Fraggle Rock is back with a new series, Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock, on Apple TV+ and it brings the nostalgia, but also updates for today.
What a great time to be alive! For kids of the 80s like me, there are a whole lot of shows and movies that I grew up on rebooting so that I can learn to enjoy them again, and with my children. Fraggle Rock was one of my all time favorite shows as a little girl. I fondly remember watching with my sister and now I get to share a fun new updated version with my own daughters — that is just as enjoyable!
Fraggle Rock: Back To The Rock is a series on Apple TV+ that is the perfect combination of nostalgia and modernization for today’s world. These characters are very much the same characters that long time fans know and love. Wembley, Gobo, Mokey, Boober, Red, and Uncle Traveling Matt are all back, with the same personalities from the 80s, and ready to go on adventures!
Don’t worry, Doc and Sprocket are back as well, but not exactly as fans will remember them. Well, Sprocket is very much the same. An adorable dog constantly trying to let his owner know that there is something strange going on through that hole in the wall. Doc, on the other hand, is a young Graduate Student who spends her time trying to save the ocean as she works towards her doctorate.
It wouldn’t be Fraggle Rock without the Doozers, who are always entertaining when on screen. This show is very much about several different groups of characters, who can all exist and live in the same world, despite their differences. Which is really what it always has been about, hasn’t it?
The Pilot episode does a great job of explaining the Fraggles, as well as Doc and Sprocket, to new viewers, and sucking back in viewers from the past. The Fraggles are all still puppets, and have not been transformed into animated versions of themselves, which is very much appreciated. Many reboots now change the looks of the characters but Fraggle Rock feels like stepping into the past, with just a few modernized twists.
Of course there are lessons to be learned for the children watching Fraggle Rock: Back To The Rock, but they are different than those of the original show. Yes, there are age old themes like being yourself and being kind to others mixed in, but the majority of lessons are about taking care of the ocean and the world we live in. This is mostly what Doc’s parts of the show are about, which makes sense because she is working to save the ocean as a marine biologist.
She does this in a fun and often humorous way. My 9 year old immediately fell in love with this show, but particularly with how much Doc cares about the environment. This is something that my daughter feels very strongly about, so it was easy for her to connect with Doc and her priorities. Doc even takes to creating videos and using social media to try to get her point across.
Fraggle Rock: Back To The Rock’s first season is 13 fun filled and adventurous episodes. It is so much fun to be back in this world, and to get to share these quirky characters with my daughters. While each episode is a stand alone, it feels like there is a cohesive story told here as well.
There is catchy music and silly antics, but most importantly this show teaches children to care for each other despite our differences, and to care for the environment as well.
Rating: 3 out of 5
About Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock
Jim Henson’s fun-loving, musical Fraggles are back! Join Gobo, Red, Wembley, Mokey, Boober, and new Fraggle friends on hilarious, epic adventures about the magic that happens when we celebrate and care for our interconnected world.
Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock hits Apple TV+ on January 21, 2022.
