Can someone tell me whether Fulton Mackay (better known for his appearances in the UK sitcom Porridge) appeared in any of the USA Fraggle Rock shows - IMDB is a bit vague on the details - I’ve seen what appears to be the same episodes that I remember watching, but with a different (American) actor in the scenes which involve humans.
The American version of Fraggle Rock starred Gerard Parkes as “Doc”. He was a tinkerer and inventor, and it was through his workshop that Fraggles could enter into the human world. His dog Sprocket was his companion.
I believe Canada received this same version.
The UK version, on the other hand, as I understand it, starred Fulton McKay as the Captain, and his scenes were set in a lighthouse of some sort (am I right?).
Not sure why the difference, but I’m sure it was to tie in more to the local culture of each country. I BELIEVE there were similar things done for other countries.
Did your version have “Uncle Traveling Matt” exploring various locales? If so, were they UK-based, or North American-based?
Wow … could that have been more contradictory? I meant to say, I’m not SURE why the difference, but I’m betting that it just had to do with wanting to tie in to the different cultures.
The US version had Uncle Traveling Matt. He was always my favorite part.
AH-HA! (Yes, I know this is my third post in a row, but I discovered something else.)
In the imdb listing for Fraggle Rock, if you click on alternate versions, you get this gem of info:
I knew I’d seen this somewhere.
The trashheap has spoken… nyaaah.
In the UK, she was the Rubbishheap.
Yes, and it was localised; I’m not sure if the lighthouse was supposed to be on an island or the mainland or whether this detail wasn’t explained, but the uncle’s travels were within the UK; I have a feeling that the scenes where the fraggles (including the uncle) appear in the same shot as humans were done with a blue screen and clever editing/cutting, so that the fraggle footage was exactly the same in all versions; needless to say that the UK version wasn’t dubbed over for the voices of the fraggles - they were definitely the classic American Muppet-style accents.