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Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series

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Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series
Created byJim Henson
Developed byJohn Semper
Cynthia Friedlob
Voices of
Theme music composerMargaret Loesch
Opening theme"Down at Fraggle Rock"
Ending theme"Down at Fraggle Rock" (instrumental)
ComposerRobert J. Walsh
Country of originUnited States
Original languageEnglish
No. of seasons1
No. of episodes13
Production
Executive producers
ProducerMark Johnson
Running time25 minutes
Production companies
Original release
NetworkNBC
ReleaseSeptember 12 (1987-09-12) –
December 5, 1987 (1987-12-05)
Related

Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series is an American animated children's television series based on the original live-action version of the same name created by Jim Henson.[2] NBC aired this spin-off program on Saturday mornings at 10:00 AM (later moved to 11:00 AM) for one season during 1987. It was later shown in reruns on Disney Channel from May 5, 1990[3] to June 1995.[4][5]

Synopsis

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The animated series followed the same formula as the HBO original live-action series, including the same theme song but re-recorded with the cartoon character voice actors. Many episodes consisted of two 15-minute stories; however, a few presented a single full 30-minute plot. The animated version carried on the tradition of original songs, with at least one tune per episode (including a few recycled from the puppet version, such as "Let Me Be Your Song").

In its original run, the animated episodes were bookended by footage of the original puppet version of Uncle Traveling Matt, introducing the show from Doc's workshop. The animated version of Fraggle Rock consisted of 13 episodes.

The most noticeable difference is that, unlike the live-action version, the animated version of Doc is shown from the neck down, much like Nanny on Muppet Babies.

Characters

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Main article: List of Fraggle Rock characters

Episodes

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No. Title Story by Written by Original air date
1"No Fraggle is an Island"N/AJohn Semper, Cynthia Friedlob, and Barry O'BrienSeptember 12, 1987 (1987-09-12)
Boober is fed up because Fraggle Rock is too crowded, causing the other Fraggles to move away and live alone. When the sleeping Slurp is awakened and takes over Fraggle Rock, the lonely Fraggles must rally up and get the Slurp out so they can reclaim their home. Meanwhile, Doc builds a doghouse for Sprocket.
2"Big Trouble for a Little Fraggle / Necessity is the Fraggle of Invention"Pam Dovale and John Semper
N/A		Betty Birney
Allan Swayze		September 19, 1987 (1987-09-19)

Big Trouble for a Little Fraggle: When a magic stone starts to make Wembley grow fast, he runs out of Fraggle Rock and into the Gorgs' Garden where Junior Gorg mistakes him for a cousin Gorg. Meanwhile, Sprocket tries to use a plant-growing light after he was insulted by Ned Shimmelfinney.

Necessity is the Fraggle of Invention: Wembley has a hard time coming up with an invention for Fantastic Fraggle Think It Up Day. He does manage to come up with an invention when impending doom descends on Marjory the Trash Heap.
3"The Great Radish Round Up / Lucky Fargy"Alan SwayzeBetty Birney, John Semper, and Cynthia Friedlob
Betty Birney		September 26, 1987 (1987-09-26)

The Great Radish Round Up: Pa Gorg has Junior Gorg replace all the radishes with Banoony Berries (the very smell that can make Fraggle sick) and placed all the radishes in the shed. Inspired by one of Uncle Traveling Matt's postcards about cowboys, Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, Boober, and Red plan to use hats to lure the radishes back to them. The Doozers also have a plan to reclaim the radishes since Banoony Berries also makes them sick.

Lucky Fargy: Boober obtains a lucky rag doll made by Mokey until Wembley accidentally drops it down a pit.
4"A Fraggle for All Seasons / A Growing Relationship"Pam Dovale
N/A		Larry Parr
Misty Stewart-Taggart		October 3, 1987 (1987-10-03)

A Fraggle for All Season: Inspired by the ancient Fraggle philosophers, Mokey decides to find a Fraggle for All Seasons yet finds possible candidates in her four friends.

A Growing Relationship: Red's entry for a flower contest ends up being a plant from Doc's workshop which soon starts to grow out of control.
5"The Best of the Best / Where No Fraggle Has Gone Before"Chuck Lorre
John Semper		Barry O'Brien
Betty Birney		October 10, 1987 (1987-10-10)

The Best of the Best: Red's own Record-Breaking Day occurs as she tries to break last year's records which causes problems for her four friends.

Where No Fraggle Has Gone Before: Gobo and Wembley make an expedition to climb to the tallest spire of the Gorg's castle in order to reach the top of the Universe.
6"Gobo's Song / Wembley and the Bemble"John Semper and Cynthia Friedlob
N/A		Betty Birney
Mel Gilden		October 17, 1987 (1987-10-17)

Gobo's Song: When Gobo begins to question his importance of drawing up maps, he is visited by Cantus the Minstrel. Cantus places Gobo into a trance where Gobo awakens in the time of prehistoric Fraggles where he befriends prehistoric versions of his four friends.

Wembley and the Bemble: Following a scary tale from Storyteller Fraggle, Wembley becomes afraid of the legendary Bemble.
7"Ambassador Gorg / Homebody Matt"N/A
Mark McClellan		Bill Prady
Cynthia Friedlob and John Sempler		October 24, 1987 (1987-10-24)

Ambassador Gorg: Tired of having to fight the "enemy," Pa Gorg sends Junior Gorg to the enemy side in order to invite them to a peace treaty. When Junior doesn't find the enemy, he leaves the invitation at the entrance to Fraggle Rock.

Homebody Matt: Upon a return from Outer Space, Uncle Traveling Matt ends up hitting his head and forgets that he is an explorer. Gobo tries to help his uncle regain his memory of being an explorer.
8"The Great Fraggle Freeze"N/AAnthony Adams, John Semper, and Cynthia FriedlobOctober 31, 1987 (1987-10-31)
When the heat goes down in Doc's workshop, it has a chilling effect on Fraggle Rock. With a round object given to him by Marjory the Trash Heap, Gobo sets off to the center of the Mystical Maze to set things right with the Doozers not far behind.
9"Laundry Never Lies / What Boober's Nose Knows"N/AKathryn Mullen, Larry Parr, John Semper, and Cynthia Friedlob
Dennis McCoy and Pamela Hickey		November 7, 1987 (1987-11-07)

Laundry Never Lies: Wembley discovers Boober's special talent of detecting the odors on one's clothing when Boober does the laundry.

What Boober's Nose Knows: When Boober's favorite sweet water disappears from the well, his nose leads him and his friends to the Gorgs' Castle where the sweet water is.
10"Mokey's Flood of Creativity / What the Doozers Did"John Semper and Cynthia FriedlobPam Dovale
Anthony L. Adams		November 14, 1987 (1987-11-14)

Mokey's Flood of Creativity: Following the 100th Pipe Banging, Archbanger Fraggle wants a special ceremony and is persuaded to allow Mokey to recite a poem for the occasion. The recitation (or so the Fraggles assume) is the cause of a flood which spreads throughout the cavern.

What the Doozers Did: In a tie-in to the "Mokey's Flood of Creativity," the glue that Cotterpin Doozer has stirred doesn't hold a Doozer Construction masterpiece much to the disappointment of Architect Doozer who scolds Cotterpin for shirking her duties by making her first floating Doozer construction. Lugnut Doozer and Rhinestone Doozer have their doubts on Cotterpin Doozer until a flood approaches Fraggle Rock.
11"Red's Drippy Dilemma / Fraggle Babble"N/A
John Semper		Mel Gilden and Jack Enyart
Pam Dovale		November 21, 1987 (1987-11-21)

Red's Drippy Dilemma: Red is preparing for her latest swimming extravaganza as a nearby pipe springs a leak.

Fraggle Babble: Upon enjoying making up new words for the Fraggle dictionary, Mokey enlists the aid of Convincing John to convince everyone to make up a new vocabulary.
12"The Radish Fairy / The Funniest Joke in the Universe"N/A
John Semper and Cynthia Friedlob		Marv Wolfman and Donna Kuyper
Mark McClellan		November 28, 1987 (1987-11-28)

The Radish Fairy: Dressed as the Radish Fairy, Red convinces Junior Gorg to place all the radishes in Fraggle Rock to evade a Radish Famine.

The Funniest Joke in the Universe: Boober finds the Funniest Joke in the Universe that causes any Fraggle that listens to it to laugh endlessly.
13"Fraggle Fool's Day / Wembley's Trip to Outer Space"Marta Fields
Mike Joens, John Semper, and Cynthia Friedlob		Bill Prady
Marv Wolfman and Donna Kuyper		December 5, 1987 (1987-12-05)

Fraggle Fool's Day: Red gets caught up in the practical jokes of Fraggle Fool's Day. One of her jokes backfires leaving her and Mokey trapped in the Gorgs' Garden.

Wembley's Trip to Outer Space: Upon making too many decisive decisions, Wembley comes down with a case of Wembliosis and the only cure for it is a good scare.

Voice cast

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Crew

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Home media

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The series was released on VHS in the UK by Palace Video. Two tapes were released, each featuring two full episodes. The first two episodes were released in the UK on a single-disc DVD titled "Dance Your Cares Away!" by HIT Entertainment in 2005.

The show's first US home media release was on January 19, 2010, when Lionsgate Home Entertainment released the complete series on a two-disc set.[6][7] On July 11, 2018, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment announced a 12-disc complete series Blu-ray set of the main Fraggle Rock series with all 13 episodes of the animated series to be included as well.[8][9] It was released on September 25, 2018. They also released a separate 2-disc set of the animated series on the same day.[10]

References

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  1. ^ "Animation Industry Finding Cost Of Laughter Is In Serious Trouble". Orlando Sentinel. May 11, 1988. Retrieved October 19, 2010.
  2. ^ Erickson, Hal (2005). Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 Through 2003 (2nd ed.). McFarland & Co. p. 347. ISBN 978-1476665993.
  3. ^ The Disney Channel Magazine, Vol. 8, no. 2 (typo in magazine: should be "no. 3"), May/June 1990: pp. 22, 34, 36-37, 46.
  4. ^ The Disney Channel Magazine, Vol. 13, no. 2 (typo in magazine: should be "no. 3"), April/May 1995: pp. 26, 28, 44.
  5. ^ The Disney Channel Magazine, Vol. 13, no. 4, June/July 1995: p. 48.
  6. ^ "Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series - Lionsgate Releasing The Complete Series DVDs: Details and Packaging". TVShowsOnDVD.com. Archived from the original on March 4, 2010. Retrieved March 1, 2010.
  7. ^ "Fraggle Rock: The Complete Animated Series". DVD Talk. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
  8. ^ Landy, Tom (July 11, 2018). "Jim Henson's 'Fraggle Rock: The Complete Series' Announced for Blu-ray". High-Def Digest. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  9. ^ "Fraggle Rock: The Complete Series Blu-ray". Blu-ray.com. Retrieved July 11, 2018.
  10. ^ Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series
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