Drop Everything and Watch Both "Tales From the Far Side"!

Many years ago, I lamented the fact that neither "Tales of the Far Side" nor its even more obscure sequel were available anywhere on DVD or YouTube.  Well, some kind soul has uploaded both specials just in time for Halloween.

I didn't know Marv "Bambi Meets Godzilla" Newland was involved but in hindsight I suppose if any animator was going to bring Gary Larson's comics to life, it makes sense that it was him.  And it is also very clear in the first minute and a half why the first special was aired once ever in America and never again, cause gee-golly is this way darker and weirder than I remember.  (And -I sure as hell wasn't expecting this- sadder!  Holy sh*t, the sequence with the coyote watching old home movies...)

I have no idea how long these will stay up (how I wish Larson wasn't so damn weird about the internet) so enjoy them while you can:





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Sketch of the Day:

Sketches from "Nature: Earthflight"

I need a long mental health break after the "Fraggle Rock" marathon, and I -horrors- haven't shared any sketches lately.  So here are almost a dozen scanned and colorized Sketchbook pages filled with drawings and sketches I drew while watching the very nice "Nature" miniseries, "Earthflight":

"Fraggle Rock" Month - Season Four, Episodes 24-26: The Grand Finale

"It's just a dream away
"You've got to leave to stay
"We'll meet again, someday
"Just a dream away..."
 - Mudwell

As we have seen on this journey through "Fraggle Rock", this wasn't your typical children's show.  The vast majority of such series never even get a true final episode, much less a three-part grand finale.  (It turns out that in some parts of the world, "Fraggle Rock" didn't get a "real" ending either because the final season never reached their shores, which is a damn shame.)  This makes the final three episodes of "Fraggle Rock" largely unprecedented.

So let's break it down.  We start with "The Gorg Who Would Be King", which I had not seen before and is a very nice sendoff for the Gorgs.  Through plot complications that are admittedly kind of ridiculous, Junior travels to Fraggle Rock and meets the Doozers and the Fraggles and the Trash Heap and sees more of the Universe he's being groomed to rule.  And he learns, for the first time, that the Fraggles and Doozers depend on his radishes.  That's a fantastic touch; we in the audience learned about this connection between the three worlds in the very first season, remember?  But that doesn't mean the characters know about it, and its a great lead-in for the next two episodes, which act more as a two-parter.

"The Honk of Honks" is a hell of a penultimate episode.  Cantus returns for another Medley, but this time he entrusts Gobo to lead and instructs him to create the trumpet blast that will signal the beginning of The Song of Songs.  The Honk of Honks signals the beginning of the end for the series.  To create it, Gobo must travel to all the different worlds and collect an instrument from all the major characters, and so we have our last significant encounters with Junior Gorg, Cotterpin Doozer, and Phylo and Gunge.  And so we have matter-of-fact interactions with characters who wouldn't even look at each-other back in the first season.  They're finally seeing each-other as people now.

Doc doesn't see Gobo at all.  That's the first major reveal in this episode and, I have to say, it's... weird.  I know what they were going for here; in the special features, the writer clarifies that she was inspired by the inattentional blindness phenomenon (specifically a personal childhood experience with it), and to her credit, she does stay on the "As a scientist, Doc desperately wants to meet a Fraggle, so he can begin to make sense of the strange goings-on in his workshop over the years and this hidden world he's long suspected but had no real proof of" side of the crevasse.  However, it tapdances so awfully close to the deep dark pit of "You don't have to make sense, just ~*~Believe!!!~*~" that it sticks in my craw.

But look at that scene where Doc and Gobo finally interact with each-other.  It's just beautiful.  This character who's been on the sidelines of this wonderful world we've been a part of for so long finally gets to join us.  Remember, Doc has never been able to personally interact with Fraggle Rock until now; once again, we're experiencing the place from an outsider's perspective.  And through Doc's wonder, we get a sense of the joy and awe we had ourselves when we started watching the series all those years ago.

And it is a world that, now that Doc has finally met one of its residents and is so full of questions about, he is going to have to leave soon.  After the Song of Songs (a sequence that I don't want to discount because it is freakin' glorious; basically the victory lap for the whole series with an awesome musical number and darn close to every single Fraggle character onscreen at once), we learn that Doc and Sprocket are moving away. 

They're preparing to move in "Change of Address", and in the opening of the episode, we learn that Doc has been "feeding" the Fraggles.  That's a fantastic little touch, but it's not clear why until a little later.  Gobo heads up to talk with Doc for, it turns out, the second time ever.  And Doc's behavior towards Gobo here struck me as surprisingly troubling -- until it hit me that Doc does not think of Gobo as a person yet!  Goodness, he's been feeding the Fraggles like you'd feed an animal you want to tame, starting with dog biscuits(!?) and moving on to pizza.  We know Gobo as a respectable intelligent being but to Doc, he's a funny little animal that can talk. 

Gobo is, naturally, put off by this.  He runs off and mopes while Doc and Sprocket close the door on the workshop for the last time ever.  Consulting with the Trash Heap, Gobo receives the cryptic advice, "You cannot leave the magic".  Rushing to share that with Doc, Gobo finds himself in a workshop that is completely empty but for a final message from Doc.  Meanwhile, in their new home, Doc and Sprocket long to find a Fraggle Hole (God, this sequence is heartbreaking) but to no avail.  But when all hope is lost, Gobo notices a tunnel he's never seen before, and then...

I have to be honest, readers.  The final three episodes of "Fraggle Rock" made me about a million times happier than I was at the end of most other series I've followed all the way through -- and they have also left me with a deep sadness and sense of loss like I haven't felt at the end of any other series.

That makes this three-part series finale the single greatest ending to a series I have ever seen.  I mean that.  At the very least, I think we can all agree that it is one of the most downright emotional series endings ever made.  It wraps the whole series up in a beautiful bow of a triumphant happy ending and leaves us to mourn the loss of a series that is, honestly, so noble.  And it is beautiful in its nobility, which is why it is so deeply painful to see something so truly wonderful end and... dammit, the words on my screen are getting all blurry again.

When they say "You can not leave the magic", they're talking to us viewers.  I called the series noble and beautiful and I stand by that.  I don't think it's possible to watch this series and not internalize it somehow.  It makes me want to be a better person.  It makes me want to make art that comes from a purer place.  At the risk of sounding cheesy, it is a part of me, as I am a part of it.

"Fraggle Rock" Month: Season 4, Episode 20 - "Gone But Not Forgotten"

First, the succinct version (since I know you've been missing NoFace; I was trying not to use him so often because I knew I'd be needing him for this one):



Oh man.  Oh, gee, we're at THAT episode.  And right after yesterday's episode too.  Give me a minute to compose myself, guys.  Okay.

One of the things that I have heard tends to alarm people when they revisit "Fraggle Rock" as an adult was the fact that this children's show with colorful Muppet creatures who sing and dance never shied away from the subject of death.  As a matter of fact, death is all over the place in "Fraggle Rock".  The Rock could be pretty terrifying; there are tunnels that can spirit you away to another world, bottomless pits, predatory caves, and vicious monsters lurking around the bend.   Simply put, the show wasn't afraid to get dark as f**k if it needed to.

Yet somehow, "Gone But Not Forgotten" tends to get mentioned most frequently as one of the saddest episodes (the other saddest episodes ever being "Marooned" and "River of Life", naturally).  And I think the reason for this is because while this is a story of how Wembly befriends a strange creature who passes away very suddenly, it doesn't really focus on that character's death.  It's really about Wembly's grieving process.

That's more unusual than you may think.  A lot of children's media approaches the subject of death, but most of them shy away from the subject of grief, because it is so much more painful to deal with.  (Hell, I'm having a hard time writing this review!)  But really, the sudden empty hole in your life is the very hardest part of suffering a profound loss.  It hurts so much, especially when it's a more personal loss, as is the case here.  Given that Wembly is, in many ways, still the most innocent character in the show, it's a tough thing to watch him suffer so, let me tell you. 

None of the other Fraggles knew Wembly's friend Mudwell, and the episode is wise enough to show how awkward and upsetting Wembly's personal grief is from their point of view.  For my money, this is the most devastating aspect of this episode.  They all want to help, they hate seeing their friend in such a state, but they just don't know what to say.

Rewatching this episode, it's poignancy reminded me a great deal of "Luck of the Fryrish" or "I Remember You".  And it made me wonder if the writers of "Futurama" and "Adventure Time" were influenced by "Fraggle Rock" in a way that runs deeper than the obvious "very funny series set in a richly imagined fantastical world populated with weird but endearing characters".  They at least share the same mindset.

In the end, Wembly discovers a way to keep Mudwell's memory alive, thanks to a very strange quirk of his friend's life-cycle.  And it involves song, which is a lovely touch, and a very Fraggly thing to do.  And the song's lyrics include some beautiful images that foreshadow the events of the final episode, which is just around the corner... 

"Fraggle Rock" Month: Season 4, Episode 18 - "The River of Life"

Throughout "Fraggle Rock", humans have almost invariably been referred to by the Fraggles as "Silly Creatures".  It's one of the most overlooked ingenious aspects of the whole series.

When we humans are the alien "other" to nonhuman point-of-view characters, you are almost guaranteed to see the rusty old "Humans Are Bastards" trope.  The writers of "Fraggle Rock" are smart enough to not avoid it completely.  But they put an unexpected fairer spin on it: humans aren't evil and we're certainly not intentionally mean, but we do some awfully confusing things sometimes.  And sometimes we do things that would look downright stupid from the outside.  We are, in a word, silly.

The Silly Creature we've been most concerned with in this series is... well, here's where things are going to get complicated, because where Canada and the United States had Doc, played by the irreplaceable Gerry Parkes, other markets around the world had a different human lead.  The fascinating thing here is that nearly all versions of "Fraggle Rock" had an older gentleman as their equivalent character.  You'd think our human emissary into the world of Fraggles, Doozers, and Gorgs would be a child for maximum audience-appeal points, and a less interesting series probably would have done that (there's a quick moment in "Uncle Matt's Discovery" where a little girl finds a Fraggle Hole that gives us a glimpse of that less interesting series).  But there's "Fraggle Rock" for you, subverting expectations at every opportunity.

In any case, this is one of the very few episodes where the human world directly intrudes on Fraggle Rock.  And your heart sinks at the revelation in the prologue that not only have humans found the "empty limestone caves" surrounding Doc's workshop and the Captain's Inn, it turns out that a few humans have already found an unsavory use for them: as a potential "safe" dumping ground for industrial waste.

I grew up in the early 90's.  I've seen a lot of programs try to do a "save the environment" episode.  An awful lot of them fail because they end up in way over their head; usually the issue ends up either too simplified or too overbearing.  Jim Henson would go to this well quite a few times, and he'd usually do a better job than most.  But I think this is his most powerful take on the issue, one of the best attempt at such an episode ever made by anyone really, and here's why:  At this point in the series, we've spent so much more time in the Rock than in the human world that it feels more like home than the human world does.  We've spent three and a half seasons with the Fraggles; that's basically like going to college with somebody.  So learning that somebody intends to dump poisonous industrial byproducts into the caverns of Fraggle Rock does not strike us viewers as a sad -- but faraway! :D -- tragedy (to borrow a phrase from another series).  No, it is nothing less than an incredible violation of our own home and beloved friends.  It's unthinkable.

And it gets worse.  Because here's the other remarkable aspect of his episode: who is this human who is threatening our home and our friends?  Who is this person who could, just by agreeing to the dumping, doom the Fraggles to extinction and the entire Fraggle Rock ecosystem to complete annihilation without even realizing it?  It isn't some dedicated "eco-villain" a la "Captain Planet" who evidently just thrives on hurting living things for the hell of it.  It's not a random character who is going to show up for only this episode, naively causes harm, learns to not do that, and promises never to pollute again and therefore gets to be an honorary Planeteer (yeah, this isn't the most original observation, but "Captain Planet" was not very good).  And it's not even a big, faceless scary corporation.  No, this episode doesn't go the easy route.  The person who could inadvertently kill all these wonderful characters we've grown to love over the years is Doc.  Yes, dear old kindly Doc, the nicest human character of all.  Doc who we know and love.  Doc, who we know would never in a million years do anything that would hurt another living thng, and certainly wouldn't even think of harming Fraggle Rock if he knew about it.  Holy sh*t, this episode; is it trying to kill me over here?  I need a beer and a good long stare at the wall, guys.

And so help me, it gets WORSE!  Because Boober, the only resident of the Rock who hasn't been poisoned, has tracked the source of the pollution to Outer Space.  And in a scene that is less "sad" and more "brace yourselves, audience, cause now we are just going to tear out your guts and stomp all over them", he kneels down at the entrance to Doc's workshop and pleads with the Silly Creatures to stop hurting his friends.  The thing is, he doesn't know that Doc and Sprocket have stepped out for a while, and the workshop is totally empty... except for us Silly Creatures in the audience... Oh, God...

The episode ends with the residents of Fraggle Rock well again, singing and merrymaking as usual thanks to Doc calling off the dumping project... and with Doc seriously wondering for the first time at those mysterious caverns under his home, thanks to the stack of postcards addressed to one Gobo Fraggle that Boober had left at the entrance to the tunnel to Outer Space. The more I think about it, the more I think this may be the single most profound episode of the entire series.

"Fraggle Rock" Month: Season 4, Episode 17 - "The Trial of Cotterpin Doozer"

The second half of the final season of "Fraggle Rock" is crazy emotional in its best moments, and I am probably not going to end up spending as much time as I should on this relatively lighter episode.  But I think there are some very interesting ideas presented in "The Trial of Cotterpin Doozer", so although it isn't the kind of crazy tearjerker the last few episodes of "Fraggle Rock" are rightfully known for, there are a few neat things to unpack.

So far, Cotterpin has been the main catalyst in bringing the Fraggle and Doozer worlds together by being one of maybe three Doozers ever who has even talked to a Fraggle, never mind made friends with one.  And this episode reveals that, really, Cotterpin herself IS the connection.  The other Doozers still think of Fraggles as those stupid weird bird-things that crash into their towers and eat their architecture.  A bullying Doozer calls her out and very suddenly Cotterpin finds herself on trial for consorting with Fraggles.  She'll lose her job unless she can prove Fraggles are intelligent beings worthy of the Doozers' respect.  And now that the trial has thus escalated, we've got ourselves the "Fraggle Rock" version of the good old Humanity on Trial story.

It's hard to tell if the Humanity on Trial story really is a rusty old science fiction trope or if it just feels that way, probably because it bookended "Star Trek: The Next Generation".  Never mind that in this series, we have an alien race putting a different alien race on trial instead -- and notice how closely we relate to Fraggles by now that they so easily slip into humans' role!  Humans had Captain Picard to defend our right to exist (we also got the Planeteers, according to TV Tropes; I really need to hunt that episode down because I can't even imagine...).  And the Fraggles get...

Well, they don't get Red or Gobo, like Cotterpin was hoping for.  Actually, they don't get any of the major characters.  They've all evacuated the Rock due to a Poison Cackler egg found nearby that's due to hatch soon.  So in a great subversion, Cotterpin can't pick the most noble or wise among the Fraggles to stand up for the entire Fraggle species.  Fortunately, "Fraggle Rock" is at the point where, as with "The Simpsons", there are lots and lots of terrific minor characters, and lucky for Cotterpin, a couple of them stayed behind.  And thus Cotterpin recruits the two Fraggles who must now step up for the sake of all Fraggles: Large Marvin and his sidekick Feenie.  Oh, dear.

Thus far, Large Marvin and Feenie have been little more than joke characters doing weird stuff in the background.  They are, as stated, not the most noble or wise among the Fraggles.  If you knew these two were your entire species' defendants, it would not exactly inspire confidence.  But they are still the only beings around who are big enough to tackle a Poison Cackler - and that egg that's about to hatch is nested right outside the entrance to the Doozer Dome...

This is the last episode that centers on the Doozers, so it is effectively the end of their story arc.  There was some chatter a while back of a fully animated Doozer spin-off series.  I said it before, and I'll say it again, I sure as heck didn't see that coming.  But more importantly, I wonder if that series is even going to acknowledge the other residents of Fraggle Rock or if its going to be set entirely in the Doozer Dome?  As violently opposed as I am to the very idea of CGI Fraggles (quick aside: on that note, let's not talk about any animated Fraggles.  Let's just not.  Nope), I'd hate to see the Doozers deprived of their context.  It'd be a betrayal of all the work the original "Fraggle Rock" series did to bring these worlds together.

Okay, who's ready for a long string of emotional gut-punches?