Was Scred from SNL an influence for The Skeksis?

[mupcollector1]

I know that it was Brain Froud that inspired the look for The Dark Crystal though I'm not sure if it fully inspired Dark Crystal or if Jim Henson came up with the idea for the movie before he discovered the work of Brian Froud or not. Though I know that Jim came up with the original story. Anyway I remember awhile back there was a website that had a picture of Scred and Chamberlain Skeksis and it had the headline "Switched at Birth?" or something like that. I found it funny and cute. But recently I heard things here and there that Scred as well as The Land of Gorch Muppets were possibly a side influence to The Dark Crystal. So I'm just curious on that. There was a video that was uploaded as a part of Jim's Red Book which Jim Henson has Scred and he's talking about him a little bit, I think it was from 1979. Him and Don Sahlin were teaching a class or something so I'm not sure if it's related or not.

 

[Laszlo]

Yes, as far as I know The Land of Gorch was an influence.

 

[dwmckim]

It was at the very least a stepping stone - Gorch was a great experiment in puppet building trying at more realistic looking puppets (the taxidermy eyes was a big thing to Jim in terms of innovation) - that allowed the team to realize further possibilities in taking puppet building to the next level.

 

[mupcollector1]

It was at the very least a stepping stone - Gorch was a great experiment in puppet building trying at more realistic looking puppets (the taxidermy eyes was a big thing to Jim in terms of innovation) - that allowed the team to realize further possibilities in taking puppet building to the next level.

Plus also around that time 1974 / 1975 was quite a rough time for Jim because he was pitching The Muppet Show to all the networks in America at the time. I think the design for the Gorch Muppets had to look way different then the typical Muppet style so Jim and his crew could get away with more due to it being so separated from Sesame Street. I love Land of Gorch, still today Scred is my favorite Jerry Nelson character. But what was so unfortunate was SNL won't allow Jim, Jerry Juhl and the crew to write for their own creations. Why was that? Jim finally got to write for the Raquel Welch episode but that was it. I've read how Jim sort of worked outside the Hollywood system. I think I read that either in Street Gang or Jim Henson: The Works which makes a lot of sense because Jim was very strong in creative control.
I still need to get SNL season 2 just to get The Muppet Morgue sketch where they announce The Muppet Show. I love Wizz's comment "They won't let us work on that!"

I remember Jim was asked if The Land of Gorch Muppets would ever return in a sitcom format and Jim had his doubts. But now there's Henson Alternative. I'm not sure if The Jim Henson Company owns The Gorch Muppets or if it's Disney, or if it's NBC. But I'd love to see them again. I remember Jim said that it didn't work because the scripts were too boring sitcom style and The Muppets are so used to slapstick which would be funnier. Especially Ploopis throwing Scred and he lands into the bowl of The Mighty Favog. Anyway it would make a good project for Henson Alternative in my opinion. I've seen some of the web videos that were coming out like the City Kids Hot Dog puppets parodying True Blood and That kind of low brow 12 Days of Christmas thing. I'd prefer to see another satirical show like Dinosaurs. And even Brian's R rated puppet movie "Happy Time Murders". I'm so existed about it. I'm a huge fan of Meet The Feebles, Team America and Puppets Who Kill so I have a really good feeling it's going to be joining the club of my favorite Adult Puppet Dark Comedies.