone, let's all have a toast and make merry...
Richard: So we may wake up tomorrow with splitting headaches like our mortal brethren in Times Square.
Eren: Well, maybe not to that extreme. This is a family forum, after all.
Jerry: But I have so much planned for us tomorrow morning...
Don: Good grief, you really want us to throw our pillows at you tomorrow, don't you? Our aims have improved, you know...

(party ensues)

 

[CensoredAlso]

Hehehe, that's so cute. I imagine when people talk of "drinking and making merry" in Heaven, they actually mean it (minus the Earthly nonesense hehe).

 

[Muppet Newsgirl]

And as we've said, heaven probably got a little wackier when Muppet crew members started coming in. I don't believe that being dead has stopped them from being silly.

Jerry: Oh...what a headache.
Jim: Too much to drink last night?
Jerry: No...when I woke the others up this morning, they all threw their pillows at me.
Jim: Well, Mr. Juhl, we can't say they didn't warn you.

 

[CensoredAlso]

Haha, I know how they feel! I was up til 2:30am last night watching PBS' tributes to Monty Python. By the end, I couldn't see at all; my vision was completely blurry. And it didn't get better until the next day (I was positive I'd gone blind, lol)!

Yeah, to me the idea that the After Life must be boring is a miconception. Though obviously, it's a hard concept to speculate upon, hehe.

Personally, when I think of Heaven, three things come to mind. One a quote from the book Siddhartha:

"Deeply, he bowed, touching the ground, before him who was sitting motionlessly, whose smile reminded him of everything he had ever loved in his life, what had ever been valuable and holy to him in his life."

Two moments from All Dogs Go to Heaven (remember that film? Hehe)

Anne-Marie: Charlie, will I ever see you again?
Charlie: Sure you will, kid. You know goodbyes aren't forever.
Anne-Marie: Then goodbye, Charlie. I love you.
Charlie: Yep... I love you too.

Charlie: Hey! I know we're all dead up here, but so's the music. How about heating it up?
Whippet Angel: Honey, you know it!
[Upbeat gospel music plays]
Charlie: That's nice. That's nice.

(I can easily hear Junior Gorg saying that, hehe)

Finally, the 1952 Disney cartoon "Susie, The Little Blue Coupe", about a happy little car named Susie. She was the fatest car, had a great owner/driver, and a happy life. But then she started getting old and was sent to a used car lot. She was briefly bought by a gangster and got into all sort of trouble. Finally, she ended up at a dump, old and all alone. Until finally, a young teenager in need of a car fixes and revives her until she's finally back to her own self again, enjoying her second chance at life.

"She felt 50 thousand miles younger...Yippeeeee! It was a miracle...that's what it was. And it couldn't have happened to a nicer little car."

http://youtube.com/watch?v=hkCQaN4Vugs

I urge anyone to watch the golden years of Disney!

(A car that costs $12.50? Sheesh, I miss the '50s...and I wasn't even there!)

 

[Muppet Newsgirl]

I know; in heaven they should be able to let you sleep in. (looks up) But Richard, get some rest, okay? I need you and Jim to be on a train with the other Muppet performers sometime in the next few days. (it's for the fanfic I'm working on, you know)

"Hey! Pick up the tempo, will you? I like a funeral dirge you can dance to!" Very true...wonder why they didn't do that one at Jim's memorial?

It's a hard concept, I guess, because we're all accustomed to the mortal world and all its assorted cares and chaos. But then again, there's so much that, due to our being human, we can't quite put our fingers on. We'll only figure it all out once we're on our way to heaven, I guess...

And, hmm...we're talking about the afterlife because we're visualizing the Muppet crew celebrating the new year up in heaven...but I wonder if it's also because of what's on the 7th.