Dance Your Cares Away

In early 1983, shortly after work had finished on the final season of "the Muppet Show" and the under-rated movie "the Dark Crystal", Jim Henson devised a series which he hoped would help bring peace and harmony to the world's children through music and fun. That series? "Fraggle Rock".

Through the hole in the wall and down the tunnel, hidden from everyday reality are brightly lit caverns filled with wonderful creatures. This land bound together by magic is called Fraggle Rock. The most notable of the creatures who live in this beautiful place are the Fraggles. Each episode follows the adventures of five main Fraggles, adventurous Gobo, gentle and caring Mokey, the undicisive Wembley, morose Boober and sporty Red. The Fraggles spend their days laughing, playing games, splashing around in the pond, singing and eating Doozer sticks.

The Doozers are the "Bob the Builders" of the series. Tiny creatures who build beautiful crystal structures which the Fraggles have a habit of eating. They forgive the Fraggles though because if they didn't eat their constructs, the Doozers would run out of space to build.

The third main species living in Fraggle Rock are the Gorgs, three giant creatures who try to catch the Fraggles. The Gorgs, Ma, Pa and Junior are the last of their kind they believe that they are the rulers of the Universe. The Fraggles often enter into the Gorgs garden to acquire the radishes which are the Fraggles main food source.

Gobo also has to venture into outer space (our world) to collect the weekly postcard from his explorer uncle, Travelling Matt. The Fraggles have access to the human world through the hole in the wall of the workshop belonging to inventor Doc and his trusty dog Sprocket who tries in vain to draw his intention to the furry invaders. Scenes in Doc's workshop bookend each episode. (As "Fraggle Rock" was an international co-production, in the UK the workshop was replaced with a lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper was played by Fulton MacKay of "Porridge" fame while in France it was set in a bakery).

The efforts of the inhabitants of these worlds to get along together form the core of "Fraggle Rock". At the time Jim Henson said

"What the show is really about is people getting along with other people, and understanding the delicate balance of the natural world..."

"...Everything affects everything else, and that there is beauty and harmony of life to be appreciated".

It's a message that still resonates today, 25 years later.