Fraggle Shrugged

Thus Spoke He-Man 7/7 – Escape From Eternia

Månegal Media — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 11:00:00 +0000

The epic conclusion to the bonkers adventure. When we last heard from Sigfred, he had gotten captured by the Eternians, his co-host Robo-Henrik had been killed and turned into an Amazon Alexa device. And Skeletor had ordered his evil army to invade the poor, unsuspecting Fraggle Rock.

How will all this madness resolve? Will Sigfred be able to escape from Eternia? Will the Fraggles survive? And is there a deus ex machina element that's gonna save them all? Listen along to find out!

Thus Spoke He-Man is a miniseries made by Månegal Media, as part of our podcast Fraggle Shrugged. Find more weird and entertaining projects at maanegal.dk

To those that have listened to the series: Thank you so much! Sigfred has worked hard on it, so he hopes you enjoyed it.

Written, performed, produced, composed, mixed, rehydrated etc. by Sigfred Nielsen. Featuring Henrik Viking.

The show makes use of short clips of copyrighted content, for satirical purposes. If you represent the rightsholders, you can contact us at contact@maanegal.dk

Thus Spoke He-Man 6/7 – The Death Of A Hero

Månegal Media — Fri, 28 Aug 2020 13:53:29 +0000

Things have gone horribly wrong for Sigfred and Robo-Henrik. Their quest to Eternia has backfired horribly, and instead of enlisting He-Man's help to protect Earth from the evil Skeletor, they have ended up in a dank and moist dungeon. But things are about to get much, much worse...

Luckily, they still find the time to discuss Zarathustra's speech “On Enjoying and Suffering the Passions” and the 5th episode of the He-Man cartoon, “The Curse of the Spellstone”.

NEXT WEEK: Episode 7 – Escape From Eternia

Thus Spoke He-Man is a miniseries made by Månegal Media, as part of our podcast Fraggle Shrugged. Find more weird and entertaining projects at maanegal.dk

Written, performed, produced, composed, mixed, catered etc. by Sigfred Nielsen.

The show makes use of short clips of copyrighted content, for satirical purposes. If you represent the rightsholders, you can contact us at contact@maanegal.dk

Thus Spoke He-Man 5/7 – Where No Sigfred Has Gone Before

Månegal Media — Fri, 21 Aug 2020 11:00:00 +0000

After the dramatic events of the last episode, Sigfred has made a big decision. He cannot stand idly by, as evil forces decimate Earth. He must do something (also because this is kinda, sorta all his fault).

Robo-Henrik is back again, so luckily Sigfred will be in good company on his perilous journey to the distant and dangerous dimension of Eternia…

NEXT WEEK: Episode 6 – The Death Of A Hero

Thus Spoke He-Man is a miniseries made by Månegal Media, as part of our podcast Fraggle Shrugged. Find more weird and entertaining projects at maanegal.dk

Written, performed, produced, composed, mixed, catered etc. by Sigfred Nielsen.

The show makes use of short clips of copyrighted content, for satirical purposes. If you represent the rightsholders, you can contact us at contact@maanegal.dk

Thus Spoke He-Man 4/7 – A Guest Stops By

Månegal Media — Fri, 14 Aug 2020 10:00:00 +0000

Things are little different on the podcast. Robo-Henrik needed the week off, but luckily, Sigfred was able to find a replacement. He met a fellow named Dave in the laundry room of his building, and it turned out that this guy was really into the idea of cross-analyzing Thus Spoke Zarathustra and He-Man.

So they get into what "Believers in a World Behind" believe, and what happens when "Colossor Awakes". But Dave has a deep, dark secret that threatens the fate of our entire world. Suddenly, there is much more at stake than whether this is a good concept for a podcast (which it is).

NEXT WEEK: Episode 5 – Where No Sigfred Has Gone Before

Thus Spoke He-Man is a miniseries made by Månegal Media, as part of our podcast Fraggle Shrugged. Find more weird and entertaining projects at maanegal.dk

Written, performed, produced, composed, mixed, catered etc. by Sigfred Nielsen.

Featuring Mads Storm.

The show makes use of short clips of copyrighted content, for satirical purposes. If you represent the rightsholders, you can contact us at contact@maanegal.dk

Thus Spoke He-Man 3/7 – A Very Good Idea For A Podcast (Seriously)

Månegal Media — Fri, 07 Aug 2020 12:00:00 +0000

Sigfred gets deeper into his big passion project: uncovering all the deep, hidden connections between He-Man and Thus Spoke Zarathustra that are obviously there. Obviously. This time we cover the He-Man episode "Teela's Quest", and Zarathustra tells us about the Three Transformations. So that's exciting!

Sigfred has got a really good feeling about this show. He thinks it’s a good match with these two items of intellectual property. Everything’s going nice and smooth, and he and Robo-Henrik can just take it easy from here on out.

NEXT WEEK: Episode 4 – A Guest Stops By

Thus Spoke He-Man is a miniseries made by Månegal Media, as part of our podcast Fraggle Shrugged. Find more cool stuff at maanegal.dk

Written, performed, produced, composed etc. by Sigfred Nielsen.

Featuring Emil Rothstein-Christensen.

The show makes use of short clips of copyrighted content, for satirical purposes. If you represent the rightsholders, you can contact us at contact@maanegal.dk

Thus Spoke He-Man 2/7 – The Overhuman!

Månegal Media — Fri, 31 Jul 2020 12:00:00 +0000

This week we really begin to dig into Thus Spoke Zarathustra and He-Man and the Masters of the Universe. Sigfred and his buggy robotic companion Robo-Henrik go through the entire opening section of the book, and get their first taste of what Nietzsche thinks about the world. And in particular, his infatuation with what he calls an “Overhuman”. A fitting counterpiece to this, is the first episode of He-Man to be broadcast, “The Diamond Ray of Disappearance”. Here we learn about the odd and confusing world of Eternia — good thing that that place doesn't exist!

And thus we are off on our epic podcast adventure into the boundless promise of an very good premise.

NEXT WEEK: Episode 3 – A Very Good Idea For A Podcast (Seriously)

Thus Spoke He-Man is a miniseries made by Månegal Media, as part of our podcast Fraggle Shrugged. Find more cool stuff at maanegal.dk

Written, performed, produced, composed etc. by Sigfred Nielsen. The show makes use of short clips of copyrighted content, for satirical purposes. If you represent the rightsholders, you can contact us at contact@maanegal.dk

Thus Spoke He-Man 1/7 — This Is The Podcast Now

Månegal Media — Fri, 24 Jul 2020 13:00:00 +0000

Finally the time has come – the podcast event of the year.

Sigfred has had the great idea to start a new podcast comparing the cheap 80s cartoon He-Man and the Masters of the Universe to Thus Spoke Zarathustra, the nihilistic and fantastical philosophy book by Friedrich Nietzsche. Robo-Henrik – the AI recreation of Henrik that Sigfred has made to replace his lapsed friend – gets dragged along, despite being rather skeptical about the whole endeavor.

In this episode, Sigfred introduces the concept for the show, still blissfully unaware of the evil that he is about to unleash…

NEXT WEEK: Episode 2 – The Overhuman!

Thus Spoke He-Man is a miniseries made by Månegal Media, as part of our podcast Fraggle Shrugged. Find more cool stuff at maanegal.dk

12 – A Very Special Episode | Thus Spoke He-Man 0/7

Månegal Media — Mon, 23 Dec 2019 13:35:17 +0000

Fraggle Shrugged is finally back for season 2. In this episode, Henrik and Sigfred are preparing for part 2 of Atlas Shrugged by doing a quick recap of part 1 and laying out their expectations for the next ten chapters. They have also watched the remaining episodes of season 1 of Fraggle Rock. However, something may be off this time. In fact, the podcast of Fraggle Shrugged may be facing the crisis of a lifetime, as dark and dirty secrets are revealed and difficult decisions made…

If you like the show, please rate, review, subscribe, tell a friend, and alert the authorities. Feel free to write to us or send stuff to fraggleshrugged@maanegal.dk or @maanegal in the Twitterspace. We'd love to hear from y'all.

Fraggle Shrugged is produced by Månegal Media. Visit maanegal.dk/english to learn more about us

11 – Movie Time At Last – with special guest Kaare Olsen

Månegal Media — Sun, 07 Jul 2019 17:34:43 +0000

There’s a video version of this episode with clips and other good stuff: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gGNFX2CxAXI

This is it, guys! We finally got to put down that brick of a book for a moment and kick back with a movie instead. We met up and made a day of it, and watched the 2011 film “Atlas Shrugged: Part I”. We also watched the last episode of the first season of Fraggle Rock, “The New Trash Heap in Town”. To get some fresh perspective, we brought along our friend Kaare Olsen to help us make sense of all this.

The movie fails spectacularly, both in delivering Ayn Rand’s trademark bombastic word salad, and just as movie in general. And Fraggle Rock gets darker than ever as it finally fully embraces its suicide-cultiness. This marks the end of Season 1 of Fraggle Shrugged. We’ll take a few weeks off to regain our breath, and maybe a shred of our sanity, and then we’ll be back with more moist metal and freaky Fraggles.

If you like the show, please rate, review, subscribe, tell a friend, and get a tattoo of our logo. Feel free to send us mean comments at fraggleshrugged@maanegal.dk or @maanegal in the Twittersphere. Do tell us if you'd like more video content from the podcast.

Fraggle Shrugged is produced by Månegal Media. Visit maanegal.dk/english to learn all of our dark secrets

10 – I Have No Desire To Talk To You About My Railroad

Månegal Media — Sun, 23 Jun 2019 15:37:40 +0000

Finally, we get to the end of Part 1 of Atlas Shrugged, with chapter 10: “Wyatt’s Torch”. Here, Dagny goes on a long and mostly pointless quest to find the man behind the magic moter, and like all mythical heroes, she finds the answer at the top of a mountain (in a greasy diner). Meanwhile in episode 10 of Fraggle Rock, “Don’t Cry Over Spilt Milk”, Doc invents his own kind of magic motor and it is wonderful. And Gobo gets trapped in the human world, causing the other fraggles to do the only logical thing: to sing a merry song about how sad they are, and do their darndest to not cry over spilled milk.

We celebrate reaching the end of part 1 of the book by trying – and failing – to record a short and focused episode, and looking forward to watching the movie adaptation next time. We also get a heavy dose of the always delightfully sassy Lillian Rearden, the return of the one-minute summaries that went so well last time, and a taste of Doc's vision of the music of the future.

And for those of you who are into narrative structures and storytelling technique, here is a little bonus section that we didn't get around to in the episode: Sigfred's analysis of Ayn Rand's use of the Threshold Guardian, as defined by Joseph Campbell. Yay! Get it here: https://maanegal.dk/fraggleshrugged/chapter-10-threshold-guardian/

If you like the show, please rate, review, subscribe, tell a friend, and donate to a charity of your choice. Feel free to write to us or send stuff to fraggleshrugged@maanegal.dk or @maanegal in the Twitterworld. We'd love to hear from you randy bastards.

Fraggle Shrugged is produced by Månegal Media. Visit maanegal.dk/english to learn more about us

9 – The Viking Pirate Is Back!

Månegal Media — Sun, 09 Jun 2019 15:22:52 +0000

What suits a long, meandering chapter of Atlas Shrugged better than a long, meandering podcast episode? As the book's off-putting nonsense starts to become really repetitive, Henrik and Sigfred become desperate to talk about anything else. Sadly, this episode of Fraggle Rock (“The Lost Treasure of the Fraggles”) doesn't have all that much going on either. Throw some French cider and some bad wine into the mix, and the conversation is bound to get off track. Along the way, they dip into the obviously related topics of Star Trek, the music of Carly Rae Jepsen and the bizarre novel Gravity's Rainbow by Thomas Pynchon. Cook up some peach pie with garlic and strap in – this time we're going all over the place.

Fraggle Shrugged is produced by Månegal Media. Visit maanegal.dk/english to learn more about us

8 – Wet Glistening Emptiness

Månegal Media — Sun, 26 May 2019 14:07:54 +0000

Part 1 of Atlas Shrugged reaches its glorious climax in chapter 8, “The John Galt Line”, when Dagny Taggart and Hank Rearden furiously rides a train for 18 hours. It's as fun as it sounds. Meanwhile in Fraggle Rock, our gang of Fraggles encounter a terrible tunnel in the episode “The Terrible Tunnel”. It's as frightening as it sounds. Listen along as Hank and Dagny have a threesome of capitalist feverdreams with Ellis Wyatt (and then a good ol' fashioned rapey sex scene), Wembley questions the line between objective reality and subjective perception, and the good dog Sprocket finally gets a little revenge on his deranged and sadistic owner.

Fraggle Shrugged is produced by Månegal Media. Visit maanegal.dk/english to learn more about us

7 – It’s So Wonderfully Morose

Månegal Media — Sun, 12 May 2019 15:29:33 +0000

Here comes a big one. Faced with the fifty page long 8th chapter of Atlas Shrugged, “The Exploiters and the Exploited”, Henrik and Sigfred are starting to break down. The icky sex stuff and the faulty logic of Rand's capitalist ranting is becoming too much to bear. And to make matters worse, it seems the writers of Fraggle Rock gave up halfways through episode 8, “I Want to Be You”, and forget to finish the script. We see no other way to respond to this than handing in a long and messy episode ourselves.

Fraggle Shrugged is produced by Månegal Media. Visit maanegal.dk/english to learn more about us

6 – Plot is a Primitive Vulgarity in Literature

Månegal Media — Sun, 28 Apr 2019 15:08:34 +0000

Guys, we need to have a talk about some basic economic concepts, because it’s becoming increasingly clear that Ms. Ayn Rand was too busy at school fantasizing about greedy and emotionally abusive boys to learn anything about how money works. In chapter six, “The Non-Commercial” she throws a party for all of her characters, and that goes about as well as you’d expect. And while she serves up some questionable views on the free market, Fraggle Rock drops some actual economic truth in the sixth episode, “The Preachification of Convincing John”.

Get ready for a rockin’ good time, full of colorful characters, serious economic discussions, a book reading tinged with latent homoeroticism, and a crazy, rabbit-hole-diving conspiracy theory. It’s a wild ride, that may or may not include viking pirates, 90s technopop, mythical nations, and a time traveling plot. All aboard the train to crazy town!

Feel free to write to us or send stuff to fraggleshrugged@maanegal.dk or @maanegal in the Twitterverse.

Fraggle Shrugged is produced by Månegal Media. Visit maanegal.dk/english to learn more about us

5 – Not A Romance, But An International Industrial Cartel Of Some Kind

Månegal Media — Sun, 14 Apr 2019 16:37:15 +0000

Buckle up for some #RealTalk about gender and sexuality on this episode of the podcast. Because Ayn Rand tries to be romantic and erotic, and it does NOT go well. Prepare your safe spaces and emotional support animals, cuz you gon’ need ’em.

Needless to say, chapter 5 of the book (“The Climax of the D'Anconias”) weighs heavy on our minds, so its problematic aspects take up a large part of the discussion. Meanwhile in the 5th episode of Fraggle Rock (“The Thirty-Minute Work Week”), we learn that the Fraggles not only have jobs, but actually LIKE working. Since that is the case, they might like a little book called Atlas Shrugged…

Feel free to write to us or send stuff to fraggleshrugged@maanegal.dk or @maanegal in the Twitterverse.

Fraggle Shrugged is produced by Månegal Media. Visit maanegal.dk/english to learn more about us

4 – Dirty Doozers & Moist Moochers

Månegal Media — Sun, 31 Mar 2019 15:13:27 +0000

This episode goes all in on the Fifty Shades of Galt reading – the steaming hot capitalism of Atlas Shrugged simply demands it. In addition to a long and moist reading from chapter 4, "The Immovable Movers", Henrik and Sigfred watch episode 4 of Fraggle Rock, "You Can't Do That Without A Hat". Here, the fraggles learn a lesson that is completely besides the point of the story, and Doc indulges in some light animal abuse.

If you want to skip the extended reading from the book, it ends at around 41:30. But really, you should just give yourself over to the moistness. Since reading this much copyrighted material from the God of libertarians will most likely get us sued into oblivion, why not go out with a wet bang!

Feel free to write to us or send stuff to fraggleshrugged@maanegal.dk or @maanegal in the Twitterverse.

Fraggle Shrugged is produced by Månegal Media. Visit maanegal.dk/english to learn more about us

3 – Almighty Moisture, Nothing Happened!

Månegal Media — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 19:17:15 +0000

Things are getting moist as hell in both Atlas Shrugged and Fraggle Rock. Henrik and Sigfred read the chapter "The Top and the Bottom" and watch the episode "I Can Do It On My Own", and they discover some similarities between Dagny Taggart and Red Fraggle. They also try out a stressful method for summarizing that may not return. With less than 1000 pages left to go in the book, the worst must surely be behind us now…

If you want to share something with us, feel free to holler at us at fraggleshrugged@maanegal.dk or @maanegal in the Twittersphere.

Fraggle Shrugged is produced by Månegal Media. Visit maanegal.dk/english to learn more about us.

2 – The Savagely Overabundant Vitality of a Brass Meatball

Månegal Media — Sun, 03 Mar 2019 15:45:48 +0000

Hope you like metal (and not the genre of music), because it's about to get so metally up in here. When Ayn Rand likes something, she's not shy about it, and be warned – she really loves metal. Henrik and Sigfred read through chapter 2 of her 1000+ pages capitalist fever dream of a novel Atlas Shrugged, which is titled “The Chain” (no relation to the Fleetwood Mac song, sadly). To maintain their sanity, they also watch episode 2 of Fraggle Rock, titled “Wembley and the Gorgs”.

Turns out the two have a theme in common. On this light and humorous podcast episode, we end up having to talk about the morality of slavery (it’s bad. That’s our official stance on that) and other fun stuff. And then it gets steamy in here on a special Metal Edition of Fifty Shades of Galt.

If you want to share something with us, feel free to holler at us at fraggleshrugged@maanegal.dk or @maanegal in the Twittersphere.

Fraggle Shrugged is produced by Månegal Media. Visit maanegal.dk/english to learn more about us.

1 – When I See Things, I See Them

Månegal Media — Sun, 17 Feb 2019 16:49:55 +0000

After fumbling their way through an introductory episode, Henrik and Sigfred embark on their mad journey for real. In this episode, they read the first chapter of Atlas Shrugged, called "The Theme", and watch the first episode of Fraggle Rock, called "The Beginning".

Along the way, they try to make sense of the two strange worlds, and discover some compelling evidence that it might actually be the same world. They also do their first sexy libertarian reading in the segment "Fifty Shades of Galt", and hand out awards to some noteworthy phrases and characters.

We hope you will read and watch along — it's not required, but it sure would make us feel better about our questionable life decisions. If you want to share something with us, feel free to holler at us at fraggleshrugged@maanegal.dk or @maanegal in the Twittersphere.

Fraggle Shrugged is produced by Månegal Media. Visit maanegal.dk/english to learn more about us

0 – Kicking Off the Podcast

Månegal Media — Sun, 03 Feb 2019 18:20:07 +0000

In this introductory episode of Fraggle Shrugged, the two hosts Henrik and Sigfred present the concept for the podcast: They will read through Atlas Shrugged, Ayn Rand's very long libertarian mystery novel from 1957. For each chapter, they will also watch an episode of Fraggle Rock, a Jim Henson Muppet TV show from the 80s.

They will then analyze and compare the two, to discover the hidden connections. Will Atlas Shrugged turn out be as silly as the Fraggles? And will Fraggle Rock have anything to say about economic philosophy? Follow along on this mad journey to find out.

But before the descend into madness truly kicks off in Episode 1, we take a moment to introduce ourselves and the project in this Episode 0. It's going to be some loose and hopefully entertaining discussions, from two baffled Danes. Let's get into it!

Fraggle Shrugged is produced by Månegal Media. Visit maanegal.dk/english to learn more about us