Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock premieres January 21 on Apple TV+.
By Elazar Abrahams
It’s only January, but Apple TV’s new Fraggle Rock revival might have the best pilot episode of the year. In under thirty minutes, the show (re)introduces audiences to the wonderful world of Jim Henson’s Fraggles. Get ready to dance your cares away!
The premise is simple: there are the Fraggles, who live to play, and the Doozers, who live to work. Add in the monstrous Gorgs and a few humans, and we get to see how all species are more interconnected than even they might think. Plus, a bunch of songs along the way! It worked in the 80s and it works now. True, Back to the Rock is very much a children’s program, but it was clever enough to keep me engaged for the five episodes I had the chance to sample ahead of release. The writers come up with really fun ways of imbuing each episode with an important message. For example, one early adventure finds Mokey trapped in a literal “echo chamber.”
Of course, nostalgia played a big factor in my enjoyment here as well. I mean, the theme song alone is enough to make any old fan smile. Gobo and his friends look so beautiful in today’s HD quality. The colorful world is truly able to pop here in a way that it couldn’t during the series’ original grainy run. For the most part though, Fraggle Rock has stayed exactly the same, which is a good choice.
There’s a plethora of streaming options for kids content these days, but just because a show is made for children doesn’t mean it has to be bad. Do your kids a favor and put on something of actual quality for them, they’ll thank you when they are older. Fraggle Rock: Return to the Rock is exactly the right choice for them.
TV and City 