Let me take you on a journey, a journey into my childhood. Now as a child, I played with such playful wonders as Transformers, M.A.S.K., and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles; as well I watched hit television shows such as Gummi Bears and The Muppet Show (some say I still play with these toys and watch these television shows; my response to these absurd remarks is no comment). But there is one television show that I left off the list that I am proud to say takes my precious golden television award as my favorite television show of all time. Let me take you on a trip into a dark hole in Doc’s workshop: a world occupied by energetic beings, crazy adventures, and the most damn catchy songs; let me take you into their world.. the world known as FRAGGLE ROCK.

Fraggle Rock: the children’s show made possible by the late Jim Henson. Mr. Henson, you are a genius in my eyes. No show has ever captivated me like Fraggle Rock did. Recently I discovered a gold mine in my house: six fun-filled episodes of Fraggle Rock on video, three toys, and one comic book that I will treasure for the rest of my life. Let me take you a little farther into the hole in Doc’s wall.. mainly because we don’t want Sprocket the dog to eat you up.

At the beginning of each Fraggle Rock episode, the most amazing theme song ever made by any songwriter is played. Since I’m the generous person that you all know me as, you may listen to it here. This theme song never made it to the Billboard charts, it also never made it to MTV or the radio, but in my eyes this theme song ranks up at the top of the charts because of the ability to not only sing but clap along. I’ll take a little break, feel free to sing, dance, and clap along.
Five fraggles are the main characters in this show from the heavens. Gobo is the first Fraggle, and to most of the Fraggle Rockers (What a badass name for the fans) around the world, the first Fraggle that people think of. Gobo is the leader of the Fraggles, kind of like John Pinette would be at a buffet or Papa Smurf without the Communist beliefs. Although, let me first tell you, fraggles are no one’s bitch and don’t necessarily take orders from anyone. If a Fraggle wants to ride around in a radish during dinner, the fraggle will damn well do it. Anyway, Gobo is as well an adventurer. Every episode he receives a postcard from his Uncle “Traveling” Matt who as well is an explorer. Gobo feels it is his duty to explore what he calls Outer Space, and if you are lucky, you will see an episode where he does just this. His first adventure in the Fraggle Rock epics includes going to the house where the hole to enter Fraggle Rock is. But upon arriving to the opening, he is encountered by Sprocket the dog. However, Sprocket just sits there. I guess the idea of seeing a 10 inch tall Fraggle dressed in a vest would shock the hell out of the dog. I know it would for me. Gobo’s best friend in the world of Fraggles is Wembley, and that brings me on to him.

Boober, Mokey, Wembley, and the Doozers

Wembley is many things: a comedian, an amazing dancer, and a friend (oh, how cute). Wembley is also known for his ability to not make decisions, kind of like Christina Aguilera can’t decide how long her hair should be or where the mole should be placed on her face. However, Wembley is always around to talk to when he isn’t off getting into trouble. As well, Wembley is known for one thing to all the Fraggles: he is the only Fraggle to ever fly and not be able to prove it. That’s right, Wembley was granted a wish in one episode after saving a bug who turned into a fairy godmother (however, this fairy godmother turned into a LFO look-a-like.. god how ugly), and as his wish, he chose to fly. However the actual flying took place while everyone was sleeping, and it’s a damn shame that they got to miss him flying because of the most amazing song sung while in flight. It’s a shame.
Checking my list, Mokey is the next Fraggle. She is the artistic Fraggle, the one who would say, lets go read a book, or lets discuss philosophy, or lets go hug a tree. As well, Mokey is the oldest of the Fraggles, but not always the wisest. As I recall from one exhilarating episode, Mokey became jealous of other people’s paintings, and how her paintings weren’t getting the respect that she deserves (Wow, did *NSync steal their subject matter in their latest single from Fraggle Rock. I wouldn’t be surprised), so she visited Marjorie the Trash Heap (more on her later), and she obtained the magic paintbrush. Unfortunately the magic paintbrush caused Mokey to get into more trouble than she could imagine, but she got out of the trouble by painting with her god ugly tail and singing a beautiful song that brings tears to my eyes.

As we wind our way down, Red is the next Fraggle: the Richard Simmons of the Fraggles.. always energetic, always on the move, however without the body of said workout king. Red is always ready to cause trouble and party; she wants to have fun and explore the surroundings like Gobo, but her explorations tend to cause more trouble by letting green dragons into Fraggle Rock and almost tearing da hizzzooouuseee down.

And finally, Boober is the final Fraggle. Boober is a quiet one, who enjoys cooking and doing laundry (Holy shit, loving to cook and do laundry.. this sounds just like me). Boober is always there to give advice when the Fraggles need it.
This brings me to the end of the main characters of Fraggle Rock. However there are so many more characters that are needed to be discussed:
The Doozers for example have not been discussed and are an essential part of the Fraggle Rock series. The Doozers are three inch tall men whose job is to build towers for the Fraggles only to have the Fraggles eat them. What a worthless job.

Marjorie the Trash Heap is a favorite of mine. Anything that is deemed trash is placed into her lap; so this includes Creed and Dave Matthews Band’s CDs, tapes of the hit TV shows Step by Step and Saved by the Bell: The New Class, and every damn DVD copy of Waterworld. As well, her songs preaching the joys of trash cannot be matched by any other character. A talking trash heap: this shows Fraggle Rock’s uniqueness.

The Gorgs are the enemies of the Fraggles, as they try to snatch up the Fraggles any chance they get. The mother, who must weigh no less than 3 tons, is scared to death of these small, harmless Fraggles? well this makes sense as most people jump and shriek when they see or god forbid hear the word spider.

Doc and Sprocket are the human and dog respectively in the house that occupies Fraggle Rock. Doc is an inventor and reminds me much of Alex (the father) from Gremlins as his inventions usually don’t work. In one episode, Doc handed the computer keyboard to the dog, and the dog proved to the human that dogs can indeed fly. After Sprocket comes crashing to the ground, all Doc has to say is “I told you so.” That’s right Doc, show that dog up.
Phew, there is MUCH MUCH more to Fraggle Rock than I have expressed to you. Fraggle Rock: my favorite show ended in 1988. Five years it lasted on television, only to be replaced by an animated version of the show which has to be the worst event in the show’s history, followed by the worst programming known to man-kind (Yes, I’m talking about the television shows of today). Sorry Jim, but bad move on your part, it was a sad way to see the show end. However I’m happy to say the Fraggle Rock memory lives on in the days of eBay and numerous fan sites. If anyone has any episodes on tape, you are willing to share with me, please contact me (I can trade broken toys and pieces of bread in return). Just look for me down in Fraggle Rock *clap clap*