Rumor Control: The Krazy Kreations of Sid and Marty Krofft on the big screen

I don't know if this is true, but it would be awesome if Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and H.R. Pufnstuf are going to join Land of the Lost on the list of Sid and Marty Krofft shows making the leap to the big screen. (Marty Krofft has been talking for nearly a decade about getting Sigmund and Pufnstuf movies made, so we'll believe it when we see it.) Usually, I dread the idea of movies adapted from old TV shows, but it'd be hard to ruin the Krofft oeuvre, since their early '70s Saturday morning shows were so weird and, really, not that great. Of course, like the rest of Gen X, I loved those shows anyway (despite their narrative sloppiness, laughable cheapness, and ridiculously broad campiness) for the imaginative silliness of their psychedelic visuals. A world populated by giant talking hats? Why not? A fey dragon with a Southern accent? Sure!

Of course, the Krofft brothers have always denied that drugs influenced their trippy creations, but the hallucinogenic qualities of Lidsville, Pufnstuf, The Bugaloos, and other Krofft shows is so disorienting, it's a wonder the brothers were able to get away with foisting them on a captive audience of kids already hopped up on sugary cereals. So even a hacky director couldn't turn these programs into something more inept and off-putting than the originals. Still, wouldn't you love to see what a gifted fantasist like Peter Jackson or Guillermo Del Toro could do with this material? Though I doubt anyone will ever do a better tribute to the Kroffts than this travesty homage by Bob Odenkirk and David Cross on Mr. Show.