UK version

[MJTaylor]

I was just wondering why Fraggle Rock was changed for the UK. At least we in Australia got the original version with Garry Parkes as Doc.

 

[luvtosr]

It wasn't just changed for the British, the French had a chef and Sprocket was called something like Croquette and the Germans had a different Doc.

I think it may have been done so that the kids of the respective countries could imagine that Fraggle Rock might be somewhere near them. America is a long way away, and seemed further in the eighties when I was little and having Fraggle Rock open into a British lighthouse really brought the magic home for us. When I was little I used to imagine going down to our light house and finding a Fraggle Hole(even though it looks a bit different to the lighthouse in FR). I don't know if I would have done that sort of thing if I had seen the US version because it wouldn't have seemed quite as real to me, if you get what I mean.

I can't say why Australia didn't get it's own version though.

I don't think that the UK version is lesser to the US version in anyway though and it can be interesting to compare episodes from both to see how certain things were handled and also the differences in Travelling Matt's postcards.

 

[Beauregard]

Did Dave Goelz travel around doign Uncle Matt in the various countries??? And was Sprocket performed by the proper person in each country???

 

[Punch'n'Judy]

Sprocket, in the UK, was performed by David Barclay and Geoff Felix, and they certainly made use of UK locations (the lighthouse etc), presumably, as mentioned earlier, to make it seem closer to home and more 'real'.

 

[Frags]

I don't think Dave Goelz went globe-hopping with Uncle Matt. If you look on the Down at Fraggle Rock documentory, Jim Henson says something about with the help of our international workshops etc, Matt can travel all over the globe. So I think it might've been a different puppeteer for each country or something. I know he did all the voices though - well, in English - don't know who did the dubbing for other languages.

 

[Skekayuk]

Sprocket, in the UK, was performed by David Barclay and Geoff Felix, and they certainly made use of UK locations (the lighthouse etc), presumably, as mentioned earlier, to make it seem closer to home and more 'real'.

I thought the Sproket Assistant for the UK version was Mike Quinn, at least it was in the early episodes.

Who did Travelling Matt in the UK bits?
Its fairly well known (I think) that Louise Gold puppeteered Gobo in the UK skits and Jerry Nelson looped the voice on afterwards.

 

[Punch'n'Judy]

Geoff certainly was assistant to Dave (i've seen the photos), whilst I think Mike did Sprocket for the French/German stuff, however I may be wrong. Will ask Geoff tomorrow. In the meantime if anyone can shed any more light I would be very interested.

 

[Muppetsdownunder]

I wondered about that too because Ive seen a clip with travelling matt at a Sydney location and wondered if it was the real muppeteer or someone from Australia with the voice dubbed. I don't know if any of the muppeteers have been to Sydney or not.

 

[Punch'n'Judy]

We were both right, kind of. The earlier episodes were Louise Gold and Mike Quinn whilst the Simon O'Brien episodes were Dave Barclay and Geoff. Felix.

Hope this is of some use.

James

 

[Skekayuk]

Thanks for clearing that little mystery up.

Emma