It never released on home video, but for 80s kids, the TV special John Denver and
the Muppets: A Christmas Together was a Christmas tradition, thanks to the classic
companion album. It is way overdue for a restoration and re-release. Maybe next
year. Regardless, Jim Henson’s creations and the holiday season go together
like mistletoe and holly. The Fraggles do not exactly celebrate Christmas, but
they have their own seasonal festivities. Unfortunately, Gobo Fraggle is supposed
to perform a new song for their annual winter frolic, but he has a persistent
case of writer’s block in the new special, The First Snow of Fraggle Rock,
which premieres Friday on Apple TV+.
Some
might try to blame “climate change,” but the new Doc’s experiments are probably
more at fault. Her lovable dog Sprocket isn’t too thrilled about them either.
Regardless, the lack of snow at Fraggle Rock is a blessing for Gobo, because he
has nothing to perform. Eventually, the snow must come, so he ventures into Doc’s
house, in search of his Uncle Traveling Matt’s latest postcard, hoping it will provide
inspiration.
Instead,
Uncle Traveling Matt (that is his full name, you know) sends magical
instructions that allow Gobo to join him in the Human World. Frankly, Gobo
might be better suited to our world, because he eventually crashes a recording
session for vocalist Lele Pons, who improvises a duet with the Fraggle.
Frankly,
Apple has been out to lunch when it comes to promoting the original songs commissioned
for their programs at the Emmy’s. Honestly, Ben Folds’ “It’s the Small Things, Charlie Brown” and Mick Jagger’s “Strange Game” for Slow Horses are both
award-worthy tracks. First Snow features two quality originals that
maybe aren’t quite as impressive, but they are highly catchy and thematically
appropriate: “Can You Feel It” by Harvey Mason Jr., Andrew Hey, and Sam Ramirez,
along with “Our Melody” by Philip Balsam and Dennis Lee.
It was probably HBO’s best original series ever. It could have whacked Tony
Soprano and massacred the Starks and Lannisters, but that is not how Fraggles
and Doozers roll. The endearing Jim Henson puppetry series was all about
singing and working together—and it still is. Somehow, HBO lost the franchise,
but it was quite a shrewd pick-up for Apple. After releasing a collection of
shorts, the franchise makes a full return with the first season of Fraggle
Rock: Back to the Rock, which premieres this Friday on Apple TV+.
The
basic premise is the same. Gobo’s Uncle Traveling Matt explores the human
world, reporting back to Fraggle Rock through postcards, offering satirical “Nacirema”-like
commentary on our human adult world foibles. He mails them to Doc’s apartment, through
which the world of Fraggle Rock can be reached via a hole in the wall. The
Great Hall of Fraggle Rock is supplied by water from a well maintained by the
ogre-like Gorgs, who try to stomp on Fraggles whenever they see them.
Fortunately, Gorgs are dumb as well as big.
It
is the same world, but in this slightly rebooted series, Doc is now a young
woman PhD student. The change of casting from an old white guy might check a
lot of woke boxes, but it doesn’t work so well on a practical level. It used to
make sense that the old absent-minded professor Doc was oblivious to the little
Fraggle creatures constantly running through his garage-workshop, but it makes
the young new Doc look pretty dim-witted (seriously, she is supposed to be a
scientist). However, Doc’s Muppet dog Sprocket is still cute and endearing.
The
same is mostly true for the new series, but the writing sometimes tries a
little too hard. For the next season, the battery of writers might want to ease
off on the teachable moments and pick the ones to really emphasize. Those that truly
worked this time around include an incident in the third episode, “The Mergle
Moon Migration,” wherein Red gets lost in an echo chamber. Frankly, it should
be required viewing for everyone on Twitter.
However,
the series takes a bit of a Roland Emmerichian turn with the last five episodes,
featuring multiple catastrophic threats to the extended Fraggle Rock
eco-sphere. First, the Fraggles inadvertently dry up the neighboring Craggles
water supply. Then the Doozers start building Doozer stick-structures with a
terrible tasting goo, so the Fraggles stop eating them, causing a
sustainability crisis. Then Junior Gorg dams up the Fraggles’ own water source.
It gets so bad, the oracle-like trash-heap also starts ailing. Yet, the tone is
never too intense or dire for young viewers.
Despite
the constant schedule of lessons learned, Back to the Rock has nice
energy. It is also more brightly lit and features more vibrant colors than we
remember from the original series (although that could a trick of the memory).
Perhaps most impressive is the consistently high quality of the original songs,
a number of which have generally catchy melodies (in a good, non-earworm kind
of way).
