Fraggle
Rock film in development
New
movie slated to begin filming in 2006 and will feature the main
Fraggles traveling to "outer space".
By
Greg James
September
20, 2005
The
Jim Henson Company is in the early stages of creating an all new
“Fraggle Rock” feature film. The idea of returning to
Fraggle Rock has been floating around ever since the show ended
in the ‘80s, but now the Henson Company feels that it the
right time to bring the Fraggle’s universe back to life and
reintroduce the world to the funny little creatures known as Fraggles.
Henson responded saying that early work on a Fraggle Rock film is
underway.
Henson
says that the project will find the Fraggles having to come out
into “outer space” (a.k.a. the human world). The group
will have a wild adventure as they find themselves in this weird
and wild new world, far away from Fraggle Rock. Henson has also
stressed that the story will be aimed at both children and young
adults (as they hope to appeal to new young fans, and also the fans
that grew up on the show). The original Fraggle characters are planned
to be the stars of the film. The early work on developing the project
is underway within the Henson Company and they hope to start shooting
sometime next year.
The
company is working to bring back many of the original Fraggle Rock
cast and crew for this project. There is no exact information on
who is “on board” at this time, however some rumblings
say that Jerry Juhl, Jocelyn Stevenson, Brian Henson, Cheryl Henson,
Lisa Henson (among others) have met to discuss the project on several
occasions. Henson states that they are aiming for a 2007 release,
however at this point it could change. Henson is also hoping to
make this a theatrically released film; however the project could
be reduced to TV-movie or direct-to-video status. No director, writers,
or cast have been announced yet.
The
idea for a “Fraggle Rock” movie is not a new one; Jim
Henson had talked several times with Jerry Juhl about producing
a film. However the plans never materialized. Many of the Fraggle
creators, cast and crew are excited about the idea of revisiting
the world, the themes, and the magic of the show. Although the idea
for a Fraggle film is not new, the idea has gained much more support
in the last year.
Upon selling
the Muppets characters to Disney, the Henson Company has been
looking at ways to revive some of their other popular creations. In
January 2005, Henson co-CEO, Brian Henson said that “the studio's
now considering filming new "Fraggle"
material”. Since January, internal support for the idea
grew. Along with the large response for Fraggle products over the
past year (including 6 new DVD releases, including the complete first
season), Henson feels that now is a perfect time for a new production.
Not only would it appeal to the fans (who are now able to rediscover
the classic show on DVD), but a new production could be just the thing
to really re-launch the Fraggles and draw in a new generation to the
world of the Fraggles.
The
company is already working strong to continue and revive many of
their popular fantasy-world and sci-fi franchises; however they
are also hoping to get back on top by reestablishing their power
in family entertainment. They hope that a “Fraggle Rock”
feature film will be a good step in the right direction –
thoughts of even creating a new Fraggle Rock television show have
been mentioned (however, Henson wants to see how the response to
a new movie is before they start over committing themselves).
More
information on this project as it comes; but fans should watch out
for the return of the rock with an all new “Fraggle Rock”
production.
MORE
FRAGGLE NEWS
• Fraggles return
for Ben Folds Five video
• Fraggle Rock returns to US TV on The Hub beginning October 10
• Fraggle
Rock "Scared Silly" DVD debuts September 14
• "Wembley's Egg Surprise" arrives
on DVD February 9
• Fraggle Season 4 and more Fraggles coming to DVD
• "The Doozers" preschool
series under development
• HIT announces Fraggle Rock Complete Series DVD Collection
• Red Fraggle live at Comic Con 2008
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