Fraggle Rock: 40 Years Later Review – “Boober and the Glob”

Published: January 17, 2025
Categories: Feature, Reviews

Synopsis: Boober desperately wants to leave Fraggle Rock to avoid the very silly Joke Day holiday. But when a mysterious Glob arrives and starts eating Doozers, Boober is torn between his desire to leave and his desire to help.

Original air date: January 14, 1985

For me, “Boober and the Glob” is a very special episode of Fraggle Rock. That’s because it was the first episode of Fraggle Rock I ever saw! I was somewhere in my preschool years, and the small town where I lived didn’t even have cable TV yet, but my aunt lived in the big city, and she taped kids’ stuff from HBO for me. This was the first Fraggle Rock on the first tape she placed in my eager little hands. (I know I’ve told that story before on this website, but it was an important phase of my life!)

As I rewatched it for this review, I found myself wondering: Was this really a good and representative episode for a new viewer?

I can think of a few reasons it’s not. This episode prominently features the “Fraggle Five” and the Doozers, but the Gorgs never show up. Other than Uncle Traveling Matt in his postcard, there are no other Fraggles, so a first-time viewer doesn’t get a sense of the larger Fraggle community. And the scenes set in Fraggle Rock take place almost entirely in the Great Hall (which is mostly empty), so the scope of the Rock is missing. I don’t think there are even any background cave creatures.

Here’s a much more minor but still relevant thought: Gobo, Mokey, Wembley, and Red all spend the whole episode wearing silly costumes for Joke Day. On my first viewing, I probably assumed they always wore those costumes! When I saw another episode, they were wearing their usual wardrobes. It’s possible I was EXTREMELY disappointed! I don’t think I was. But it’s possible!

And yet, after seeing this episode, Little Ryan wanted to watch more. There must have been a reason or two for that.

I bet the Joke Day setting played a big part. The Fraggles have a great time telling the kinds of jokes that one might find in a kids’ joke book, like this one that Wembley struggles to remember the punchline of: “Why did the radish kiss the banana? Because it had appeal!”

This episode also includes Boober’s first time talking to Cotterpin Doozer, and their dynamic develops nicely over the half-hour. At first, Boober can’t even tell Doozers apart from each other and Cotterpin is annoyed at his reluctance to help her friends who have been eaten by the Glob. But eventually, Boober realizes that helping is the right thing to do and he and Cotterpin begin a friendship. When I saw the episode for the first time, I had no idea this was a big step forward in the history of Fraggle/Doozer relations, but I liked both characters and their banter.

And then there’s the Glob itself. What a beautifully strange… thing it is! Before settling in the Great Hall, it rolls through the tunnels of Fraggle Rock like a giant, sentient wad of gum, mumbling to itself all the way. It’s not scary, exactly, but there’s definitely something unearthly about it. It has no arms or legs, and no facial features except for the wide mouth that it uses to eat Doozers.

The Fraggles note that it “glows,” and indeed, between the Glob’s bright pink color and some lighting effects, it appears to emit its own pulsating light. I can only assume it was at least partially inspired by the 1958 movie The Blob, which also starred a reddish, amorphous mass that engulfed living things.

The inside of the Glob is fascinatingly weird too. Cotterpin describes it as “gooey,” and boy, does it look gooey. Strands of Glob matter stick to the Doozers arms as they stand there, helpless. Yecch. The Glob is a great example of the Muppet Workshop’s ability to create something amazing, even when it’s only going to be seen in one episode. How could anyone experience the Glob and not fall under the spell of Fraggle Rock?

So that’s a lot of points in favor of this episodes accessibility to first-time viewers. As a youngster, I don’t know if I fully grasped the lesson of “Boober and the Glob,” which has something to do with the importance of helping people who need help. But I’m sure I appreciated the happy ending, in which Boober gets the Glob to open its mouth by telling knock-knock jokes and making it laugh, thus freeing the Doozers from their gooey prison.

So although this may not be the ideal episode for somebody seeing Fraggle Rock for the first time, it’s pretty effective at establishing some of the major characters and packing in enough fun and world-building to keep a viewer coming back for more. It turns out writer Jocelyn Stevenson and director Jim Henson are pretty good at making television. How about that?

Strongest Moment: When Boober is trying to get the Glob to open its mouth, his first thought is to make it yawn. Boober yawns loudly right in front of the Glob… and then we see all the Doozers inside, yawning.

MVF (Most Valuable Fraggle): Boober. He saves the Doozers AND ensures a successful Joke Day with his knock-knock joke medley.

Musical Highlight: In the song “Fun’s No Fun at All (Gonna Have Fun Tonight),” the other Fraggles sing about how great Joke Day is while Boober gets exasperated. At one point he exclaims “All I wanna do is tell you where to shoo it!” Yikes, Boober.

Coolest Puppetry Effect: It looks really cool when the Glob rolls through the caves. I don’t know how the Glob puppet works, but it kinda looks like the puppeteer is running inside a squishy hamster ball. And then Red bounces on the Glob like it’s a trampoline!

Darkest Moment: The fate of the Doozers is pretty uncertain, especially when Boober considers not helping them.

Fraggle Lore: Joke Day!

Obscure Character Watch: In the Doc and Sprocket scenes, Doc is writing an article at the last minute. (I have no idea what that’s like.) The article is about cats, so he borrows his neighbor Ned Shimmelfinney’s cat Fluffinella for research. This is one of only two episodes in which Fluffinella “appears,” although she moves so fast while relentlessly attacking Sprocket that we never get a good look at her. (Poor Sprocket!)

One More Thing…: One of Gobo’s jokes goes like this…

“I’ve got corn growing out of my ears.”
(“How did that happen?”)
“Beats me… I planted radishes!”

I told this joke a lot as a kid. Did I understand it? I don’t know!

Okay, One More Thing…: If you have doubts about the special place this episode holds in my heart — and I don’t know why you would, but if you do — consider the fact that I’m the one who created Muppet Wiki’s page for the Glob.

Click here to knock-knock on the door of the Tough Pigs Discord!

by Ryan Roe – Ryan@ToughPigs.com

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