The Fraggle Season that Wasn't

[PukkaPukka]

Hey all, in talking with some people in the know, as well as through my own investigation, I have found, as a lot of you already know, that there was a planned fifth season of Fraggle Rock, but because of HBO dealings, it got cancelled after four and the producers tied up the loose ends in four. I would be interested to know whether or not some of the season five plots snuck into the Animated Fraggle Rock series. After all, that only ran for one season, if memory serves...it may have just acted as a minor replacement after the live-action series ended, with hopes (of course) of renewal for more than one season. Anyone here know anything?

>Adam

[Don_Music_2004]

Hmmmmm, well I'm not sure about some of the Animated Fraggle Rock stories. Like the one when Wembley gets big from wishing on that wishing stone and goes to the Gorg's Garden, and they think he's their cousin or the one when Wembley and Gobo climb to the top of the Gorg's Castle. I just can't picture them being used on the puppet series.

[anathema]

There's at least one on-line episode guide that breaks the show down into five seasons - is this not correct?

[getup]

as i recall there were five seasons of fraggle rock.

[PukkaPukka]

Nope. The show ran from 1983 to 1987. Production began on the first episode (principal filming) on March 10th, 1982, and production ended on the show May 28, 1986 (except for "Fraggles Look for Jobs"). After the 1982 recordings, which went from 03/10/82-08/04/82, there was a variable summer hiatus, and the seasons do indeed break down into the following scheme:

Season 1 - 1983-1984 (January mid-season - no '82 episodes)
Season 2 - 1984-1985
Season 3 - 1985-1986
Season 4 - 1986-1987 (last episode VTR 05/28/96)

The cast was told that there were going to be initially five seasons, and - when HBO pulled out - the loose ends were tied up in four. I think the whole reason many people think there were five is because of the show breaking into HBO midseason, rather than a normal fall startup. Either way, this is the way it went, to the best of my knowledge.

>Adam

[anathema]

There were five transmission runs:

10 Jan 83 - 4 Jul 83 (24 shows)
2 Jan 84 - 11 Jun 84 (24 shows)
7 Jan 85 - 25 May 85 (21 shows)
6 Jan 86 - 31 Mar 86 (13 shows)
5 Jan 87 - 30 Mar 87 (13 shows)

(plus "The Bells of Fraggle Rock", aired 23 Dec 84.)


Regardless of when/how the show was taped, this reads as five seasons from the point of view of transmission. The show always kicked off in January each year.

[PukkaPukka]

Whoops, my bad. This seems logical. I wonder though...oh well, nevermind. I guess this thread should then be called Season 6 - The Season that Wasn't. LOL. Thanks for that correction, man. Oh, BTW, are you pulling those first-last airdates from the UK airings at all, or was that from the standard US airing timetable? Either way, there *sniff* was still a season we missed out on potentially...dates weren't really the point of my initial post LOL...but this tech conversation was informative. Thanks again!

>Adam

[PukkaPukka]

Also, I wasn't inferring that the production dates were the airdates or held any relevance to them. Just remarking that for that first season, which was filmed in advance, there was no summer hiatus. And regarding the rest of my initial posting, just bump the numbers up by one...hehe...

[PukkaPukka]

January EVERY year? Wow. I need to take another glance at the tx dates somewhere if I can dig 'em up. I've got the VTR dates definite. But wow. As Fraggle appeared in January, were they (HBO) showing it as a midseason replacement in that timeslot perchance? It just seems irregular to start a series (even in standard transmission status rather than mid-season replacement status) in January EVERY year. I could see the initial year being started January, but the subsequent years? Yeesh...oh well...

[anathema]

Different channels may operate in different ways. On many channels a mid-season replacement would typically start in or around January, but then it would only run for two or three months, not six :-) Over here, the new TV season starts in the autumn, but this wasn't always the case - the BBC season used to start in the New Year, and there is still a new raft of programming launched in the spring.

The dates I've listed are the original US airings, one show per week, no gaps.

[Phillip Chapman]

Originally Posted by PukkaPukka

I guess this thread should then be called Season 6 - The Season that Wasn't.

I updated it to "The Fraggle Season that Wasn't" since there is some debate whether the show ran for four or five seasons.

What I believe happened is that HBO originally planned for another year of the show as was stated here. When it was clear that wasn't going to happen, HBO split the season four episodes into two calendar years, 1986 and 1987 in order to continue running new episodes for a longer period of time. By that point, there were three years of re-runs to air weekly in the meantime.

I'm going from memory on the above, but I have some Fraggle info I need to dig up to confirm if that is the case.

[Janice & Mokey's Man]

I also support the "there were 5 seasons" side. lol

[PukkaPukka]

Originally Posted by Janice & Mokey's Man

I also support the "there were 5 seasons" side. lol

Okay, sheesh...hehe, I think I must've inadvertently "muffined" my own thread (LOL). I didn't intend to spark debate over the number of seasons - we all know there was one missing, whatever the number. If y'all would refer to my initial post, I'd appreciate it. LOL again...and I'm siding with Phil about the 4/5 split - 4 seasons were indeed produced - and then split. There were an intended four seasons, and that is what has always been noted, production-wise. It's what Henson prepped for, and it's what HBO delivered...though somewhat "spaced out." I think I can recall a few other shows that have had the same thing happen, and their remaining episodes have still fallen into the "prior season" category. Oh well...*flogs dead horse*...back to my INITIAL question? LOL

>Adam

[beigefraggle]

They did wrap things up quickly in that last season, considering how much they had to do -- get the Fraggles, Gorgs, Doozers and Silly Creatures to accept each other.

Eight out of the 13 final episodes deal in some way with those various relationships. But even in the second-to-last season they started laying down the foundation for a good, heartfelt ending.... I mean, even in the first season they started heading in that direction.

With another season's worth of episodes I think they would have spent more time with Gobo and Doc. They only meet each other in the final moments of the second-to-last episode. Doc's hasty departure was sort of indicative of the show's sudden departure.

At any rate, I think Fraggle Rock ended well. You could say they went into the show with a sound exit strategy in mind.

[Foodie]

Originally Posted by Phillip Chapman

I updated it to "The Fraggle Season that Wasn't" since there is some debate whether the show ran for four or five seasons.

What I believe happened is that HBO originally planned for another year of the show as was stated here. When it was clear that wasn't going to happen, HBO split the season four episodes into two calendar years, 1986 and 1987 in order to continue running new episodes for a longer period of time. By that point, there were three years of re-runs to air weekly in the meantime.

I'm going from memory on the above, but I have some Fraggle info I need to dig up to confirm if that is the case.

Dig! Dig like the wind!


Nick