Fraggle Rock Complete First Season
One of my fondest childhood memories was sitting in front of the TV at
my grandparents house with an ice cream sandwich in my hands and
Fraggle Rock on TV. I’ve been a fan of Jim Henson’s muppets for as long
as I can remember. The HBO series was born of an idea by Henson to help
teach tolerance and understanding to children. Each Fraggle Rock
episode is filled with music, comedy and an overall lesson. The series
has the creativity and fun of The Muppet Show with a sitcom style of
story telling.
Some 20 years later, the series has been put onto DVD. The first
season, complete with 24 half-hour episodes is a great example of
family entertainment. Now granted, I’m hovering around 30 with no kids
and a wife who hates the Muppets, but since it’s not likely Sesame
Street episodes will ever make it to DVD, Fraggle Rock brings a little
bit of learning and a lot of entertainment in its place.
For
puppetry fanatics and Muppet buffs, the fifth disc of the set is
dedicated to bonus features. An hour long documentary hosted by the
late Jim Henson takes viewers under the world of Fraggle Rock, where
the puppeteers, the music makers and the technical artists bring the
show together. In addition to the documentary, several topic specific
interviews shed a very unique light on the development of the show, the
creation of the puppets and the technology created specifically to
bring the characters to life.
There’s nearly 12 hours of
viewing on the 5 discs and will certainly appeal to kids, the young at
heart and any Muppet fan. Topping off the set is a CD-Rom with
wallpapers, screensavers and games. Finally, one of the most unusual
bonuses for a collector’s set I’ve ever seen is an exact replica of the
short hand notebook and notes that Jim Henson took on his ideas for a
new show he called the The Woozle World that would evetually become the
Fraggles. The notebook has dozens of noted pages that Henson scribbled
on a flight from the U.S. to studios in London. As much effort that
went into making this set, its disappointing to find that none of the
episodes contain any commentary tracks. Even so, Fraggle Rock Complete
First Season will make an excellent addition to your family’s DVD
collection, or just your own if you’re a big kid like me.
