Synopsis: Gobo refuses to share his precious grapes, thus sacrificing his relationship with gravity.

Original air date: January 21, 1985
Every TV show, even a truly great one, has its lowest point. And friends, we’ve reached the lowest point of Fraggle Rock. This is my least-favorite episode in the entire series, and I’m here to tell you why.
From the first time we see a Fraggle, something feels off. Gobo says it’s funny that he found the Grapes of Generosity right after Mokey read them the legend. That part is normal enough. Episodes often start that way – we hear about something, and then they happen to find it. But in this case, we don’t even hear it! The opening scene is left out so Gobo can awkwardly paper over it.
That’s a small quibble. I wouldn’t mind that at all if it meant we were skipping over the boring parts to get to the good stuff. But instead we’re skipping over the boring parts to get to the complete nonsense. The Grapes of Generosity, you see, are the single dumbest piece of lore ever introduced on Fraggle Rock.
Gobo is so excited to share the Grapes of Generosity with his friends, until he tastes one. Then he wants to hoard them all. Skipping to the end, we find out this is because they only make you generous if you share them.
That’s right, the Grapes of Generosity only make you generous if you already do something selfless when you first get there. I can see how this is supposed to be a “the real grape was inside of us all along” situation, but the writing never quite gets there. It seems like Gobo actually would magically become more generous if he had shared them in the first place. Which is meaningless. It isn’t an intriguing idea, it doesn’t lead to anything funny, and they’re just normal grapes.

Instead of comedy or intrigue, we get four consecutive scenes of Gobo doing exactly the same thing – someone comes in, he hides the Grapes of Generosity in a new spot, that person leaves, and then Gobo says something like “Gee, it sure is weird that I don’t want to share the grapes and didn’t my friend about them.” It’s the same internal conflict, over and over until we’re tired of watching Fraggle Rock.
This happens four times – Mokey, Wembley, Mokey again, and Red. Gobo hides the grapes behind his back, under his hat (an admittedly hilarious visual), and in his rock climbing trophy. Finally, Mokey comes back a third time and tells him why the grapes should never be eaten alone – if you do, they turn you weightless!
So then we see the natural results of selfishness – Gobo floats around in front of a bluescreen for a while, and then he puts a boulder on his lap so he doesn’t float away. It’s remarkable how much this feels like a whole new story. The weightlessness doesn’t have anything to do with the first half, and it doesn’t reflect the idea of selfishness even a little bit. It’s just something to put on screen because we did our one other idea too many times.

Anyway, Gobo eventually makes his way to the Great Hall to compete in the g-g-g-g-gendered Jocks & Jockesses Picnic. He starts inching his way there along the ceiling, but then he goes back to his room to eat up a little bit more running time. Eventually, Rumple Fraggle runs in to tell him that Red is stuck at the top of the Great Hall and needs his help.
Well, how does Gobo help her? He floats up to save her, of course! Even though his weightlessness was a curse, it’s now a superpower that saves the day (just like Pinocchio’s nose in that terrible Robert Zemeckis movie). Turns out that being selfish is good when it helps your friends. Maybe?
Honestly, I have no idea what to make of this mess. It’s just the worst possible time you can have watching Fraggle Rock.

Strongest Moment: The scene where Wembley finds Gobo with a boulder on his lap is actually a delight. I especially love Steve Whitmire’s delivery of “If that rock had fallen on you, you’d be a smudge of Fraggle glop on the floor!”
Weakest Moment: Just (*motions at the whole plot*) all of that.
MVF (Most Valuable Fraggle): Large Marvin and Rumple. The episode perks right up any time they’re on screen.
Most Classic Moment: Traveling Matt goes to the grocery store and buys a bunch of soup.
Musical Highlight: Wembley and Gobo’s duet “A Friend is a Friend” is a lot of fun.
Musical Lowlight: The title song of this episode is disgusting. The chorus contains the line “The grapes of generosity are overflowing down into my shoe.” Overflowing from where?!
Coolest Puppetry Effect: I don’t know, Gobo floats around in front of a bluescreen for a while. That’s okay, I guess.
Darkest Moment: The fact that it somehow says “Written by Jerry Juhl” at the end of this nightmare.
Fraggle Lore: The Grapes of Generosity make you generous, except that they actually make you selfish? Also there’s an annual Jocks & Jockesses Picnic.
Obscure Character Watch: Gobo is accompanied by some weasel/koala creatures in the opening scene, and I love them so much
One More Thing…: Gobo says that his friends “are going to Gorg out” on the Grapes of Generosity. Also disgusting!
Okay, One More Thing…: Doc sets up a porch chair specifically to “read my newspaper and keep and eye on Shimmelfinny.” He has a pair of binoculars attached to it for this reason. Those two need to figure out what their deal is.

Click here to smack your lips at a bunch of grapes on the Tough Pigs Discord!
by Anthony Strand