Toon Zone Talkback - Henson Co. Producing 'Fraggle Rock' Spinoff

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Khursheed

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This is the talkback thread for Henson Co. Producing 'Fraggle Rock' Spinoff.

A preschool series that appears to teach about solving problems, but actually preaches to "4-7 year olds" (i.e., the "target demographic") about the importance of protecting the environment, all the while hoping/assuming that said "demographic" "won't know the difference".

I think I'll pass. Yes, raising environmental awareness is important (especially now) but preaching about it isn't going to get anybody of any age to listen any faster, especially if a company commercializes a legacy to do it.

Now before anyone goes into the "watch before you judge" explanation, bear in mind that this goes into the whole "first impressions" thing. I'm also aware that first impressions are not always correct, but when it comes to presenting/announcing an upcoming TV show, the first impression may mean the difference between whether or not a show has potential to be good. However, I digress.

Further, while I have a neutral opinion, I imagine that a lot of people won't be looking forward to seeing CGI-animated Doozers.

I'm starting to wonder if Sesame Street is really the only Henson-made preschool series we need (Sesame Workshop owns the IP, but the Henson company still makes the show)...
 
As a big fan of Fraggle Rock, frankly I'm not sure what I think. I do love the Doozers (will Cotterpin be in the show?) and nothing really bad can come from more exposure to these characters, but... I don't know.
 
I honestly don't know what to think of this. The original Fraggle Rock was an OK show, not one of my all-time favorites, but OK (funny story; when FR was first announced, I thought because it was on HBO that the series was going to be an adult-oriented parody of kids' shows, not an actual kids' show), but a show centering on the Doozers? I don't know. I never really gave those characters much thought, actually, they were always kind of just there, you know? Aside from Cotterpin, did any of the Doozers even have names or personalities? I don't know how entertaining a show focused on them will be.
 
Just sounds like a bad idea. If there is one thing original Henson product didn't do, it was 'talk down' to kids. Or hoping 'they didn't know the difference'..

Kids know crap. And this sounds like crap.

Sounds like the current crop of Hensons have no idea what to do with the Muppet Property. Their sale to EMTV, a fly by night German Company, was a great example of that.

All the more reason why wish Jim Henson where still alive today.
 
I don't care what the premise is, or how good/bad it comes off as, I'm just saying NO to CGI Dozers/Fraggles, whatever.

Part of the charm of the Doozers was that they're puppets. I always thought they were cute in their movements/facial expressions. I think that's part of the reason the animated Fraggle Rock cartoon failed years back, because it lost it's magic in the transition.

Admittedly, Muppet Babies lost a bit by being animated, too, but it's creativity/writing more than made up for it.
 
Have you even seen the original Fraggle Rock? I'm assuming not because the biggest feature of that show was teaching peace and how our environments affect us all and how we are all interconnected. This right here?



was the primary message of the original show. Complaining about the new show following that idea is stupid. And commercializing? Fraggle Rock was a kids show, one with a crapload of merchandise (a LOT of which I own) to help sell it. Get over yourself.

According to the Toon Zone article they haven't even presented it yet! You're criticizing an annoucement of a presentation and not even the presentation itself? How messed up is that?

Neutral? I do not think that word means what you think it means.

Thankfully Henson Inc isn't run by internet fanboys who complain about literally EVERYTHING coming down the Muppet pipe.

Right. Muppet Babies was a shining example of sparkling dialogue and witty repartee. :shrug: The original Fraggle Rock ran circles around it. This is one of the most ill-informed statements I have ever seen on Toon Zone and that is saying something.
I absolutely HATE the Jim Henson wouldn't do this if he were alive canard. It's absolute bullcrap and an insult to him and the Henson family who have done more for children's television than ANY internet harper has ever done. Do you know why Henson said he created Fraggle Rock? He wanted to make a show that brought about world peace. Audacious? Yes. But That goal doesn't stop just because he died and his family has every right to make sure that what he tried to do for the 80s generation can be expanded to kids today. THAT is honoring his memory and what he tried to accomplish. The world didn't stop when Jim Henson died and I am certain he would have been the first one to say it shouldn't. People who bring up Henson's death to try to score internet hipster cred are the real ones who are hurting his legacy.

Man, rereading all that made me realize that I may have been too harsh in my response and I apologize ahead of time. But I'm going to hit Submit Reply anyways because this rant was a LONG time coming and it needed to be said. Flame away!
 
@Fone Bone:

I think you misunderstood the context of my original post.

Long story short, I'll just simply say that, yes I've seen the original show (I have all the season DVDs that have been released...unfortunately), and that I was aware that the original show taught certain lessons (as well as the reason why Henson created the show). However, as another poster pointed out, it didn't teach those lessons by "talking down" to anyone. Rather, it discussed those certain things in the most honest way possible, and in a way that viewers of any age could understand (all the while doing so in the usual Jim Henson "style").

This new show however, appears to cater only to certain groups, and based on that all important first impression I mentioned before, it seems to be the complete opposite of what Fraggle Rock is all about.

However, I'm not "complaining" about anything, nor am I an "internet fanboy" as you put it (believe me, I can give you complaining...). Oh, and I'm not an "internet hipster" either. I'm just saying that this show is (IMHO) going to put off a lot of people based on this first impression (and not just because of the CGI either).

Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but I really don't think it was necessary to insult the rest of us with the insinuation that we think that our view of the show (and the Henson legacy) is the only one that matters, all in order to make your point (if that wasn't your intention, then I apologize).
 
I think we should suspend all judgements until:

1) We actually see the show,

and

2) We actually get some response out of its target audience.

Just my take on it.
 
I always thought Muppet Babies was just a fun cartoon, not something to expect oscar-winning dialogue from.

Maybe you should check out some episodes of The Muppet Show or some old episodes of Sesame Street (the older episodes incorporated humor for both adults and children and taught lessons without talking down. just look up some clips from the 60s to the 80s on youtube).

Using Muppet Babies (which was a spinoff of a scene in the Muppets Take Manhattan) to point out that Henson shows talk down to children (which it never did from what I remember) is pretty closed-minded.
 
No worries. My rant wasn't really just directed at you but my complete frustration with internet folks who complain about everything that the Henson family does no matter what. I clicked onto this thread thinking "Wow, new Fraggle Rock stuff!" and being all excited only to see everyone sniping. It was REALLY disheartening.

And I didn't see ANYWHERE in the article where it said the show would talk down to kids OR that it only catered towards certain groups. It says that it was designed for 7-10 year olds but the same thing could be said about Justice League Unlimited. That doesn't really have anything to do with the show's quality or whether or not it talks down to kids.

What you just said was basically my point. The Muppet Show and Sesame Street never talked down to kids but it's a pretty big thing to say that Henson never created shows that did. I remember Muppet Babies pretty well and the show is considered so great by fans of it because it was literally the best show on the air in the time-frame it first aired. The eighties was a vast wasteland of cartoon dreck and the fact that it didn't completely suck and was actually cute and entertaining made people give it slack it would NEVER get today.
 
I knew that they will be some negative view here hereing that it CGI. it best to watch before ou judge. At least we'll get to see the Doozer acutllay walking around. I find to the doozer to be interesting character, they like to built things and fraggle would eat htem, but they doesn't seem to care.
 
With the technology they have today, you could create a much more realistic looking doozer than you could have created in the 80's. But in some cases I think that would make the characters loose some of their charm. There's no real need for CGI here, it's probably just being done as a money saver.

i.e no need to build sets and puppets, no need to train puppeteers, or store everything away when not in use.etc.

And just FYI, I don't hate everything Post Henson.
I DID like Muppets Tonight, and got some great new characters out of it like Pepe the King Prawn and Bobo the Bear. I even liked Muppets From Space because we once again got to see a zany Gonzo.

What I don't like is the fact it took so long to get a Fraggle Rock movie (now that Gerry Parkes is too old to play Doc). I also don't like Disney pimping out the Muppets by making them co-stars with all their other child actors in one giant Promotion for Disney TV show.

It just feels like Baby steps. 'OK, we've got the Muppets. But now, what do we DO with them?'
 
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