Synopsis: On the night of the Blue Moon, Junior Gorg decides he wants to play the Royal Kazoo and establish himself as a Great Gorg King. However, he learns that if he fails to play the kazoo, he will be banished from the kingdom. Cantus, disguised as a shadowy figure, tells Junior he has to take this chance, but Pa Gorg is worried Junior will fail. While Junior can’t play the kazoo at first, he keeps trying and ultimately proves himself to be as great as he wants to be.
Considering I also host an X-Men podcast, I spend an awful lot of time thinking about superhero media. One thing we see a lot of the time in cape stories is that the villain is the one with real agency. Time and again, antagonists get to make choices that the heroes react to, setting the stakes and changing the status quo. Villains act, heroes react. Antagonists change the story. An argument can be made that, in many stories, antagonists are the hub that everything revolves around.
Which takes me to Fraggle Rock, Season 4, Episode 5: “Junior Faces the Music.” In this episode, we learn that Junior Gorg has fully become the central character of Fraggle Rock.
I should say, this is for slightly different reasons than in superhero media, since Fraggle Rock follows a very different narrative structure and writing style. But while all of the characters on Fraggle Rock make mistakes and learn, there’s not a lot of growth from them. The Fraggle Five’s growth is subtle: they never really change, because the show needs them to mostly be grounded in their core roles. In Season 1, Red learns to respect Boober, but she still acts mostly the same and her role in the friend group remains static. Last week, Gobo learned to question the wisdom of Uncle Matt, but only sometimes. Like superhero comics, Superman can make choices, but he will always be Superman. But Junior Gorg? Like Magneto before him, Junior is the agent of change that Fraggle Rock is centered around.
In this episode, Junior grapples with his future: does he want to listen to Pa all the time, or follow his dreams and become a Great Gorg King? Junior has always been a dreamer on the show, whether it’s imagining he was king, imagining he had a genie, imagining he had a pea plant bride who looked identical to him except in drag (Fraggle Rock is a weird show). But in this episode, Junior is finally presented with the path to make his dreams a reality, and he falters. Eventually, Junior decides to disobey his father and do what he wants to do. He reveals that unlike his father, and basically every Gorg before him, he has the courage to take chances and change the world around him. This mindset will continue with him for the duration of the show, even if he doesn’t have too many appearances moving forward. I feel like “The Gorg Who Would Be King,” from next season, is possibly the most important episode of the show as a whole, and a lot of that is foreshadowed right here.
And ultimately, I really like this episode. It’s a simple one overall, but has a really important lesson about following your dreams, having the courage to try new things, and not giving up after a failure. And there should be no doubt in the audience’s mind that this episode matters in a big way, because Cantus always signals drama. It’s a perfect start to the end of Junior’s arc, fit for the central character of the show.
Strongest Moment: We talk a lot about how good Richard Hunt is as Junior Gorg, but this episode is so much about Rob Mills’ amazing physicality. I love the scene where Junior sneaks into his parents’ bedroom, secret-agent style.
Weakest Moment: The Fraggle Five are so, so unnecessary in this episode. I think they absolutely could have written around them.
MVF (Most Valuable Fraggle): On the other hand, it’s always such a joy to see Cantus!
Musical Highlight: “Ball of Fire” is one of my favorite Fraggle Rock songs of all time. I once did a Hubba-Wha game just about remembering the lyrics to it, which admittedly was maybe unfair! This version, sung by Jim Henson and Richard Hunt in a rare duet, will always be ten times better than the version sung by Kenan Thompson on Back to the Rock.
Fraggle Lore: While it’s not their first appearance, this episode features the Rapscallions, a type of cave creature introduced in Season 4 that would later become Little Rago from Back to the Rock! I’m always very excited to see cute cave creatures.
One More Thing…: It’s one of the oldest jokes out there, but I love when Cantus says “Walk this way” and the other Fraggles imitate his gait.
Click here to cheat at playing the kazoo on the ToughPigs Discord!
by Becca Petunia
