Doozers

[Justinpie]

Since Kathleen's intensely ill, I'm gonna throw down a question to keep the forum alive in the meantime.




What is up with the Doozers from Fraggle Rock? I mean, they built these elaborate Doozer towers, and then the Fraggles would just eat them - sometimes while they were still being built! They never said thanks to the Doozers or had any kind of Annual Doozer Appreciation Day, or even help the Doozers amass tower-building resources!

Why didn't the Doozers just go on strike? I mean, what kind of job satisfaction is that?

[Kalmazoo702]

These muppets will now haunt my dreams forever.

[KathleenJ]

Why didn't the Doozers just go on strike?

Maybe they were slave labor. Or masochists.
Heh, I'm especially haunted by that Fraggle on the far right. If he was making eye contact, I'm sure his gaze would pierce your soul.

[Dalhar]

Remember an old eposide where the fraggles stopped lunching in on the Doozers masterworks. As the doozers keep doozing no matter what, it seriously disturbed the ecological balance. There was nowhere to go but for doozer buildings, and soon they couldn't dooze anymore?
Sad ending?
Banzaaai!

(Which reminds me. The print comic "Beanworld" by Larry Marder is recommended reading.)

[Justinpie]

OH yeah, I think I do remember that episode! And I guess if the Doozers were really catering to the Fraggles, they'd have thought of some underground radish farming system - radishes being the most beloved of all Fraggley snacks.

The green one on the right is Wembley, master of indecision! Are you Jacqueseses telling me you've never seen Fraggle Rock, one of the greatest shows in all existence, and the most well-written Henson show ever (including Labyrinth)?

My heart is truly emptied of its blood to hear this. Just the Travelling Matt segments put the show ahead of its time. You should go to the video store and rent these pretty-pretties right away, if they have them in stock!

[KathleenJ]

I think I've seen an episode or two in my life, but I was never a fan.
Honestly, I've never really liked muppets, puppets, marionettes, or any other non-animated, non-living actor.
I was about to say that my exception to this is that I loved the Polkaroo as a preschooler, but I just remembered that he was a guy in a costume. Which isn't quite the same.

[Justinpie]

Big Bird is a costume.


What's a Polkaroo?

[EteRock]

Why didn't the Doozers just go on strike?

Maybe they were slave labor. Or masochists.
Heh, I'm especially haunted by that Fraggle on the far right. If he was making eye contact, I'm sure his gaze would pierce your soul.

I'm creeped out by the middle one who seems to be trying to breast feed one of the doozers

[KathleenJ]

...You're right, it's almost like a Madonna and Child thing going on...
Also, behold the Polkaroo!

Colorful character on the Canadian kids show The Polka Dot Door. I remember they had this cheap, low budget gimmick where he was apparently played by the same man who was also one of the main hosts, so this guy always missed seeing him. Near the end of each show, the Polkaroo would show up at the door, and everybody would be really excited to see him, and they'd frolic for five minutes before he left. And then the guy would come back, and everyone would be like "Dude, you missed the Polkaroo!" and the guy would be like "Oh no! I missed him AGAIN?"

[Al_fayyed]

Of course, others need more convincing excuses...

"Hey, Clark, you just missed Superman saving the city. Again."
"Damn my irritable bowels!"

[KathleenJ]

Although, he sometimes has to rely on the backup strategy that a pair of glasses changes a person's appearance to the point of unrecognizability.
It's a little known fact about my comics that Denny and that Jamila girl with the pink hair are actually just one very fast person.

[Kalmazoo702]

Personally, my favorite Jim Henson production was Dog City, the cartoon/muppet hybrid that was all about dogs and puns about dogs. I liked it because it didn't seem to have a muppety overriding moral statement.

Of course, I'm 5+ years younger than the lot of you here, so MY childhood muppets are likely not YOUR childhood muppets. Maybe.

Edit- What the hell?

[KathleenJ]

I can honestly say that is the best Polkaroo fanfiction I have ever read.
Cheers!

[Justinpie]

Nothing beats the moralistic statements on He-Man. While shows like G.I. Joe would specially create scenarios to be preachy, He-Man would try to turnip-squeeze a vague moral out of its regular storyline, EVERY DAY.
"In today's episode, Orko was putting his head into Hurt-Bot's compactor unit, and you saw what happened to him. Kids, don't stick your heads into platic bags, turbines, or anyplace else they shouldn't be. Things are not toys. See you next time!"

[KathleenJ]

I liked how the Ninja Turtles cartoons would throw in a preachy segment at the end of their shows, totally unrelated to anything in the show's plot. They'd spend half an hour, say, fighting Shredder in the Technodrome...and then in the last two minutes they'd be on a beach explaining about recycling. "So, Michelangelo, that's why you should cut up these plastic can holders, or fish will get caught in them." "Radical!"
And then there were Sailor Moon cartoons, which, at the end, would show a montage of whatever happened in the show, like maybe fighting some fire-spitting demon. But there'd be this inane voiceover giving a moral of the story suited for junior high girls, like "Always remember, friends are important, even if you have a crush on a boy! Hee hee! Sailor says! See you next time!"

[Al_fayyed]

Well, those are a North American addition. The original preachy endings in Japan were about safe sex.

No, they weren't. I'm lying. But I could have created a new cult interest in Sailor Moon, had I wanted to.