CDN$ 199.95
Gumby, the little green plasticine boy from the toy-land world of Gumbasia, first burst onto TV screens on the Howdy Doody show in 1956. By 1957 the landmark children’s show had launched its own series of reality-bending adventures. Gumby could walk into storybooks and through mirrors, blast off to the moon and travel back to the dinosaur age, and roll himself into any shape he chose. What kid didn’t want to be Gumby?! Over 40 years later the delightful mix of innocence, imagination, and surrealism for kids is just as much fun and still feels unexpectedly inventive–the spacy electronic music alone feels years ahead of its time. Rhino’s seven-disc boxed set features over 100 shorts made between 1956 and 1967, remastered from creator Art Clokey’s original materials. The age of the series may show in minor scratching and speckling and occasional unsteady frames, but the picture is sharp and the color and sound surprisingly good and the whimsical little shape-shifting boy is as young as ever. The bonus seventh disc features a toy box of Gumby-related goodies, notably interviews with Clokey and original Gumby voice artist Dal McKinnon (quite the ham on camera) and a collection of Clokey’s early films, including the inventive Gumby pilot film (sans soundtrack, sadly), gorgeous experimental exercises in abstract art, and two very entertaining marriages of silent slapstick comedy and stop-motion magic. –Sean Axmaker
Posted in 
Tags:
I agree but as a baby b0oomr who grew up in the Sixties and Seventies and who remembers the (freelanced) Capitol Records-Licensed (incl. among others, the Sam Fox, MuTel (sic), Langlois and others) library music-you’ll still hear it on (among MANY others!!!!) Jinks, the Huckster and others on Hanna-Barbera’s early, 1958-59 HUCK show, on Quick Draw (also a Hanna-Barbera production), a host of Universal (like HITCHOCK and BEAVER) and Columbia (DONNA REEDIt isn’t just the music replacement issue, the music itself IS (as someone said), a “lame Barney mix”–Continuiny seems odd esp.in the 1995 flick with Gumby going with a EW girlfriend Tara, when he still has Goo Mermaid (Voiced by the late, beloved Norma MacMillan of Sweet Polly (UNDERDOG) immortality, and also a sixties voice of CASPER the FRIENDLY GHOST when veteran Mae Questel left for other things).
Also the classic “If you got a heart” sixties them is gone!! The aforementioned canned score (a book by historian Jon Burlingame, TV’s BIGGETS HITS from 1996, about the time of the Gumby flick, mentioned the stock music in chaper one HOI YO SILVER< and the music on Gumby, without any reference to the show itself, from Capitol, is mentioned on pp.11-12,with words from Jack Cookerly, a composer of this music as was the great W.G.Loose. It’s Wm.G.Loose who did a lot of themes for Columbia/Screen Gems in the late 50s like DENNIS THE MENACE and DONNA REED..both of which were hanging around before). the Music on Gumby atually made the show, when we’re talking about the how as it sounded in the fifties and sixties anfd reruns thru 1988.(I am veyr happy to have the earlier videos of the show, three of them, as they were done..)
Rating: 1 / 5
Here it is! All the Gumby episodes packed into one collection. It is great to be able to watch all the episodes of Gumby, and they are even in chronological order. However, the set could have been put together way better. It receives four stars because it is a Gumby box set, the first time all the episodes were put together like this. Here are some notes on the features of the set:
The Soundtrack: This is a partially annoying part of the set. They used the synth track made in the 80s for the episodes. I have many VHS sets made by F.H.E. and they used the original soundtracks. So, its not as if the original sound was lost or anything like that. However, Gumby’s voice is done by the same person and the rest of the voices are done well enough.
Episodes: I hate the way the episodes are cut up into different parts. The original 22 episodes were 12 minutes in lenght and then cut up to make 44 6 minute episoeds. This is not done by Rhino, but was done by the studio way back when. I have no idea why they did it, but it is annoying.
Packaging: The DVDs do fold out in an awkward way. I like it though because it is different and makes it unique. The set also comes with a Gumby figurine.
Special Features: There are several of Clokey’s original clay featuers that are cool to watch. The interview with Clokey himself, however, is very boring. The interview with the voice of Gumby is better. It almost seems as though the voice of
Gumby likes the series more than the one who created it.
Bad points: The menus and navigation in the set is very annoying. The Rhino introduction is retarded. Between each episode there is an introduction to the next one. The intros are repetetive and really stupid. I don’t like the new gumby song that plays during the menus. I hate the children singing it. The navigation is so overly childish that I think even children would be annoyed by it.
Overall Value: The value of having all these gumby episodes availible in this way makes this set worth everything. The packaging and presentation could have been way better and I have no idea why they chose to go with the soundtrack that they went with. Maybe they thought modern children would enjoy it more. Who knows?
Rating: 4 / 5
All these other reviews down this dvd so much, i grew up with gumby in the late 80s early 90s and i cant notice a difference in music or voice quality, which is what everyones complaining about, i do notice in the early episodes, there voices are different, but thats obviosly how they started out. This dvd is true to the era of gumby in the 80s. This is the best box set i have ever owned, and will be treasured for ever. I reccommend not thinking twice about buying it, think once and think yes. This is a classic to show the kids, and they will love it as much as you did. This is a great buy, and i give it 5 stars.
Rating: 5 / 5
Don’t let the reviews of other people fool you. Any original animation of Gumby is superb, no matter whats going on with the soundtrack
Rating: 5 / 5
As I’ve posted, like that Akira fellow, I agree with Rick..I have the Capitol Music scored 1980s FAMILY HOME ENTERTAINEMNT Gumby;’s, and they hold uyp, the modern day music sounds horrible..
Carrie Keller is right on ab0ou the licensing and longer epeisode issues (the earlier ones in the syndication DID seem like they came in pairs, and that first, outer space one had THREE parts remade..”MOON TRIP” and in either order – I’m just using alphabetical order here-”GUMBY ON THE MOON?TRAPPED ON THE MOON”)..thanks Carrie Keller (another two time poster here) for the explaination there and for admitting the original music was great even though you also enjoy the new music.
To the several who seem to be actng like most reviews of the GUMBY box set are mean, it isn’t that anyone is mean per se here, but rather it’s coming from (in many a case) an older fan of the show who recalls the audio, music for the roginals, before the 1980s “video rights” thing (Capitol’s own superstar Peggy Lee had it out with Disney at the time over 1955’s LADY AND THE TRAMP, so did the House of Mouse’s SLEEPY BEUATY (1959), Mary Costa, the Fox and the Hound writer Daniel P.Mannixx,etc.)
(This also happened to the old Captain Video space ace 1950s raido/tv series when sponsor Ovaltine held the rigths to the name..names are even changed, as Jack Webbmight say in still antoher beloved TV property to change the legally protected innocent.This happened with CASPER too, to composer WInston Sharple’s music, but the difference for me was, see, I never partticarly cared for those..I did like the Sharples music and loved the 1958-59 FELIX and his MAGICO BAG cartoons with that score…Rhino, as otrhers have said, you can do better, and you usually do much more than better.
Rating: 1 / 5