Stream It Or Skip It: ‘Fraggle Rock: Back To The Rock’ On Apple TV+, Where The Fraggles Have New Adventures In An Expanded Fraggle World

When people do the history of HBO, they forget that one of the first original shows that attracted people to the pay channel wasn’t The Sopranos, or even Dream On. It was Fraggle Rock. HBO was the American outlet for the Jim Henson-produced series, and if you were like us, a house without HBO, you were out of luck. But the Fraggles and their message of happiness, inclusiveness and empathy have been in our pop culture since the show’s 1983 debut, and now the Henson company has produced a new series with the beloved characters, now streaming on Apple TV+.

FRAGGLE ROCK: BACK TO THE ROCK: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: As we move through the underground caverns where the Fraggles live, we hear “Fraggle Rock! Fraggle Rock!”

The Gist: Fraggle Rock: Back To The Rock is a series of new adventures for the Fraggles, but it’s also a bit of a new introduction, too. In the first episode, Gobo Fraggle (John Tartaglia) is having fun with his buddies — Red (Karen Prell) keeps wanting everyone to see her best dive ever into the pond — when his uncle, Traveling Matt (Dave Goelz, Frank Meschkuleit), arrives and announces his trip back to Outer Space.

They go to the portal, which is an open wall in the apartment of Doc (Lilli Cooper), who moves in with her dog Sprocket (Tartaglia) to get her doctorate degree in marine ecosystems. Matt wants Gobo to go with him, but when Sprocket appears at the hole, Gobo gets scared and runs away. Matt figures it’s better to go on his own, but he toes without his backpack, which he “bravely” left behind at the Crevice of Solitude.

Gobo wants to prove to Matt that he’s brave, so he decides to retrieve the backpack. Red, Mokey (Donna Kimball), Wembley (Jordan Lockhart) and the ever-negative Boober (Goelz, Meschkuleit) go with him. The first thing they have to do is get past the Fraggle-stomping Gorgs, who send their son Junior (Dan Garza, Ben Durocher) out to do the stomping. But Junior gets distracted by a butterfly, so the Fraggles get past, and are given some sage advice by Marjory the Trash Heap (Aymee Garcia). Marjory asks why Gobo wants to go to the crevice. When he says he wants to prove he’s brave, Marjory says “dig deeper.”

They get to the crevice, and after a rockslide, Gobo takes Marjory’s advice literally, unleashing a torrent of water that gets them back to the main hall and pumps more water into the Fraggle’s world — perfect for the Doozers to build even more edible structures. Gobo decides to stay and explore Fraggle Rock with his friends; Matt says he’ll send packages to the portal from Outer Space, which Gobo will pick up.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The original 1983-87 run of Fraggle Rock and its offshoots, of course. But this iteration definitely reminds us of the socially-distanced shorts that were made in 2020 under the title Fraggle Rock: Rock On!.

Our Take: It was wise for the Henson Company and showrunners Matt Fusfeld and Alex Cuthbertson to do a bit of a restart with Fraggle Rock: Back To The Rock. The original show was beloved, of course, but it’s been 35 years since the initial run ended and this show isn’t just a nostalgia trip for young Gen Xers and older millennials; it’s supposed to be aimed towards kids.

So reestablishing the idea that Traveling Matt will be sending packages (instead of postcards) to the portal in every episode, and that what’s in the package will be incorporated in the story is important. So was recasting Doc, an opportunity for the showrunners to make Doc younger and funnier. Just continuing the story would have led to confusion among the show’s core viewers, who weren’t around when the original aired.

Whether you were a fan of the original or are introducing the show to your kids, though, Fraggle Rock: Back To The Rock is able to recrate what made the original such a special show. The Fraggles are still distinctive and like to have fun (even Boober, who has fun with his melancholy and adherence to rules), the Doozers like to work, the Grogs like to stomp, and Marjory likes to give sage advice.

Besides some green screen that has allowed the Henson people to expand the Fraggle’s visual world, and some fun scenes where the Fraggles ride the raging water like they’re rapids, the production sticks to the old-school puppeteering that made Hensons’ characters so well-loved going all the way back to pre-Sesame Street days.

Unlike some of the reimagined projects that have been created around the Muppets, though, the Henson Company decided to not try to modernize the Fraggles. The stories are still universal, the songs are still bouncy and carry a message of inclusiveness and empathy. The dialogue doesn’t try to include jargon that didn’t exist in the ’80s. But, like the original and all Henson projects dating back to the early Sesame days, it doesn’t talk down to its audience and takes pains to include the adults watching along with their kids.

The show is a visual feast, only enhanced by the technological advancements of the past 3 and a half decades. But despite the scale, the stores are still pretty personal — in the second episode, Red has to unfreeze Wembley, who freezes from fear after she prods him to dive off a very high Doozer-built tower. It all makes for a show that, like the original, will be a series that you’ll gladly sit to watch with your young’uns.

What Age Group Is This For?: The series is rated TV-G, and it’s certainly appropriate for all ages.

Parting Shot: For those who were wondering where the familiar theme song was, we get it at the end of the first episode, with the similar motif of Gobo wandering through the caverns. In subsequent episodes, the same sequence serves as the show’s intro.

Sleeper Star: Oh, we’re always going to side with Boober, and Goelz knows this character like the back of his hand. He originated it, after all. And Meschkuleit’s puppetry is as good as how Goelz operated Boober in the old days.

Most Pilot-y Line: None we could find.

Our Call: STREAM IT. Fraggle Rock: Back To The Rock has all the charm that made the original series so popular, and it’s made in a way that it’s completely easy to make a new generation of fans get into the show immediately.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.