#wildkrattslive

At around 5:15pm, I was on a BART train with my younger brother heading to San Francisco. Poor thing still had a full backpack after coming straight from school, so I let him nap until we got to our stop. It took us a little more than 5 minutes to walk from the stop to the Golden Gate Theatre. As soon as we got there, I wasn’t sure if I was already regretting my decision to see the show.

There were parents and kids everywhere! Some had blue shirts, some had green shirts, and some even had creature power vests! After we walked through the lobby and got our tickets checked, there was a merch table to our left. They were selling Creature Power Suits, 4-piece Creature Power toys, Kratt brother plushies, shirts, and more. We got escorted to our seats in the section all the way to the right (stage left) and I got excited. When I bought the tickets ($75 per adult!), our seats seemed so far from the stage. In person, I could’ve easily run from our seats to the stage in less than 2 seconds.

It was about 6:00, so we had a half-hour left until the show started. While we were waiting, my brother and I talked about our day, him stopping every now and then to read me the animal facts that popped up on the screen on stage because I forgot my glasses. A little after 6:35, the lights dimmed, and everyone started cheering. A lady who worked for KQED came out and spoke. She even said she’d been a fan of the Kratt brothers since Zoboomafoo! When she finished speaking, another girl came out with a shirt that looked like a creature power vest. She said she was gonna play some trivia with us, but she only asked what each Kratt’s favorite color was and if we were ready to see hem.When I thought about it, her role seemed kind of pointless, but now I see how it could’ve been just to pump up the crowd.

The theme song played with the video to match, and the animated brothers came up on the screen. They were wondering what adventure they could go on today, when the idea of “Kratt creature kids” came up. As soon as Martin said “imagine,” my brother leans over to me and whisper-yells, “they’re going to ‘what if?’ right through the fucking screen.” While they didn’t come through the screen, they did jump through a black curtain beneath the screen.

This is when shit got so real for me. All the kids in the theatre were screaming/yelling/cheering, but I was sinking into my seat, with my hands over my mouth, on the verge of tears. You have to understand that watching the Kratt brothers on Zoboomafoo is what inspired my passion for animals. To make a long story short: a television show I watched as a child has assisted and inspired me in choosing my college major and desired career path. Seeing them in real life felt like going to my first concert. It was just super surreal, even without my glasses.

I’d come to learn that Jimmy, Koki, and Aviva wouldn’t be making any live appearances. They were all in the Tortuga, which was (according to Martin) flying in the stratosphere. The show revolved around the real Kratt brothers interacting with the team on the screen. The brothers came up with the idea to show off their creature power suits to us. However, they had forgotten them on the Tortuga, so the gang had to teleport them. They were so legit, oh my god. The centers were glowing and I just kept thinking, “Fuck, I gotta get my hands on one of those.”

For each animal they transformed into, the brothers would first give us huge hints to guess the animal. They would then see who could find their respective creature power disk first. (Chris’ disks were organized in pouches, similar to the plastic pouches that fold out of a wallet that contain pictures of family of loved ones. His problem was that there were too many of them. Martin simply rummaged through his backpack. His problems was... well, yeah.) The first one to find it would get to transform into the animal. The victorious Kratt would then insert the disk, yell “Activate ______ power!” (with the help of the audience), and the lights would go out. A drawn out transformation would play on the screen, and when it was complete, the lights would come back on and the transformed Kratts would come out!

The first animal was a caracal, and Chris was the first to transform. (I’m sorry I didn’t get any pictures of this!) They used a trampoline behind a rock to simulate the jumping powers. Martin used a pole with fake birds on them to test out Chris’ powers. First they tried one bird. Then, they tried two birds at once. Of course, Chris managed to get them all.

Next, Martin transformed into a rhinoceros.

The horn was too heavy at first, so he ended up on the ground. They contacted Aviva and she sent modification information to Chris’ Creature Pod. Chris then used a wire that connected from Martin’s horn to his Creature Pod. (Apparently Creature Pods have USB ports. Chris actually said, “...and I’ll hook it up to my Creature Pod through the USB port.” Who knew?) Martin’s horn grew lighter and lighter until he suddenly felt the strong urge to charge at Chris! After a few failed attempts, Chris quickly suggested that Martin try charging at the “brick wall”. Martin of course manages to bust it to bits.

Suddenly, they’re interrupted by an alarm going off and an exclamation point blinking on the screen. Zachbots have attacked the Tortuga, they’re swarming the inside! Zach has taken over the Tortuga!

At this point, the curtain falls, and the 20-minute intermission begins.