Blu-ray Review The Banana Splits Movie Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

[Colin Jacobson]

I imagine the executors of Bob Marley's estate (not to mention his son Ziggy) would rather he not be associated with this.

Bob shoulda thought of that when he stole the Splits' theme song!

 

[Stephen_J_H]

There was another show that featured a villain that called herself Witchy Poo. What sort of self-respecting villain calls herself Witchy Poo?

That was H.R. Pufnstuf a.k.a U. Will Somesumgrass.

 

[Brian Kidd]

OK... I'm a 60s kid and watched The Banana Splits Adventure Hour during first run. There was *nothing* else on. The "Banana Splits" were horrid with the best parts of the show the misc. cartoons/serials they introduced. It gave me a life-long opinion that Sid and Marty Krofft are hacks that somehow manage to sell pure crap on a cracker to the networks. I was under the impression this was a long lost movie done at the time and couldn't understand why anyone would want to watch that kind of dreck. Then I find out it's not - it's a new movie - a horror movie - based on the characters - and wonder just why anyone would want to watch that kind of dreck. I can't see it even playing off nostalgia from anyone who might have actually liked that show.

In spite of that I have a twisted compulsion to watch this steaming pile...

Not to be That Guy, since I agree that the original show was pretty terrible, but The Krofft brothers only made the suits. They didn't have anything to do with the actual production of the show. Several of the shows that they actually produced were pretty entertaining and creative as far as Saturday Morning fare went. Pufnstuf is still pretty amazing, both in its visuals and songs (even if the jokes are corny) and Land of the Lost, at least during its first couple of seasons, was some pretty heady Sci-Fi that included some former Star Trek folks among its group of writers.

Plus, I will defend the entertainment value of The Paul Lynde Halloween Special until my dying day. In addition to the gloriously-campy Mr. Lynde, it had Margaret Hamilton in full wicked witch mode and the first American TV appearance of KISS. As a kid in the 70's, it rocked my world.

We will not speak of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Not to be That Guy, since I agree that the original show was pretty terrible, but The Krofft brothers only made the suits. They didn't have anything to do with the actual production of the show. Several of the shows that they actually produced were pretty entertaining and creative as far as Saturday Morning fare went. Pufnstuf is still pretty amazing, both in its visuals and songs (even if the jokes are corny) and Land of the Lost, at least during its first couple of seasons, was some pretty heady Sci-Fi that included some former Star Trek folks among its group of writers.

Plus, I will defend the entertainment value of The Paul Lynde Halloween Special until my dying day. In addition to the gloriously-campy Mr. Lynde, it had Margaret Hamilton in full wicked witch mode and the first American TV appearance of KISS. As a kid in the 70's, it rocked my world.

We will not speak of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

I think I first saw Kiss on that Paul Lynde special. I became a Kiss fan early in 1977. Coincidence? Probably not!

 

[MatthewA]

We will not speak of The Brady Bunch Variety Hour.

Even Robert Reed dressed as Carmen Miranda? Wouldn't such a taboo be better placed upon Pink Lady and Jeff (aka Fred Silverman's Waterloo) even though that got a complete DVD set?

 

[Brian Kidd]

Even Robert Reed dressed as Carmen Miranda? Wouldn't such a taboo be better placed upon Pink Lady and Jeff (aka Fred Silverman's Waterloo) even though that got a complete DVD set?

To be fair, Pink Lady & Jeff was able to fit the entire run on a single DVD, if I remember correctly.

Confession: I used to love watching Pink Lady & Jeff during its original run. I was an odd child.

 

[MatthewA]

It's funny how many shows that were considered bombs back in the day actually had millions of viewers. TV technology over the last 30 years really has made the pie bigger but made the individual slices (i.e. number of eyeballs on screen) thinner.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

To be fair, Pink Lady & Jeff was able to fit the entire run on a single DVD, if I remember correctly.

Nope - 3 DVDs!

http://dvdmg.com/pinkladyandjeff.shtml

 

[B-ROLL]

There was another show that featured a villain that called herself Witchy Poo. What sort of self-respecting villain calls herself Witchy Poo?

The show was called H. R. Pufnstuf ... It spawned a movie ...

Which I made my mommy take me to see.

And Witchiepoo was the name of Billie Haye's character on the show ...

Welcome back to the 60s and 70s ...

 

[B-ROLL]

OK... I'm a 60s kid and watched The Banana Splits Adventure Hour during first run. There was *nothing* else on. The "Banana Splits" were horrid with the best parts of the show the misc. cartoons/serials they introduced. It gave me a life-long opinion that Sid and Marty Krofft are hacks that somehow manage to sell pure crap on a cracker to the networks. I was under the impression this was a long lost movie done at the time and couldn't understand why anyone would want to watch that kind of dreck. Then I find out it's not - it's a new movie - a horror movie - based on the characters - and wonder just why anyone would want to watch that kind of dreck. I can't see it even playing off nostalgia from anyone who might have actually liked that show.

In spite of that I have a twisted compulsion to watch this steaming pile...

FTR- The Banana Splits was Hanna-Barbera ...

 

[MatthewA]

Between this and The Happytime Murders, while I can understand on some level the desire to be subversive with traditionally "children's" programming, there's really nothing subversive here; just crassness for crassness' sake.

Robot Chicken already does better in ten-minute bursts what these cannot accomplish in 90 minutes. Family Guy has been doing it for two decades now. And after that much time, R- or X-rated versions of children's media is no longer subversive, just another tediously outdated 90s trope.

At least "Happytime" had talent involved. This doesn't!

I hate to say this but I'm glad Jim Henson wasn't able to see that. But that didn't take established characters and change the tone completely like this does.

 

[Brian Kidd]

Nope - 3 DVDs!

http://dvdmg.com/pinkladyandjeff.shtml

WHAAAA??? I stand both corrected and astounded. lol. Spent too much time in the hot tub with Kei and Mei, I guess. Addled my brain.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

WHAAAA??? I stand both corrected and astounded. lol. Spent too much time in the hot tub with Kei and Mei, I guess. Addled my brain.

They probably could have crammed it into 2 DVDs with a 150-minute running time, but that would've been a lot to put on 1 disc, especially since it includes a few bonus features.

6 50-minute episodes across 3 discs probably makes the most sense.

Apparently I'm the only person who formally reviewed this title! My review is the only one listed on DVD Basen!

 

[Brian Kidd]

Fun Fact: One of the prototype costumes (at least the head) was sold to a local TV station here in WV and served for decades as the silent sidekick for the local after-school cartoon show, Mr. Cartoon. His name was Beeper.

 

[MatthewA]

When I was a kid I watched some of the old school 50s/60s H-B cartoons in reruns when Smurfs was in its network run, but somehow this one escaped me. For some reason, their 70s output never appealed to me. I felt the opposite about Disney; they cut their budgets, too, but not to this extent!

Nope - 3 DVDs!

http://dvdmg.com/pinkladyandjeff.shtml

They even cleared all the music which makes me wonder why that could get the whole enchilada for that but not That Sid And Marty Show With the Wesson Lady and Her Paramount TV Sitcom Family On It.* That only got a 2-disc compilation and a nice interview with the two youngest siblings, one of whom I have met.

Sigmund Freud himself wouldn't be able to undo the mess to the little tykes' psyche.

Even Bob Newhart couldn't minimize that much damage.

*I've always wondered whether Florence could have carried a variety show with just her and not her other former co-stars.

 

[Brian Kidd]

They even cleared all the music which makes me wonder why that could get the whole enchilada for that but not That Sid And Marty Show With the Wesson Lady and Her Paramount TV Sitcom Family On It.* That only got a 2-disc compilation and a nice interview with the two youngest siblings, one of whom I have met.

Some kind soul made recordings of the entire series from what appears to be the network feed to local affiliates. They were up on YouTube for a while, but I doubt that they still are. There are definitely some gems that weren't on the DVD set.

As for whether or not Florence Henderson could have succeeded on her own, I think that it's possible she would have had some success had her show been about ten years earlier before the Brady Bunch eclipsed her Musical Theatre career. I don't know, though. She was certainly talented and lovely, but not especially charismatic as a host, although I seem to remember enjoying her cooking show she did on TNN back in the day.

 

[MatthewA]

But then she would have been competing with Carol Burnett and the show would inevitably have been compared to hers.

And then there was the whole issue of the coveted Saturday Morning Cartoon spin-off*. The Brady Kids settled for Filmation while the Partridge Family got a Hanna-Barbera cartoon that (apparently) was supposed to have been a Jetsons reboot but instead put them in outer space! Funny how two of the flagship H-B properties — that and The Flintstones** — can't get rebooted successfully now anymore, even though we still see multiple iterations of Scooby-Doo***, but The Banana Splits can. I don't even remember it being rerun much on cable before the rise of Cartoon Network, and I even watched Pixie and Dixie when USA had them!

*Imagine today's live-action shows getting animated with what animation can do today. Imagine Mad Men reborn as an H-B-style cartoon or a throwback to 1960's Disney, or Breaking Bad in anime.
**Despite now being owned by Warner Bros., the presence of Elizabeth Montgomery and Ann-Margrock, err Margaret, in guest appearances gives away the Screen Gems connection.
***Which is a misquote of that Frank SInatra song "Strangers in the Night" which he ended with "dooby-dooby-doo." I don't know where the "Scooby" came from except to avoid unintentional laughter over the double meaning of the original. Whatever keeps Mindy Cohn employed.

 

[B-ROLL]

But then she would have been competing with Carol Burnett and the show would inevitably have been compared to hers.

And then there was the whole issue of the coveted Saturday Morning Cartoon spin-off*. The Brady Kids settled for Filmation while the Partridge Family got a Hanna-Barbera cartoon that (apparently) was supposed to have been a Jetsons reboot but instead put them in outer space! Funny how two of the flagship H-B properties — that and The Flintstones** — can't get rebooted successfully now anymore, even though we still see multiple iterations of Scooby-Doo***, but The Banana Splits can. I don't even remember it being rerun much on cable before the rise of Cartoon Network, and I even watched Pixie and Dixie when USA had them!

*Imagine today's live-action shows getting animated with what animation can do today. Imagine Mad Men reborn as an H-B-style cartoon or a throwback to 1960's Disney, or Breaking Bad in anime.
**Despite now being owned by Warner Bros., the presence of Elizabeth Montgomery and Ann-Margrock, err Margaret, in guest appearances gives away the Screen Gems connection.
***Which is a misquote of that Frank SInatra song "Strangers in the Night" which he ended with "dooby-dooby-doo." I don't know where the "Scooby" came from except to avoid unintentional laughter over the double meaning of the original. Whatever keeps Mindy Cohn employed.

If I remember correctly, Joe Barbera said it came from the song "Every Day People."

Everyday People
Sly and the Family Stone

Sometimes I'm right and I can be wrong
My own beliefs are in my song
The butcher, the banker, the drummer and then
Makes no difference what group I'm in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a blue one who can't accept the green one
For living with a fat one trying to be a skinny one
And different strokes for different folks
And so on and so on and scooby dooby doo
Oh sha sha we got to live together
I am no better and neither are you
We are the same whatever we do
You love me you hate me you know me and then
You can't figure out the bag I'm in
I am everyday people, yeah yeah
There is a long hair that doesn't like the short hair
For bein' such a rich one that will not help the poor one
And different…

 

[MatthewA]

The song was released as a single in November 1968, but since it takes about nine months to a year from production to completion for an animated series (or at least it did back then), Scooby-Doo had likely already been greenlit for the 1969 CBS fall schedule and had started production. Joe Ruby and Ken Spears themselves said it was Sinatra's song they based it on yet never mentioned this other one.

Though Sly and the Family Stone might be able to take credit for inspiring the title of another show about 10 years later. I'll let you guess which one.

 

[B-ROLL]

The song was released as a single in November 1968, but since it takes about nine months to a year from production to completion for an animated series (or at least it did back then), Scooby-Doo had likely already been greenlit for the 1969 CBS fall schedule and had started production. Joe Ruby and Ken Spears themselves said it was Sinatra's song they based it on yet never mentioned this other one.

Though Sly and the Family Stone might be able to take credit for inspiring the title of another show about 10 years later. I'll let you guess which one.

That would be the Bain of my existence ...