• Enlarge

Category: Television

Fraggle-mania!

I'm dubbing today "Fraggle Rock" day for no other reason than a few tidbits have crossed my desk recently, and I really like the show.

First, more DVDs are on the way! In addition to next week's Season 4, complete series and "A Merry Fraggle Holiday" releases, TVshowsondvd.com has news of two other upcoming titles. Feb. 9 will see the release of the single-disc "Fraggle Rock Easter." And now there's word Lionsgate is releasing "Fraggle Rock: The Animated Series" complete on Jan. 19. It wasn't as good as the original series, of course, but all you completists will be glad to see it.

In comic book news, Archaia has pushed back its launch date for the new book, according to a Long Beach Comic Con roundup at Comic Book Resources. Originally scheduled for the spring, it will now come out at an undetermined time, launching the company's line of Henson books (other licenses include "Dark Crystal," "Labyrinth" and "Mirror Mask"). But they still seem to be really into the book, which should appeal to kids and their parents:

"We are taking our time to make sure this is something special," said Stephen Christy, the Director of Development at Archaia. "The whole reason we went into this is, these are not normal licensed books. These are books that we are putting so much time, and so much heart, into. We want it to be something that is completely different from any sort of licensing you've seen."

Also, via UberSciFiGeek, the Jim Henson Co. recently announced a big line of Fraggle products coming to stores next year. It's called the Fraggle Rock Forever collection and includes more stuff than I would ever have expected to see, especially so long after the show debuted. The line includes apparel, tote bags, belt buckles, jewelry and adult Halloween costumes! According to the CBR article, the line also includes puppets. Sweet! And be sure to check out their Dr. Romanelli link.

And, finally, back in August, Brian Henson (son of Jim) assured MTV that the "Fraggle Rock" movie is in "very active development" (as is the sequel to "Dark Crystal"), though it's still waiting on final financing.

I couldn't find any updates on the the computer-animated spin-off "The Doozers," which apparently is still on schedule for its fall 2010 debut.

Whew -- that's a lot of Fraggles!