fraggle rock Tagged Articles at Cinematical

The earth may continue on for many more millenia, and the human race may eventually colonize and populate other planets, but no matter how long our kind continue to exist, there will never be another Jerry Juhl. Even if you don't recognize the name, I promise you know at least something of the man's body of work -- he wrote or co-wrote nearly everything performed by Jim Henson's Muppets from the early days of TV specials until his passing last year. In truth, Jerry was as much a part of the Muppets as Frank Oz, Dave Goelz, Steve Whitmire, and the rest of the more familiar names, even though he was not a performer. Jerry understood the magic of the Muppets, the soul, if you will, of foam rubber and antron fleece ... and the Fraggles were no exception. Jerry served as the primary writer for the run of the wonderful children's series, and was responsible for much of the "feel" of the show.

As we've discussed before, the Hensons are looking to return to Fraggle Rock for a new feature film. Remarkably, most of the key performers for Fraggle Rock are still living -- at least those who performed the famous "Fraggle Five." Jim Henson's presence will of course be missed, but Henson was never a primary cast member,* and Richard Hunt was Junior Gorg; but Steve Whitmire (Wembley), Karen Prell (Red), Dave Goelz (Boober), Kathryn Mullen (Mokey), and Jerry Nelson (Gobo), are all still with us.** The big remaining question mark has been who will write, now that Jerry Juhl is gone?

We have an answer now, in the form of largely untested (as a writer) Ahmet Zappa. On the upside, a limited body of writing work leaves us nothing to point to as a bad example ... but you can see the obvious other side of that dubious benefit. I want this film to be good. Desperately. I'd trade a dozen good Fantastic Four movies for one more great appearance from my old Fraggle friends. I have reason to hope -- the heart of the Fraggles should remain intact as long as the original performers can return, after all. I rejoice to see the Fraggles back on track, but mourn their old friend Jerry.


*His most recognized characters were Cantus the Minstrel and my personal favorite, Convincing John.
**Although health issues limit the amount of time Jerry Nelson can spend performing.

That's right, good readers, the Fraggle Rock rumors have returned, and the Henson company revealed they are quite serious about plans to bring Gobo, Red and the rest of the gang to big screen. In their panel at Comic Con, the Henson Co. discussed updating several of their classic titles:

1. Yes, Power of the Dark Crystal is happening now, and it even pulls a small bit of inspiration from the legend himself, Mr. Jim Henson. He had entertained ideas of a Crystal sequel on more than one occasion, and we are told it was his desire to go beyond the adventures of the Gelfings and deeper into the world itself. The new movie will attempt to do that, depending far more on CG than puppetry.
2. Bits were shown from the late night puppet show Henson Co. is developing -- sans Muppets, of course, as they were sold to Disney -- and a puppet improv performance troupe that apparently has to be seen to be believed. We're glossing over these because they aren't movie related, follow the "read" link at the bottom if you want to know more.
3. Fraggle Rock is still a long way off, but they are in the early stages of development and definitely plan to bring the film into existence.
4. No plans for a Labyrinth sequel ... yet. They are too wrapped up in Crystal work to seriously contemplate it for now. Ask them again later. There IS a graphic novel on the way, however.

While discussing the DVD release of Henson Co's TV show Dinosaurs in a recent interview with Now Playing, Brian Henson dropped a few tantalizing details about two highly anticipated upcoming Henson film projects: Dark Crystal 2 and Fraggle Rock: The Movie. Yours truly is very excited about both these films, although the potential for destroying my childhood memories does make me a bit hesitant. Nonetheless, hope springs eternal! The information is as follows ...

• Fraggle Rock, though already announced and definitely coming, is still in very early stages. It is the number two priority right now, but a script is being written. Henson said to consider the movie something of a "revisiting" of the classic characters, updated slightly to reflect the change in time. The characters we all know and love will remain the same -- but the story will likely not be a direct sequel to the old series. Henson indicated the plan is "to do something that sort of stands next to Fraggle Rock rather than [being] a continuation of [it]." This makes me a bit nervous, because I'm always hesitant when people try to "update" classic stories ... but the idea is sound, and the original cast is returning so hopefully it'll maintain the classic Fraggle Rock feel.
• Dark Crystal 2 is the top priority for Henson right now, and is moving along with a full head of steam. According to Henson, "that one's pretty far along. It's got a good, strong script, a great vision for how to do it and we're just trying to [put it together]." They're attempting to recruit the original voice actors where possible, and bring in very good imitators when necessary.
• And the final, crazy bit of news from Jim Henson's son is the studio's desire to return to the world of their cult classic Labyrinth. Henson described this idea by saying "Actually, we're talking about doing something different with Labyrinth but I can't really talk about it." The existence of such a film is highly contingent upon the success of Dark Crystal 2. This means get out there and watch DC2 at least a dozen times each and encourage your friends to do the same. And by encourage, I mean force.