Late last week, National Lampoon announced that they’ve acquired the rights to remix old Gumby episodes. Their current plan is to air the shows online and on the National Lampoon Network, which is apparently available solely on college campuses, before making the inevitable trek to DVD. It’s pretty impressive, I guess, that a show created in 1955 that experienced a massive resurgence in popularity around 1985 is now in the beginning stages of yet another comeback in 2005.
The edgy, irreverent reinvention, called “Gumby: The Lost Tapes,” will see National Lampoon create and produce all-new dialog (and, in some cases, music) tracks for the classic claymation series. “Gumby: The Lost Tapes” will offer an original take on the TV staple, updating the series’ legendary characters — Gumby, Pokey, the Blockheads, and, of course, Nopey — and making “Gumby” more relevant to today’s young adult audience.
