| abstract
| - Fraggle Rock’s first international co-production was the English UK version, though the French and German versions began airing sooner. The segments within the Muppet world of Fraggle Rock are identical to the American version, however the segments from outer space (i.e. the Doc & Sprocket and Traveling Matt segments) were changed to fit the UK audience. Fraggle Rock was located on a rock headland or island at a sea coast (actually called Fraggle Rock in the show). There is a lighthouse on the island. The lighthouse was the home of the Captain, a retired sailor and the UK version of the Doc character, played by Fulton MacKay. Sprocket was still his companion, however. Due to MacKay's death in 1987, the Captain was replaced in the fourth UK season by a younger character known as P.K. (Principal Keeper, the Captain's nephew), played by John Gordon Sinclair. In the sixth UK season, P.K. was replaced by B.J. (Bertwhistle Jr.), played by Simon O'Brien. The episode order and story-lines were different than the original North American version. The UK version also had seven seasons compared to the four US seasons. The characterization of the Captain and Sprocket is also different. One particular difference is that the Captain is slightly more harsh towards Sprocket than Doc is. The UK co-production was the only one to take the series through to the end. France and Germany ended before episode 96. A selection of episodes was released on VHS. A petition to have Fraggle Rock released on DVD was run on the web for many years; until 2004 the only DVD release had been in the UK, a "best of" collection of 12 episodes in a grainy transfer from the VHS release. TVS, the original broadcasters, has passed through several owners since 1992 and of the 96 episodes, only 12 master copies were known to still be in existence. HIT Entertainment has tried unsuccessfully to locate the missing episodes, including extensive inquiries with The Jim Henson Company both in the UK and the US. (For a detailed list of UK video and DVD releases, see Fraggle Rock UK Videography.) An effort by fan Alex Taylor to track down the episodes in whatever format is available has confirmed that at least 29 episodes exist in broadcast quality, with 87 episodes existing in some form. Eight out of Nine episodes were unaccounted for in any format until 2017. When UK television channels wish to broadcast the show, they are forced to use US versions; such was the case with Cartoon Network in 2004. During March 1985 Uncle Travelling Matt did one month of live presentation for CITV, the children's afternoon programming block on ITV. A Live-Hand Muppet version of Matt, performed by Dave Goelz, was used for these appearances, which were broadcast from Central House, the home of Central Independent Television, the successor to ATV, in Birmingham. Matt would announce all the children's programming, except Fraggle Rock itself. Each Wednesday afternoon just before the show was broadcast, Matt would somehow be distracted and remain unaware his fellow Fraggles were on TV.
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