Hello. I looked through you blog, mainly involving Fraggle Rock and that your favorite character is Wembley. He's mine, too! Anyway, do you have any favorite Wembley episodes or Wembley songs?
First of all this is my favorite ask maybe ever. Thank youso much for it!
Oh man, yes, I love Wembley so much. I remember that I usedto think he was boring when I was younger and now I have no idea why. But Irelate to/appreciate him oh so much as I’ve gotten older.
Ooh, it’s tough to narrow it down, episodes and songs, but Ipicked two of each for you. There are many more, of course. ;)
If not my very favorite episode, Space Frog Follies is in mytop five favorites for sure.
I think this episode is the pinnacle of Wembley’s charactergrowth and maturity. I just love how this one is Wembley dealing with a seriesof problems, but he doesn’t panic or lose all hope, he barely even gets hung upon anything– he just goes and solves his problems in such a Wembley way. The frog is missing, andhis first idea for finding it is… dressing in a bug costume to lure it out.Okay, sure. It’s just so impractical but not technically illogical, and that’sthe way Wembley rolls and I love it. What are you doing, Wembley? Inventing adance craze, you say? Seems legit. Like… that wouldn’t work for ANYONE elsethe way it works for Wembley, and no one would come up with that besidesWembley.
Even when Boober lets him down and releases the frog,Wembley’s upset, yes, but he just rushes right out to find it again. He’s sodetermined to fix this. And then the damn finale, when he’s taking the frog toOuter Space… Once again he’s willing to live with his friends’ ridicule andrejection to help something that cannot help itself. It’s clear time and timeagain on the show that his friends have a lot of power over him, so I love loveLOVE when we see his own moral code win out over his need to please. This, theBaby Tree Creature, Cotterpin in the duet-a-thon… Wembley has such a good heartthat can give him such heartbreaking bravery.
This is one of my favorite Gobo episodes too actually (butthat’s an analysis for another day). What I love SO MUCH about this one is thatit’s a really great display of just how complicated the friendships on thisshow are. We see how much they all do care about each other, and what thedifferent members of the group are willing and not willing to sacrifice foreach other. Like, I love when Wembley points out that Red has missed hersplash-a-thon, and Red has that line, “well… you’re more important, Wembley.” Gobo wasn’t worth missing hercontest for, but Wembley is. I find that detail fascinating. And don’t get mestarted on poor Boober in this episode…
Anywho, back to Wembley, he is so sweet and brave in so manyways in this episode. He has to face all of his fears—rejection, danger,loneliness, taking a stance. He’s unfairly forced into making high-pressuredecisions he shouldn’t have to make, and he realizes how unfair that is. Sothen comes one of my favorite Wembley moments/lines ever, when he and Gobo arearguing and he says “I have rights too, you know! I have the right to beindecisive!” Not only is he standing up for himself, he’s standing up for his flaws. He’s standingup for the way he is even though he knows he’s not perfect, and I love that somuch. And not just to anyone, but to Gobo,his best friend who he will bend over backwards for. That’s huge for him.
First of all, I looove whenever Wembley and Gobo harmonize.Even when it’s super brief, it’s delightful. The Friend-Never-Bends-Or-Pretendssong, Goodbye Goodbye (Rainbow in the Sky), that one part of Keep On Smiling, Ijust love it. Steve’s and Jerry’s voices gel so nicely. Other songs I like are…
Help Me for a Change and Just a Little Wimp, from We Love You Wembley
Wembley’s songs in “We Love You Wembley” are the best. MostlyI just love how stressed and frustrated Steve Whitmire manages to make Wembleysound in the former, and how contemplative and resigned he makes him sound inthe latter. And also I love the contrast between early Season One Wembley andbasically every other season’s Wembley. He goes through the best vocalevolution. In early songs like this he’s got a stuffy little child voice, andhe gets so much clearer and stronger as the show goes on. His singing getsbolder as his confidence grows and I love that.
Free and High, fromWembley’s Flight
Okay, first of all Richard Hunt’s singing voice as theSpider-fly is so strong and beautiful and soaring in this song that it justmakes me want to cry. And then when Wembley starts singing along with theSpider-fly, and the accompaniment becomes more upbeat, it just makes me sohappy to listen to it, and then when they harmonize, lordy it’s beautiful. Andthen it’s so triumphant and adorable near the end when it’s the trumpets andWembley singing his little heart out by himself on the final chorus.
In this song, I love the melody at the lyrics “For aheart can fly and why should you stay home and be stone alone…” and then when it repeats whenWembley sings “In the air you breathe you feel your heartbeat tell youwhere the highway leads….” When both singers get to that part of themusic, they both just sound so… sincere? Like the characters really reallyare just letting go and getting lost in the thrill of what they’re singingabout. I love this song.
