One of the best things about Comic Con this year was finally getting to connect with two of the original Fraggle Rock performers, Karen Prell and Dave Goelz. They were there to celebrate the release of Season 4 on DVD (as well as the entire series as a boxed set, this fall). It was also the debut of the FIRST appearance of a Fraggle above ground. A new Red Fraggle puppet was created just this year for some public appearances, and perhaps this will be the start of some new mainstream “Fraggle Awareness.”

Karen performs one of the most popular Fraggles in the series, Red. Dave performed Boober and Uncle Matt, but is probably more known as they voice of Gonzo. Pretty cool to get up close and personal with real Muppet history. Karen performed Red for the crowd, and got to lead the audience in a “singalong” screening of an original episode. Dave introduced the panel and talked about some of his memories of working with Jim Henson. All these years later, Dave Goelz is one of the patriarchs of the Henson family.

Backstage, we also had some brief moments to talk about the upcoming movie. Even though these two have been doing this for thirty years, they have stayed incredibly young and seem ready to perform their characters again at a moment’s notice. Must be the Muppet DNA in them. And both are looking forward to becoming Red and Boober again. 

Nobody has more enthusiasm about the world of Fraggle Rock than Karen Prell. She handed me a rare copy of “The Encyclopedia Fragglia,” an account of every episode, every plot and who performed in it, which she helped compile during the production. 

Draft two of the screenplay has been turned in and has been received very well. We are discussing budget, schedule and beginning to talk about the physical production. That’s very exciting.