Fraggle Movie Moves Forward

"The Weinstein Co. will turn the Jim Henson series 'Fraggle Rock' into a live-action musical feature.

Cory Edwards, who directed the animated 'Hoodwinked!' for TWC, will helm the picture and write the screenplay. The Jim Henson Co. will produce and TWC will distribute.

Just like the series, the film will be populated by a mix of human characters and Fraggle Rock puppets. TWC co-chair Harvey Weinstein, who has been steering his company more aggressively into the family film arena, made the marriage with Lisa Henson, who runs JHC with her co-CEO brother, Brian Henson."

If you want to read the rest of Michael Fleming's Variety article, click here.

Fraggle Rock Making-Of Book On The Way

MUPPETCENTRAL.COM: New behind-the-scenes book to celebrate Fraggle Rock
By Greg James, Muppet Central - January 22, 2008

Insight Editions is a publishing company known for creating unique art and photography books that celebrate iconic artists, films, television series and other entertainment franchises. Their award-winning collector's books have covered such topics as the art of Star Wars, Shrek, Hannah-Barbara, and Brian Froud.

Several sources at Insight Editions have informed me that the company is planning to release a deluxe book on the art and magic of "Jim Henson’s Fraggle Rock" and, after talking to several representatives at Insight Editions, here's some early information on this release.

The book will showcase the art, magic and vision of Jim Henson's beloved series by celebrating and showcasing the unique and imaginative world of Fraggle Rock. This book will include hundreds of rare drawings, concept artwork, storyboard images, production photos, and other treasures from the studio archives and private collections. This giant "coffee table book" will be a visual feast for any Fraggle fan. The book is said to include hundreds of beautiful color illustrations, photos and artwork from the making of Fraggle Rock along with behind-the-scenes comments, notes and other insights.

The gigantic hardcover book will retail for around $34.95 and will quickly become a prized possession of any Fraggle fan. More details on this comprehensive book are sure to surface as the release of draws closer.

This beautiful book is planned to hit store shelves on September 30, 2008, just around the same time that the final season of Fraggle Rock makes its way onto DVD.

Other fan-favorite Henson collector's books over the years include Jim Henson The Works (1993), Of Muppets and Men (1981), Sesame Street Unpaved (1998) and Jim Henson's Creature Shop No Strings Attached (1997).

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I'll be sure to pick this up, too! You can pre-order it at Amazon for $23.07 + shipping.

Toy OTD: Sababa Fraggle Rock Plushes: Wembley, Red, Boober, Gobo (2004)

It's hard to believe that these toys are four years old already! These plushes were released a little before (or alongside) DVD collections of the show that have now culminated in the full-season box sets we enjoy today. They're affordable, accessible versions of the characters, and as such, they work quite well. The toys are good likenesses of the characters, and the colors and clothing are pretty accurate.

The biggest minus here is the pom-pom antennae the some of the characters sport. There's no internal support for them, and the fluffy tips seem too limp most of the time (I worked hard to get them to look right in this photo). I'm sure it's for safety reasons, but Red suffers the most from these choices, and it's the one aspect where you might wish there was a version made for older fans.

The next minus is that a couple of primary characters are missing - Mokey and Traveling Matt. I'm sure that there's fans who want an even bigger line, but not producing all the main characters is disappointing (especially since I think Matt is one of the neater looking Fraggles). Hopefully that'll change if the DVDs continue to sell, but the gap between this toy line's release and now is pretty big at this point.

You can get all four toys - Wembley, Red, Boober & Gobo - at toysrus.com easily. Don't ask me why, but Wembley and Boober are $11.99 + shipping (each), and Gobo and Red are $12.99 + shipping (each).

Muppet Junkie? You've Got A Whopping Fix Coming

Season Three of Fraggle Rock will be released on Sept. 11th for $34.27 + shipping, and Sesame Street: Old School Vol. 2 is coming out Nov. 6th for $24.71 + shipping. Sweet! Hopefully we can get more skits with discarded characters like Roosevelt Franklin...

Thanks to Muppet Central for the news!

Toy OTD: Tomy Fraggle Rock Wind-Up Toy: Doozer

This is an item ripe for re-issue, now that Fraggle Rock is starting to come out on DVD! Tomy made a few different Doozer wind-ups back in the day, and they're still the best merchandise of those characters. They're really appealing - I love how they molded the parts out of six or seven different colors of plastic, rather than painting an all-green figure. I think it looks so much better that way!

Don't expect to find a working specimen - they seem to break pretty easily. If you can find them on eBay, they make great display pieces! Generally, they're pretty affordable - expect to pay between $5 - $35.00, depending on condition and location.