MuppeTrek
MuppeTrek - Episode 125 - "Let the Water Run" and "Skin of Evil"
"Oh, hi, oh, there's this is Cream-a-D Frog." "Fascenate, I'm Captain Kirk." "Classic is always there." "All this big people looking for it." "I get it." "What does God need with a starchy?" "Thank you, thank you, love you, mwah." "I protest, I am not a merry man." "New Jersey, New Jersey, New Jersey." "Places, please, man." "Here we go." "And a Frego Rock." [MUSIC PLAYING] Welcome to Duser's Gorg's "Homulky and Things." Next episode, 125 of the Muptrick Podcast. I'm Steve, and I'm Jarman, and we are on a journey across the stars to compare and contrast the creative worlds of Jim Henson and Gene Roddenberry. What started as a comparison has expanded. And this week, we have Frego Rock episode, "Let the Water Run." And next generation episode, "Skin of Evil." But first, you know, Steve, I want to hear about some rocks. "I want a rock!" Well, I'm going to give you one. This is that rock. There are a million gemstones, geodes, and other things that might be able to be found in Frego Rock. And I'm going to talk about one each episode. This week, I've got albite, which is a cousin to sodium. It's a clear crystal that sometimes takes on like a yellowish, pink, or grayish hue. They typically form ingranic clusters, and they are used as gemstones. However, they really aren't considered precious and are typically considered low value. But lower grades of albite are actually used in glass and ceramic making. So still a useful rock. That's albite, and that rocks. "I want a rock!" And you can always watch a video, Steve, and I talking about sodium back in the middle. It does exist. Somewhere. Oh, goodness. But what happened this time on Frego Rock, Steve? Well, I'm going to start with, "What's up, Doc?" Well, Doc this week is fixing the boiler because the pipes bang terribly, which causes him to have to turn off the water temporarily while he's working on it. This displeases sprocket who just wants a bath. Eventually, the boiler is seemingly fixed. Doc turns the water back on only to hear the pipes banging once more. But what's going down in Frego Rock? Gobo retrieves Uncle Traveling Mass postcard. He returns just as red as preparing for a swimming and water spectacular, which Frego's are coming from all over the place to see. She refuses help from her friends and is headstrong and says she can handle setting up the entire event on her own. The water runs out of their giant pool. It drains suddenly. And it turns out it's because every day the king gorg takes a bath and Junior fills it up for him. But the Frego's realize, "The pool isn't refilling like normal and the future of red show is in peril." They call on the pipe banger, an ancient order of Frego who bang the pipes to summon water. And although they bang, no water comes. Gobo reds Uncle Traveling Mass letter, which contains another way that he might be able to summon water, which I'll talk about later. Red and Gobo head to the entrance of outer space. Red chickens out and finally admits to Gobo that she needs his help. Gobo is gracious and helps her. He wanders into outer space to steal an umbrella. He is nearly caught, however, by the terrible beast sprocket but makes it away with the prize. Red and Gobo return with the umbrella to the pipe bringer. But instead of opening it to summon the water from above, the pipe bringer uses it to bang on the pipe and water begins to flow once more. The red show can go on. She has her big dive, misses her mark and terribly injures herself. And that's what's going down in Frego Rock. Jeremy, what did you think of this week's episode with Frego Rock? Let the water run. - I really liked it. There's a whole lot of going on here. We get more Frego lore with the pipe bangers. And we get so we learn about Frego culture in that way and gorg culture more because we learned about him like strategizing against fighting some army that we don't think really exists. - Yeah, that may not exist. - But we got some more good songs. They were all pretty solid. - I can do it on my own. Do it, do it. - On my own. - I can do it. - And we get to learn, you know, about a lesson, you know, about not trying to do everything yourself or lie in the help of your friends. You don't have to do everything on your own. Be perfect all the time. Red learns that. And there's this intricate system of water that they've created where it goes from Doc's water supply that goes to the Frego pool, that goes to the gorg well, which gives the king his baths, but also the pipe bangers that magically bring back the water every time. So it's like this whole intricate system they created there which is really creative and fun. And so I wonder from the first episodes, I didn't remember much of Frego Rock about how are we gonna keep it interesting in these three little settings we have? Like what are they gonna have happen in these three little tiny settings? But they're making it work and it's a lot of fun. So yeah, what do you think? - I really enjoyed it. Dude on my own is like one of the songs I still remember and have in my head from when I was a kid. I liked that it was about a character but really was about a bigger problem. Like yes, no one seemed nearly as concerned that all the water was gone as much as, oh no, Red can't do her swimming show, you know. So that was funny to sort of see. I wish we'd gotten some more do's or stuff, you know? I love the do's or is it the only weak point? Weak point of this episode is no real do's or action. But otherwise you're right. I love the lore that's like being built into this world that they have the, you know, the pipe bangers. - Where do they come from? - It comes from a ceremony. - Yeah. And how often are they needed? And then even the diet and that was the other thing. I thought the dialogue in this one was really good in that the pipe banger himself kept saying these really funny like backwards statements and idioms and stuff. And it was so cleverly written that I just kind of sat in awe of it how well it was written for the pipe banger specifically. - I hope they come back. - Yeah. - So great episode. I know we're only three in. So we haven't really had any duds. I feel like they've-- - No, not yet. - Also like we got some junior gorg moments showing that he's like a pretty nice son. He's a good guy. He just has a genocidal urge against freggles. But other than that, he's a pretty nice kid, you know? - Yeah. - Helping his parents. - He's a great kid. (laughing) - All right. So what are the silly creatures up to? Well, this week, Uncle Traveling Matt sends Gobo a letter about these things that silly creatures wait out and they do this ritual where they stick their hand out and then they open them, open umbrellas and rain falls from the sky. So surely that is how the silly creatures summon rain. - Of course. - Well, the umbrella, the earliest umbrellas are actually where parasols or versions of parasols used in ancient Egypt, 2,450 BC. One of the earliest things depicting it. And where umbrellas, I found this, I didn't realize this, whereas umbrellas shield you from the rain parasols protecting you from the sun. - Yeah. - I guess I kind of always knew that, but just seeing it formally out, I went, oh yeah. - That's what makes them somewhat different, but they're kind of the same thing. - The Aztecs, then later on, carried umbrellas made of gold and really colorful bird feathers that were actually used as battle standards and carried by military leaders. But it wasn't until the ancient Greeks where umbrellas actually got the mechanism to open and shut with that sliding. And the mechanism that was developed then is very, very similar to the same one that is used now. - That's great. - It does really not change that much. In the 1600s, trade brought umbrellas to Paris and Europe from China and they became really big status symbols. And nowadays, National Umbrella Day is held on the 10th of February every year. And run by Rihanna because of her song, Umbrella, Ella, Ella, Ella. (laughing) So that is umbrellas and that's what those silly creatures were up to this week. - Very nice. - What did you think was the best Muppet hearing moment this week? - I think so many of the scenes with red were so well done. And I think the reason I'm saying this is because I think with this show, we're gonna see a lot more understated, impressive Muppet moments where it's like, there's a lot more drama and storytelling happening here than the Muppet show. So like just the way she was reacting, especially in the scene where she's finally admitting she needs help, just these little subtle movements of her head and like turning down and looking back up and like figuring it out, you can see it on her face and she's a puppet. You know, like it was just like, that's, so that's what me was the most impressive. It was like, we don't really get a lot of those moments of the Muppets 'cause it's all over the top and big, you know, and this was really close on her face. And he made it work. It's like, how do they do that? Or she, whoever's doing the puppet, so really impressive. - Okay, so hear me out on this one. My best moment of tearing moment goes to the ships in the bathtub. So I looked at them in the tub and saw them bobbing and said, man, I can't believe they brought in water for this. Like, why would they do that? And then I had this moment and I go, they didn't bring in water. That's the one with like two sticks. Like making it look like these little tiny ships are bobbing in the bathtub. Just because I had that moment where I myself, who knows exactly what's going on, it was tricked because it was so good. I went, okay, the ships in the bathtub get my best Mupperturing moment 'cause that was just someone down there with two sticks. - Which is funny because this is a very water-heavy episode and I feel bad for all the puppets that were just so wet in this episode. They had to dry them all off probably afterwards. - Oh yeah. Or, you know, they made a ton of fraggles. So you gotta figure, they're like, all right, this is the one, the one we're getting real wet. - Oh yeah, getting wet. So tournament, what happened in this week's episode of Star Trek, the next generation? - It's a big one for the series, Skin of Evil. The Enterprise is off to pick up Deanna Troy because apparently they sent a ship full of hundreds of people to go pick up one person. She's returning from a conference. But our shuttle craft instead crashes into a nearby planet and they scan the planet looking for their life signs and they find them, but they can't beam them up for some reason. So they had to send down an away team to investigate. I think they believe with Jordy, Riker, Data, and Yarr. And they try to get the down shuttle craft but they're being blocked by this pool of goo which keeps kind of following them around. But then it takes this humanoid form, this really scary beast creature and it blasts the internet Yarr killing her instantly pretty early on in the episode. They take her back to the Enterprise and try to like revive her but Dr. Crusher's unable to bring her back. And while the away team is gone with Yarr, the tar pit monster envelopes the down shuttle craft and goes all around it and developing it and communicates with Troy kind of like, you know, through its mind. And she's injured inside the shuttle craft and she finds out that the monster's name is Armas. And it's a creature created from the expelled evil of a group of aliens that came there a long time ago. And they basically crapped out all their evil or bad feelings creating this sentient goo named Armas. So he's just pure unadulterated evil jerk basically. And so the remaining away team goes back down to the planet and Armas is taunting them and he wants to play with them just to amuse himself. And he even sucks Riker into his own gooey mass. And they can't convince Armas to let them go help Troy. So Picard finally comes down himself to try to reason with it. And they slowly figure out that Armas is just feeding off of their suffering. So they decide not to play into it in any way. And so that makes him more and more angry. And they find out back in the ship that the more angry he gets, he's kind of releasing his emotions instead of holding them all in. So he gets weaker when he does that. So he gets angry enough that the shielding he's putting over the shuttlecraft is weak enough that they can beam Troy and the injured crewmen off the shuttlecraft and they all go back to the enterprise. And so then they just blow up the shuttlecraft from space. So Armas can never use it to escape the planet. And they put a note in Starfleet logs that this planet is never to be approached again. And then we have a nice scene in the holodeck where the main cast as a memorial service for Yarr even have a recording she made played for them or she gives each of them a nice little personal message to say goodbye, which is a very sweet moment. But Steve, what do you think of skin of evil? - Okay, so some things I liked. Good gripping intro with the the rescue mission. I agree, it's a little bit ridiculous that they've got to take the ship back to pick her up from like a conference. - Yeah, exactly. - They do a few times the show. So feels very middle-class family. That's all I'm saying. I liked it, that's a light, but it was funny to see the biggest plot involving Yarr being the one where she dies. - Yeah. - Armas, I thought was a great effect and delivered an executed creature. - It looked cool. - It looked really great. And I loved that Tasha Yarr's funeral hologram was on the Windows 95 like background. Like that, it felt very familiar. Some things I had some problems with. A good amount of crew people have died in this show. And Picard has not given a shit before. We don't see any of the decorum, the sacrifice. Now I understand she's a main character, but it was tough to know that all these other guys have died and it really hasn't been that much of a problem. - We haven't seen their funerals, but maybe he was there. - Yeah. Riker getting used as a death pawn again felt bad where he got enveloped, but then in the last episode, he got zappy hand like, "We'll kill him if you don't agree with us." Like it just felt like, is this just his piece? - And the episode before that, he was frozen by that drone too, like frozen in place. - So yeah, it's just like, okay, when does this end? - It's always Riker. - There were some pacing issues. It really felt like the episode plotted along because there weren't physical plot elements to go with the emotional ones. Like they couldn't get any closer to the ship and the thing played with them and they couldn't get any closer to the ship and then we couldn't get any closer to the ship and then there was another conversation with Troy and the thing and then they couldn't get closer to the ship and then there was another conversation between Troy and the thing. And there wasn't any physical movement to help like drive a story along the way at normally when adventure goes along. Then this also got a little more existential than I typically like Star Trek to be. The being is the hatred of a civilization abandoned on a planet to live out its days. Like the ultimate edgelord D&D character. - My parents abandoned me. - But the whole like, but I just did not like the explanation of it's like it's all the anger and hate of a civilization. What the hell does that mean? - Yeah, maybe if they just made one comment to how weird that is, that would have made it a little bit more acceptable but they didn't really mention that straight to that. - At one point, Armus specifically mentions like the titans. Like the titans used to live here in blah, blah, blah which then drives it even further into that weird like magic and mysticism kind of crap. - Yeah. - No, no, no, no. Star Trek, pull back, pull back. And then why, so then another bigger like Laura's kind of implication is why did Yara decide to recently record a death goodbye to everyone? Or is this common enough that she just records one every day? Like a fucked up captain's log? - I was okay with that because she is a security officer, very dangerous job. So like maybe that's something she kind of like early does do but it is kind of, it seems very recent, you're right. Like it was saying-- - And it addressed everybody. So like even Wesley who in theory she's only known for a couple months. - Yeah. - And like that kind of stuff. And like really convenient, there's like just no one else she wanted to say bye to that was there. - You know, it was just weird. - And you Sanchez, I love you so much Sanchez isn't there. It's like, ooh, that's awkward. - And they all look around like which do they think you be, which Sanchez do you think? - That's true. - You know, it's funny. So there were some harder elements in here. That being said, I get it. It was her big send off, good for her. Walk away into the field of corn, Denise Crosby. - In the Windows 95 background. - Yes, right. - I don't remember liking this episode much back in the day when I first saw it, but watching it now, I think I actually liked it more. So I think we talked about the villain looked much core than I remember it being. It is silly that it's just like this goop creature but it looks really kind of intimidating. Creepy and the voiceover, I thought was actually really worked for me because the lines themselves are very over the top and like corny sounding but he sounded really ominous and scary. And apparently don't have his name is Ron Gans and he apparently did the trailers for B movies and Roger Corbin movies throughout the 70s and 80s. Like she was a hard worker in the middle of the night but she found the hard way that working the streets is in the cafe. And he played Eor for a long, long time, which is pretty cool. - I did see that. - Yeah. - Oh, bother. - Oh, bother. - There goes my tail. - And Yarr's death was kind of sudden and anticlimactic but I think it kind of worked in a strange way because they get all these big stuff they do but then she can just die on one little mission. You know, just the way it works. And I think it also shows-- - It's literally never worked that way before but yeah, it's just the way it works. - Or other Corbin just offhandly die all the time. So why not run somebody in the bridge crew? - We don't even know their name. - Yeah, and that brings me back to my point of plenty of other people have died and it literally hasn't been a goddamn thing before now. - 'Cause bridge crew are more important. - Yeah, like, but we like her. - Yeah, the rest of those guys are idiots. If I like how it showed the solidarity of the crew and that, especially when they figured out what the creature was looking for, one of them had reactions. And so they all society together kind of unspokenly. Okay, we know what to do here. We're professionals. We're not going to let this guy get to us. I thought that was really kind of cool but so this used to be worse in my head but I actually liked it better this time around. So it's more like a solid middle for me but not like, not much better than that. - I don't know. - Yeah, I think this is going to pull middle for me too. I didn't like it nearly as much as some of the other ones. - Yeah. - But it did have some cool elements. Like once again, the creature was maybe like the best creature design we've seen. - Yeah, and there's some more into you. - There's some trivia about that creature being really tough to make and deal with. - I'm sure I'm sure it was a friggin' nightmare. - So little facts here, when Riker was sucked into Armus' pool, Jonathan Frakes, the actor, was in fact submerged in a pool of metamucil and printer's ink. That's how they made it look black. So it's basically disgusting, goop, color black. And during a break in filming, when Frakes was lying on the beach, covered in sludge, Lavar Burton approached him and said, "Frakes, I would never have done that." That's so pretty funny. Picard quotes the dark spirit Demogorgon from Percy Shelley's Prometheus Unbound which he says, "All spirits are enslaved "which serve evil, things evil." Which is also a Stranger Things reference now 'cause I didn't realize Demogorgon was from that. Armus was originally intended to be based on the Mumminschott's theater group style. So they were gonna use Mumminschott's when we talked about Muppets before to have this weird kind of creature who dances around like Mumminschott's but I guess that didn't work very well. It was discarded in favor of a more shroud-type creature that it turned out to be. And the director was determined to make the creature believable and it was aimed to have the creature rise up out of the oil slick, drawing it up with him. And a test was made using a melting miniature of Armus with the intention to play it in reverse. They'd melt it and then reverse the field so it's like he's kind of lifting out of it but it didn't look right at all. So they constructed this suit for the actor to wear as Armus and then they spent a day sculpting the head with the crew that already worked on the show but the construction of the body was outsourced to an external company. And so when the actor was lowered in and out of the oil by means of a great under-the-surface, the head was designed to enable the clearing of the actor's airway so it could breathe quickly if there's any problems but there was no air tank so he had to hold his breath under the surface of the oil. And the crew members kept track of the time he was under using a stopwatch the whole time which is terrifying. He was a hold his breath on this crap. But the oil itself with the printer he kept destroying the body costume so they had to keep ordering new ones. They finally ordered backups and they kept dissolving for some reason but the face stayed just fine. And so for the final scene he had to film the whole back of the suit was basically missing and they had a film just in the front because it was just falling apart the whole time. That's like a nightmare. In describing season one of TNG and Gene Roddenberry's attempts to push the limits a little as he said, Jonathan Frake stated, "I think we took greater chances than we do now. "The shows may be better, the level of it. "Nowadays, the newer shows were better "but Skin of Evil was absurd. "We had Patrick Stewart sitting and talking "into a black oil slick but what was wrong with that?" I suffered physically like a fool with the actor who played Armus. Sure, I'll get in that black fucking metamucal shit. That was absurd. That's what basically Jake says. And lastly, Denise Crosby has said that if she had more scenes like the one between Yarr and Worf at the beginning of this episode, she would have more likely stayed with the series but basically this is like the first time they gave her useful constructive dialogue and she was like, that's why she left the show to begin with. She felt like she wasn't being used. So a lot of happened in this episode but it's an odd one in Star Trek history. It is. But Steve, what are our Trek connections this time around? Oh boy, well, you mentioned the first one, Armus was originally intended to be on like a "Mum and Shaunts" type. Somehow, yeah. I'm imagining the clay faces. That's true. That's sort of what I'm imagining I'm doing. I can see that. It's a monster sort of deal. But as you mentioned, it fell apart. Raymond Fortune, who played Ben Prieto, the unconscious crewman that's in with Troy, was in the movie Point Break, which had Gary Busey, who made a quick cameo in the Muffitsco Hollywood TV special. Oh, I can't wait to watch that TV special for ladies. Ron Gans, who you mentioned was the voice of Armus, was the voice of QT The Orangutan on a weird classic show that many will remember called Dumbo's Circus, which was live action, like people in pup in like character suits. Weird. It was crazy. Well, the voice of Dumbo on that show was done by voice actor Katie Lee, who played Baby Rolf the Dog on 107 episodes of Muffit Baby. What a connection. Ron Gans also was a voice in The Real Ghostbusters, where Winston was played by Arsenio Hall, and Jim Henson's final televised appearance was on the Arsenio Hall show. Well, look at that. Look at that. Look at that. Which makes sense 'cause of the same damn show. I mean, both episodes were so similar. Oh my God. Yeah, both feature a troublesome pools, the black goo armus and the missing water from the pool. I had the same slumber thing, both episodes feature a wet liquid being the source of the strife of the episode. Arnes's effect rising up out of the oil looks just a lot like the trashy. That's very true. I know she wasn't in this episode, but I saw it and went, oh, that's like how she pops up and out. That's very true. Both episodes use that same liquid as a way of rooting out their violent tendencies. The titans left that left armus behind as the excretions of their evil and violence, and the King Gorg doing his mock sea battles in the bathtub to work out his war mongering anger. Yeah. That's right. Both feature people be falling terrible bodily harm that should have or did kill them. Tasha Yarr and Red missing her dive. But she's a Freckle. She can survive anything. She can survive anything. Let's hope. Oh, God. What's that? What's that? No. Transporter now function. All right. It's a part of the show where we transport one character to one episode and vice versa. So what you got for Steve? - Rock to Trek this week. I'm going to bring Red over to replace Troy. Stuck alone in the shuttle as she talks to armus, she would get to do. I could, like I can do it on my own. It would still fit perfectly. - And then she has to find out that she needs help from enterprise friends. - Yeah. Right. (laughs) - Freckle rock to Trek. I'd have Junior Gorg trade places with armus. He'd be all angry at first like he is toward the Fraggles. But at the end of the Enterprise crew would find out, he's just a big teddy bear. He's a nice guy. Trek to the rock. I'm bringing over armus to replace sprocket, patronizing Doc in his tone, knocking off Doc's glasses and then teleporting them around as Doc struggles on the ground. Please don't kill me. Please. - Let's tear up his glasses. Pick them up, Doc. But you keep moving them. - I can't find them. (laughs) It's rocket. - I'd have Trek to Fraggle rock. Armus take the place of King Gorg 'cause then his evil would root out all the Fraggles and eventually claim dominion over the human world. (laughs) - Man, that's the Fraggle rock episode I wanna watch. (laughs) It's terrifying. - Well, that brings us to the end of episode 125 of the Muppet Trek podcast. - Join us next time for Fraggle rock episode. - You can't do that without a hat. - And next generation series episode will always have Paris. So from the lovers, the dreamers and us. Live long and prosper everyone. (dramatic music) - Thanks for listening to the Muppet Trek podcast. Be sure to follow us on social media, on Facebook and Twitter. Subscribe to us on Apple Podcasts YouTube Spotify or your favorite podcast platform. This podcast is brought to you by a Play on Nerds. (dramatic music) [MUSIC PLAYING] (dramatic music)