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The World of Sid & Marty Krofft

The World of Sid & Marty Krofft

List Price: $49.95
Your Price: $44.96
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Perfect Schmorgasborg of Camp 70s Sat AM Fun!
Review: This catalogue of Sid and Marty Krofft's 70s live action shows range from the excellent (Land of the Lost) to the absurd (Lidsville) to the awful (Magic Mongo). One episode of each show is presented chronologically beginning with "HR Pufnstuff" (their 2nd best show) and continuing into the early 80s with "Pryor's Place". The quality of the shows (if you can call it that) varies, but if you are jonesing for 70s Saturday AM live-action nostalgia, this should scratch your itch. If not, you can get the Box Sets for the better shows (Pufnstuf, Lidsville, Buggaloos, Land of the Lost) or go for the two-episode DVDs.

Here is my brief take on each episode:
Vol. I:
*HR Pufnstuf - wacky fun! sort of the "Wizard of Oz" on mushrooms (the psychadelic kind, of course). Not the best episode I remember, but alot of fun. Grade B+

*Buggaloos - nearly identical to Pufnstuf with the English star (Jimmy) replaced by an English Rock quartet - kind of the Monkees (the band not the animal) with wings (the things that make you fly, not the band); Benita Bazarre is a Withiepoo clone. Grade C+

*Lidsville - a teenage Eddie Munster is transported to a land of hats and Charles Nelson Riley kills as Hoo Doo, the flamboyant villian. Grade A

*Sigmund and the Seamonsters - not as good as I remembered (but what is)...Jody from 'Family Affair' adopts a good seamonster (played by the DeNiro of Little People, Billy Barty!); Sigmund's releatives (think Lenny and Twiggy from 'Laverne and Shirley') try to spoil the fun. Grade C

Vol II:
*Land of the Lost - the absolute coolest concept of maybe any Sat. AM show - not the best episode (no Sleestack nor Chaka), but several Pylons above any other show. Grade A+

*Far Out Space Nuts - Gilligan and the guy from F Troop play Laurel and Hardy in Outer Space in this extremely goof, nonsensical and funny show. Grade B+

*Lost Saucer - This near clone of 'Far Out Space Nuts' has Ruth Buzzie and Jim Neighbors as 2 not very funny aliens travelling around in a very cool saucer with 2 smarmy Earth kids. Grade C-

*Electra Womasn and DynaGirl - the feminist Batman and Robin shamelessly rips off the 60s tv series with incredibly cheesy special effects and a former Olympic gymnast in the lead role. Grade B

Vol. III
*Dr. Shrinker - unlike Pufnstuf which had a fairly balanced good guy/bad guyequation- this was all about the villians. Dr. Shrinker, with Billy Barty as his sidekick are the only characters here worth watching. Grade B

*Wonderbug - a take off on 2animated series: Speed Buggie and Wheelie and the Chopper Bunch. Grade C

*Magic Mondo - sort of a "Happy Days" at the beach; notaqble for 2 things: cartoon-voice legend Lennie Weinrib plays Mondo (and hopefuly returned to voice-only appearances) and the bikini-clad Kristy. Grade C+

*Bigfoot & Wildboy - a concept with alot of potential snatched right out of the "Six Million Dollar Man" including the slo-mo running and throwing large face rocks. Sadly, they dropped the ball on this one. Bigfoot comes off as a hairy Native American with his adopted white son the bridge between his world and white society. This episode has a cheesy vampire who repeatedly turns into an extremely fake-looking bat puppet on a string. Grade D+

*Pryor's Place - a cross between a live-action "Fat Albert" and a hip-urban "Sesame Street" with a non-swearing Pryor replacing the "Cos".High star quotient with Ray Parker Jr. (Ghostbuster's theme)singing the theme song. Grade B-

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: not bad
Review: This could have been better, had they chosen to include only the pilot episodes of each...I suppose they saved those for the DVD compilations of each individual show that have also been released on DVD. However, this isn't bad, and it's a very nice little boxed set.

I did notice one problem with the Bugaloos episode: The audio of the speach only comes out of the left speaker! I thought perhaps there was something wrong with my speaker wire, but I noticed that ambient sounds were coming out of the left speaker and the other programs seemed fine.

There is a lot of garbage on here that should be mentioned. These include the Richard Pryor show (Pryor's Place), which I guess won Emmys, but the show was aired LONG after the heydey of shows such as Land of the Lost, Lidsville, HR Pufnstuff, etc. It looks more like Sesame Street than a S&M Krofft creation. Bigfoot and Wildboy is also pretty lame.

So, it really is a hit-or-miss experience...much is hard to sit through, but the gems shine. I was pleased to see my favorite episode of Land of the Lost (Skylons)--it's the episode I remember best from those Saturday mornings SO long ago. And it's a hoot to see Martha Raye and Charles Nelson Reilly vamp it up in their respective episodes (Bugaloos/Lidsville), seemingly oblivious to their obviously faded stardom.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: This IS REALLY COOL!
Review: This DVD is great! It has a sampling of every KROFFT show from the seventies. The ones from SATURDAY MORNING at least. I still love LAND OF THE LOST and LIDSVILLE. LOST SAUCER I found really boring. Otherwise they are all pretty much as I remember them.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: We Want Chaka
Review: This is a set of one each of the Sid and Marty Krofft that populated Saturday morning TV in the seventies. The shows range in quality from funny and campy (H.R. Pufnstuf, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters), to the hallucinogenically bizarre (Lidsville), to the unwatchable (Bigfoot and Wildboy.) There is definitely something here for everyone to love and hate.

I like the idea of one package with representative shows from the Krofft genre; I just wish they had in some cases picked better examples of their works. In particular, I would have expected a 'Land of the Lost' with a large presence of Sleestak and Pakunis. I don't actually recall 'Bigfoot and Wildboy' from my childhood; I sure hope the example provided isn't representative. If it is, it is easily the worst Krofft show of all time (don't miss the worst bat puppet on a string in film history.)

I am not sure what the popularity of these shows said about our national culture of 30 years ago. I personally don't believe that it was a method of emotionally escaping from the horror of Vietnam, which some academics have (no kidding) suggested (come on we were kids, we had no clue about Vietnam.) I think the appeal of these shows was just strange and enchanting (for a child) little situations and stories that amused kids. Obviously when I watch these now as an adult their cheesiness entertains, but the plots are pretty tired. Nonetheless, as with any childhood relic, they are fun to revisit (in small doses) periodically.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Who's your friend when things get rough?
Review: This is a superb collection of Saturday morning nostalgia-TV. You cannot beat the price either! This is the golden age of children's television where "politically correct" didn't exist and a mushroom would talk to you and it was just considered funny-not a thinly veiled drug reference. Have a bowl of Boo-Berry and watch these videos!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Blast from the Past
Review: This video collection is great. I watched it and it was like Saturday morning in the 1970's all over again. Lost Saucer and Dr. Shrinker are back in all their glory along with all the rest.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A trip back in time
Review: What can I say. If you were a kid in the 70's,and if you were like me, you stayed glued to the tube every Saturday morning watching those great Sid and Marty Krofft shows. Land of the Lost, H.R. Puff, Bugaloos, etc... Buy these tapes, you will be glad you did. It will take you back in time, when you did not have a care in the world, except trying not to miss all these great shows. If you have kids, let them watch them.To me, they are all classics. Thank you Sid and Marty Krofft, and thank you Rhino for giving us a great trip down memory lane....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: SUPER TAPE
Review: What memories this tape brings back,let's see I was born in 1967 and grew up during the 70's and my(what I like to call because it is true) teen yrs during the 80's jr and high school yrs gaduated in 1985 and I'm now 32yrs old. Well anyway I went to SunCoast video storie and 6 months ago and found this wonderfull collection of Saturday morning shows. They are fun to watch and abit silly at times but that's how they are supposed to be. None of todays kids would watch these tapes (unless they are under the age of 10) the older kids and teens would just think they are stupid and dumb but any one who grew up during the 70's I sugguest they buy this tape and re-live your childhood. Buy the way my Niece and Nephew love this collection of tapes.My favorite shows were BIGFOOT AND WILDBOY,and LAND OF THE LOST.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A bit of your childhood on a box
Review: When I saw this collection I knew I had to get it. I grew up watching the Sid & Marty Kroft shows. Liddsville was always my favorite, but the others were also fun. As I started watching these episodes again I remembered how much fun they were.

I would suggest anyone who enjoyed these shows the first time around go ahead and get them (remember it is one episode of each show). If you have not seen these shows since you were a child you may be surprised at how cheesy the sets were, but they are still fun.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A bit of your childhood on a box
Review: When I saw this collection I knew I had to get it. I grew up watching the Sid & Marty Kroft shows. Liddsville was always my favorite, but the others were also fun. As I started watching these episodes again I remembered how much fun they were.

I would suggest anyone who enjoyed these shows the first time around go ahead and get them (remember it is one episode of each show). If you have not seen these shows since you were a child you may be surprised at how cheesy the sets were, but they are still fun.


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