Fraggle Rock (partially found British co-production of puppet children's television series; 1984-1990): Difference between revisions

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Revision as of 14:54, 24 April 2017

Doc UK1.jpg

The Captain building a model in 'The Garden Plot'

Status: Lost

Fraggle Rock's first produced international co-production was the English UK version, though the French and German versions began airing sooner. The segments within the Muppet world of Fraggle Rock are identical to the American version, however the segments from outer space (i.e. the Doc & Sprocket and Traveling Matt segments) were changed to fit the UK audience.

Fraggle Rock was located on a rock headland or island on a sea coast. There is a lighthouse on the island. The lighthouse was the home of the Captain, a retired sailor and the UK version of the Doc character, played by Fulton MacKay. Sprocket was still his companion, however.

Due to MacKay's death in 1987, the Captain was replaced in the fourth UK season by a younger character known as P.K. (Principal Keeper, the Captain's nephew), played by John Gordon Sinclair and again in the sixth UK season by another character, B.J. (the Captain's son), played by Simon O'Brien.

The missing episodes

A selection of episodes was released on VHS. A petition to have Fraggle Rock released on DVD was run on the web for many years; until 2004 the only DVD release had been in the UK, a "best of" collection of 12 episodes in a grainy transfer from the VHS release. TVS, the original broadcasters, has passed through several owners since 1992 and of the 96 episodes, only 12 master copies were known to still be in existence. HIT Entertainment has tried unsuccessfully to locate the missing episodes, including extensive enquiries with The Jim Henson Company both in the UK and the US.

An effort by fan Alex Taylor to track down the episodes in whatever format is available has confirmed that at least 29 episodes exist in broadcast quality, with 82 episodes existing in some form. Fourteen episodes are unaccounted for in any format.