Episode 223: Boober's Quiet Day

Fraggle Rock
Air Date	June 4, 1984
Written by	Jerry Juhl
Director	Eric Till

Boober plans to have a nice quiet day by himself, but then he's visited by his silly dream alter-ego, Sidebottom. At Sidebottom's urging, Boober lies to his friends in order to spend the day alone, but his lies build on each other -- and Boober is stuck impersonating the Old Gypsy Lady.

Fraggle Facts

• The Old Gypsy Lady is another Fraggle who travels through the caves in Fraggle Rock, like Cantus the Minstrel. The Gypsy Lady's appearance in a particular Fraggle settlement is a cause for great celebration, and she wanders so far that the young Fraggles in this group have never met her before.

Notes

• This is Sidebottom's second appearance in Boober's life, and the first one outside of his dreams. It's also the first appearance of Tosh Fraggle, a minor recurring Fraggle friend who pops up now and then.

• In the Ask Henson.com web column, Dave Goelz cited this episode as his most challenging Muppet performance:

“There was an episode of Fraggle Rock called "Boober's Quiet Day" in which I played Boober, his alter ego Sidebottom, and Boober disguised as the Old Gypsy Lady. We used ultimatte to allow me to perform two characters on the screen at once. I performed the first character in the set, leaving pauses for the second character's lines. Then I performed the second character in front of a blue screen and it was matted into the picture. I choreographed the movements to give the illusion that both characters could move freely in the set. The episode was especially challenging for two other reasons: first, it was written as a farce and the plot was complicated; second, it was about Boober trying to integrate the two sides of his personality, and everything in the show had to support that growth.”

• The lyrics for this episode were written by B.P. Nichol, rather than the usual lyricist Dennis Lee.

Supporting cast

• Sidebottom (Dave Goelz)
• The Old Gypsy Lady (Kathy Mullen)
• Tosh Fraggle (Trish Leeper)
• The Beast (Karen Prell)
• Storyteller Fraggle (Terry Angus)
• Lanford (Rob Mills)

Songs

• "The Gypsy Song (I Sniff the Rose)"

Video releases

• Boober's Quiet Day (VHS) (HBO Video, 1986)
• Fraggle Rock: Complete Second Season (HIT!, 2006)
• Fraggle Rock: Complete Series Collection (HIT!, 2008)

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