Let's Watch This: An Episode of "Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series"

1983 saw the premiere of a show called Fraggle Rock.

Fraggle Rock featured a cast of colorful Muppets - silly lizard-esque characters called Fraggles, tiny ant-like beings called Doozers, and lumbering fellas called Gorgs. They did stuff, sang songs, taught lessons to the kids watching at home and all that. Like its brothers Sesame Street and The Muppet Show, it was a rousing success and got a total of FIVE SEASONS. Now a reboot of the show can be found on Apple TV. There's also been comic books, a spinoff CGI series starring the Doozers, and merchandise up the wazoo. A Fraggle Rock movie was even announced in 2005 - and never happened.

But before any of this, there was another edition of Fraggle Rock. After the original show ended in 1987, somebody said, "Hey, what if we made a version of the show that was ANIMATED?". The result was Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series.

As its name suggests, this was basically the same thing as the original live action Fraggle Rock... but it was animated. You still had your Fraggles, your Doozers, your Gorgs. There were still songs. In its original run on NBC, episodes of the show were bookended by segments featuring Uncle Traveling Matt (for those who don't know who that is, please watch the original show) as his usual puppet self as opposed to the animated version that appeared in the episodes themselves. Thirteen episodes were made, and then I guess somebody said, "Why are we making this when people could just watch the original version?" and it got the axe. Then reruns aired on the Disney Channel for a while. While none of the puppeteers reprised their roles, the show had an impressive voice cast: Bob Bergen as Wembley, Townsend Coleman as Gobo, Barbara Goodson as Red, Mona Marshall as Mokey, and Rob Paulsen as my personal favorite Fraggle, Boober.

Is Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series any good? I don't know. And you know what that means - we'll be watching an episode of the show to see if it's good or bad. So, let's head down to Fraggle Rock!

This is another one of those "two segments per episode" shows, so the first episode we'll be watching is "Big Trouble For a Little Fraggle".

The episode wastes no time in filling us in on as to what the plot is gonna be - Wembley is bummed that he's not taller. Gobo tries to cheer him up by pointing out that the Doozers' small size doesn't stop them from getting things done. Before Wembley can reply, Boober runs in with what he thinks is a "magical wishing stone".

"Hey, Boober, I just thought of something... how can you see when your eyes are
covered by your hair?"

Boober warns Wembley to be careful when making a wish on it, or he might explode. Now, about five seconds ago Wembley was lamenting his height. So, do you think that he's going to wish...

A) For a million dollars

B) For a Ferrari

OR C) To be larger

­For those of you that picked A or B... I would highly recommend watching more Fraggle Rock (Fraggles have no use for money and they do not drive cars. Unless the cars look like giant vegetables).

Yes, Wembley wishes to be bigger than he is at the moment. It doesn't work, though, so apparently the "magical wishing rock" is just a normal rock. On the bright side, at least it didn't make Wembley explode. To cheer him up, Gobo invites Wembley to go with him to outer space.

Wow, you really DO need to watch more Fraggle Rock.

No, "outer space" is merely what the Fraggles call the world outside of Fraggle Rock, where "silly creatures" (that's what they call human beings) live. Gobo bravely ventures into "outer space" - that is, the workshop of Doc (John Stephenson) and his dog Sprocket (Rob Paulsen) - every day to get a postcard from his Uncle Traveling Matt. Everybody got that?

Speaking of Doc and Sprocket, at the moment Doc is informing Sprocket that they haven't received any good mail today, just bills. Unlike the Fraggles, Sprocket didn't translate all that well into animation. Here's how he looks in the live action Fraggle Rock:

And here's how he looks in the cartoon:

Anyhow, Doc points out that they got a postcard for someone named "Gobo", much to his confusion, and throws it in the wastebasket. I believe that this cartoon takes place before the last episode of the show, where Doc found out about the Fraggles and actually met Gobo (Sprocket had met Gobo and the other Fraggles in a previous episode). Sprocket, it seems, also has Height Angst today because some dude named Ned Shimmelflinty called him small.

I believe the "outer space" segments use live action photographs for backgrounds, with
the animated characters pasted on. Interesting.

Gobo identifies Sprocket as the "Hairy Monster". No, no, Gobo, I believe that you have Sprocket confused with another Muppet. THIS is the "Hairy Monster":

NOTE: I'm perfectly aware that his name is HERRY Monster, not HAIRY Monster. My calling him "the Hairy Monster" was just a joke.

Gobo runs out to grab the postcard, but he winds up getting chased by Sprocket. One thing leads to another, and the lamp on the table falls onto the floor and explodes, shocking Wembley. Afterwards, he feels very, very strange... and then he starts to get bigger!

"I'm only slightly bigger than I was before! What a ripoff!"

But it doesn't stop there... Wembley gets even bigger! Soon all the other Fraggles look puny to him.

Little known fact - some Fraggles do not have eyelids, but they DO have the uncanny
ability to close their pupils.

Wembley then becomes so big that he can't even fit in Fraggle Rock anymore, so he crawls outside to where the Gorgs live. The Gorgs, for those who haven't seen Fraggle Rock, are these big monster dudes whose shtick is that they're very stupid and that they think they know better than everyone else despite their being very stupid. Y'know, just like Donald Trump.

After Wembley gets even bigger still, Junior Gorg (Michael Laskin) appears and assumes that he's a "Cousin Gorg". Despite the fact that Wembley doesn't look all that much like a Gorg, but like I just said, the Gorgs are idiots.

I mean, yeah, they both have big noses and don't wear pants, but shouldn't the TAIL
at least throw Junior Gorg off?

Ma Gorg (Patti Parris) and Pa Gorg (Pat Pinney) also assume that Wembley is a Gorg, and they say that he MUST join them for a hearty feast of radishes. They then proceed to sing a song about how great Gorgs are... for some reason.

So, just a recap everyone... getting an electrical shock caused Wembley to become huge. Pretty sure that's not how electrical shocks work, but to be fair it's not like Fraggle Rock has ever been all that realistic a show.

"Say, if you're a Gorg, why don't you have a beard?"

Meanwhile, Red tells Gobo, Mokey and Boober that she ran afoul of a giant wembling monster and tries to show them it, but Wembley as previously stated crawled out of Fraggle Rock so they don't believe him. She angrily announces that she's gonna go find him and eventually catches up with Wembley... who she, too, assumes is a Gorg. Red, you're one of Wembley's friends. Even if he's much larger, he still LOOKS like Wembley. How could you mistake him for a Gorg? Methinks that you are also very stupid.

Seriously, it's still Wembley, he's just quite larger. I can understand the Gorgs mistaking
him for one of them since, y'know, they're idiots, but RED?

Wembley begs Red to get Boober and his "magical wishing stone" so that he can wish himself small again, but before Red can go anywhere she's suddenly snatched up by Junior Gorg. Fortunately, Wembley saves Red and releases her back into Fraggle Rock. Unfortunately, this makes the Gorgs very, very angry. "I knew it! He's not a normal Gorg! He must be the ENEMY!" Pa Gorg bellows. So he threatens Wembley with, uh, this thing...

"I don't know what this thing is, but I'm not afraid to use it!"

Then Wembley becomes even BIGGER, and the Gorgs run off scared. Wembley bemoans the fact that he's all alone and that being big stinks on ice, but fortunately his friends show up and reassure him that they like him no matter what size he is. I mean, how could anybody not like Wembley? I know I said earlier that Boober is my favorite Fraggle, but Wembley is definitely a close second.

As some storm clouds appear, Wembley wishes that he was small again, and then the wishing rock gets struck by lightning and that causes it to explode and Wembley to shrink back to his normal size. Huzzah!

Wembley has learned a valuable lesson about how being small is not a bad thing. As has Sprocket, by the way. I wonder how they would've done this episode in the original show. Would they make a giant Wembley puppet, or just use a green-screen?

Next up, "Necessity is the Fraggle of Invention".

This episode begins with Wembley having difficulty deciding which of his banana tree shirts to wear (the joke, of course, being that the shirts are completely identical), demonstrating one of his main character traits - that he has difficulty making up his mind. I can relate to that. Gobo tells him to stop wembling - what would he do if he had to make a decision in an emergency? "I don't know! It's a good thing we don't HAVE emergencies in Fraggle Rock," Wembley says.

Wasn't there already an episode of the original show where Gobo became frustrated with Wembley's, well, wembling? Only the third episode of the show and they're already recycling plots...

It's so strange seeing Wembley naked...

Eventually, Wembley decides to wear BOTH shirts and meets up with the others. Apparently, today is "Fantastic Fraggle Think-Up Day", where every Fraggle goes to visit the wise and all-knowing Trash Heap. There's a gag where one Fraggle kidnaps a worm... don't ask me what THAT's all about... and they all go to see the Trash Heap (Rob Paulsen) and her little rat-like sidekicks Philo and Gunge (both John Stephenson).

Refresh my memory - did the Trash Heap look that freaky in the original show?

The Fraggles remind the Trash Heap that she said today, the Fraggles should all take some of her garbage and make fantastic inventions out of it. Then they'll all have a big dinner where they show off their inventions. So the Fraggles all start pulling crap out of the Yakko Warner-sounding Trash Heap as it starts singing.

Figured I should include a screencap of Philo and Gunge, too.

Soon Gobo, Boober, Mokey and Red have all the trash that they need to make... whatever it is that they plan on making out of it. Wembley, on the other hand, can't decide what to think up. The Trash Heap suggests something that could make his job easier - Wembley's job, according to him, is being a siren in the Fraggle Rock Fire Department. But there's not much you can do to make THAT job easier, so then the Trash Heap suggests that Wembley wemble like the wembling Wembley that he is until he can't wemble another wemble anymore. Wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble.

"Wemble" is a fun word to say. Thus: wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble
wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble.

Then we cut to Junior Gorg setting a trap for the Fraggles. He spreads some "Goobleberry Grease" on the ground for the Fraggles to slip on. Goobleberry Grease? You might not catch a Fraggle, but maybe you'll catch this guy:

For those that don't get the joke, watch some episodes of Zoboomafoo.

Anyhow, Wembley winds up running into the Gorg on his way back to Fraggle Rock, but luckily he's able to escape thanks to that very same Goobleberry Grease that Junior planned on using to trap the Fraggles. Looks like Junior's plan was - you guessed it - an EPIC FAIL.

Wembley winds up getting some Goobleberry Grease on his shirt, and when he wrings it out he can use it to help all the other Fraggles with THEIR inventions. For example, Gobo has invented this motorcycle/wheelbarrow/scooter thing.

Is it just me, or does Gobo always look like he's stoned?

Red has invented a "portable swimming hole".

AND you don't even have to inflate it!

Boober, meanwhile, has invented a "giant whipped cream spreader". Because that's something that Fraggles need, apparently.

How do Fraggles even know what whipped cream is?

And Mokey invents... a sculpture. Uh, that's not an invention. That's just art.

Although I suppose it could be handy if you need to poke someone's eye out.

After helping everybody with their inventions, Wembley tells the Trash Heap that he still hasn't decided what HE should make. "Gobo's right..." he moans. "In an emergency, I'd be a disaster!" As Wembley walks off, the Trash Heap comes up with a plan to bring out strength in Wembley.

The plan is for the Trash Heap and the rat-like dudes to stage a fire for Wembley to put out. Wembley starts to panic. He doesn't think that he can put it out because A) he wembles and B) they've never had a fire before in Fraggle Rock. Which makes one wonder why they felt the need to have a Fire Department in Fraggle Rock in the first place, but I guess it doesn't hurt to be prepared.

Wembley is so freaked-out that his outline is getting all squiggly!

One of the rat-like dudes tells Wembley to use his hidden strength and get some water. Too bad the tree really IS on fire now, so they all start panicking. Then we are treated to a few seconds of the Fraggles shouting "WEMBLEY NEEDS WATER!" before they all throw Wembley in the swimming hole. Fortunately, Wembley then comes up with an idea - using all of his friends' inventions.

I can't think of a funny caption for this screencap. So instead... wemble wemble wemble
wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble.

Wembley combines the inventions into a makeshift fire truck and manages to put out the fire. "Gosh, I guess I DO have hidden strength!" Wembley exclaims. Everybody's happy. The end. Wemble.

WHAT'S THE VERDICT?

Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series is okay. I think the main thing holding it back is that a superior version of the show already exists. No matter how good the animated version is, it's not going to be the Fraggle Rock that most people think of when they hear the words "Fraggle Rock". Still, the show has pretty good animation, and the voice actors all do a good job even if they obviously can't top the talented puppeteers who brought these characters to life in the live action version (they all manage to mimic the original puppeteers' voices very well). If you're a fan of Fraggle Rock, I'd say watch one episode and see if you like it. If you've never seen either show before, watch the original version first and THEN give the cartoon a try. Between this, Muppet Babies, and Little Muppet Monsters, I find myself wondering what an animated Sesame Street spinoff would've been like. That is, a traditionally animated, made in the 1980s animated Sesame Street spinoff, not that Mecha Builders thing that just came out.

P.S. - Wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble wemble