Whats Traveling Matt doing in TMTM?

[Fireimps87]

hes sitting with the bears at the wedding scene...did anyone else notice this?(probably...you muppet fans dont miss anything) he does travel everywhere doesnt he?

 

[Wembley]

Congratulations! You've found Travelling Matt's cameo on TMTM.

That little Fraggle sure does get around, doesn't he?

Other "fraggle" cameos include Sprocket making an appearance on MCC, the whole gang appearing in Muppet Family Christmas, and I *think* I remember seeing some of the "miscellaneous" creatures on Sesame Street when I was younger - did that ever happen?

-Rick "Wembley" Miller
..."You can NOT leave the magic!"
(actually it should be you can NOT leave the snow! )

 

[beaker]

Let's hope JHC can refurbish Uncle Matt, as I could definately see him doing some cameos or even tv spots. Uncle Matt seems to be the only Muppet who can traverse time and space itself, existing and going to any universe or canon in JHC land. Hmm, what's next...Bear in the Big Blue House, Mopatop(where a lot of Fraggle and Classic Muppet obscure characters have been spotted) Farscape?

 

[Sidebottom]

See, thing is, for something like the wedding scene in TMTM, you'd want to have characters from lots of different Henson productions -- that's why the cast of Sesame Street is there.

But when it comes to Fraggle Rock, your only options (and I'm talking in terms of real characters, not obscure background creatures) are Sprocket and Travelling Matt. The rest of the Fraggles , Doozers, Gorgs, Trash Heap, etc. are all either within Fraggle Rock (and never leave) or are in the sort of alternative universe that is the Gorgs' Garden.

And I agree, Matt should be (and should have been) in more things.

Incidentally: I was doing an image search for Uncle Travelling Matt, and I found this web site--
http://freespace.virgin.net/greg.taylor1/watched_it/citv.html

It seems that Matt was once a guest host for... well, for whatever this was. Interesting, no? Anybody else ever hear of this?

-Sidebottom

 

[JFP]

Originally posted by beaker
Mopatop(where a lot of Fraggle and Classic Muppet obscure characters have been spotted)

What's Mopatop??? Please tell me!

 

[Luke]

Originally posted by Sidebottom
It seems that Matt was once a guest host for... well, for whatever this was. Interesting, no? Anybody else ever hear of this?

CITV (Childrens ITV) is the brand name for an afternoon programming block on the ITV channel here in the UK. Uncle Travelling Matt presented CITV for a while back in the early 90's, the non-Henson puppet 'Roland Rat' also presented for a while too. They basically recorded links that played out between each show.

Recently CITV had a big 25th birthday party and had an onscreen bash with lots of the old presenters coming back - they showed a quick clip of Travelling Matt presenting the show.

'Moppatops Shop' is a more recent CITV show produced by Henson which has now finished it's run i think. It's actually kinda a UK version of 'Bear In The Big Blue House' and uses a tall dragon type character. Instead of the house you've got his 'shop' where people come in to buy things. Each show you get different customers coming in to buy things from Moppatop and his friends and Henson used all of the past obscure puppets from previous shows like TMS, Fraggle they had stored away in the UK as the customers. There really should be something about this on MC, maybe Warrick and I can get together and submit something some time.

Anyway you can actually watch episodes of this show on the web at :- http://mopatop.carlton.com

 

[Sidebottom]

Originally posted by Luke
CITV (Childrens ITV) is the brand name for an afternoon programming block on the ITV channel here in the UK. Uncle Travelling Matt presented CITV for a while back in the early 90's

The early nineties, eh? So after the run of the series! Cool!

And it was the actual Travelling Matt puppet, actually performed by Dave Goelz???

Did he seem to know what he was doing there, or did he address the kids at home as "Silly Creatures", or do anything funny like that?

There really should be something about [Mopatop] on MC, maybe Warrick and I can get together and submit something some time.

It would be cool if someone could put together a list of all the obscure characters who've appeared on Mopatop's Shop, e.g. Shaky Sanchez, Tosh Fraggle's pet Beast, etc.

-Sidebottom

"Well, I never thought I'd live to see it, but for once they've given us something other than second-rate entertainment."
"What's that?"
"Third-rate entertainment!"

 

[Luke]

The early nineties, eh? So after the run of the series! Cool!

Actually i may have made an error there, it may well have been earlier - but we saw the series a little later here i think.

And it was the actual Travelling Matt puppet, actually performed by Dave Goelz???

Well it had exactly the same voice as the show and they were recorded links so yeah i'm guessing it must have been Dave. Definitely the (or one of the) original puppets.

Did he seem to know what he was doing there, or did he address the kids at home as "Silly Creatures", or do anything funny like that?

I think he knew what he was doing there, it was like an adventure for him and he'd just turned up there. I think yes he addressed the audience as 'silly creatures' and stuff.

It would be cool if someone could put together a list of all the obscure characters who've appeared on Mopatop's Shop, e.g. Shaky Sanchez, Tosh Fraggle's pet Beast, etc.

It's something i'll have to keep talking to Warrick about and we could submit some ideas to Phil sometime - i have a contact with the creator of the show and some other people associated with it so there might be a possibility of an interview, or us getting some kind of episode guide from them. There are over 250 shows i think so a list of obscures might be hard but i think Warrick could certainly put together a page on some of them - maybe with comparison shots of them on the original shows and how they are now on Moppatop - i think he has a lot of them on tape maybe for us to take screencaps at some point.

 

[Janice & Mokey's Man]

Originally posted by Wembley
Other "fraggle" cameos include .....the whole gang appearing in Muppet Family Christmas.....

Well, a cameo is rully brief though, sometimes without any dialogue. So since they had an entire scene (not to mention a song), and another bit later, I think we'd have to consider this one a "minor apperance".

 

[Fozzie Bear]

My life is full of cameos...