Synopsis: Wembley can hear water working by means of the rock. When he faucets that water, it tastes sensational, however that nice new style comes with a harmful worth on the Rock.
Authentic air date: January 13, 1986
Okay, so you know the way Fraggle Rock advertises itself as a enjoyable kids’s present with lovely puppets and high tier music, however then after you’ve been lured into watching it the episodes truly train you about how to deal with the sensation of being trapped and what it’s wish to be in a poisonous relationship? Yeah, that’s what I’m about to do to you all. You got here right here on the lookout for a evenly amusing evaluate about an episode of a beloved tv franchise with the intention to benefit from the nostalgia of the great work of the Henson Firm, and as a substitute, I’m about to speak to you about useful resource extraction.
I don’t know what number of of you studying this have visited West Virginia, or have even been by means of the state in your manner someplace else. It’s stunning. At the very least it’s to me. The mountains are coated in timber. The roads working between them wind in swish arcs supplying you with spectacular new views at each flip. There’s at all times one thing particular tucked within the hollers between the mountains. It’s a spot with nonetheless a lot to discover. However once you drive by means of the state, there are turns you’ll go round anticipating one other gorgeous overlook, and as a substitute you’re met with a bald hillside the place you already know there ought to be timber and different crops rising. There’s usually additionally a not-quite-natural shade to it. It’s an abrupt reminder of what most individuals first affiliate with West Virginia: coal, oil, and pure fuel.
It’s referred to as mining and mountaintop removing. It seems to be and feels flawed. It results in water poisoning, habitat destruction and different environmental harm. However that is what it takes to achieve into the mountains and take out the sources that energy so most of the world’s machines and warmth so many houses. If solely it had been so simple as constructing some pipes into the rock and permitting everybody to return and take what they wanted. That’s what the Fraggles do on this episode that’s an analogy for precisely this factor. And no quantity of onomatopoeic rhymes sung by Wembley ought to make us neglect that.
Wembley hears water within the rocks round him. His associates don’t consider that there could possibly be water contained in the stone. However he ultimately digs it up in a Beverly Hillbillies placing oil scenario. The Fraggles love the water. It tastes fizzy and refreshing. It retains them awake to allow them to steal greens from the Gorg’s backyard and retrieve Uncle Matt’s postcard with none hazard in any respect. They reward Wembley. They wish to give him the important thing to the Rock! However now Wembley hears one thing totally different when he listens to the rock, and it’s not one thing good. However he fails to inform anybody. The ability of the water is simply too nice. It supplies too many advantages. Everybody has given him so many plaudits. They didn’t hearken to him initially. Why would they hearken to him now?
And that’s precisely the scenario that ends in folks making the poor selections that result in environmental destruction and fixed sourcing of this now-perceived-as-necessary useful resource. And never simply in West Virginia. It’s the scenario that leaves so many individuals, together with Gobo, to undergo the unintended however nonetheless very actual outcomes of unstudied and unchecked useful resource extraction. Extra folks have to witness the issues of dependency on these non-renewable sources, communicate up and make their voices heard in any manner they will. In any other case, the place will it lead? The place has it already led? I feel you already know.
I want this episode weren’t so well timed as of the writing of this text. I want that I might’ve written my different thought for a evaluate that concerned literary gadgets like onomatopoeia, alliteration and foreshadowing. However as a substitute, I’ve taken to coronary heart the lesson the Fraggles taught me. I’m talking up, sure, even in a evaluate about an episode of a kids’s puppet present.
Okay, that’s over. Now you will get to the enjoyable nostalgia bits.
Strongest Second – It’s not one second, however the assortment of moments that Wembley makes an attempt to warn everybody concerning the risks of what he hears. It’s a implausible illustration of how troublesome it’s to be one voice making an attempt to talk reality within the midst of people that don’t wish to hear it. However he continued when he had excellent news to share. After which continued when the information wasn’t so good both. Approach to be an activist, Wembley.
Weakest Second – The lullaby portion of the music “Sleeping and Dreaming (Leaping and Screaming)” type of drags the tempo of the episode. But it surely’s not a lot of a weak second, as a result of as quickly because it progresses from the slower tempo “sleeping and dreaming” into the hyperactive “leaping and screaming,” that ramps the tempo again as much as the place we must be to know simply how a lot concerning the Rock Wembley’s discovery has modified.
MVF (Most Beneficial Fraggle) – It’s gotta be Wembley. He exhibits an immense quantity of self-belief when he continues to dig for what he hears. He needs to show himself to his associates. And that confidence is vital to the admission he has to make in entrance of the entire Fraggles later within the episode. It’s key for him taking cost in Gobo’s rescue.
Most Basic Second – I wager you by no means would’ve related “Pukka Pukka Pukka, Squeetily Boink” with such a darkish matter, however you most definitely keep in mind it. The onomatopoeic lyrics get caught in your head even for those who don’t know what they ultimately rhyme with. It’s such a enjoyable factor to sing and enjoyable factor to do to explain the sounds we hear throughout us.
Musical Spotlight – Regardless of already mentioning it above, I’ve to say “Pukka Pukka Pukka, Squeetily Boink” once more as a result of not solely is it a basic second for it’s earworm high quality, however it is also essentially the most Wembley music that Wembley has ever carried out. The attention rolling, the joyful Doozer development taking part in, the abandon with which he throws his physique round are an ideal encapsulation of the character that Wembley has constructed up so far.
Coolest Puppetry Impact – I doubt anybody else out there’s saying that is “cool,” however Steve Whitmire is performing some work in terms of making us consider that Wembley is definitely listening to one thing on the opposite aspect of the rock. He has to make a puppet appear to be it has ears, that the ears work and {that a} piece of froth is a rock and incorporates an entire ecosystem in it. That’s expertise.
Darkest Second – The second when Gobo falls down into the bottomless pit after which it cuts to industrial. What’s the destiny of our pal?
Fraggle Lore – Fraggles can go to sleep on the drop of a hat.
Obscure Character Watch – Felix the Fearless and Aunt Granny Fraggle make their second appearances on this episode (although their first appearances weren’t collectively) and, sadly, they’re additionally their final appearances. Aunt Granny Fraggle particularly deserved extra time within the highlight. Simply what makes her each an Aunt and a Granny within the realm of Fraggle Rock?
One Extra Factor… – Don’t even get me began on Doc’s scheme to develop all of his tomatoes slightly than paying for them on the grocery retailer. It’s a lesson he teaches in 5 minutes of display time about simply how a lot time, cash, effort, and sources it truly takes to supply simply this one crop. And but there are many individuals who nonetheless assume it’s easy and low cost and if all of us did it, that will clear up our meals issues.
Okay, One Extra Factor… – Boober might be the one particular person who would benefit from the gelatin molds with greens in them that appear so prevalent in cookbooks from the Nineteen Seventies.
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By Katilyn Miller – [email protected]
