After last year’s run of musical shorts, a new, full-on Fraggle Rock series is on its way to Apple TV+ – and production is underway.
Work is full steam ahead in Calgary on a new Fraggle Rock show, with Dave Goelz and Karen Pell reprising their special roles as the close personal assistants of Boober, Uncle Travelling Matt and Red Fraggle. Other Fraggles will be working with somewhat more newly-appointed assistants – but it seems that all of the Fraggles we know and love will be present in some way or another. Hopefully Doozers, Gorgs and some other Rock denizens too.
According to the press release from The Jim Henson Company, the showrunners are Matt Fusfeld and Alex Cuthbertson, writers on The Mayor, New Girl, Community and American Dad.
There’s little more to report at this stage, if we’re being honest. But new Fraggle Rock is on the way. That alone is fantastic.
The original show was quite an unusual beast, with different broadcasters airing different edits in different countries. When I saw Fraggles leave the Rock for ‘Outer Space’ on British TV, I saw them come up into a lighthouse, staffed variously by The Captain, his nephew PK or son BJ. When I later watched the show on my US-imported DVDs, they came up into the workshop of inventor Doc.
It was only when I watched the whole show in sequence that I saw a gentle, cleverly devised arc was in place, culminating in a very moving finale. I won’t spoil it – but the story of Doc actually ends up being extremely poignant.
So how to restart? With a new pathway from the Rock to Outer Space, I’d imagine? And I’d bet on a new Muppet dog too… but we’ll see.
The original show was, for my money, one of Jim Henson’s greatest accomplishments, in a career of singular achievements. It means so much to me that, a few years back, when I was suffering terribly with COPD and literally fighting for my life’s breath, I turned to Fraggle Rock to calm down and feel better while I waited, hopefully, for the drugs to take effect.
There’s bound to be much more news about Fraggle Rock in the coming months, and I’m sure to be back here yelling about it as it all drops.
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