Change is the secret in The First Snow of Fraggle Rock, a brand new vacation particular streaming on Apple TV, however the identical tried and true strategies can nonetheless make magic occur behind the scenes. Recent off the season 2 finale of Again to the Rock, the Fraggles eagerly anticipate the arrival of snow to start their vacation festivities simply because the Gorgs await the arrival of their brand-new child. However when neither occasion seems as anticipated, the characters should study to drift.
Gobo struggles to put in writing a brand new track to kick off the wintry season, although he receives a reprieve when the Doozers fail to supply greater than a single snowflake. The Fraggles are thus compelled to take care of a really massive change to their celebration, whereas Gobo is shipped on a shock journey to Outer House, the place an encounter with a musician (Lele Pons) anticipating a really massive change of her personal supplies him the musical inspiration he wants.
Final however not least, Junior’s expectation of a child brother who would take his candy time popping out of the egg is upended when his child sister bursts out minutes later. Whereas his dad and mom are fast to regulate (with Pa Gorg affectionately dubbing her Daddy’s Little Princess — or “Princess” for brief), Junior wants some further time to know his new place on the planet.
ScreenRant visited Jim Henson’s Creature Store in Burbank earlier this month, the place we and a number of other different media retailers had the chance to fulfill Princess and a few of her Fraggle mates. The go to to the Rock was guided by none apart from John Tartaglia, a gifted puppeteer and Fraggle Rock producer who has additionally spent loads of time on the planet of Sesame Road. Watch the video above and browse on to see what we realized.
Behind The Scenes With The First Snow Of Fraggle Rock
Tartaglia gave a grand tour of the Burbank store, highlighting lots of the character particulars which may go unnoticed on the display, however the main message he imparted was the eagerness with which the artistic staff tackled the most recent vacation particular. “We needed to make a particular that really felt particular,” he defined. “If we’ll make this lovely vacation expertise for households, we now have to ensure it exceeds any single episode of the present.”
We needed to ensure that we expanded the universe a bit bit.
He elaborated that every division was tasked with making “the whole lot really feel as further shiny and glittery and magical as ever in Fraggle Rock,” however understood that might solely occur if the story itself invited a bigger scale than earlier than. “We needed to ensure that we expanded the universe a bit bit. Gobo has by no means been to Outer House earlier than, so the truth that he obtained to go for the very first time was tremendous, tremendous cool.”
Tartaglia praised each division for “staying late and placing the additional little particulars on issues that you just would not even essentially see on the primary couple of watches.” One instance he pointed to was the snowflake moldings on the Doozer automobile wheels, which have been added to all Doozer automobiles particularly for the particular. “That is type of the magic of what we do on the set. We would like this to really feel like a full world, past what you see on the entrance of the display. Approach within the background, when you watch and rewatch the particular, you will see little tiny particulars.“
Over within the Gorg fortress, one other implausible element emerged: Junior’s Fraggle finger puppets. Whereas they make an look within the particular, the writers’ room initially envisioned a considerably bigger story for them. “We thought it will be actually humorous for Junior to have made these puppet variations of his Fraggle mates to clarify to his child sibling who these characters are,” so that they wrote a scene the place he made the puppets by hand.
Although it needed to be minimize to suit the shorter runtime, they’re nonetheless showcased within the background of the Gorg fortress — a necessity given how exhausting the store labored on it. “The store actually went above and past,” Tartaglia gushed. “We pictured easy little felt finger puppets, however the staff thought Junior would make them out of issues round the home, so they’re all totally different sorts of nuts that he painted after which added all these pure issues discovered within the Gorg world to make them look Fraggled.”
Even the Fraggle extras, who don’t have any names or strains, are given specialised care to make sure that each nook of the Rock feels lived in. With consideration to element like that, who will help however rewatch a number of occasions?
Introducing The Latest Gorg To Fraggle Rock
One other massive first was, after all, the enlargement of the Gorg household, which was teased on the finish of season 2. Tartaglia defined that the earliest conversations within the writers’ room revolved round, “What is that this going to imply? How is that this going to alter the whole lot?” Gorg historical past was an necessary issue on this story. “They suppose they’re the final ones within the universe, and now rapidly this challenges the whole lot and adjustments the whole lot.”
She’s not going to know: you’ll be able to’t simply decide a Fraggle up and throw them round.
Nobody is extra challenged than Junior, who has at all times been the child of his household. “We may all relate to it,” Tartaglia confided. “When you find yourself an enormous brother or an enormous sister, and also you get a brand new child in your loved ones, that adjustments the whole lot.” Past the very human considerations of conserving your dad and mom’ love for your self and bestowing your personal love on an unknown creature, “We actually obtained excited concerning the prospects of how this character may change Fraggle Rock.” A child Gorg has no self-control, resulting in questions like, “How is she going to deal with the Fraggles after they lastly meet down the road? You possibly can’t simply decide a Fraggle up and throw them round.“
However earlier than they delved into the instructions the story may absorb future Again to the Rock episodes, they needed to nail down her look and mannerisms. She needed to be believably child Gorg-sized, but in addition hand puppet-sized to be able to be carried out by one puppeteer, which was already a problem unto itself. Princess additionally has the identical eye management as her fellow Gorgs, however with an added bonus. “She needed to be each cute and in addition get her method every time she needed to, so we added these fantastic decrease lids in.” Thus, she will be able to pout, flutter her eyes, and get sleepy as actual infants do.
The fortunate handler of Princess is Kira Corridor, although Karen Prell (Crimson Fraggle) assists with the eyes. However Tartaglia added that, “Once we want her to stroll, we put a bunch of puppeteers in blue fits, and so they take them out in a while.” Talking of the stroll, some viewers famous the horror film high quality to her steps within the particular, which the puppeteer confirmed was intentional. “We talked so much about how a lot of it’s the method she really walks, and the way a lot is Junior’s interpretation of it.” She could be a child, however from Junior’s standpoint, “She’s coming to get me! What do I do?”
Fortunately, Junior reconciled himself to Princess’ cute existence by the tip of The First Snow, leaving us all excited to see what different adjustments will ensue when she lastly meets the Fraggles.
- Launch Date
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December 4, 2025
- Runtime
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34 Minutes
- Director
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Jonathan A. Rosenbaum
- Writers
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Matt Fusfeld, Alex Cuthbertson
- Producers
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Chris Plourde
Forged
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John Tartaglia
Gobo Fraggle (voice)
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