Review and news hub for movies, music and video games

Show:		10.0
Picture:		9.0
Sound:		9.0
Extras:		9.0
Score:		10.0

Director(s):	Jim Henson • George Bloomfield • Terry Maskell • Eric Till
Writer(s):	Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl, Jocelyn Stevenson
Starring:	Dave Goelz • Gerard Parkes • Jerry Nelson • Steve Whitmire • Karen Prell
Genre:	Children & Family • Comedy • Fantasy
Release Date:	November 03, 2009
Rated:	NR

List Price:	DVD - $20.99
Amazon:

Fraggle Rock was the very first show on HBO and, in a lot of ways, the ultimate palate cleanser for all the episodic storytelling and creativity yet to come. After all, almost every day in Fraggle Rock included a clean moral, a pitch perfect song, a pure act of friendship, and a nice, pared-down script. But being a Jim Henson product, and his wide vision of a world symbiosis guiding it lightspeed ahead of any other kids show, inasmuch as it was a “kids show,” it's hard to describe Fraggle Rock as simply a first foray into entertainment. In fact, in this last season, it actually feels more like a final word.

At some point or another here, the fun-loving and usually independent Fraggle friends each get their own special interactions with the mysterious Gorgs, Doozers, and Silly Creatures (humans) they share the planet with, and each results in a transcendent amount of warmth, generosity and idealism. Between the sudden magical elevations and cultural revelations; new species-discoveries, and amnesia-recoveries; the overturning of centuries-long edicts and traditional court verdicts—not to mention the demolition of an entire monarchy—the feeling is absolutely apocalyptic, and the writers are clearly not withholding anything they want to teach us. And that's even before we get to the last two episodes, which really go for it.

Not that the lessons, or resolutions, aren't sometimes too simplistic to be able take the Fraggle Rock point-of-view seriously. Junior Gorg's catch-22 on whether “to kazoo or not to kazoo” (long story), for instance, gets magically remedied due to his “integrity;” and the institutionalized segregation against a Doozer in the annual Fraggle duet contest is gone in a matter of seconds, with Wembley's brilliant suggestion that they just change the rules “to make everybody happy!” But these, and even some of the very, “very special” episodes, like the aggressively environmental “The River of Life,” and death-centric, “Gone, But Not Forgotten,” are bolstered by a cumulative effort. Because for every mustache-twirl, or manipulative image of the Fraggles screaming horrified out of their contaminated pond, there is a subtle song, character moment, or breathtaking act of puppetry to balance it out. Especially in “Gone,” when Wembley's new, dying friend Mudwell the Mudbunny, operated without sentimentality by vet Richard Hunt, sings of his existence. "Once I wasn't here / And then I suddenly appeared / And now I seem to be at home in earth and air / Just like water flowing / I know where I'm going / Look beneath your boots and I'll be there," he sings, setting up a striking introspection that colors the whole episode. Any eye-rolling that might happen is left strictly to the googly Fraggles.

By the time the overall moral to the series is revealed by wise-old Marjorie the Trash Heap—“You cannot leave the magic”—the creators have illustrated the point themselves, with such a strong and special showing of their talents, that it's as if Marjorie may as well be handing down divine doctrine. You really might even feel ready to pack your bags and get out of television dodge forever. Nothing more you possibly need to learn here.

Fraggle Rock can even be greater appreciated in context with Henson's later creation, the family sitcom Dinosaurs, whose cave setting, and depiction of co-existing species was just like FR, only instead of the main characters being in the middle of the food chain, they are the selfish ones at the top (a much better parallel to the typical American family). With depressing endings, like the mom quietly surrendering to the hold television has on her family, and of course, the eminent extinction of their entire species, Fraggle Rock's lessons seem even less like an unwillingness to “go there” and more just like a happier alternative. If somehow we can be like the maybe simplistic and “very special” Fraggles—and not so much like the Dinosaurs—us Silly Creatures might still stand a chance.

DVD Bonus Features

There's nearly two hours of features, which are mostly insightful interviews with the musicians, directors, writers, puppet-makers and puppeteers. “Celebrating Fraggle Rock,” excerpts from the wrap party, however, is the best treat on here, and shows a great celebration with emotional speeches from Henson, head writer Jerry Juhl, and even the Fraggles. There is a lot of talk from everyone on how they will all be working together again soon. It's too bad that wish couldn't be realized.