Countdown to Halloween: Merry–Go–Pumpkin (1988)

Gumby Adventures: Merry–Go–Pumpkin (1988, Episode 38)
Dir.: Art Clokey
TC4P Rating: 5/9

Normally, I would have preferred to start my reviews of the short films of Gumby, that world famous clayboy, with the films that brought him into this world – Gumbasia, the three-minute short that inspired his creation, or Moon Trip – the true Gumby pilot film – and not a middling episode of a televised revival series from the late '80s. But, opportunity presented itself... Seeing as how my Halloween season has been largely dominated by time spent at a particular theme park of great note, a short drift through the Gumby catalog of films found me stopping on a short named Merry-Go-Pumpkin, which takes place at an amusement park (of absolutely no note whatsoever) called PumpkinLand. What better choice for Halloween?

When creator and director Art Clokey decided to start creating new Gumby episodes in the '80s, he enlarged his primary cast a tad by introducing a sister for Gumby named Minga. (He also brought in, weirdly, a mastodon named Denali and a chicken named Tilly. Yes, Tilly was around early on briefly, but the '80s-'90s version was far more realistic in design.) Both were more natural looking – one with fur; the other, feathers, as you would expect – and neither had the basic clay-like quality the rest of his main cast possessed. (Prickle, Goo, Pokey, and Gumby's parents were all recognizably clay-based.) Minga wasn't a particular achievement; in fact, she was pretty much just another Gumby except her clay came out in points on the side so it looked like she was wearing a dress, and her clay was pink colored instead of green. (She did have green hair, though, so maybe that was a nod to her Gumby-ness. It doesn't really matter anyway. Clay is clay...)

The toyland setting in which most of Gumby's adventures takes place has always been an oddly inclusive one from the start anyway. You have the basic concept of a boy made of clay, who lives and plays with a few extraordinary friends (a talking horse who ends up in mischief constantly, a dragon/dinosaur who often thinks he is Sherlock Holmes, and a blue, flying mermaid who spits goo bubbles). One would think that the land they inhabit would be largely clay-based, but instead it seems to look more like a child's playroom. Toys are strewn about in many of the adventures (not all). The main antagonists, those grumpy, spying Blockheads – who quite literally have stylized toy blocks for heads – run about and cause trouble, all the while running through a world where actual toy blocks form part of the basic landscape.

And then, Gumby and his pals often meet and have adventures with characters who are far more realistic looking facially, almost like dolls come to life (though they too were clay figures), such as King Ott, his daughter Anne, and the other denizens of the Kingdom of Roo. (And, of course, there was the evil Dr, Zveegee.) On the other hand, characters like the musical notes, Too and Loo, and their nemesis, the Sour Note, as well as the friendly Professor Kapp, were very much of more abstract clay design, like Gumby and his usual gang. (Don't even get me started on Gumby's weird bee pet, the Groobee.)

Basically, Gumby's world, whether part of a child's imagination at play or just simply a toy-based realm of magical probability, is somewhere that any sort of adventure can happen merely on the whim of whomever the creator happens to be. Sometimes surreal, sometimes real, usually a combination of the two, Gumby films operate with a set of rules all their own. Sometimes the adventures are far-flung, thrilling excursions to distant lands, kingdoms or even fairy tales, sometimes Gumby is an explorer to the moon or a jungle, and sometimes, there are the more mundane, day-to-day activities of his family and friends. So, it goes in Merry-Go-Pumpkin, which starts out at Gumby's home where a birthday party is being held for Minga. Gumbo and Gumba, Gumby's parents, with Prickle, Goo, Gumby and Pokey in attendance, present their daughter with a birthday cake.

After the usual half-hearted belting out of the lamest song ever written (seriously, no one should have ever collected royalties on that piece of tripe, if only on the general principle of "just cuz..."), Minga blows out the five candles on her cake and is told that Gumby has a special surprise for her. Prompted to speak, Gumby blurts out, "The band and I are taking you to PumpkinLand! You can go on all the rides!" Minga is overjoyed, applauding very precisely and happily (I really do like the way she claps in this scene), and says that it is exactly what she wished for her birthday.

The five pals climb into Gumby's jalopy and zoom past toy after toy on the road toward Pumpkinland. Gumby mentions to Minga that "Dad gave me enough money to buy all the ice cream and popcorn you want." Note that he didn't specifically mention anyone else in the car, but regardless, the other three drift into a reverie about the foods they wish to eat at the park. Just like white people in the modern age during autumn, all of the foods require a heavy use of a certain large orange gourd at their base. Pokey hopes to have a "pumpkin puff"; Goo dreams of a "pumpkin ice cream fudge sundae"; and finally, Prickle wishes to order up a "pumpkin burger and a pumpkin shake" for himself.

Gumby drives his car through the PumpkinLand gate and into the busy parking lot. At PumpkinLand, all of the booths are designed to look like (or are made out of) giant pumpkins. Even the ticket booth out front looks like a pumpkin with a rectangle cut out to ease customer service. (Then again, all of the booths and even the ride cars pretty much have the exact same design, with a couple of notable variations.) Gumby already has tickets in hand, and he and his friends don't hesitate when they pass the ticket booth and just glide right through the turnstiles to the park. The ticket taker, who looks like a regular human, does a double take himself as the weird fivesome speeds past him as he grabs their tickets.

At the edge of the park, dark shenanigans are brewing, as the usual pair of trouble-seeking Blockheads, "G" and "J", are seen carrying a pair of ladders to the chain link fence that lies on the perimeter. They climb over the fence with a brief tumble leading to one Blockhead slapping the other in a customary piece of comedy business for the duo. The pair then move on to the main wall to the park, itself adorned with a large pumpkin atop each spire. The conniving pair climb it easily, but are spotted by two security guards working the front entrance. While human, the pair of rent-a-cops zip about without ever moving their legs, looking almost exactly as if they are each riding a Segway years before such a device were invented by Dean Kamen. Seeing that the Blockheads have successfully clambered over the main wall, the cops go into panic mode, waving their arms about, spinning in circles, and yelling about tracking the culprits down.

At a sign spelled "Pumkin [sic] Pups", while the rest of the gang pass by without looking, Pokey cannot help himself. He stops and drools at the prospect of having some of the delicious fare at the park, especially at the nearby booth titled "Giant Pumpkin Puffs". The camera goes to a closeup just to make sure you don't miss out on the fact that Pokey is drooling like a maniac. "Something I've always wanted," he says, "a pumpkin puff!" Well, nobody is holding you back, horsey. Get to it!

Meanwhile, the others head for a ride called the "Pumpkin Wheel", which is essentially a Ferris wheel ride but the cars are shaped like pumpkins (as is to be expected from here on out). The overly excited Minga is there first, turning to the others and jumping up and down in anticipation. Pokey is seen sitting down at a table to try out his very first pumpkin puff, which turns out to be a large dessert roughly shaped like... a normal sized pumpkin, only a little lighter in color. But the very second that his food hits the table, the Blockheads – who had been watching him from behind the booth – run up and swipe the pumpkin puff away from poor, surprised Pokey! The security guards have been right on the Blockheads from the start, and they zip past the table repeating, "There they go! There they go!"

Back at the Pumpkin Wheel, everyone is spinning slowly around through the air. Prickle seems to actually be on a date with Goo, as he has his arm completely around her shoulder. Behind their car, Gumby and Minga ride along, happily taking in the sights from high atop the ride. Two cars behind them, unbeknownst to everyone else, the Blockheads ride along as they hide out from the guards. However, the cops are sharper than anyone could expect, as they spot the Blockheads right away. The pair converge at the base of the ride, prepared to wait out the rest of its run to capture the little red fiends. The Blockheads are on to the guards as well, and they risk life and little clay limb to hop out of the ride car and slide down the steel beams of the ride to the ground below in a single swoop. Still waiting at the bottom, the guards realize their error, and one says, "They got away! They got away! C'mon, Sandy!" The Blockheads hightail it across the park, passing all manner of different sized pumpkins, with the security guards in hot pursuit.

The gang has left the Pumpkin Wheel and are seen climbing aboard the Pumpkin Train Ride, a short locomotive comprised of only three shiny cars. As Gumby and the crew load on, the Blockheads run up the blue steps leading into the front compartment. In the coolest shot of the entire film, after the second Blockhead, "G", has boarded, it seems the camera completely switches its orientation, shifting without an edit to the other side of the train, where the Blockheads come running out of the lead car and back down the blue steps. (It's a nifty camera trick.) Blockhead "G" closes and locks the door behind him, and then runs over to the Train Control panel – which is inexplicably unguarded and completely out in the open – and he joins "J" in taking over the controls to the vehicle. 

The train takes off and goes incredibly fast, with our friends trapped on board. Goo worries "Isn't this too fast for pumpkins?" and then, through his window, Prickle sees who is at the controls. "Am I hallucinating or were those the Blockheads running this train?" Gumby backs up his friend, and the train goes ever faster towards a large loop in the railroad tracks. It survives the loop, but the Blockheads use a hammer to shift the rails so that the next time the train comes around, the cars get stuck in a permanent loop. The train loops time and again, faster and faster, until there is an effect much like a snowball rolling down a hill. The cars all ball up into one giant pumpkin, that breaks free of the train tracks and rolls across the amusement park.

"G" and "J", intent on making their escape, hear a rolling noise getting louder and turn around in time to see the giant pumpkin flatten them hard into the pavement. Their bodies are flattened together, and their eyes roll about as they attempt to look around them. The giant pumpkin starts to lose size and speed and rolls back out into the three cars of the train once more, but the people inside roll out of each car in mashed spheres featuring many eyes and facial parts. The first ball pulls apart to reveal the twin security guards; the second pops apart to give us back Gumby, Prickle, Minga and Goo! "G" and "J" come to slowly, and pulls themselves from the pavement in time to see the guards coming after them again.

The gang hears everyone laughing over at the eatery area, and find a completely engorged Pokey smashing through a chair and onto the ground as he continues to stuff his face with pumpkin puff after pumpkin puff. His now gargantuan body is in the shape of a massive orange pumpkin, and his legs just dangle helplessly off the ground. "Pokey!," yells Gumby, "Stop eating!" He tells Pokey that "We're gonna have to take you home in a truck!" Later, at Professor Kapp's office, Gumby and his pals are joined by Denali the Mastodon and Tilly the Chicken as the doctor gives his prognosis. Kapp says it is a case of acute indigestion, and Pokey's response is to grab his head and say, "Cute! Smoot! Ah!" as the film irises out.

The film loaded with pumpkin action, and it is somehow done without a single mention of Halloween, which is kind of nice for once. Pumpkins are seasonal, for the most part, and so they fill more time in the calendar than just simply the main holiday associated with them today. (Thanksgiving lays claim to them too after all, and I have had many a pumpkin pie in league with Christmas gatherings.) Apart from that, it is merely latter day Gumby nonsense as usual; nothing taxing on the mind at all, but nothing to offend either. If Gumby's world weren't so strange to comprehend on its own terms, I might be able to write of the series as mere fluff, but I, like many more of my cross-generational type, grew up watching Gumby quite often on television and he is part of my being.

I have owned a set of Gumby figures – just Pokey, Blockhead "J" and the clayboy himself –  for most of my adult life, and if he doesn't represent one of my favorite animated characters, he is at least in the conversation of most influential. His stop-motion antics were a clear influence on my love of that style of animation, and along with the Rankin-Bass holiday specials, he was part of my main introduction to the form until King Kong and the films of Harryhausen eventually came into view for me. Both Gumby and creator Art Clokey's other '60s series, Davey and Goliath, were around off and on throughout my childhood years, and as stilted and white bread their respective universes, I simply can't imagine a universe without him.

And yes, just like Gumbyworld, that universe has toys strewn all about the place. Who wants to clean up in a playroom that large?

RTJ

*****

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