Month: November 2018

Sixty for 60: Wembley Fraggle

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Welcome back to 60 for 60, my year-long celebration of Steve Whitmire’s work and characters in anticipation of his 60th birthday next year. This month we focus on Wembley, decisively the most lovable Fraggle in the Rock.

“Steve with that manic, fragile Wembley. So human, so utterly…you know, you just wanted to hug the guy and say, ‘Don’t worry, don’t worry; it will be all right.'”–Eric Till, director on Fraggle Rock

When it comes to Fraggle Rock characters, I aspire to be Cantus, I identify most with Mokey, and I’m probably more of a Boober than I care to admit…but Wembley is the one I love most of all. As I put it to Steve in a comment on his first blog entry approximately a century ago (at least, that’s what it feels like), Wembley is “the funniest, sweetest, most excitable, naive, lovable little furry creature in all of Fraggle Rock, if not the entire Universe.”

I like Wembley because he makes me laugh, but I love Wembley because he makes me cry. Therefore, the five Wembley clips included below skew slightly to the more poignant side of the spectrum.

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Remiss

Mary A. Uncategorized Tags: , , , 2 Comments

Bon soir, mes amis! I’ve been very busy working in advance of the upcoming holiday. When you write for a living, it’s kind of hard to keep up a blog in your free time.

I’ve been remiss in not sharing this interview I found recently of Steve from all the way back during the Niagara Falls Comic Con in June:

At three minutes long, it’s a tasty morsel. Enjoy!

Sesame Saturday: Wild About Herry

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The official Sesame Street Twitter account retweeted the following videos as part of a larger thread:

https://twitter.com/maddycunningham/status/1056585574868508672

I cannot tell you how delighted I am to see Herry Monster back on the Street again. Of all the Sesame Street monsters, Herry is probably my favorite.

I mean, I love Grover and Cookie Monster, of COURSE I do, and I also have a great deal of affection for the Two-Headed Monster and for Telly…but Herry is something really special to me.

I actually seem to remember being a little scared of Herry when I was quite young. It’s understandable, of course; he had that gruff voice and that gigantic eyebrow, and in the early days, Jim Henson et al. purposely invoked his intimidation factor, only to subvert in the punchline of some of the first inserts to feature Herry. Perhaps some of those early inserts were still in circulation in the early ’80s when I was watching as a very small child.

But no one could ever watch Herry’s interactions with John-John and remain afraid of him. I don’t specifically remember the first time I saw a Herry and John-John insert, but Herry has had a special place in my heart ever since.

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