Thoughts about Gumby
Feb. 5th, 2011 05:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
valis2No, really. I've watched hours of it with one of the kids. There's a lot available on YouTube. So here's a random sampling of thoughts.
*Did you know that Gumby lives on a farm? I had no clue. I mean, I vaguely remembered that they went in and out of books, but the book that Gumby generally goes in and out of is Down on the Farm. They have chickens and they grow vegetables. In the older shorts, Gumby lives there with his mom, dad, and sister Minga, but later he doesn't seem to live there, and it seems like the family lives in Gumbasia and Gumby has his band's practice barn set up in DotF. Still with chickens and vegetables.
*Yes, Gumby has a rock n roll band for many of the eps. Gumby and the Clayboys is the newer version. The older version is Gumby's something, can't remember. Oh, no, wait--I think it's just the Gumby's. Yes, with apostrophe.
*Pokey's and Gumby's eyes change through the years. At first they're white backgrounds with little round beads, and then they become flat for Gumby, with big flat black irises, and then Pokey's become blue less bead-like dots on white rounded eyes. Pokey's face gets a lot more homogenized later. Early on, it's kind of messy at times.
*In one episode (I am not making this up), Gumby dresses up in different outfits. Including Eddie Murphy. Not making this up. It isn't a Clokey short, I suspect; it's fairly new.
*The Blockheads are just...evil. There's no explanation. There's no justification. They just do bad things, over and over again.
*While I was watching, my brain just kept formulating the rules for the Gumby universe. Sadly, though, things that happen in one ep sometimes don't happen in another. For example, in one ep, Gumby can grow huge and pick things up from high above him; in another he can't. In some eps he can break into a lot of tiny Gumbys; in other eps it doesn't even seem like a possibility.
*In the Gumby Movie, there's a Gumby robot that attacks Gumby. Eventually Gumby escapes to a space book and uses a light saber to cut off the Gumby robot's hand, which they show a closeup of while it sparks on the ground. I guess they had to up the gore quotient because it was a movie.
*I like Prickle the dinosaur best. He'd fit in great on the Riptide; he's a detective, I swear. He always figures out what's going on before anyone. He's a little fussy and a little vain and he's actually got character. Unlike Gumby, who just kind of goes around and saves everyone and does all sorts of Gary Stu stuff. I mean, in the later eps. In the early stuff, he does get in trouble and has strange adventures, like when he followed a bit of dough into a dough universe and then got baked into a jelly roll. Or the time when he got a bunch of robots to do his housework and they went a little nuts and wreaked havoc. Anyway, Prickle is consistently cool, and he breathes fire every once in a great while, which is a nice bonus.
*Mom does nothing but stuff Gumby full of food, while Dad is a fireman and rescues Gumby on many occasions. Mom is useless whenever bad things happen. Minga, the little sister, gets into trouble and has to be saved quite often. At least Goo has some sparks of personality. She can fly and she does lend a hand in restraining enemies and saving people.
*I can't believe I had this much to say about Gumby.
*Did you know that Gumby lives on a farm? I had no clue. I mean, I vaguely remembered that they went in and out of books, but the book that Gumby generally goes in and out of is Down on the Farm. They have chickens and they grow vegetables. In the older shorts, Gumby lives there with his mom, dad, and sister Minga, but later he doesn't seem to live there, and it seems like the family lives in Gumbasia and Gumby has his band's practice barn set up in DotF. Still with chickens and vegetables.
*Yes, Gumby has a rock n roll band for many of the eps. Gumby and the Clayboys is the newer version. The older version is Gumby's something, can't remember. Oh, no, wait--I think it's just the Gumby's. Yes, with apostrophe.
*Pokey's and Gumby's eyes change through the years. At first they're white backgrounds with little round beads, and then they become flat for Gumby, with big flat black irises, and then Pokey's become blue less bead-like dots on white rounded eyes. Pokey's face gets a lot more homogenized later. Early on, it's kind of messy at times.
*In one episode (I am not making this up), Gumby dresses up in different outfits. Including Eddie Murphy. Not making this up. It isn't a Clokey short, I suspect; it's fairly new.
*The Blockheads are just...evil. There's no explanation. There's no justification. They just do bad things, over and over again.
*While I was watching, my brain just kept formulating the rules for the Gumby universe. Sadly, though, things that happen in one ep sometimes don't happen in another. For example, in one ep, Gumby can grow huge and pick things up from high above him; in another he can't. In some eps he can break into a lot of tiny Gumbys; in other eps it doesn't even seem like a possibility.
*In the Gumby Movie, there's a Gumby robot that attacks Gumby. Eventually Gumby escapes to a space book and uses a light saber to cut off the Gumby robot's hand, which they show a closeup of while it sparks on the ground. I guess they had to up the gore quotient because it was a movie.
*I like Prickle the dinosaur best. He'd fit in great on the Riptide; he's a detective, I swear. He always figures out what's going on before anyone. He's a little fussy and a little vain and he's actually got character. Unlike Gumby, who just kind of goes around and saves everyone and does all sorts of Gary Stu stuff. I mean, in the later eps. In the early stuff, he does get in trouble and has strange adventures, like when he followed a bit of dough into a dough universe and then got baked into a jelly roll. Or the time when he got a bunch of robots to do his housework and they went a little nuts and wreaked havoc. Anyway, Prickle is consistently cool, and he breathes fire every once in a great while, which is a nice bonus.
*Mom does nothing but stuff Gumby full of food, while Dad is a fireman and rescues Gumby on many occasions. Mom is useless whenever bad things happen. Minga, the little sister, gets into trouble and has to be saved quite often. At least Goo has some sparks of personality. She can fly and she does lend a hand in restraining enemies and saving people.
*I can't believe I had this much to say about Gumby.
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