Christopher O’Connor – Well, I finally gave in and bought the new Fraggle Rock 30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition DVD Box Set. A recent competition in the UK was giving away the box set, seven Manhattan Toys plush Fraggles, and a Fraggle Rock comic book signed by Lisa Henson. I didn’t win, but a week later the winner listed it all on eBay!! It didn’t sell, so I offered a bargain price which was accepted and I received the lot today!
The Box
The packaging on this set is beautiful. It is thick, strong card covered in a high gloss print. Most the images are recently used photos combined to make up the pictures. It’s nice to see Doc and Sprocket on the back though. Also it’s nice that three different versions of the Fraggle Rock logo are used on the packaging. The lid has a removable sticker on the top with a list of contents and a description of the show. When you lift the lid off, the 5 DVD cases are tucked behind the Red plush key ring. She’s not the best looking plush, but its pretty neat!
The DVDs
Each season is represented exactly as it was released in previous years. Five discs for each of the four seasons–four discs with episodes and one disc of bonus features. The DVDs are presented in new cover art, and the sketch books, Jim Henson’s journal replication, etc. are not included like in the HIT! DVD releases.
The fifth DVD case features Mokey on the cover with the title Bonus Material. So what does these discs include? Well, all 13 episodes of Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series fill all of disc one and most of disc two. Some animated episodes were split in two, if this is the case, it selects the two episodes together for you to watch.
In a little corner of the menu is a box called “From the Archives” when selected bring up “Recently Discovered Interviews.” The first interview features Fraggle Rock musician Dennis Lee talking to Mokey, then head writer/co-creator Jerry Juhl talks to Gobo, co-creator/writer Jocelyn Stevenson talks to Red and Mokey about how the Fraggles got their names, and puppet engineer Faz Fazakas talks to Cotterpin Doozer. There is also an interview with Uncle Traveling Matt called “A Minute with Traveling Matt!” where an interviewer asks Matt to list all the countries he’s been to and if he can speak all the languages. The total running time is 9 minutes 26 seconds.
Also included in the bonus DVD case is the all new graphic novel.
So now you know exactly what is included in this set. It’s a nice set, great for fans who have not bought the previous sets, but for die hard Fraggle fans, it’s all previously released, except for the new novel, the new packaging, and the nearly 10 minutes of new bonus material.
The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com
