What is your favorite Sid and Marty Krofft shows?

[D'Snowth]

IMHO, 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.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

Mm! Good point!

 

[Blue Frackle]

Wow, so it sounds like your dream would be a Krofft story with puppets by Jim.

 

[D'Snowth]

I do kind of tackle it from both sides of the fence, yeah. Jim (and Shari Lewis) definitely had a lot of influence on me as far as puppetry itself goes, while the Kroffts' influence was more from a story-driven perspective. That, and a business perspective as well: here they are over sixty years later, still working, and they never once sold out, and still retain rights and ownership over everything they've ever created . . . because that was the advice that Walt Disney himself gave them.

 

[Blue Frackle]

Wow, what exactly did he tell them?

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

they never once sold out, and still retain rights and ownership over everything they've ever created . . . because that was the advice that Walt Disney himself gave them.

Huh.
Nahhh, I must be thinking about a different Disney.

 

[D'Snowth]

Wow, what exactly did he tell them?

Two things:
1. Never sell anything that you create to somebody else, and always fight to protect your properties.
2. Always put your name on top of everything you produce (hence why all their shows opened with "SID & MARTY KROFFT PRESENT" or "SID & MARTY KROFFT'S") so people will know it's your creations under your name.

Huh.
Nahhh, I must be thinking about a different Disney.

Walt himself may have been a good man . . . the company he left behind, however, that's a whole other can of worms.

 

[Cookie3001]

Everybody remember to tune into Instagram to see Sid Krofft live with other performers at 3pm Pacific

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And I'm the final act

 

[D'Snowth]

As I mentioned in another thread, I waited for an entire hour to see his live stream, and I never saw it. People said it was in his story, but I didn't see it.

 

[D'Snowth]

Sid shared something particularly interesting and insightful during this week's live stream: for a while, apparently people thought the Muppets were Krofft! I guess because at the time in the 70s, since they were the ones who had multiple puppet shows on multiple networks, people assumed the Muppets were more of the Kroffts. Evidently, it was Marty who convinced Jim to put his name on top of the Muppets (as in "Jim Henson's Muppets") so people would know the Muppets were his not theirs.