For more than 5 decades, Sid and Marty Krofft, the masters of Saturday Morning Television, have done nothing they had to apologize for-with the possible exception of Land of the Lost, the disastrous 2009 adaptation of their popular kid’s show. “We (Sid and I) really wanted Will Ferrell, but when you get Will Ferrell, you get ‘Saturday Night Live,'” Marty Krofft said during a panel discussion at the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con.
H.R. Pufnstuf was Sid and Marty Krofft’s “First Child”
Speaking backstage with Associated Content before the Comic-Con panel, Sid Krofft was amazed that people so fondly remember the opening theme to H.R. Pufnstuf, the show that Sid Krofft calls their “first child”. “For you to remember the song, that blows us away,” he said.
When asked if they had ever imagined how much their fans would love their work, even 42 years later, Marty Krofft said if they had, they would not have thrown everything out on the grass. “That would be worth like millions today,” Marty Krofft said. “We were tired of dragging the ‘Broom Broom’ (from H.R. Pufnstuf) around.”
During the 1960’s and 70’s, the Krofft brothers developed such live-action shows as The Bugaloos, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and The Banana Splits. “We’ve been in live theater ever since we were little kids,” Sid Krofft said, explaining how he and his brother got into the live-action business.
Sid and Marty Krofft Joining Forces Once Again with Ruby-Spears
Joe Ruby and Ken Spears, two legends of the animation world, also appeared with Sid and Marty Krofft at Comic-Con. The men responsible for Scooby-Doo, Ruby and Spears also developed Electra Woman and Dyna Girl, a segment on the Krofft Supershow that featured Deidre Hall as a reporter/superhero.
Ken Spears said that their company also hired Jack Kirby, the talented artist who, along with Stan Lee, gave birth to a new era in comic books. “Jack came to work for us back in 1980 on Thundarr the Barbarian,” Spears said. “At that point, Joe, who worked closely with him, saw that Kirby was extremely talented. We put Jack under contract to create characters and fill the needs of Joe’s development. As concepts were coming up, he (Kirby) would design the characters.”
At times when Kirby didn’t have stuff to do, Spears said he would sit down and draw piles of stuff for Ruby-Spears. “Over the course of 8 years, we acquired a treasure. We filled the vaults with Kirby work-8 solid years of Jack Kirby, which is everybody’s dream,” he said.
At the 2010 San Diego Comic-Con, Ruby-Spears and Sid and Marty Krofft officially unveiled some of the concepts that they are developing from all that priceless Jack Kirby artwork. Some of the standouts include The Golden Shield, a Mayan superhero sent to help humanity survive the events of 2012, and Four Arms, a mighty hero who, appropriately enough, has four arms.
Sid and Marty Krofft on Blu-ray, DVD and the Movies
Sid and Marty Krofft also announced that more of their Saturday Morning classics will be available on home video later this fall. Additionally, Marty Krofft said that movies based on H.R. Pufnstuf and Sigmund and the Sea Monsters are under development as well as a proper Land of the Lost film.
