Line #20 Creator/SidAndMartyKrofftProductions


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sid__marty_krofft_3827.jpg]]
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3	In the 1970s, Canadian brothers Sid (born July 30, 1929) and Marty (April 9, 1937 – November 25, 2023) Krofft were to live-action children's TV what Creator/HannaBarbera was to animation. Their first series, ''Series/HRPufnstuf'', debuted in 1969 and established their signature production style: fantastic creatures, usually sporting thick fur or oversized heads; a "stranger in a strange land" motif; fearsome but comical villains; and clever wordplay and visual gags. Of course, not all of those elements appeared in all of their shows. [[QuirkyWork And what do you mean, their work wasn't made on drugs?]]
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5	Other Krofft series included ''Series/TheBugaloos'', ''Series/{{Lidsville}}'', ''Series/SigmundAndTheSeaMonsters'', ''Land of the Lost'' (both the [[Series/LandOfTheLost1974 1974 original]] and its [[Series/LandOfTheLost1991 1991 revival]]), ''Series/FarOutSpaceNuts'', ''Series/TheLostSaucer'', ''The Krofft Supershow'' (featuring several segments including ''Series/ElectraWomanAndDynaGirl''), ''[[Series/BradyBunchSpinOffs The Brady Bunch Variety Hour]]'', ''Series/DCFollies'', and the infamous ''Series/PinkLadyAndJeff''. Before producing series on their own, the Krofft brothers designed the costumes for Hanna-Barbera's ''WesternAnimation/TheBananaSplits''.
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7	Possibly the most interesting piece of Krofft history was their 1971 lawsuit against the UsefulNotes/McDonalds Corporation. When the fast-food chain couldn't get the Kroffts to license ''H.R. Pufnstuf'' for use in their commercials, they blatantly plagiarized ''Pufnstuf'' to develop [="McDonaldland"=] and its characters. The case went to trail in 1977, with both a district court and subsequent appeals court finding in favor of the Kroffts. For more information, check out [[http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a990827.html this article]] at Cecil Adams' The Straight Dope, or [[http://www.coolcopyright.com/cases/chp5/kroftmcdonalds.htm this one]] at coolcopyright.com.
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9	In 1976, they opened a theme park in downtown Atlanta called ''The World of Sid and Marty Krofft'', notable for being the world's first indoor amusement park; it closed within six months. The facility that housed it, the Omni International complex, was later bought by UsefulNotes/TedTurner and became the new HQ for CNN, the CNN Center.
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11	Bob Odenkirk and David Cross' ''Series/MrShow'' parodied the QuirkyWork nature of their productions in a sketch about Sam and Kriminy Kraffft, a pair of producers showing the unaired pilot for their show ''The Altered State of Drugachusettes''.
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13	In 2015, their Edutainment series for Nickelodeon ''Mutt & Stuff'' became an unexpected hit, resulting in a 40 episode first season order and the commissioning of a brand new special that saw the Mutt & Stuff cast visited by the Pufnstuf cast (and revealed that Mutt & Stuff himself is Pufnstuf's nephew). The mind boggles.
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15	!!''Tropes Associated with Sid & Marty Krofft:''
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17	%%* AmazingTechnicolorPopulation
18	* AndStarring:
19	** ''Series/HRPufnstuf'': And starring Billie Hayes as Witchiepoo
20	** ''[[Series/LandOfTheLost1974 Land of the Lost]]'': And starring Spencer Milligan as Rick Marshall
21	** ''Series/TheLostSaucer'': Larry Larsen as The Dorse
22	** ''Series/FarOutSpaceNuts'': Creator/PattyMaloney as Honk
23	** ''Series/TheKrofftSupershow'', ''Series/TheKrofftSuperstarHour'', and ''DC Follies'': And featuring the magic of the Krofft Puppets
24	* AuthorAvatar: The second season of ''Series/DCFollies'' featured puppet caricatures of Sid and Marty, who were usually featured during the episode's closing, either arguing with each other, or bantering with the other puppets.
25	* BadBadActing: Many of the Kroffts' later shows suffer from this. ''The Krofft Supershow'' alone is chock-full of it.
26	* BigDamnMovie: ''Pufnstuf'' (1970), ''Land of the Lost'' (2009). Interestingly, both were handled by Creator/{{Universal}}, which had nothing to do with any of their series; supposedly, reboots of ''Pufnstuf'', ''Lidsville'', and ''Sigmund'' are in the works, with different studios, including [=DreamWorks=] and Sony.
27	* CoolCar: A number of them in various series, but Wonderbug probably tops the list (though his alter-ego, Schlepcar, is TheAllegedCar).
28	* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Some of the Krofft shows obviously draw heavy (perhaps a little too heavy) influence from other shows, such as:
29	** ''Series/SigmundAndTheSeaMonsters'': Sid Krofft and producer Si Rose admit that Sigmund's family is pretty much copied after [[Series/AllInTheFamily the Bunker family]], with Big Daddy Ooze a sea monster caricature of Archie, and Sweet Mama as Edith.
30	** ''Series/FarOutSpaceNuts'': Sid admits that this show is essentially Creator/LaurelAndHardy [[RecycledInSpace in space]].
31	** ''Series/PryorsPlace'': Basically ''Series/SesameStreet'' in UsefulNotes/LosAngeles instead of [[BigApplesauce New York City]]; Richard Pyror playing various different color residents instead of Gordon, Susan, Bob, and Mr. Hooper; a half-hour plot instead of an hourlong scene interrupted by various different skits and inserts, and a LaughTrack.
32	** ''Series/DCFollies'': TransatlanticEquivalent to ''Series/SpittingImage''.
33	** As of 2012, Marty Krofft has said that he and Sid are in the process of starting up a new educational series that they flat-out said will be their version of ''Sesame Street''.
34	* EasyAmnesia: Just about every single Krofft show has an episode like this.
35	* ExpositoryThemeTune: Many of their shows had this so children wouldn't be lost to the point where they were each about a minute and a half long.
36	* {{Expy}}: ''DC Follies'' is basically an American ''Series/SpittingImage''.
37	** And ''Wonderbug'' is a Saturday morning ''Film/TheLoveBug'' and live-action ''WesternAnimation/SpeedBuggy''.
38	*** And then Wonderbug had an Expy of its own in the form of Hanna-Barbera's Wonder Wheels (Wonderbug as a motorcycle).
39	%%* LargeHam: See TheCastShowoff above.
40	* LaughTrack: When the Kroffts brought on veteran producer Si Rose to help them with ''H.R. Pufnstuf'' (and he eventually executive produced a majority of their earlier shows), Rose persuaded them to use a laugh track, reasoning that a funny show without a laugh track was a handicap. The Kroffts were skeptical at first, but eventually agreed, and as such, most Sid and Marty Krofft productions (save for both versions of ''Land of the Lost'', since they were more dramatic) contain one.
41	* NonHumanSidekick: A number of their human characters have one.
42	%%* OurDragonsAreDifferent
43	* PeopleInRubberSuits: The Kroffts were really the first to try this, before Disney even had walkaround characters at its theme parks.
44	%%* PuppetShows
45	* {{Revival}}: They've had many attempts at reviving their own work for newer generations, but their success has been mixed. Two revivals of ''Series/LandOfTheLost1974'' saw the light of day (a new series in 1992, which wasn't as successful as the original, and the BigDamnMovie of 2009, that was a trainwreck)
46	** Throughout the 2000s, new versions of ''Series/ElectraWomanAndDynaGirl'' (which got [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0283727/ a pilot episode]] but wasn't picked up) and ''Series/FamilyAffair'' (which had nothing to do with the original, but had obvious connections with cast member Johnny Whitaker) were in the works but ultimately led nowhere, and presently, movie remakes of ''Series/HRPufnstuf'', ''Series/{{Lidsville}}'', and ''Series/SigmundAndTheSeaMonsters'' are in the works.
47	** It perhaps is not surprising that the sudden success of their 2015 Nick series ''Mutt & Stuff'' has kickstarted things, with a Mutt & Stuff/Pufnstuf crossover [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wdOxckhv5bQ in early 2016]]. Meanwhile, Amazon's 2016 Pilot Season featured the pilot for a brand new ''Sigmund'' series, [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1292576/ which was picked up for a single six-episode season.]]
48	** In Comic Con 2015 the Kroffts revealed a Bugaloos remake from the Bugaloos and they are communicating with a cable network so to speak, Also they hinted Cyndi Lauper would play Benita Bizarre, They also are looking into a remake of Lidsville.
49	** Electra Woman and Dyna Girl did eventually [[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt4644822/ get a remake]] in 2016 as an eight-episode miniseries, though very little from the original show other than character names and costumes were kept.
50	* SurroundedByIdiots: Mostly the villains.
51	* ThreeShorts: The Krofft Supershow featured three different Krofft shows as the main attractions for this musical variety show. Featured such shows like Wonderbug, Dr Shrinker and Electra Woman and Dyna Girl. The second season adding Magic Mongo and Bigfoot and Wildboy.
52	%%* StopTrick

Context Creator / SidAndMartyKrofftProductions