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Title:
Fraggle Rock: The Complete Second Season
Region:
One
Genre:
Fantasy Muppets Children’s Show
Creators:
Jim Henson, Jerry Juhl, Jocelyn Stevenson, and Michael Frith
Executive
Producer: Jim Henson
Feature
length: 720 minutes
Extras:
Replica
of Jim Henson’s original pitch book, special video tribute to legendary
co-creator Jerry Juhl and exclusive interviews
with the cast and crewmembers.
Languages:
English Stereo Sound
Subtitles:
N/A
Packaging:
Five-Disc Digipack
Sound:
Stereo Sound
Year
of DVD Release: 2006
Home
Video Distributor: HIT
Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment
MPAA
Rating: Not Rated
Reviewer:
Mark A. Rivera
Premiering in January 1983, this wonderfully inventive program was designed to entertain while also encourage an understanding and embracing of diversity. Through the fun adventures of the Fraggle gang – Red, Gobo, Wembley, Boober, Mokey and Uncle Traveling Matt – the show captured the hearts of children and adults alike while featuring a unique mix of music that ranged a number of genres, from folk, blues and gospel to country and rock. I remember watching the show when I was a kid and even recall one time being ill in bed and having my dachshund puppy and the Fraggles on HBO to keep my spirits up while I was on the mend. The show appealed to me despite the fact I might have been a bit older than the target kids group at the time. I grew up watching the muppets on Sesame Street as well as The Muppet Show and even saw the very first Muppet Movie. For me the experience of watching the muppets was like kids a generation or so before watching Walt Disney cartoons and movies as well as television programs. I wish I had kids now because I’m sure Fraggle Rock would appeal to any generation regardless of what they are watching on TV today. Some programs are timeless and I think Jim Henson’s extraordinary imagination and pioneering efforts along with the many inventive professionals who worked with him have had and still have a profound effect not only on children’s programming, but even genre films and shows intended for adults. The evolution of Jim Henson’s Creature Shop along with the work of his son Brian Henson has lead to some of the coolest and most exotic alien creatures to ever appear on a sci-fi TV series with Farscape and most recently made green army soldier toys look as though they really have come to life in the episode of this summer’s TNT anthology series event Nightmares And Dreamscapes: From The Short Stories By Stephen King entitled “Battleground.” If you did not have Big Bird, Kermit the Frog, and Cookie Monster, you could not have the Fraggles, Yoda, and fantasy films like The Dark Crystal and Labyrinth. So in addition to being a part of television history as being one of the first HBO original series, the evolution of the muppets in general, including Fraggle Rock in my opinion has had a profound effect on entertainment for viewers of all ages in areas we might not even immediately identify because they have become a part of our every day lives.
All 24 episodes are presented in their original videotaped broadcast aspect ratio of (1.33:1). Some of the effects and costumes are a bit dated, but I think kids will still like it and adults who remember it should have fond memories watching it again, especially if they have kids to share it with. The average episode length is about 24 minutes and fifty seconds and the episodes feature a clear English Stereo Soundtrack. The picture quality is quite good considering the show was shot on video more than twenty years ago. On DVD it might actually look better than the HBO broadcasts from 1983. There are no subtitle or caption options encoded onto the discs and I think considering this is a show for a new generation of kids to discover, to not have some form of captioning for the deaf and hearing impaired is shutting out a demographic that might really appreciate the program and it’s diverse characters as well as humanistic message.
The fifth disc contains a tribute to series co-creator Jerry Juhl (35:42) with newly recorded interviews with those who worked with him on Fraggle Rock. There is a collection of featurettes that can be viewed individually or through a “Play All” feature (104:45). The featurettes cover the various segments for the Doc and Sprockets, which were recorded around the world for the different markets while the show itself, which was shot in Canada, could easily be dubbed so that wherever you saw the program, it looked as though it was made in the country or region where it aired. Behind the scenes video, various “Traveling Matt” segments from around the world or as Matt would say “Outer Space” and a music video are also among the bonus features on disc five.
Within
the packaging there is also a reproduction of the pitch book Jim Henson made for
Fraggle Rock as well as liner notes by Karen Falk of the Jim Henson
Archives. Fraggle Rock: The Complete Second Season will debut on DVD-Video
at retailers on and offline on Tuesday, September 5, 2006 courtesy of HIT
Entertainment and Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment.
©
Copyright 2006 By Mark A. Rivera
All Rights Reserved.
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