Down at Fraggle Rock...

On April 3, 1983, Jim Henson took the Concorde from Heathrow Airport in London to John. F. Kennedy Airport in New York. During the flight he filled a notebook with a number of ideas about the show as they had been formulated during a previous series of meetings.

At this point in the show's development, the future Fraggles were temporarily dubbed "Woozles." "This name will very likely be changed," Jim remarked in his notes, but otherwise his description of what he hoped to see on screen was very much what the audience did see when the series finally aired.

The different levels of reality — represented by Fraggles, Doozers and Gorgs — were already sketched out with some specificity (if with different names), as were the peculiarities of the basic character groups and the essential theme of peace and harmony.

The overall concept of the show was clearly set out in these preliminary notes:

"Our first job," Jim wrote, "is to make this world a lot of fun to visit." It is a high energy, raucous musical romp. It’s a lot of silliness. It's wonderful. "However, the second thing that were doing with this show is saying something. The show has a direction and a point of view. This will be beneath the surface, and if anybody becomes very aware of it, we will have missed.

"What the show is really about is people getting along with other people, and understanding the delicate balance of the natural world. These are topics that can be dealt with in symbolic way, which is what puppets basically do all the time."

In a later insert, he added:

"The world of the Woozle will have its own natural balances, although these will be rather insane. But still we will make the point that everything effects everything else, and that there is a beauty and harmony of life to be appreciated."

- Christopher Finch, Jim Henson: The Works