IR Interview: The Creatives Of “Fraggle Rock - Back To The Rock” [Apple TV-S2] - video Dailymotion

The Inside Reel

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+.

Transcript

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)

IR Interview: The Creatives Of “Fraggle Rock - Back To The Rock” [Apple TV-S2]

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