Video
Gumby, Boxed Set (7dv)
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
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