Tear Jerker / Fraggle Rock

In-series

Season 1

• "The Thirty-Minute Work Week": Despite his friends showing and describing their jobs to him, Wembley just can't decide what kind of job he wants. Then, on top of that, Gobo resorts to "getting tough" with him, telling him their friendship is over unless he gets on with it and finds a job.
  Red: [whispering to Gobo] Now's the time. Get tough, kid.
  Gobo: Wembley...?
  Wembley: Yes, Gobo?
  Gobo: You mean you haven't chosen a job yet?
  Wembley: Well... no.
  Gobo: Okay, that's it! I don't pal around with wishy-washy Fraggles.
  Wembley: What? What do you want me to do about it? I can't just go away.
  Gobo: Oh, yes, you can.
  [Beat]
  Wembley: [on the verge of tears] Well... if that's the way you feel... I'll just pack my things.
  Gobo: Well, that shouldn't take long. You've only got one spare shirt.
  Wembley: [sniffling] Right. I'll pack my thing. [Sadly walks off.]
  Red: Boy, when you're tough, you're tough.
• "I Want to be You": Where Red realizes that all of her talents just don't seem to be as wonderful or important as Mokey's. And instead of becoming angry or spiteful, she craves to be Mokey. The song "Dreaming of Someone" is truly heartbreaking.
  • The Trash Heap's attendants' interpretation of the situation makes it doubly heartbreaking when they discuss how she thinks everyone likes Mokey more than her, "...especially Gobo!"
• "Marooned": Especially the way Mokey holds on to Boober's scarf (it fell off when he and Red were trapped in the cave) throughout the episode, as well as Red and Boober's little moments in the cave.
  Boober: It's quiet. Maybe they've stopped trying to rescue us.
  Red: Yeah, maybe. You know, Boober, I feel kind of giddy.
  Boober: Yeah, giddy and tired. You know what that means, don't you?
  Red: We're running out of air.
  [Boober nods sadly.]
  Red: What do you think it's like... to die?
  Boober: I don't know, Red. I don't think anyone does.... You know, I remember this one day while doing my laundry, and then this big soap bubble floated right up from the tub, and there it was in front of my face, beautiful and shiny, and then it was gone.
  [Red begins sobbing.]
  Boober: Red, don't be sad.
  Red: I... I can't help it...
  Boober: It was fun while it lasted, all the good times and the songs and the laughs and stuff...
  Red: You always said you didn't like the good times and the songs and fun.
  Boober: Well...sometimes I liked them. But that's a secret.
  Red: Oh, Boober...
  Boober: ...Don't go to sleep, okay, Red?
  • Made all the more frustrating when the show aired on Teletoon Retro from 2008-11; episodes such as this one were a stark contrast to the channel's more light-hearted fare.
  • One of the worst moments in the episode is when Wembley asks Gobo if he can do anything to help, and Gobo gravely instructs Wembley to stick close to Mokey (who is praying and attempting to radiate positive vibes through the cave-in) so that she'll have a friend close by in case things...don't turn out happily.
• The fan-favorite song "Dixie Wailin'", from "The Challenge," though themed around death and funerals, is more lighthearted and even Played for Laughs in a way, but becomes poignant when one remembers that Jerry Nelson (Gobo) and Richard Hunt (Junior), who both perform on this song, are no longer with us.
• "The Garden Plot": Red's song "Afraid to Be Afraid".
• "Catch the Tail by the Tiger": Gobo's parting is an emotional experience, as is his conversation with Wembley while preparing to leave. Mokey tries to be optimistic, but everyone seems very aware of the possibility that Gobo may not return alive, and the tears flow with the rest of the Fraggle Five (even Red). The episode is also a ship-teaser's wet dream, with behavior on both Gobo's and Red's part that seems to suggest that Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other. Of course, when Gobo finally gets his uncle's postcard and decides to stay, we go right back to the usual Belligerent Sexual Tension between the two.
• Gobo's song "Once Upon a Time (I Knew My Name)" in "Gobo's Discovery" is poignant and heartfelt, especially toward the end of the song, when Gobo sounds on the verge of tears. One can't help feeling sorry for him even though he was a royal jerk to Wembley and Boober just minutes earlier.
• "Mokey's Funeral" manages to evoke this even when we know from the beginning that Mokey's actually okay.
  Gobo: It was Mokey. I'm sure it was Mokey.
  Red: No, no, it wasn't her. [tearfully] She's my best friend.
  Gobo: Her plan must have gone wrong. An accident.
  Red: But... she's my best friend! You don't understand! She's my BEST FRIEND!
  • Junior's Grief Song, "The Joke Isn't Funny Anymore", certainly speaks to this event. It's an excellent, yet not melodramatic, performance from Richard Hunt that really sells Junior's anguish at having (or so he thinks) killed a Fraggle.
  • "Ragtime Queen," the song Mokey sings to her doll-double, Rags, is particularly poignant, as the lyrics allude to Mokey's loneliness and hurt feelings due to her friends leaving her out of building their boat.
  • After this, Mokey running off in tears, after catching her friends bad-mouthing her poetry just as she enters from behind them, about to introduce Rags.
    Mokey: [sniffling] They don't even like my poetry. Even Gobo. Oh, how dare they call my "White Birds and Death" poem boring! Well... it has to be long, to give the birds time to migrate.
  • Even the Doc/Sprocket "B" plot of the North American episode is this. One can't help feeling bad for Sprocket when Doc, suffering from the hiccups, loses his temper and yells that he wonders why he bothers keeping a dog at all. Sprocket's reaction is to sit on the front porch in the rain, hurt and angry and initially refusing to forgive a repentant Doc, who pleads with him, "Sprocket... come home."
• "The Beast of Blue Rock": Gobo, after cruelly lashing out at Wembley for choosing Red's swim meet over the expedition to Blue Rock, leaves Wembley alone for (presumably) the first time to face the dreaded Beast. First, it's not hard to feel bad for Wembley after the hurtful things Gobo said to him. Second, the song Wembley sings will haunt you forever. And yet, Wembley still cares enough about Gobo to take him the pickaxe he forgot, and the two make up with one of the most joyful songs of the series: "Wemblin' Fool."

Season 2

• The moment towards the ending of "All Work and All Play" when Cotterpin Doozer, having spent the entire episode wanting to be a Fraggle, realizes that no matter how much she wishes otherwise, she's never going to become anything other than a Doozer. The only thing that saves the episode from having a downright Downer Ending is that she manages to find her niche in Doozer society as the Architect's new apprentice.
• In "A Friend in Need", Gobo breaking down in tears after being caught in a Gorg trap, especially after being so full of self-confidence throughout most of the episode. While not the first time we've seen Gobo's vulnerable side, it is the first time we've ever seen him fully cry (not counting "Mokey's Funeral," "Gobo's Discovery" when his voice audibly breaks while searching for Wembley and Boober, or Mokey's departure scene in "Mokey and the Minstrels," since in those scenes he was only on the verge of tears). Jerry Nelson's sobs are very convincing and heartrending. Thankfully, this works to his advantage, as Ma Gorg can't stand crying and her motherly instincts won't let her abandon him.
  • Sprocket accidentally getting stuck in the hole that leads to Fraggle Rock. Anyone who's a dog owner can't help but feel bad when Sprocket starts crying.
  • Also, Gobo's friends mourning for him when they think he was eaten by Sprocket. Until Gobo finally comes back, it's hard not to feel bad for all of them, as Sprocket and the Fraggles can only look at each other helplessly.
• The song "Goodbye" from the episode "Manny's Land of Carpets":
  "Goodbye, goodbye, every eye is dry. Leaving? There's no grieving, just a rainbow in the sky. Goodbye, goodbye, goodbye."
• "Fraggle Wars," where Mokey is taken prisoner by the Cave Fraggles, because they have been enemies of the Rock Fraggles for years. And why? Because the Cave Fraggles and the Rock Fraggles don't have the same sense of humor. On top of that, a war between the two groups nearly ensues. Thankfully, war is prevented, in the funniest way possible.
• "The Day the Music Died," when the Ditzies, the source of light in Fraggle Rock, introduce themselves after the Rock goes dark, exclaiming that they're dying, begging the Fraggles to help them.
  The Ditzies: The glow of our bodies lights your caves. Now we are dying. We do not know why. We must save our strength. Help us... help us...! [They fade away.]
• "Red's Sea Monster": When Red's friends think she's gone away for good, they write, and Mokey sings, a very sad song called "Sorrow and Shame," about their guilt and shame over their insensitivity to Red. Kathy Mullen's voice in this song has a bluesy quality that really sells the "sorrow and shame." Immediately thereafter, Red returns and is welcomed back with open arms, and "Sorrow and Shame" then turns into the uptempo, joyful "Sing It and Say," about how glad Red's friends are to have her back.
• "Wembley's Egg": Wembley's friends mock him for sitting on the Tree Creature egg, and though he declares he doesn't care, he says this while crying, indicating that his feelings are hurt. Then there's the episode finale, in which the Tree Creature is reunited with its parents. It's a happy ending for the Tree Creature, but Wembley looks crushed. After all, he'd thought at first that taking care of the Tree Creature would give his life some purpose and meaning, and now that's been taken away from him. His friends are no help, as they just leave him to brood.
  • Also, Wembley watching the Tree Creature's parents crying over their lost egg, which convinces him to return it.
• The Fantasy Sequence from "Wembley and the Great Race," where Wembley imagines Gobo moving out because he lost to the former in the Rockbeetle Race.
  Wembley: Oh, but what if Gobo never forgives me for beating him?
  [He looks over at Gobo's bed. An image fades in of Gobo, carrying his guitar and wearing his backpack and one of his hats. Next to him is Mokey, with her arms full of his other possessions. On her head is another one of his hats.]
  Gobo: Mokey, if you take my collection of Uncle Matt's postcards, I got my pack and my string gourd. Then we'll just have to make one more trip for everything else.
  Wembley: [aghast] Gobo, you're not gonna move out?
  Gobo: [on the verge of tears] Tell you-know-who that ever since the big ra-a-a... ra-a-a... I can't say it. [Sniffs.]
  Mokey: Ohhh, that's what's wrong with competition. Poor Gobo.
  Wembley: But he's still my friend. I want you to be my friend!
  Gobo: It's hard to be friends with someone when they beat you in a ra-a-a... ra-a-a... I just can't say it.
  Wembley: [as Gobo and Mokey walk out] But I didn't mean to beat you, Gobo. I didn't mean to! I didn't mean to, Gobo...!
  • "Wembley and the Great Race" also includes a scene, after Wembley wins against Gobo for the second time, when Wembley accepts his prize sadly, convinced that in winning the race he's lost his best friend. Gobo then apologizes for having been so petty earlier and assures Wembley they're still friends.
• The scene from "Invasion of the Toe Ticklers" where Mokey is alone, gazing tearfully at the boulder in front of the entrance to Chimney Hole Cavern. Her friends, despite her protests, have sealed Agnes and the other Toe Ticklers into Chimney Hole Cavern, because they were running amok and eating the Doozer constructions. Gobo's reminded her that the fuzzy creatures can get out by climbing through the hole in the top, but this is small consolation to Mokey.
  Mokey: Oh, Agnes, this is all wrong! I can't just leave you in there like this.
  • And shortly afterward, when she goes in to free them. Seeing that the Toe Ticklers have spun cocoons, she takes Agnes' and tries to carry her out but accidentally causes a cave-in, sealing them all in.
    Mokey: [holding Agnes' cocoon] No Fraggle has ever made it to the top of Chimney Hole Cavern... and I don't think they'll ever move that rockslide. Oh, Agnes, it doesn't look good. I'm so sorry, my little friend. I only meant to save you. I just didn't know.
    [A Beat.]
    There are so many things I didn't know.
    [She tearfully begins to sing a reprise of "The Joy."]

Season 3

• In "Red-Handed and the Invisible Thief", Red has accused Mokey, her best friend, of stealing her radish bars, despite not having seen her take them. With no evidence to back up her claim, Red takes Mokey before the Eminent and Venerable Council of Sages, then recruits Wembley to hide in Red and Mokey's room and spy while Red takes a nap. Mokey, more than a little hurt by Red's wild accusations, puts a blanket across the room to divide it in two.
  Mokey: Red Fraggle, you are being ridiculous! And I wouldn't touch your radish bars if they were the last radish bars in the whole world. [Her voice tearfully cracks.] And... and I'm not taking my blanket down until you apologize!
• "Boober and the Glob": A Doozer-eating glob has come to the Great Hall. Thankfully, the Doozers are still alive inside the Glob, but Cotterpin, who has witnessed the eating, is understandably distraught. She tries repeatedly to get Boober to help her rescue them... but he's too busy trying to run away from Joke Day and keeps saying he can't get involved. That's tear-jerking enough, but then Cotterpin's mother gets eaten, and still Boober wants to run away.
  Cotterpin: [on the verge of tears] Ohhh, you Fraggles are no help!
• In "Blanket of Snow, Blanket of Woe", Mokey realizes she's forgotten her promise to knit a new tarpaulin for the Trash Heap before the first snowfall. She rushes to see her, only to find her frozen. Philo and Gunge blaming themselves for not being able to have found a new tarpaulin for her only increases Mokey's guilt (though they quickly change their tune after realizing Mokey was the one who promised to make her a new one and forgot). Just try to listen to Philo, Gunge, and Mokey sing "Blanket of Snow, Blanket of Woe" without tearing up.
• "Pebble Pox Blues": The scene where Wembley, on the way to the Cave of Shadows, has fallen ill with the worst case of Pebble Pox Boober has ever seen.
  Boober: Ohhh, what am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?
  Wembley: Boober... don't be afraid.
  Boober: What? You, the sickest Fraggle I have ever seen, are telling me not to be afraid?
  Wembley: Sure, Boober. Because it isn't you that's going to... die!
  Boober: [gasps] Well, neither are you! Don't even say such a thing! Don't even think it! [to himself] He's gonna die.
• "Home is Where the Trash is": When Philo and Gunge decide to leave Marjory to find 'home'. Marjory becomes heartbroken to the point of nearly dying. Her moaning, which turns into soft crying, tugs, if not rips, the heartstrings.
  • Also, Philo and Gunge crying and missing Marjory after Gobo reads them one of his postcards from Traveling Matt.
• The scene from "Scared Silly" where Wembley is wracked with guilt because he's convinced that the masks and plastic snakes and spiders he planted in Boober's room made Boober so scared that he blew up. Though we know that Boober's okay, it's hard not to feel sorry for Wembley when he's alone in Boober's room, sobbing into a pile of laundry, wishing that he had never tried to get back at Boober for scaring him.
  Wembley: He was only testing my baloobius! [Picks up a piece of laundry and cries into it.] I'm so sorry, Boober. I'll... I'll clean this place up. I know you wouldn't have wanted to leave a messy room!
• "The Great Radish Caper," when Junior, having found that his favorite radish, Geraldine, is missing, is wandering about in search of her while singing "What If a Friend," a song about true friends not deserting each other.
• Red's song, "Lonely as Can Be" in "Playing Till It Hurts" when she's left in bandages after injuring herself, and feeling that nobody will care that she'll miss out on meeting her hockey idol.
  • Let's face it, any time Red has a sad song is heartbreaking, especially given her personality. That includes the reboot, where she gets to sing "Once Upon a Time (I Knew My Name)"—a song that was originally Gobo's—after injuring herself again.

Season 4

• The song "I Don't Understand Him," from "Uncle Matt's Discovery"
  Uncle Matt: He beats me and bites me—
  Gobo: —He just wants to fight me—
  Uncle Matt: —Sneering and jeering—
  Gobo: —He keeps interfering—
  Uncle Matt: —He yells—
  Gobo: —and he tells me—
  Uncle Matt: —I smell—
  Gobo: —impolitely—
  Uncle Matt: —I don't—
  Gobo: —understand why—
  Uncle Matt: —I want him—
  Gobo: —to like me.
  Together: I love him so much, I could bawl.
  But I don't understand him at all.
• The scene from "A Brush With Jealousy" where Mokey is alone with Lanford, sobbing to him that her friends loved Pedley's painting and called hers typical. What makes it even more heartwrenching is that she ran away to cry without hearing that they meant "typically great." On top of that, she missed Pedley's remark: "She's the best! Oh, if only I could paint the way she does."
• "The River of Life": Boober stands at the hole to Outer Space, begging the Silly Creatures to stop poisoning the caves, asking if the Fraggles or Gorgs have done anything to upset them. What Boober doesn't know is that Doc and Sprocket are out at the moment, and he's speaking to an empty, uncaring room—except for us.
• "Gone, But Not Forgotten": Wembley befriends a Mudbunny named Mudwell, but finds out his new friend has a very short life span.
  Wembley: Why did you push me away?
  Mudwell: Because a Mudbunny never knows when the time will come. Though that's all right with me, it's bound to hurt anyone I've made friends with when I have to say goodbye.
  Wembley: Then don't say goodbye...
  • In the scene directly after Mudwell dies, Wembley sits alone in a Heroic BSoD while his friends discuss how to comfort him. Midway through their conversation, Wembley starts to cry in the background – not the over-the-top bawling his crying scenes usually consist of, but soft, realistic tears that drive home the true seriousness of this sad moment.
  • After Mudwell's death, Wembley's Fraggle friends try to make him feel better in various ways, but to no avail. Eventually, he and Gobo have a simple heart-to-heart talk about it, and Wembley has this line:
    Wembley: I've had lots of happy moments with Mudwell... but I—I don't feel like part of him is still alive... because I'm not used to all of him being gone.
  • "Just a Dream Away" has lyrics that are particularly profound: Once I wasn't here, and then I suddenly appeared... just like water flowing, I know where I'm going... you got to leave, to stay. We'll meet again someday, just a dream away. Richard Hunt's death does not help matters.
  • Then there's the U.S./Canada episode's other "gone but not forgotten" character: the macaw Sprocket befriends, than has to bid farewell when the bird is returned to the pet shop where it belongs. Unlike Mudwell, the bird doesn't die, but seeing Sprocket crushed and lonely at the end of the episode makes you just want to hug the doggie... then followed by a crowning moment of Heartwarming when said bird telephones Sprocket. Not to mention the bird's voice was dubbed by Jerry Nelson, who is now himself gone but not forgotten.
  • Then there's the episode's Reality Subtext. In many ways it was the show's response to all the lives lost in the AIDS crisis, and it was especially personal for the openly gay Richard Hunt (Mudwell), who had lost a romantic partner to AIDS two years earlier, as well as various friends, and five years later would die of the disease himself. With this in mind, not only Wembley's grief, but Mudwell's knowledge that his time is almost up and his fear of how his death will hurt Wembley gain an additional gut-punch.
  • Gobo's story about losing his pet Thimblebug is also particularly poignant when one remembers that Jerry Nelson lost his daughter, Christine, to cystic fibrosis a few years earlier. This had to be an emotional episode for him too.
• "Change of Address" is one giant case from beginning to end. You'll likely be reduced to mush long before, but Sprocket's whimpering at Doc's words (and Doc's words themselves) that they'll never see Gobo again is the definite breaking point. Of course, mere moments later, they do see Gobo, but it doesn't make the emotional impact any less. And the whole "Magic Be With You"' segment with the tunnel will break you up to and including the very end of the credits.
  • Gobo's song "Petals of a Rose." Even harder to listen to after Jerry Nelson died.
    • A minor but poignant one, but it's hard not to feel bad for Wembley as he overhears his friend singing. Even after the other Fraggles come in going about their usual business, Wembley just kind of remains quiet as Gobo tells him he's going to see the Trash Heap for advice. You can tell Wembley wishes he himself could do something to help, even though he doesn't know what to say.
  • "We all cried when we watched it," Nelson remembered years later, "and we probably cried while we were doing it."

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