Customer Reviews

The World of Sid & Marty Krofft

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"The World of Sid and Marty Krofft" is a three-tape compilation of classic Saturday morning kids' television. The three tapes contain one episode each from 13 different Krofft series. For the most part, these programs were produced and initially aired in the 1970s. The collection as a whole is a wild mix of fantasy, science fiction, puppetry, and comedy.

Many of these shows still hold up remarkable well after all these years. "H.R. Pufnstuf," the fantasy about a human boy marooned on a magical island, is loaded with bizarre puppets and surreal, hallucinogenic imagery. Young "Pufnstuf" star Jack Wild has a fun song-and-dance number in this episode. "Sigmund and the Sea Monsters" features one of kid TV's most lovable characters in Sigmund, the tentacled sea creature who befriends human boys Johnny and Scott. Also fun is "The Lost Saucer," a sci-fi comedy that is greatly energized by the comic chemistry of stars Ruth Buzzi and Jim Neighbors; the two play friendly androids. "Saucer" also features some fun visual touches, such as the Chickaphant (a huge mutant chicken/elephant hybrid).

But the best of the Krofft shows is probably "Land of the Lost," a remarkable attempt to combine serious family drama and science fiction in a children's show. The LOTL episode in this set, "Skylons," revolves around the mysterious alien technology which the Marshall family finds in their strange home.

Other shows represented on the set are the musical fantasy "Bugaloos"; the trippy "Lidsville," featuring a cast of talking hats; "Dr. Shrinker," a sci-fi comedy about a mad scientist with a shrinking ray; "Wonderbug," a fantasy about a flying car; "Magic Mongo," about a genie and his young pals; and "Pryor's Place," a "Sesame Street"-like show featuring comedian Richard Pryor.

Not all of the shows hold up as well. The episode of "Far Out Space Nuts," a silly sci-fi comedy, is painfully slow moving. I have fond memories of "Bigfoot and Wildboy," the series about a young man raised by the legendary hairy creature of the American wilderness. But the selected episode, featuring a cheesy female vampire, plays like an Ed Wood film. And the superhero series "Electra-Woman and Dynagirl" fails to achieve the tricky balance of camp and excitement attained by the 60s "Batman" series (after which the Krofft show appears to be modeled). The "Electra-Woman" villain in this episode, The Pharaoh, seems like a rip-off of Batman's King Tut.

Overall, "The World of Sid and Marty Krofft" is great fun, and even the less-than-effective shows still bring back great memories.

I would definately recomend this video collection to anyone who grew up in the 70's, how fun it was to see the shows I watched when everything was so much simpler! It brought back all the memories of being glued to the TV on Saturdays, waiting with anticipation to see Jimmy on H R Pufnstuf, and watch Sigmund and the Sea Monsters! And of course, what would happen to Will and Holly on Land of the Lost? Would those Sleazestaks finally get them? It's such a blast from the past. I share them with my five-year old now, and he loves them. The funny thing is, once I started watching the videos, I remembered all the songs and characters which I was sure I had forgotten! My son now sings the songs with me, and he likes these shows so much we do a Saturday morning routine just like when I was young, just sitting in front of the TV and wearing our PJ'S eating cereal. It's Grrrreat!!

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....

If you are going to release a sample collection of the shows created by Sid and Marty Krofft, and you're only going to release a single episode per show, then I would hope that the shows chosen are among the best examples of what the the Krofft philosophy is about, or the most entertaining, or the most representative of the day, or maybe the first episode of the series.

But, somehow none of that is true for this collection of programs, a rare miss from the people at Rhino. There is not a single first episode in this group of 13 shows, and many of them are not even the average of the bunch, let alone the best.

Still, if you are in desperate need of a Wonderbug fix or need to see Lidsville right away, this will do the trick. Hopefully, like with other Krofft titles: H.R. Pufnstuf and Land Of The Lost, all episodes of all series will appear on DVD. For now, this will have to do.

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 weak.

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).

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.

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.

Growing up in the 70's meant a lot of things. And being that Saturday morning cartoons were a big part of any kid's life, back then, you have to tip your hat to Sid & Marty Krofft. The Krofft SuperPower Hour With Elelctra Woman & Dynagirl was the epiphany of 70's childrens shows. Sure, PBS had their share with The Electric Company and Sesame Street and The New Zoo Review and Zoom, the Krofft bros. were the kings. They inundated us with a plethora of cool shows: Land Of The Lost, Sigmund, H.R. Puff'n'stuff, The Ghost Busters (with Larry Storch), Lidsville, Far Out Space Nuts . . . the list goes on. Now that we are adults, the fondness of our memories often paints these classics in angelic light, until we see them again. (Ever try to sit through an episode of The Love Boat now? What were we thinking?) I've got the First Season of The Land Of The Lost, and my kids love it. I sit and watch it with them and I giggle at the cheesy special effects and the overuse of Chroma-key and the particularly bad 70's acting, and still the nostalgia wins me over. These shows are great! Take them for what they are and no more: a humerous, genuine look back into your 70's childhood. Great! Sid and Marty rock! (Now I'm still trying to figure out The Dukes Of Hazzard??? And where the hell is Fantasy Island?)

If you love Kroft you are gonna love this video! I looked all over the place and could never find any of the episodes. My sister bought it for me for my birthday and I sat and watched the whole thing with my 3 year old. She sat glued to the TV and So did I. Just two things: Finally! When are they coming out with the next tapes?

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.