Red Fraggle is a fictional character in

Jim Henson James Maury Henson (September 24, 1936 – May 16, 1990) was an American puppeteer, animator, actor, and filmmaker who achieved worldwide notability as the creator of the Muppets. Henson was also well known for creating ''Fraggle Rock'' ( ...

's television series ''

Fraggle Rock ''Fraggle Rock'' (also known as ''Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock'' or ''Fraggle Rock with Jim Henson's Muppets'') is a children's Musical film, musical Fantasy film, fantasy television comedy, comedy puppet television series about interconnected so ...

'', as well as its reboot '' Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock''. She is one of the five main characters from the series, alongside Gobo,

Wembley Wembley () is a large suburbIn British English, "suburb" often refers to the secondary urban centres of a city. Wembley is not a suburb in the American sense, i.e. a single-family residential area outside of the city itself. in the London Borou ...

Mokey ''Mokey'' is a 1942 American comedy-drama film released by MGM, directed by Wells Root and starring Dan Dailey, Jr., Donna Reed and Bobby Blake. Plot Eight-year-old Mokey's widowed father Herbert remarries and the young stepmother Anthea has d ...

, and

Boober ''Fraggle Rock'' (also known as ''Jim Henson's Fraggle Rock'' or ''Fraggle Rock with Jim Henson's Muppets'') is a children's musical fantasy comedy puppet television series about interconnected societies of Muppet creatures, created by Jim He ...

. She was performed and voiced by

Karen Prell Karen Leigh Prell (born July 26, 1959) is an American puppeteer and animator. She is the performer of Red Fraggle in ''Fraggle Rock''. Early life and career Prell was born on July 26, 1959, in Florida but grew up in Seattle, Washington. She a ...

in both the original series and its reboot;

Barbara Goodson Barbara Goodson is an American voice actress who has done voice-over work in cartoons and shows. Her best-known role was providing the English dub voice of the main villain Empress Rita Repulsa in the ''Power Rangers'' television series, starti ...

voiced her in the animated series. Red is the best friend and roommate of Mokey Fraggle. She is adventurous, fun-loving, cheerful, and athletic. She is a fan of sports and loves to swim in the Fraggle pool. She can be highly competitive with her friends, and has something of a rivalry with her friend Gobo, as well as strongly disliking Gobo's uncle Traveling Matt. She also dislikes Mokey's pet plant Lanford, though she warms up to him later. Red has proved to be one of the most popular characters from ''Fraggle Rock''. Karen Prell has made live appearances with Red at various events. Red returned, performed once again by Prell, in the short-form

Apple TV+ Apple TV+ is an American subscription over-the-top streaming service owned by Apple. The service launched on November 1, 2019, and it offers a selection of original production film and television series called Apple Originals. The service w ...

series ''Fraggle Rock: Rock On''.

Development

Red, along with the other Fraggles, was conceived and developed by series creator

. The Red puppet was designed by

Michael K. Frith Michael Kingsbury Frith (born 8 July 1941) is a British artist and television producer. He is the former executive vice-president and creative director of The Jim Henson Company. His contributions to Muppet projects have been extensive and vari ...

and built by

Rollie Krewson Rollie Krewson (sometimes credited as "Rollin Krewson") is a puppet designer and builder known for her work on various Muppet productions. She interned with Jim Henson's company in the mid-1970s. Although she now works primarily as a designer/build ...

. Red's name is a reference to a "redhead", another name for an 800w film light.

Appearances

Red appears as one of the five main characters from the original ''Fraggle Rock'' series and its reboot ''Fraggle Rock: Back to the Rock''. She also appears in the short Apple TV+ series ''Fraggle Rock: Rock On!''. She is also seen, along with the other Fraggles, in the 1987 TV special '' A Muppet Family Christmas''. In between the original series and its reboot, Red made several live appearance at conventions, and she also appeared in promos for

The Hub The Hub may refer to: Places * The Hub, Bronx, an area of the South Bronx, New York, known for its convergence of subway and bus lines * The Hub (Edinburgh), former church in Edinburgh that is now home to the Edinburgh International Festival * T ...

's "Fraggle Rock-a-Thon" in 2013.

Behind the scenes

Red is a rod puppet, which means that her arms are controlled by rods attached to the puppet's hands. During the audition process for the original series,

Kathryn Mullen Kathryn Mullen (born February 10, 1940) is an American puppeteer, actress, and voice actress most closely associated with Jim Henson projects. History Mullen began performing on ''The Muppet Show'' in its third season, primarily as Gaffer the B ...

auditioned to play Red, but she was instead cast to play Mokey. Karen Prell was cast as Red, and has portrayed her ever since. Prell returned to play Red on ''Back to the Rock'', where she was also attached as an executive producer.

References

Fraggle Rock characters Children's television characters Television characters introduced in 1983 Female characters in television {{character-stub