Executive Producers Matt Fusfeld, Halle Stanford & John Tartaglia talk to The Inside Reel about tone, musical styles, characterization and education in regards to the 2nd season of their series: "Fraggle Rock: Back To The Rock" on Apple TV+.
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00:00 [music playing]
00:03 [music playing]
00:14 [laughing]
00:15 Fun!
00:16 Oh, I like that.
00:17 [music playing]
00:20 Catchy song alert.
00:21 Yeah, there's something spiritually familiar about it.
00:25 Yeah.
00:26 Streaming March 29 on Apple TV+.
00:28 [laughing]
00:29 And the thing with going into the second season
00:31 of everything, it's building on what worked,
00:33 understanding the structure, but then challenging yourself
00:37 in many ways, which you guys have done musically,
00:39 tonally, all this.
00:41 Matt, could you first talk about that
00:42 in terms of the evolution of the tone and the story?
00:45 And then I'll go to John as another question.
00:49 But if you could start, that'd be great.
00:51 Yeah, I mean, we really loved what
00:53 we did last season with the whole overarching water story.
00:57 And this year, we wanted to do something
01:00 that kind of was about climate change and food insecurity.
01:04 And we wanted to do it in a fun, fraggly way.
01:07 So we have Doc doing her wind experiments
01:10 with renewable energy and how that affects fraggle rock
01:13 and affects the radish supplies.
01:15 And yeah, I think we really--
01:17 off of the lessons of last season,
01:19 we understood how the cast worked together better.
01:24 And we just found some directors who we really
01:27 loved and figured out how to really prepare
01:30 for these big musical numbers.
01:32 And it attracted even bigger stars this season,
01:36 musical guests.
01:37 We have Ariana DeBose.
01:38 We have Daveed Zback, Daveed Diggs, the K-pop band,
01:42 Aespa, and we have--
01:45 Brett Goldstein.
01:46 Brett Goldstein, Adam Lambert, Katherine O'Hara.
01:48 I think we were just freed up from the--
01:50 we knew that the feedback that we got from season one
01:53 was like, OK, people seem to like this show,
01:56 and we like it.
01:57 So now that we've kind of honored the legacy in a way,
01:59 we felt like we had the opportunity to have
02:01 a little bit more fun.
02:02 We could relax a little bit more.
02:03 [music playing]
02:05 [laughter]
02:07 Another great day in Fraggle Rock.
02:09 You said it, Gobo.
02:10 Let's let it loose.
02:12 Everybody down at Fraggle Rock.
02:14 We want big docks.
02:15 We got poop on.
02:16 Don't be late.
02:17 It's time for take us off.
02:18 Things are pretty good.
02:20 We're even friends with the Gorgs.
02:22 Hey, pal.
02:23 [laughs]
02:24 Too tight.
02:25 A little too tight.
02:26 This year, I'm all about renewable energy.
02:28 Ooh, let's pass this wind turbine.
02:30 And away we blow.
02:33 [music playing]
02:35 Everybody, grab onto something.
02:37 Woo!
02:38 OK.
02:39 That wind was pretty scary.
02:43 Mommy!
02:44 This is the biggest bummer in a while.
02:46 Because of the dust storm, we're
02:48 completely out of radishes.
02:49 Oh, no.
02:50 This is the biggest bummer in a while.
02:52 [groans]
02:53 [music playing]
02:54 Woo!
02:56 I'm worried Fraggle Rock has lost its wing.
02:59 I have no idea what to do.
03:01 John, and I'll turn it over to you.
03:03 Thank you, man.
03:04 Is the aspect also, musically, it's completely--
03:06 it's like there's some rock opera stuff.
03:08 The radish strawberry thing specifically is awesome.
03:12 But it feels like it could be Queen.
03:13 It could be this.
03:14 It could be that.
03:15 But it also has to visually do that, you know,
03:18 production-wise.
03:19 Yeah.
03:20 Can you talk about that?
03:21 Because that's so tricky to do.
03:23 Because you have these push-ins and everything.
03:24 I know Matt was involved in this as well.
03:26 But can you talk about that and finding a way
03:28 to move this all together in such a sort
03:30 of flowing sort of way?
03:32 Yeah, I mean, we always have a lot of fun in the writers' room
03:35 saying, what if it was a song that was like this?
03:38 You know, like Radishes vs. Strawberries.
03:40 Absolutely, it was like, what if it was
03:42 like a Queen-inspired feel?
03:44 You know, and then we'll put a touch of that in the script.
03:47 And then we'll meet with Harvey Mason Jr.,
03:49 our amazing executive music producer.
03:52 And his team, and we'll say, we think it could kind of be--
03:55 have this kind of feel to it.
03:57 He'll take that.
03:58 He'll take it 10 steps further than we
03:59 could ever dream and imagine.
04:00 And then once we get the song, and the director hears it,
04:04 and we're all meeting as a team, it's
04:06 like all-- it's this wonderful, collaborative, best idea
04:09 wins atmosphere.
04:11 That's really why the show, I think, turns out
04:13 as beautifully as it does.
04:14 Everyone's voice is heard.
04:15 And everyone's ideas are heard.
04:16 You know, in that particular song,
04:18 the storyteller appearing in that puff of smoke,
04:20 we're like, oh my god, we have to do that.
04:21 It's such like a 1980s rock opera video kind of moment.
04:26 And the other great part is "Fraggle Rock's" music
04:28 has always been about variety.
04:30 That's the message of the show, right?
04:31 So you get a blues number.
04:33 You get a rock number.
04:34 You get a punk number.
04:35 You get everything.
04:36 And so we would kind of start with this little germ
04:39 of an idea in the script.
04:40 And then I would just go from there.
04:42 [gasps]
04:44 There it is, the first new artifact.
04:47 Sprocky, time to get up.
04:51 Oh, Sprock.
04:52 I know it's earlier than usual.
04:54 But I have a new lap time.
04:55 So you're going to have to adjust to a new schedule.
04:57 [yawns]
04:59 We both are.
05:01 Here you go, bud.
05:02 [music playing]
05:05 [gulps]
05:06 [music playing]
05:09 [gasps]
05:10 [music playing]
05:13 Oh, wow.
05:17 The first new artifact for my Uncle Matt
05:19 to improve Fraggle Rock.
05:21 Wonder what it is.
05:22 [music playing]
05:24 [gasps]
05:24 [barking]
05:26 [music playing]
05:27 [barking]
05:29 Hey, there he is.
05:31 Look who's up and barking.
05:33 You excited for the day?
05:34 [music playing]
05:36 [growling]
05:38 [growling]
05:39 Ali, I'm talking about-- you know,
05:41 because we've been talking about tone.
05:43 We're talking about visuals, music.
05:44 Character is so important.
05:46 And, you know, maintaining and showing these characters
05:48 that we know and love, but showing them going
05:50 through different and new things.
05:51 Can you talk about that?
05:53 The thematics, the message, all these things
05:55 that, you know, help teach people,
05:57 but yet are so very entertaining.
05:59 Yes.
06:00 I'll talk about the characters, then we could talk
06:01 about the teaching moments as well.
06:04 But with the characters, this season,
06:05 we definitely wanted to go deeper with them,
06:07 comedic-wise, always being more playful,
06:09 like the guys are saying.
06:11 Pushing everything we knew was working in season one
06:13 with the characters and going even further.
06:15 But we did decide to kind of explore each character's
06:18 shadow side, the side where they feel--
06:21 like in the episode where Gobo, we suddenly
06:24 realized, is being insensitive because he's
06:26 being a fanboy to a superstar that he's in love with.
06:30 And maybe he needs to pay attention to his surroundings
06:33 a little bit more.
06:34 So it was fun to do that.
06:35 I think that was really challenging for the performers,
06:39 but maybe exciting.
06:40 I'm asking him as a question.
06:41 No, it was fun.
06:43 So definitely getting a chance to-- that's
06:45 what's so great about new seasons.
06:46 That's what's so great about television.
06:48 You just get an opportunity to hang with these characters
06:50 every day, but then kind of go a little bit deeper
06:52 in each episode.
06:53 And in terms of the bigger themes,
06:55 "Fraggle Rock" always has big themes.
06:57 And so the themes this season were climate change, food
07:01 insecurity, and how do the fraggles themselves
07:05 approach these topics, but in a fun, entertaining,
07:08 fraggly way.
07:09 I think we really succeeded with it.
07:10 I'm excited about it.
07:12 The winds are changing.
07:13 Maybe we have to be flexible.
07:15 What are these?
07:17 The silly creatures call it a strawberry,
07:19 but sweet radish is the scientific name.
07:23 Whatever happens next, we're ready to face it together.
07:28 Who wants to harmonize with me?
07:30 Pulver?
07:31 Huh?
07:31 No.
07:32 No.
07:33 [music playing]
07:37 [music playing]
07:41 [music playing]
07:45 (whooshing)