Fraggle Rock: 30th Anniversary Collector’s Edition (DVD Review)

11 May, 2013 By: John Latchem

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Street 5/14/13
Gaiam Vivendi
Family
$129.99 22-DVD set
Not rated.

Rights to old TV shows being what they are, it’s not uncommon to see them bounce from one distributor to another every few years. It’s equally unsurprising that these new distributors would want to take advantage of their prize acquisition with a fancy re-release of the show on disc, often spruced up with some fancy new goodies.

“Fraggle Rock,” for example, was released within the past few years by Lionsgate, with complete-series sets arriving in various configurations in 2008 and 2009.

Now, Gaiam Vivendi has stepped in with its new 30th anniversary complete-series edition of the 1983-87 series, which was produced by Muppet master Jim Henson for HBO.

In terms of collectability, this new edition is just different enough to annoy anyone who already owns the old set.

The discs have been re-engineered with new menus, but the content and organization is pretty much the same for each of the four seasons. Almost all the old extras can be found here, though the second season seems to be missing a short home movie featurette available with the Lionsgate sets. However, the Gaiam Vivendi set includes a bonus disc containing nine minutes of additional interviews not available before.

The 30th anniversary set also includes all 13 episodes from the 1987 “Fraggle Rock” animated series, which Lionsgate had released previously as its own set separately from the complete series. However, the new set does not include the animated series featurettes from the earlier individual release of that show.

The primary value add for the new box is a plush keychain and a “Fraggle” comic book.

In terms of an upgrade, all but die-hard Fraggle fans will likely be satisfied with the previous editions if they already have them and shouldn’t feel compelled to pick up this new set. But including the animated series in the set is a smart move, and anyone who doesn’t have those old sets and wants to own “Fraggle Rock” on DVD should be delighted by this edition and would be well advised to pick it up as soon as they can.
 

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