The vacations is usually a anxious time — even for a Fraggle.
Apple TV’s new vacation particular “The First Snow of Fraggle Rock,” premiering Dec. 5, finds Gobo (John Tartaglia) struggling to jot down the proper vacation tune. The arrival of just one snowflake provides to Gobo’s extreme case of author’s block. He desires to jot down the tune everyone seems to be anticipating and make it even higher than the one he wrote the yr earlier than. Tartaglia, who’s the puppeteer and voice of Gobo, describes the particular as a “love letter to the followers.”
“The First Snow of Fraggle Rock,” from the Jim Henson Co., options a number of groundbreaking moments for longtime viewers of the sequence, which first premiered in 1983 and was rebooted by Apple TV in 2022 with “Fraggle Rock: Again to the Rock.”
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“We felt this ardour to make a vacation particular that may very well be aired in 15 years and really feel simply as related and significant and emotional,” says Tartaglia, who can be an govt producer of the particular. “There’s extra music on this. There’s extra magic on this. There’s extra results. There’s a way more complicated storyline. There’s belongings you don’t at all times have time to do in a typical episode. It felt like we have been firing on all cylinders for the particular.”
For the primary time, Gobo goes to “Outer Area,” which is how the Fraggles consult with our world. “We’ve been considering for some time how enjoyable it could be to see Fraggles in the actual world,” says govt producer Lisa Henson, who’s the daughter of Jim Henson and chief govt of the Jim Henson Co.
Having an enormous, game-changing plot improvement felt applicable for this particular. “It’s an opportunity to do one thing you don’t normally get to do with the sequence,” says Tartaglia. “It’s essential take an enormous leap ahead.”
Gobo’s foray into our world will grow to be a part of the present’s canon. “It’s one thing that hopefully we might increase upon in future tasks,” says govt producer Alex Cuthbertson, who co-wrote the particular with govt producer Matt Fusfeld. “In bringing Gobo into the actual world, we’ve type of examined the waters of bringing different Fraggles into the actual world.”
“The First Snow of Fraggle Rock,” the second “Again to the Rock” vacation particular, is crammed with little moments devoted followers might acknowledge. The present movies in Alberta, Canada, and when Gobo first arrives in Outer Area, he’s on a road within the city of Canmore. “We put Gobo into this lovely setting that all of us go to after we are taking days off from taking pictures the present in Calgary,” Fusfeld says. “It’s form of enjoyable that the primary time we see him out within the human world, we see him there.”
Whereas in Outer Area, Gobo meets Lele Pons, the Youtube star and singer, who’s dealing with her personal type of author’s block. Pons was pregnant together with her first baby through the filming, a truth that’s labored into her look. “I’m simply questioning what sort of tune I’m going to jot down after I’m in a second that I’ve by no means been in earlier than,” she tells Gobo. The 2 sing a reimagined model of “Our Melody,” one of the beloved songs from the unique sequence.
Gobo travels to the human world, or Outer Area to the Fraggles, and meets Lele Pons, the Youtube character and singer.
(Picture from Apple)
“It’s a type of issues that felt like kismet,” Cuthbertson says. “She is coping with this second of unimaginable expectation the place she is considering how issues will look and the way issues will likely be. She had such an fascinating angle for understanding what Gobo goes by means of.”
Tartaglia additionally makes a cameo look within the particular when he and Gobo meet for the primary time. “It’s completely a second for the followers,” Cuthbertson says. “As a present that’s actually pushed by the concept of affection and inclusion, giving one thing to the followers appears like a enjoyable little reward.”
When Tartaglia first noticed within the script that he would meet his on-screen alter ego, he thought it was an inside joke simply put there to make him snicker. He didn’t suppose Cuthbertson and Fusfeld have been critical. “It simply felt so on the nostril,” he says. “Now I watch it and I actually like it. I really like enjoying Gobo a lot. He’s my favourite character I’ve ever performed. I simply love the enjoyment that he’s. It’s virtually like I’m type of speaking to my coronary heart [in that scene].”
“First Snow” additionally options the arrival of the brand new Gorg child. Within the second season finale, Ma Gorg introduced she was anticipating. The vacation particular finds Junior Gorg grappling with the arrival of his new child sister, one thing any older sibling can relate to.
“Gorg’s subplot is sort of sturdy as a result of he’s been an solely baby for all this time,” Henson says. “He’s mainly very spoiled, so the concept a little bit child Gorg is gonna are available and disturb that dynamic is sort of wealthy. At first, he’s so excited. Then when the newborn hatches, he’s afraid of it. However ultimately he embraces the newborn and loves it greater than he ever hoped to. That easy little type of story with that character could be very rewarding.”
“First Snow” options the arrival of a brand new child Gorg.
(Picture from Apple)
The present’s enduring recognition is rooted within the present’s positivity and timelessness. “The one factor they might ever argue about is like, ‘I really like you extra. No, I really like you extra.’ They might by no means argue or be snippy with one another,” Fusfeld says. “There’s completely no popular culture in it. They don’t exist in tradition they usually have their very own tradition.”
All agree that Tartaglia is the in-house “Fraggle Rock” professional. “John is aware of the present in and out. There’s not an episode that he isn’t fully accustomed to,” says Henson. “He is aware of whether or not there’s a tune from one of many previous episodes that we might probably reuse, whether or not there’s a personality we would need to convey again. I believe having one superfan is like having 100 common followers. He’s superb and he completely carries the torch for ‘Fraggle’s’ previous, current and future.”
Tartaglia, who grew up watching the unique sequence, says he by no means thought his “nerd data” would repay on this approach. “I used to be 7 years previous and I used to be like, ‘That’s what I need to do. I need to work for Jim Henson. I need to be a puppeteer,’” he remembers. “‘Fraggle Rock’ has at all times, for me, been the gold normal of what household tv ought to be.”
In the long run, Gobo and the Fraggles notice that holidays (and songs) don’t need to be good and that, like a snowflake, each second and each vacation is exclusive.
“The vacations don’t should be what they have been final yr. And it doesn’t should be what your neighbors do. It doesn’t should be what your pals do,” says Cuthbertson. “It doesn’t must contain a sure amount of cash or a specific amount of consumerism. It actually simply needs to be a couple of feeling, and that feeling is one thing that’s form of ephemeral and improvised and delightful and distinctive. And we love the concept of placing that every one collectively within the form of bodily metaphor of the snowflake and letting it actually communicate for what the vacations may very well be.”
