“On my birthday, I worry about the Grim Reaper.”

That quote pretty much sums up a majority of the personality of Boober Fraggle. Known for his anxious nature, love of laundry and the looming mystery of his eyes, Boober Fraggle is easily a fan favorite of the five main ensemble members. While he may be a hit for the miserable, I personally think that there is so much more to Boober than his pouty-ness. Jim Henson was no stranger to gay culture or throwing in queer jokes to his then adult comedy Muppet show. One of the most notable voice actors for characters like Scooter and who shared the voice of Miss Piggy, Richard Hunt, turns up in Fraggle Rock playing Junior Gorg. He continued to pop up as needed for minor characters, and we see him in the final season as the character Mudwell.

Mudwell shows up in the episode “Gone but not Forgotten”, where Wembley meets Mudwell and the two quickly become very close friends. Unfortunately, Mudwell dies during this episode just after the two characters confess how much they enjoy their company and like each other, leaving Wembley to deal with learning some hard lessons about life. Many Fraggle fans have pointed out the gay undertones of this character and subsequent episode. It was confirmed by one of the episode writers that they had taken the current AIDs/HIV epidemic into consideration while writing, and that the allegory for lost friendship was purposeful. Hunt had recently just lost his friend as well as his longtime lover earlier, and he remarked on how important and moving this episode was for him. It shouldn’t be ignored that Boober is the only Fraggle who seems to be worried about germs and getting sick, most evident in the first season.

So Henson was not afraid of reflecting all kinds of stories through the medium of puppeteering. This does mean that it is not completely out of the question that Boober Fraggle would be included in that. You could make an argument for just about every scene that Boober is in, but there are a couple of standouts. In the 2022 revival, the episode “The Glow” has been confirmed by The Jim Henson Company in a tweet to be at the very least a metaphor for Boober’s sexuality. The episode surrounds Boober discovering his ‘baloobius’, or the glowing end of his tail. This isn’t something that every Fraggle has, but those that do will only see its soft, warm glow when they are at the most peace with themselves. The only other named character besides Boober that is shown to have a glowing baloobius, is The Archivist. Notably, she is voiced by Cynthia Erivo, an openly queer actress. She immediately notices Boober’s baloobius, and tells him the story of how she used to hide hers as well, but now accepts herself and shows it off openly and beautifully.

A much earlier episode that I want to bring up, one that first blessed screens in 1984, is “Boober’s Quiet Day”. Episode 23 of the second season is a typical character centric episode, focusing almost entirely on Boober himself. The only difference is the reappearance of the character Sidebottom. Sidebottom is Boober’s “other half”, his hidden personality. Boober’s exterior is seen as dark and sad and enjoying the quieter, more boring part of life. Sidebottom is the part of him he hides away, stores in his dreams. We have only gotten brief appearances of him in the past two seasons, this is the first time we get an entire episode that he is almost always present for. Boober falls asleep, and when he is woken up, Sidebottom sneaks his way out of Boober’s dream land to come to the Rock with him. Just in appearances alone, we can see that Sidebottom is a much more outgoing and eccentric version of Boober. Notable dialogue between the two is when Boober tells Sidebottom, “I can’t be someone I’m not!” to which Sidebottom quips back “You wanna bet?” This can be seen as Boober speaking to part of his true self, that he has kept hidden. We know from previous episodes that Boober may not always fit in with his fellow Fraggles for a lot of reasons and he has been fine with that, but this is one way that he seems to want to fit in. Sidebottom can absolutely be seen as the queer side of Boober that he is continuously trying to shove down and hide. The episode ends with Boober promising Sidebottom he will let him out more often.

Boober’s soft spoken, gentle self is such an important contrast to his counterparts. He is shown as being a moppy little guy, but really he shows his affection very openly to his friends. It is rare we go an episode without seeing him clinging to, cuddling up on, or hugging his friends. We even see Boober give Wembley a kiss in episode 12 of season 3, “Scared Silly”. It should be noted that in that episode, Wembley is trying to figure out his own baloobius after Boober scares him. It is interesting that they chose for Boober to be the one helping him, especially when scaring his friends is something that we wouldn’t have thought of Boober for, more-so a Red Fraggle type of thing to do. Wembley is no stranger to being on the receiving end of Boober’s affection, even all the way back in season 1, Boober is shown to smother him with kisses.

If you’re like me and, to quote Boober himself, like to live an alternative lifestyle, he is such a comfort to watch grow throughout the seasons. It truly is so important for kids (and adults rewatching and rediscovering) to have such a complex and interesting character disguised in such a soft, childlike exterior. I don’t think I knew as a little kid watching old dusty VHS tapes, just how much a little green guy in a hat with his hands folded under his chin would end up meaning so much to me. I truly believe anyone will fall in love with Boober after just one episode, and I only hope that one day we are all humming ‘I’m a Little Stewpot’ or ‘Without a Hat’ just as God intended.