Weekly Muppet Wednesdays: The World's Oldest Fraggle

Special thanks to Chris Stulz for his Photoshop skills!

THE WORLD'S OLDEST FRAGGLE

Performed by...
Dave Goelz

First appearance...
Fraggle Rock Episode 112: "The Finger of Light" (1983)

Most recent appearance...
Fraggle Rock Episode 510: "Inspector Red" (1987)

Best known role...
The world's oldest Fraggle

WHO IS THE WORLD'S OLDEST FRAGGLE?
The World's Oldest Fraggle is perhaps the most literally named character on Fraggle Rock. He is the oldest Fraggle in all of Fraggle Rock and is turned to as an elder or a wise man even though he is usually wrong about most things. The World's Oldest Fraggle tends to be the head Fraggle at many Fraggle ceremonies and meetings. Although The World's Oldest Fraggle is respected and revered by the Fraggles, he is not officially their leader. He has no official title or power, just a lot of influence that comes with his age.

The World's Oldest Fraggle is almost always accompanied by his assistant Henchy. Henchy seems to have some actual smarts and a good head on his shoulders, often correcting World's Oldest when he is (always) wrong. Whenever Henchy corrects him, The World's Oldest Fraggle responds by whacking Henchy in the nose with his cane and shouting "I know that!!" Although relatively abusive, the relationship between World's Oldest and Henchy still seems friendly and Henchy continues to follow him everywhere no matter how many times he gets whacked.

In his first appearances, The World's Oldest Fraggle seemed actually wise. In "The Finger of Light" and "The New Trash Heap in Town" he shares some actual wisdom and advice that would be helpful to the Fraggles. Usually the other Fraggles don't listen to him--perhaps because most of the time he doesn't know what he's talking about. The World's Oldest Fraggle presides over the Moon Greeting ceremony in "Capture the Moon," the trio of Fraggle races in "Wembley and the Great Race," and the All-Day, Cross-Cave Beanbarrow Race Finals in "The Beanbarrow, the Burden and the Bright Bouquet."

World's Oldest later shared some insights on death with Wembley in "Gone But Not Forgotten," saying that at his age death would be nothing more than a welcome change of scenery. In his final appearance, The World's Oldest Fraggle is a prime suspect in Inspector Red's case of the missing Fraggle Horn in the episode "Inspector Red." Eventually, Inspector Red finds out that it was Henchy who stole the Fraggle Horn and World's Oldest gives him a whack for his misbehavior.

The World's Oldest Fraggle's biggest role came in the episode "Fraggle Wars." When Mokey and Red discover a sect of Fraggles outside Fraggle Rock living in Fraggle Cave, Mokey is captured by them and Red retreats to rally the other Fraggles to save Mokey. The World's Oldest Fraggle sings the song "If It Happened to You" to the Fraggles to rally them to go to war with Fraggle Cave. World's Oldest informs the other Fraggles of an ancient war between the two tribes (so ancient that World's Oldest barely remembers it) and brings out the weapons from the war. The World's Oldest Fraggle leads the Fraggles to war and is prepared to be imminently destructive. Thankfully he is stopped by Red and Mokey before he can go too far.

WHY DOES FRAGGLE ROCK NEED THE WORLD'S OLDEST FRAGGLE?
The World's Oldest Fraggle may not be the leader of the Fraggles, but he does hold a place of honor and respect in Fraggle Rock. Sometimes he leads to destructive tendencies, but for the most part World's Oldest is a harmless, hapless old man. His senility is hilarious and outrageous, making him one of the funniest characters on Fraggle Rock and a very important supporting character in the show.

The Muppet Mindset by Ryan Dosier, muppetmindset@gmail.com