![]() ![]() "There was a lot of listening to them and saying, 'OK, here's the intent. We were working in a world with a lot of water, and Fraggles love to swim but puppets don't love to swim, so how do you get a character that loves to be in the water safely into the water that then has to be puppeteered by a puppeteer in a wet suit with their arm through a rubber sleeve?" That meant not being precious about the script once it left the writers' room, and instead showing some very Fragglesque collaboration with the episode directors and the puppeteers. ![]() “Any time we tried to get a little too crazy, we were reminded of what the spirit was.” – Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock showrunner Alex CuthbertsonĬuthbertson admitted that their steepest learning curve was in writing for puppets, "simple things like how they walk around the room, going through an archway or a door. Cuthbertson said, "Any time we tried to get a little too crazy, we were reminded of what the spirit was." It helped that they had what they dubbed the Fraggle Gaggle - including Henson veterans like producer/performers Prell and Dave Goelz (returning as Red and Boober Fraggle respectively) - Tartaglia (who Cuthbertson called "a walking encyclopedia of Fraggle knowledge) as well as the new writing team, poets, musicians, and more available to talk about what made the original special. We're used to writing what could be called hangout shows like New Girl and Community where it's all about character interaction." But what they couldn't afford to include was the occasional bursts of dark comedy that defined those shows. ![]() "It's about comedy, it's about silliness, it's about music, it's about that we're all in this together."Īs TV veterans, Cuthbertson said, "We're used to writing for shows with characters that love each other. "It's kind of simple in a way," said Fusfeld. Openheartedness is a word that comes up a lot when talking about the Fraggles. Kids can hear about Wembley having an anxiety attack and really process and take it in, and I'm not sure they would have the same openheartedness to seeing a real child having that sort of anxiety." We need to look at natural resource scarcity, and all of these heavy topics are in Fraggle Rock and can be delivered because it's a fantasy universe. We need to look at the way we treat one another, we treat refugees. So why bring the show back if you're staying so loyal? For Stanford, it's because the original show gave kids what they needed when Jim Henson first launched it in 1983, "but we need different things now." She explained, "We need to deal with anxiety in the world right now. Let's do Fraggle Rock and keep the soul and spirit of the original in tact." Don't make them weird lawyers or in outer space or wild west Fraggles. ![]() "They said, 'What do you think about redoing Fraggle Rock?' We said, 'Yeah, let's do Fraggle Rock. The duo leapt at the chance to enter this world, right from their first meeting with Jim Henson Company President of Television & Executive Producer Halle Stanford, CEO Lisa Henson and puppet captain John Tartaglio. With 3D printing and the modeling they were able to create something that looked like Fraggle Rock." His one regret was that they were filming under COVID protocols, "because we were really limited about who we could bring to visit because it would be the most fun set to bring friends and family on to of our entire career, that's for sure." With 8K cameras, it has to look really incredibly detailed, and Tyler Harron brought it all to life. "The original was beautiful," said Cuthbertson, "but it was made for the cameras of that time and the cave was much smaller. “It’s about comedy, it’s about silliness, it’s about music, it’s about that we’re all in this together.” – Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock showrunner Matt FusfeldĪ return of the 1980s series, this is the old Fraggle Rock but more. ![]()
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