BOOBER FRAGGLE
Performed by...
Dave Goelz
First Appearance...
Fraggle Rock Episode 101: “Beginnings” (1983)
Most Recent Appearance...
Fraggle Rock Episode 513: “Change of Address” (1987)
Best known role...
Laundry-washer, cook, and medic for the Fraggle Five; superstitious pessimist.
Memorable quote...
“I’m worried about enclosed spaces and death and pain and spiders and words with R in them and—did you want the whole list, or just a general overview?”
WHO IS BOOBER FRAGGLE?
On the surface, Boober seems to be the anti-Fraggle. He doesn’t like singing, dancing, games, swimming, jokes, parties, noise, or… well, just about anything else that Fraggles live by. Or at least, he claims he doesn’t. Boober prefers the quiet drudgery of endless loads of laundry, peacefully watching the dust settle and the laundry dry, cooking up delicious feasts for his Fraggle friends, and listening to the gentle drip-drip drop-drop of stalactites. He devotes his life to the avoidance of germs and injury—two of the things he fears most. (There is, of course, a very long list of the things he fears most… but those two are somewhere near the top.)
Boober is Fraggle Rock’s self-proclaimed expert on death, doom, and destruction, but he does have a fun side. He represses this side of himself as best he can, which is how he ended up with an alter-ego, a second personality, known as Sidebottom—the fun side of Boober that he keeps on the bottom. Sidebottom comes out every once in a while to help (or force) Boober to cut loose and have fun, but Sidebottom is nothing if not extreme, going so far as to dress up as the Old Gypsy Lady or hypnotize a Gorg for the sake of a laugh. But Boober doesn’t always need Sidebottom’s help to have fun; like it or not, he is a Fraggle, and Fraggles live for fun. Boober is as prone to burst into song as any of his friends, and you can often find him laughing with everyone else when there’s a big party going on (see, for example, “Catch the Tail by the Tiger,” “Mirror, Mirror,” and “The Honk of Honks”). He will even play tricks on his fellow Fraggles with the excuse of testing their beluviouses (Fraggle tails, which flair out when the Fraggle is scared).
Because Boober is so dedicated to the avoidance of illness and injury, he knows all sorts of remedies for just about any ailment a Fraggle may encounter. With this expertise, he is something of a medic for the other Fraggles. He is also more than happy to do all their laundry—cleanliness is another great way to avoid germs, after all—and although his cooking skills are sometimes questionable, he enjoys whipping up any sort of dish.BOOBER FRAGGLE SONGS
Despite his occasional protests that the Fraggles sing too much, Boober enjoys a good song as much as anyone else in the Rock. Here are some of his classics…
- “Get Blue” – episode 115: “I Don’t Care”
- “The Friendship Song” (with Red Fraggle) – episode 117: “Marooned”
- “I’m Never Alone” – episode 202: “Boober Rock”
- “Party Hard (Who Knows What You See)” – episode 206: “Boober’s Dream”
- “Dump the Stuff Out” – episode 219: “The Doomsday Soup”
- “I Sniff the Rose” – episode 223: “Boober’s Quiet Day”
- “Talkin’ ‘Bout Germs” – episode 306: “Pebble Pox Blues”
- “Fun is Here to Stay” – episode 403: “Sidebottom’s Blues”
Well, who else is going to do all that laundry?Seriously, though… Fraggle Rock needs Boober for balance. It’s easy for the Fraggles to get carried away without realizing when they could be in danger, and Boober forces them to be aware of the possibility of trouble. Yes, he thinks that everything is dangerous, but it takes quite an extreme Fraggle to balance out the entire rest of the Rock. And though his extremist attitude makes him easy for the other Fraggles to write off, he can and does take action when it’s necessary. Without him, Fraggle Rock would be a much dirtier and more dangerous place.
Besides… he has all the funniest lines in the show.
The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier
