Today I picked up the new "Gumby: 1960's Series Vol. 1" DVD set, and just as I feared, a few episodes were skipped over, most likely due to politically incorrect content contained in those episodes.

The episodes on these DVD's go off the order they are listed on the Gumby website. There are 42 episodes total on this set. Everything is covered from "The Zoops" through "Gumby Crosses the Delaware". But, if you keep count, this set really should have 44 episodes.

The two episodes left off the set are "Siege of Boonesborough" and "Pokey's Price". I don't think it was an honest mistake that they got left off. Considering what episodes were skipped over, it is very clear that they were intentionally skipped over.

For those who don't know, both these episodes have negative portrayals of Native Americans. I guess in today's politically correct society, it is better to apply censorship and pretend these sterotypes never existed. I think the majority of the users on this forum would agree with me that NCircle Entertainment should've included these two episodes on the DVD and used a disclaimer similar to the ones that Warner Bros. have used on their DVD's.

This is very disappointing to anyone (like myself) who wants to own ALL episodes on DVD. But, at least the YouTube uploads of these two episodes by Kabillion are still available to watch, so we do still have the option to watch them, just not in the form of physical media.

NCircle Entertainment is going to release the 1960's Vol. 2 DVD set by the end of the year, and now I am almost certain that there will be 3 episodes skipped over on that set. We can't really claim false advertising since the 1950's set was titled "The Complete 1950's Series", while these 1960's sets don't have the word Complete in their title.

The difference between this and the Tom & Jerry set that got cancelled is the fact that Tom & Jerry is more popular, and the news was broke ahead of time and the negative publicity forced Warner Bros. to cancel their plans to release the set.

I am thinking about sending an email to NCirclre Entertainment in regards to the 2 missing episodes.I don't know how effective it will be, but if enough people will email them, they will have to address the situation, regardless of whether they decide to release these epidodes on DVD or not.

http://www.target.com/p/...olume-1-dvd/-/A-50527846 
nice cover but disappointing that those cartoons are missing

Considering the fact that the 1950's set had two cartoons that also had Native Americans in it, it doesn't make any sense.

Not sure what's going on here, but it is a "Volume 1" set.

Since NCircle Entertainment may have another volume of episodes from the decade between 1960 and 1970 later this year and the episodes HeySteve missed seeing in the first volume were part of the commercial Gumby DVD sets made years earlier by a company named Rhino, there is a good chance those missed episodes may be part of the next commercial Gumby DVD sets to be made.

I can't believe that. The 50s DVD set kept "The Pokey Express/Indian Trouble" intact, and that had Native American antagonists, but IIRC, it ended well for both sides. Heck, "Siege of Boonesborough" and "Pokey's Price" were included on that 7-disc DVD set Rhino put out almost 14 years ago, but they had the crappy re-dubbed soundtracks, of course.

I liked the soundtracks for the episodes on the DVD sets made by Rhino and did not find anything bad about them.

There always is the possibility that those 2 episodes may get released on a later set. But, when they took the approach of presenting these episodes on DVD in chronological order, it seems very suspicious that those 2 got skipped over when they should've been inclued on this set. If those 2 were included and it was 2 others that were skipped over, I wouldn't be as suspicious and just assume it was done in error.

Also, the issue isn't as simple as excluding those 2 just because they have Native American characters. If that were the case, this set would also be missing "School for Squares". There must've been a process of evaluation that determined that "School for Squares" was not offensive while "Seige of Boonesborough" and "Pokey's Price" supposedly are offensive.

There were signs about the possibiliy of censorship leading up to this release. When Ameba acquired the digital rights to Gumby, their selection of 1960's episodes on their website included all except the ones that had Native Americans. Strangely though, Ameba did not exclude any 1950's episodes on their site. Also, back in November, NCricle released a Christmas-themed Gumby DVD titled "Gumby's Arctic Antics" which includes "Pilgrims on the Rocks", "Son of Liberty" and "Gumby Crosses the Delaware", but excludes "Pokey's Price".

These issues involving censorship came about within the last couple of years. Not only were both those episodes included on the Rhino boxed set, but when Classic Media had the rights to Gumby, they released a Christmas DVD set titled "New Christmas Classics", in which they had included "Pokey's Price" (unrestored, but with original soundtrack) as part of the program titled "Gumby Season's Greetings".

I've had a chance to watch all the episodes and bonus features on this set and here are a few thoughts.

All episodes are restored transfers except for "The Missile-Bird". It is the exact same transfer that is used by Kabillion and Ameba. I think it is safe to assume that a restored version of this episode doesn't exist (yet).

There are some very nice bonus features that do make this set worth the purchase. All bonus materials are unrestored and presented as is.

The best of the bonus material is the original 1950's Gumby pilot episode. It is essentially the same pilot that was a bonus feature on the 1950's set, except this is the complete version with audio. I assume it must've been something that was found in the vault after the 1950's set had been finalized. In hindsight, it would've made more sense to release this version of the pilot on the 1950's set instead of giving us the shortened version with no audio. Either way, better late than never.

This set also offers the complete version of "Space Ball" with its original soundtrack. Before, we either had to watch it with the 1980's redubbed soundtrack, or the transfer on Youtube that is missing the first half of the film. I don't understand why "Space Ball" is more obscure than the Henry and Rodgy trilogy since Professor Kapp went on to become a regular supporting character in later Gumby episodes, and Henry and Rodgy never appeared in any more films.

There are two other bonus features. One is a "Behind the Scenes" feature which is actually two home movies from the vault. The first home movie shows sets being made that were used in the episodes "The Witty Witch" and "Lawn Party". The second home movie shows Art Clokey molding facial expressions on a Gumby figure.

The last bonus feature, IMHO, is not really all that essential. It is a photo gallery that is mostly just stills captured from the episodes on this set. However, among the mix are photographs taken of Art Clokey and his production staff as well as some storyboard drawings.

Overall, despite the two missing episodes, this set is still a solid purchase and something I recommend to all Gumby fans out there.

I liked the soundtracks for the episodes on the DVD sets made by Rhino and did not find anything bad about them.

It was that they were the replacement soundtrack due to soundtrack music rights (as HeySteve, WileE and others have noted.)

There always is the possibility that those 2 episodes may get released on a later set. But, when they took the approach of presenting these episodes on DVD in chronological order, it seems very suspicious that those 2 got skipped over when they should've been inclued on this set. If those 2 were included and it was 2 others that were skipped over, I wouldn't be as suspicious and just assume it was done in error.

Also, the issue isn't as simple as excluding those 2 just because they have Native American characters. If that were the case, this set would also be missing "School for Squares". There must've been a process of evaluation that determined that "School for Squares" was not offensive while "Seige of Boonesborough" and "Pokey's Price" supposedly are offensive.

There were signs about the possibiliy of censorship leading up to this release. When Ameba acquired the digital rights to Gumby, their selection of 1960's episodes on their website included all except the ones that had Native Americans. Strangely though, Ameba did not exclude any 1950's episodes on their site. Also, back in November, NCricle released a Christmas-themed Gumby DVD titled "Gumby's Arctic Antics" which includes "Pilgrims on the Rocks", "Son of Liberty" and "Gumby Crosses the Delaware", but excludes "Pokey's Price".

These issues involving censorship came about within the last couple of years. Not only were both those episodes included on the Rhino boxed set, but when Classic Media had the rights to Gumby, they released a Christmas DVD set titled "New Christmas Classics", in which they had included "Pokey's Price" (unrestored, but with original soundtrack) as part of the program titled "Gumby Season's Greetings".

And while I know of NCircle, AMeba is one company I HAVEN't heard of..

This is now available on iTunes. Just like the 1950's series, episodes are presented in bundles of 2 episodes each.

Its a great purchase considering the price, the picture and color looks great and the original audio is refreshing. I don't exactly hate the 80s replacement audio. They did re-use the voice talent, and it is what I was accustomed to in the 80s. But it is kind of grating after a while. The original music is always pleasant to the ears and is nice to finally hear. If I want the synth version I still have my Rhino set.

There always is the possibility that those 2 episodes may get released on a later set. But, when they took the approach of presenting these episodes on DVD in chronological order, it seems very suspicious that those 2 got skipped over when they should've been inclued on this set. If those 2 were included and it was 2 others that were skipped over, I wouldn't be as suspicious and just assume it was done in error.

Also, the issue isn't as simple as excluding those 2 just because they have Native American characters. If that were the case, this set would also be missing "School for Squares". There must've been a process of evaluation that determined that "School for Squares" was not offensive while "Seige of Boonesborough" and "Pokey's Price" supposedly are offensive.

There were signs about the possibiliy of censorship leading up to this release. When Ameba acquired the digital rights to Gumby, their selection of 1960's episodes on their website included all except the ones that had Native Americans. Strangely though, Ameba did not exclude any 1950's episodes on their site. Also, back in November, NCricle released a Christmas-themed Gumby DVD titled "Gumby's Arctic Antics" which includes "Pilgrims on the Rocks", "Son of Liberty" and "Gumby Crosses the Delaware", but excludes "Pokey's Price".

These issues involving censorship came about within the last couple of years. Not only were both those episodes included on the Rhino boxed set, but when Classic Media had the rights to Gumby, they released a Christmas DVD set titled "New Christmas Classics", in which they had included "Pokey's Price" (unrestored, but with original soundtrack) as part of the program titled "Gumby Season's Greetings".

It's a mystery, especially with the music rights cleared (just on an off topic, I was watching Looney Tunes on Boomerang and saw one of the shorts made during the fall 1958 music strike, Pre-Hysterical hare that used the library....no problem with theatricals, as WileE has noted, but with TV it's, a difference.)