Video: Ben Folds Five and the Fraggles sing "Do It Anyway"

[minor muppetz]

This was unexpected. But good to know that all of the main Fraggles have been rebuilt. I recall back in 2001 somebody said that Henson wouldn't rebuild the Fraggles again unless they were going to be used on a regular basis (well Red kind of has been used on a regular basis).

This is so much better than the Muppets appearing in the Go Fish video with Weezer. And I like the Muppets better than Fraggle Rock. In both cases the music videos were for songs that otherwise have no Muppet/Henson connection, the songs weren't written with Muppet characters in mind, and the music videos have moments where the Muppets appear to be singing with the bands (though it's really just lip-syncing). Of course the Muppets have always been there, and at the time of the Weezer video many Muppet productions were hit-or-miss. The Fraggles haven't been as active as the Muppets, not even when the show was on the air, so maybe that makes this better.

The lack of Fraggle dialogue during the song is more acceptable. It's clear that not many of the original performers were there. Steve Whitmire (and Dave Goelz, who still managed to lend his voice) might be busy with the Muppets, and I'm not sure what might have kept Kathy Mullen from doing this (is she still performing?).

I know that Jerry Nelson trained Matt Vogel to perform his characters, and I think he helped Matt prepare for a number of speciffic characters. I wonder if he gave any advice on performing Gobo or his other FR characters? Aside from maybe the movie which may or may not get made Jerry Nelson might not have thought there'd be a new Gobo appearance.

I hope somebody can get a Henson isnider to confirm who all performed in this. I believe somebody contacted Karen Falk when the Weezer video was released and got a listing of performers from that video (but no answer on who performed Statler, who we later learned was Steve).

 

[Collgoff]

This was unexpected. But good to know that all of the main Fraggles have been rebuilt. I recall back in 2001 somebody said that Henson wouldn't rebuild the Fraggles again unless they were going to be used on a regular basis (well Red kind of has been used on a regular basis).

This is so much better than the Muppets appearing in the Go Fish video with Weezer. And I like the Muppets better than Fraggle Rock. In both cases the music videos were for songs that otherwise have no Muppet/Henson connection, the songs weren't written with Muppet characters in mind, and the music videos have moments where the Muppets appear to be singing with the bands (though it's really just lip-syncing). Of course the Muppets have always been there, and at the time of the Weezer video many Muppet productions were hit-or-miss. The Fraggles haven't been as active as the Muppets, not even when the show was on the air, so maybe that makes this better.

The lack of Fraggle dialogue during the song is more acceptable. It's clear that not many of the original performers were there. Steve Whitmire (and Dave Goelz, who still managed to lend his voice) might be busy with the Muppets, and I'm not sure what might have kept Kathy Mullen from doing this (is she still performing?).

I know that Jerry Nelson trained Matt Vogel to perform his characters, and I think he helped Matt prepare for a number of speciffic characters. I wonder if he gave any advice on performing Gobo or his other FR characters? Aside from maybe the movie which may or may not get made Jerry Nelson might not have thought there'd be a new Gobo appearance.

I hope somebody can get a Henson isnider to confirm who all performed in this. I believe somebody contacted Karen Falk when the Weezer video was released and got a listing of performers from that video (but no answer on who performed Statler, who we later learned was Steve).

I pray that Matt will do Gobo's voice well!

 

[Oscarfan]

Matt's done a fine job and all, but have guys ever thought that OTHER performers can do some of Jerry's characters? Eric didn't get all of Frank's - Dave's got Cookie. Jim's characters are scattered Steve, Bill and Dave. I mean, Eric's been doing Guy Smiley. Would anyone have thought of him? As I said, Matt's doing splendidly and I'm very grateful he's getting these characters back in the forefront, but I want to what other performers have in them. You'd be surprised what they can do.

 

[minor muppetz]

Matt's done a fine job and all, but have guys ever thought that OTHER performers can do some of Jerry's characters? Eric didn't get all of Frank's - Dave's got Cookie. Jim's characters are scattered Steve, Bill and Dave. I mean, Eric's been doing Guy Smiley. Would anyone have thought of him? As I said, Matt's doing splendidly and I'm very grateful he's getting these characters back in the forefront, but I want to what other performers have in them. You'd be surprised what they can do.

I know. These days it seems many of Frank, Richard, and Jerry's characters have been taken over almost exclusively by one performer each, in contrasts to the early days of recasting when they'd assign the characters to different performers, I guess based on how well they could perform/voice them. Even then, while David Rudman took over some of Richard's characters almost right away and has taken over more of his characters in recent years, it seems David Rudman doesn't do that many of Richard's characters (and even with John Henson no longer performing for the Muppets they had Matt Vogel take over as Sweetums as opposed to David Rudman).

Of course some of Jerry's characters have been performed by others besides Matt. Peter Linz performed Droop in "Scratching the Surface". Although he didn't get any lines Tyler Bunch performed Thog in all his scenes in The Muppets. I feel there's another Jerry Nelson character who has been performed by somebody else but can't remember who off-hand (and I'm not talking about Statler).

Makes me wonder if they'll have one understudy for all of Steve's characters when the time comes (assuming he doesn't have an understudy now), as well as for Dave and Kevin and so on. I'm surprised that Matt has never been an understudy for Oscar.

 

[Pinkflower7783]

When I first saw this it literally almost brought tears to me eyes as someone who was way more into Fraggle Rock as a kid then Muppets this was just awesome!!!

 

[Mike Quinn]

Great to see this.
Lots of smart observations from the fans here. I personally think the puppets are actually looking pretty good and accurate. Sometimes they look a little different depending upon how you hold your hand inside their heads.
Let's hope this helps to bring on more live action Fraggles!

 

[RedPiggy]

While I was disappointed to hear no one speak but Matt at the beginning and Red's buried in the rest singing at the end, but if it turns out it was basically just Dave Goelz and Karen Prell, I must say that whoever did the puppeteering for the rest did a dang fine job. Mokey is dreamy. Gobo has that sense of awe and wonder about him. Wembley takes some time to start rocking out but he does. I was very impressed.

 

[Collgoff]

Great to see this.
Lots of smart observations from the fans here. I personally think the puppets are actually looking pretty good and accurate. Sometimes they look a little different depending upon how you hold your hand inside their heads.
Let's hope this helps to bring on more live action Fraggles!

Me too Mike!
But where have you been?
We been waiting for months for next episode.

 

[theSHE124]

Matt's done a fine job and all, but have guys ever thought that OTHER performers can do some of Jerry's characters? Eric didn't get all of Frank's - Dave's got Cookie. Jim's characters are scattered Steve, Bill and Dave. I mean, Eric's been doing Guy Smiley. Would anyone have thought of him? As I said, Matt's doing splendidly and I'm very grateful he's getting these characters back in the forefront, but I want to what other performers have in them. You'd be surprised what they can.

You gotta good point there, Oscarman. I've been saying it before, but the way I see it, whoever does Gobo must be called by the spirit of rock and roll. Why? Because Jerry Nelson was a rocker--to the core!!
Hope y'all been seeing the other posts I've put down.

 

[beaker]

This should be up to 20 pages. Dear goodness, FRAGGLE ROCK IS OFFICIALLY BACK. After a few Red Fraggle in person cameos and the Fraggle Rock return at Carnegie Hall, an *actual* official new Fraggle Rock produced thing...in how long? Since what, Uncle Matt and Cotterpin were on The Today Show in 1992? So magical, have to say overall fun wise I liked this even more than OK Go. It not only didn't come off as forced or awkward, it came off as a no brainer with how the concept of FR STILL works. And that these guys have to be back in an official capacity

And if JHC reps can see this: PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE make a series of nerdist channel Uncle Matt segments for youtube!