Plot Details: This opinion reveals minor details about the movie's plot.

Quick - name this show: The premise centers around a blue collar father, his dingbat wife, and his two meathead children. Anyone remotely familiar with American television over the last 40 years would instantly say "All in the Family". Ok, how about this: An alien is discovered by a group of children and is hidden from authorities and grown ups in suburban America. That would be E.T. The Extra Terrestrial. Or finally - who would be the prying nosy neighbor who sees events they cant explain, but are unable to convince anyone else of same? Sharp readers would guess Ms Kravitz from Bewitched (or perhaps Dr. Bellows from I Dream of Jeannie)

Now - take those elements, throw them into a blender, add in a big helping of imagination and artistry from the kings of 1970's children's programming Sid and Marty Krofft, set to high speed for 45 seconds - and the result would not be too far off from today's topic: Sigmund and the Sea Monsters, one of the more successful productions to come out of the Krofft studios.

Sigmund, you see, is a sea monster who's not very good at scaring people. He was thrown out by his less than understanding family - Big Daddy, Sweet Momma, Blurp and Slurp - and promptly meets youngsters Johhny and Scott who take him home. The problem, of course is how to keep Zelda the housekeeper unaware of the sea monster living in the clubhouse in the back yard. And so it goes, week after week - Sigmund's family try to get him back, Zelda's boyfriend cop noses around, and other sitcom staples abound.

The show ran for 29 episodes, from 1973-75 (and countless years of reruns afterwards) on NBC, proving to be one of the longest Krofft shows. Only Land of the Lost's 43 episodes beat it out. Sigmund was played by the versatile Billy Barty - a giant in acting, despite his 4 foot stature. Johnny was Johnny Whitaker, AKA Jodie from the 60's syrupy sweet sitcom "A Family Affair" while Scott was Scott C. Kolden, who pretty much got out of acting and has been doing sound design since about 1995. Other notables of the cast include Walker Edmiston, a staple of Krofft voice work for years, Rip Taylor, and The Wicked Witch of the West herself, the legendary Margaret Hamilton.

The show is a divergence from the usual psychedelic Krofft fare, where Our Hero(s) start out in the normal, mundane world and are transported to a magical fantasy land - Lidsville, H.R. Pufnstuf, and so on. Sigmund on the other hand starts out in a fantasy, and has to live in modern (well, 1970's modern) reality. The change was deliberate on the part of Sid and Marty. "We were changing with the times. How many times can you do psychedelic? And it wasn’t the 60's anymore and I wanted to get into a whole different area," Sid once said in an interview.

And it worked. This change of pace makes the show feel fresher than other Krofft offerings of the late 60s and early 70's, and gives it a more traditional sitcom feel to it. While Sigmund is not my favorite Krofft show, it's pretty far up the list.

Yes the show is cheesy, but it's still amusing. And more importantly, unlike the children's shows of today, its mostly harmless. No violence, no fighting, nothing more scary than some monsters who are more inept that frightening. Its an idealistic world from a more simpler time, where kids go outside and play in the sun, where Evel Knievel convinced daredevils to jump their BMX bikes (complete with motocross handlebars and tassels in the handgrips) off of homemade wooden ramps, where the breakfast cereal had sugar, where the hair was big and the shirt collars were bigger.

Perhaps that's part of the charm.

THE VIDEO
It was a low budget show that was shot 35 years ago on video tape, so it will never look "good" without major restoration work done to it. The image is overall washed out and soft. There is the occasional video dropout and tracking error. The audio is passable, but will hardly give your home theater a workout.

That being said, this is probably as good as Sigmund and the Sea Monsters is ever going to look.

THE EXTRAS
While Sigmund may not have the depth of extras that the first season of Land of the Lost has, there is a handful of bonuses that should please the Krofft fan.

First off are the commentary tracks. Sid Krofft (sans Marty this time around) commentates over the first episode. While Sid delivers some interesting information, there is quite a bit of dead air. Without having his brother to play off of, the track suffers. The other two commentaries feature Scott Kolden and Johnny Whitaker, who are both lively and entertaining.

There is a pair of interviews on the third disc, one featuring Scott and Johnny talking about how they got into the business, their time on Sigmund, working with Billy Barty and Mary Wickes. Again, the two are clearly comfortable with each other, and the interview is just them reminiscing and having a good time. The other interview is with Si Rose, long standing Krofft producer and writer for Sigmund. The interview is short, but informative.

The last of the extras (providing there aren’t undiscovered Easter Eggs) is the “Johnny’s Video Jukebox”. Similar to the Jukebox feature from the 3rd season Land of the Lost set, you too can suffer through shmaltzy teen pop songs from the late 70's that you probably skipped over when they actually appeared in the episodes. *shudder*

THE FINAL WORD
Is Sigmund and the Sea Monsters the best of the Krofft shows? No - I still think that Land of the Lost is the superior program. But that doesn’t change the fact that Sigmund is still a fun kids show even after all this time. And you know what - even the weakest Krofft shows have more imagination, creativity and charm than a thousand Nickelodeons and Cartoon Networks put together. From where I sit, that aint a bad place to be.

-OTHER KROFFT SHOWS REVIEWED -
* SIGMUND AND THE SEA MONSTERS
* PINK LADY AND JEFF
* LIDSVILLE
* HR PUFNSTUF
* THE WORLD OF SID AND MARTY KROFFT
* LAND OF THE LOST SEASON 1
* LAND OF THE LOST SEASON 2
* LAND OF THE LOST SEASON 3
* THE BUGALOOS
* PUFNSTUF AND OTHER STUFF


Recommended: Yes

Viewing Format: DVD
Video Occasion: Better than Watching TV
Suitability For Children: Suitable for Children up to Age 4