Posted by Jim at November 9th, 2005

Sid and Marty Krofft provided some of the more surreal entertainment of my childhood. Beyond their involvement with the Donny and Marie Osmond show, and the Barbara Mandrell show, they created a number of shows that were purely fiction. Apparently these are now out on DVD. As a general rule their shows were fantasy/science fiction (well, sort of science fiction) and generally included a cast of puppets and human beings.

It is hard to describe what the shows were like.

For example: “The Bugaloos” was about people dressed in bee costumes who flew and were a rock band. They were opposed by a witch with a rat chauffer.

Here’s another: “Sigmund,” the story of a sea monster who wants to stay away from his very messed up family and thus stays with humans.

Also: “The Wonderbug.” It’s about a dune buggy that turns from a junky dune buggy to a flying, talking dune buggy when you toot it’s magic horn. Did I mention that the owners fight crime? Yes, they do.

Finally: “Land of the Lost,” the show I remember best and liked most. It was the story of a family stuck in prehistoric times (well, sort of… dinosaurs, apemen and some sort of intelligent technological race called the sleestak coexisted). Looking over the list of writers for that show, I know why I liked it… Ben Bova, Walter Koenig (Star Trek’s Chekov), Larry Niven, Norman Spinrad, and Theodore Sturgeon handled some of the writing.

This is far from a complete list of their shows. For example, I didn’t even mention “H. R. Pufnstuf.”

Here’s the NPR story.