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Sam and Friends BookIMHO, the Kroffts had a tendancy to be better storytellers than Henson, but Henson were definitely better at advancing the art of puppetry than the Kroffts (something even Marty agrees with).
I mean, let's be honest: Jim clearly wasn't much of a storyteller, if things like DARK CRYSTAL are any indication. Jim seemed to be adept at writing bits and sketches than he did plots with acts and structure, not to mention people within the Henson company knew that whenever Jim brainstormed an idea for a new project, it was almost always from an artistic and technical standpoint, while the story and theme were usually an afterthought.
With the Kroffts, on the other hand, even though they had a tendancy to basically recycle and rehash their same premises over and over again (something Hanna-Barbera was also very guilty of in the 70s), they really mapped out and planned all of the little details when it came to creating their worlds, the characters within, the motives of the villains and why they lured our human protagonists to their worlds in the first place.
But, the Kroffts also admitted they weren't necessarily interested in the artistic aspect of puppetry, and basically did whatever they could with what little money the networks had to offer, whereas clearly Jim wanted to prove to the world that not only could he do more than just Muppets, but how far the art of puppetry could be advanced to the point that we have extravagant creatures being operated by nearly a dozen different puppeteers, and even the tiniest little things like eyelids, nostrils, and individual fingers move.
I mean, let's be honest: Jim clearly wasn't much of a storyteller, if things like DARK CRYSTAL are any indication. Jim seemed to be adept at writing bits and sketches than he did plots with acts and structure, not to mention people within the Henson company knew that whenever Jim brainstormed an idea for a new project, it was almost always from an artistic and technical standpoint, while the story and theme were usually an afterthought.
With the Kroffts, on the other hand, even though they had a tendancy to basically recycle and rehash their same premises over and over again (something Hanna-Barbera was also very guilty of in the 70s), they really mapped out and planned all of the little details when it came to creating their worlds, the characters within, the motives of the villains and why they lured our human protagonists to their worlds in the first place.
But, the Kroffts also admitted they weren't necessarily interested in the artistic aspect of puppetry, and basically did whatever they could with what little money the networks had to offer, whereas clearly Jim wanted to prove to the world that not only could he do more than just Muppets, but how far the art of puppetry could be advanced to the point that we have extravagant creatures being operated by nearly a dozen different puppeteers, and even the tiniest little things like eyelids, nostrils, and individual fingers move.
