In this offshoot of the 1950s "claymation" cartoon series, the crazy Blockheads threaten to ruin Gumby's benefit concert by replacing the entire city of Clokeytown with robots.
Director: Art Clokey
Writers: Art Clokey, Gloria Clokey.
Stars: Dal McKennon, Art Clokey, Gloria Clokey.
Art Clokey ... storyboard artist
Gloria Clokey ... puppets and costumes / set breakdown
(lots of other people worked on the puppets too)
Watched on AmazonPrime.
4 songs in the Soundtracks.
This is awful. Slow script, dull voice acting (although, to be fair, the stylized creatures have machine-altered voices). Made me very nostalgic for Eddie Murphy's interpretation on SNL. I remember the kiddie show on which EM based his character existing when I was a kid, but I didn't really watch it.
The puppets are done pretty well; their motion is mostly smooth.
People in the audience for the Clayboys concert in the park are clay people, not like the poster of the primary characters, but autograph seekers at the diner are stylized like they are.
Gumby's dog cries liquid tears that immediately gel into real pearls.
The bad guys (the "blockheads" in the poster) don't talk; their computer does, in a very machine-y voice. They have a computer that materializes robots, particularly ones that replicate creatures like Gumby & his dog. The robots have a major flaw: getting them wet shorts them out and they melt.
Good news: no other Gumby feature or TV movie is in IMDb, at least not with "Gumby" in the title.
distr. Disney Channel & Warner Video, dir. Clokey; 4
