H.R. Pufnstuf: Jimmy Who?

H.R. Pufnstuf: Jimmy Who?
NBC
December 27, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

In this episode with a title that anticipates the reaction to the '76 Carter campaign, Jimmy gets amnesia from a bump on the head, which is cured by, you guessed it, a bump on the head.  This isn't bad for a clip show, since all four flashbacks are to musical numbers.

The series averages out to a high C+, which is what I would've predicted.  It was never my favorite Krofft show (we'll talk about what was as we go along) and it is pretty repetitive when it comes to plotting.  The look of it, and sometimes the music, make it worth watching, in small doses.

H.R. Pufnstuf: Whaddya Mean the Horse Gets the Girl?

H.R. Pufnstuf: Whaddya Mean the Horse Gets the Girl?
NBC
December 20, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

Shirley Pufnstuf and her director return, and the latter gets kidnapped by the witch so that he'll direct her script for Gone with the Witch.  The horse, who has a crush on Shirley, goes to the rescue, swallows the witch's wand, and starts blasting people.  And you tell me the Kroft Brothers weren't doing drugs.

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Almost Election of Witchiepoo

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Almost Election of Witchiepoo
NBC
December 13, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

The election season on Living Island is a lot dirtier than at Fillmore Junior High.  Witchiepoo uses a love bomb to win voters.  When Jimmy claimed that Puf is more honest than the witch, I couldn't help thinking of how the good guys have resorted to lying, vandalism, and theft.  OK, they don't kidnap as often, but that's not much of a moral high ground.

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Visiting Witch

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Visiting Witch
NBC
December 6, 1969
Children's
DVD
B-

No musical number but a better plot than usual, even if this time Pufnstuf gets kidnapped instead of Freddie.  Jimmy's costume for Boss Witch (the role Martha Raye would play in the movie) is one of my favorites on the show.

H.R. Pufnstuf: Tooth for a Tooth

H.R. Pufnstuf: Tooth for a Tooth
NBC
November 29, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

Orson is able to use the witch's wand to transform her into a little girl so she can get a dental appointment with Dr. Blinky, but apparently he can't cure her toothache himself.  Meanwhile, Dr. Blinky invents a love potion, but it's more general love than romantic love.  This concatenation of circumstances makes Puf think this is the perfect time for Jimmy to steal the Vroom Broom and head home.  The highlight for me was the good and evil trees fighting and then dancing.

H.R. Pufnstuf: Flute, Book and Candle

H.R. Pufnstuf: Flute, Book and Candle
NBC
November 22, 1969
Children's
DVD
B-

Freddie is turned into a mushroom and can't even talk, hurrah!  Unfortunately Jimmy and Puf want to cure him, which involves theft and vandalism.  Well, at least Jimmy dresses like a Dickensian beggar and sings a song that rhymes "spectacular" and "Dracula."

H.R. Pufnstuf: Dinner for Two

H.R. Pufnstuf: Dinner for Two
NBC
November 15, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

Grandfather Clock is going to use his time machine to send Jimmy back to the day before he came to Living Island, but the witch, after singing a song about her loneliness, does a long-distance zap that causes the machine to age Jimmy 60 years (to 72).  Then she falls for Jimmy, not realizing his identity, while he doesn't remember much of anything.  She plans their wedding and has a stunning dress.  (I don't mean that sarcastically, it looks great.)  Puf, Cling, and Clang rescue Jimmy and get him de-aged.  And another plan to escape from Living Island is abandoned.

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Horse with the Golden Throat

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Horse with the Golden Throat
NBC
November 8, 1969
Children's
DVD
C

This is the weakest episode so far, without even a musical number.  Horse swallows Freddie, thinking he's a carrot, and most of the rest of the twenty minutes is spent trying to get the flute out.  (No one suggests inducing vomiting.)

H.R. Pufnstuf: You Can't Have Your Cake

H.R. Pufnstuf: You Can't Have Your Cake
NBC
November 1, 1969
Children's
DVD
B-

Judy Frog teaches the gang to do the Moonwalk, pre-Michael-Jackson, and it actually helps in this week's rescue of Freddie.

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Box Kite Kaper [sic]

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Box Kite Kaper [sic]
NBC
October 25, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

This time Jimmy and Freddie hope to escape by using a box kite.  Marked down from a B- because Jimmy doesn't sing, although Witchiepoo does.  Note, she gives Puf and friends drugged chocolate.

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Birthday Party

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Birthday Party
NBC
October 18, 1969
Children's
DVD
B-

It's Jimmy's birthday so the witch and her sidekicks again dress up as a citrus-themed band, more jazzy this time, knocking out the gang with laughing gas.  The scheme to rescue the inevitably kidnapped Freddie is more creative than usual.  And I like the glimpses of the witch's bedroom decor.  Note, "Bucket of Sunshine" should not be confused with "Pocketful of Sunshine."

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Golden Key

All the sounds ever heard!

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Golden Key
NBC
October 11, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

Despite the fact that the pogo stick is in plain sight on Ludicrous Lion's stand, this time Jimmy buys a map to the golden key, for only ten buttons.  But plans for escape are forgotten when they have to rescue, no, not Freddie, but Pufnstuf.  And there's some convoluted message about war and peace and magic.

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Stand In

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Stand In
NBC
October 4, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

H.R.'s younger sister Shirley visits the island to shoot a film and H.R. sees this an opportunity for Jimmy to leave the island.  Not by, as you would think, going with Shirley and her director when they're done, but instead sneaking into the witch's castle and stealing her Vroom Broom while she's Shirley's stand-in.  The broom seems to be destroyed at the end of the episode, but of course returns in future episodes.

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Mechanical Boy

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Mechanical Boy
NBC
September 27, 1969
Children's
DVD
B-

Another escape plan that's forgotten about when Freddie's at risk.  The title song is one of the better ones in the series.  And the Gabor clock flirts with The Mayor.

H.R. Pufnstuf: Show Biz Witch

H.R. Pufnstuf: Show Biz Witch
NBC
September 20, 1969
Children's
DVD
B-

Jimmy needs 200 buttons to buy a pogo stick from Ludicrous Lion in order to escape the island, so they all put on a show and Witchie Poo rhymes "oranges" with "pornges," then Jimmy, Puf, and C & C have to rescue Freddie (again), and the pogo stick is forgotten.

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Wheely Bird

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Wheely Bird
NBC
September 13, 1969
Children's
DVD
C+

This episode has some de ja vu (like the tree that keeps parodying Joyce Kilmer) and a plot-hole, with Pufnstuf capturing the witch's wand, but to balance that there are some odd moments.  Yes, odd even by Krofft standards, including Freddie trying to inchworm his way to the witch's castle and Orson flirting with the title character.

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Magic Path

H.R. Pufnstuf: The Magic Path
NBC
September 6, 1969
Children's (I was going to go with "live action" or "puppetry" but it's sort of both and neither, not a cartoon anyway)
DVD
B-

My review of the 1970 movie is here:  http://reviewingeverymovieiown.blogspot.com/search?q=pufnstuf.  I don't have a lot to add about the series at this point, other than it was probably the main introduction to psychedelia for Gen-X.  This first episode sets things up pretty clearly, the main characters, setting, and conflict.  (Although when Pufnstuf says that everyone and thing on the island talks, this doesn't explain Cling and Clang.)  Hollingsworth Morse directed this and all the other episodes.

The Krofft regulars for this series, not counting Hayes and Wild, include:

1. Sharon Baird
2. Joy Campbell
3. Walker Edmiston
4. Roberto Gamonet
5. Joan Gerber
6. Jerry Landon
7. Jon Linton
8. Scutter McKay
9. Harry Monty (who was also in The Wizard of Oz and Americathon)
10. Andy Ratoucheff
11. Robin Roper
12. Angelo Rossito
13. Felix Silla (then best known as Cousin Itt)
14. Johnny Silver (who also did That Girl, most notably as Siegfried S. Newman)
15. Lennie Weinrib (who also co-wrote the episode with Paul Harrison)