Gumby originally aired on NBC until the early 1960s, when Art Clokey re-acquired the show's rights and continued airing it through syndication. He would later broadcast the 1980s reboot in a similar fashion, as the series appeared on various channels like Nickelodeon during its initial run. Eventually, both shows would play on MeTV's kids block in 2012, before migrating to their current home on Kabillion a year later.
Lorimar (before its 1989 absorption into Warner Bros.) became Gumby's distributor from 1987 to 2003, as Clokey's estate later partnered with Classic Media until 2012. NCircle Entertainment has since become Gumby's home media distributor as of 2015.
Cowboy Be Bop At His Computer: Some official sources state that Dick Beals voiced Gumby. While Beals voiced a few incidental Gumby characters in the early 1960s, he never actually voiced the title character. This most likely stems from Dick Beals being Davey Hansen's original voice actor until Norma MacMillan (who did voice Gumby in the late 1960s) assumed the role in the later seasons.
Cross-Dressing Voices: Gumby was voiced by Ruth Eggleston in 1956 and Norma MacMillan from 1967 to 1969. Also, Norma MacMillan would occasionally filled in for Pokey in a few episodes of the 1960s series, and Dallas McKennon voiced a few old lady characters (including Granny in at least two 1980s episodes).
Descended Creator: Art Clokey himself often voiced Pokey and Prickle, as well as Gumby's father, Gumbo.
Development Hell: News and rumors of a revival of Gumby in some form or fashion have floated around since the early 2010s, some with companies attached to create them, but to date nothing has come out of them so far.
Keep Circulating the Tapes: Rescued. People who despise the redubbed 1988 versions of the classic episodes were able to find the original versions with the John Seely/Capitol music on very old VHS tapes by Family Home Entertainment, but then these episodes were restored to their original form and the Gumby Essentials: Volume 1 DVD was released in 2007, containing the restored versions. Recently, NCircle Entertainment has released all of the 1950s and 1960s series on DVD, remastered and with their original soundtracks.
The Other Darrin: Over the years (and decades), there has been some recasting:
Gumby was originally voiced by Ruth Eggleston in 1956, and by Dallas McKennon in 1957, 1960–1967, 1987–1989, and the 1995 movie. Norma MacMillan took over voicing Gumby from 1967 to 1969. When Gumby and Pokey appeared in a Honda commercial in the late 2010s, Yuri Lowenthal reportedly took over the role. Although several sources say that Dick Beals also provided Gumby's voice in the 1960s series, taking over the role for Norma MacMillan. But Beals himself however, denied this rumor in a 2001 interview.
Pokey was typically voiced by series creator Art Clokey, but beginning some time in 1962, Dallas McKennon became his primary voice actor, until the 1967-69 episodes where the role alternated between Clokey, McKennon and Norma MacMillan. With the 1987 series and the movie, Clokey was Pokey's primary voice actor again.
Prickle in the 1967-69 episodes also alternated among Art Clokey, Dallas McKennon and Hal Smith voicing him, the last making Prickle sound a bit like Paul Lynde at times. In the 1987 series, Clokey was Prickle's primary voice actor.
In the 1960s series, Norma MacMillan voiced Goo. In the 1987 series and the 1995 movie, Gloria Clokey voiced Goo.
Serendipity Writes the Plot: Gumby was originally going to have thinner feet to match the rest of his thin physique. However, his model was unable to stand up, so his feet were enlarged to fix this.
Technology Marches On: The 1987–89 series had some obvious late 1980s technology present. Most notable was Gumby having a big boxy personal computer in his bedroom, which was a big deal back in the late '80s. As mentioned in "Best on the Block" when Gumby's half-human cousin Junior visits him in his room...
Junior: Wow! You got a computer! What are you doing?
Gumby: Oh, doing my homework.
The 1995 movie
Box Office Bomb: Budget, $2.8 million. Box office, $57,100. Played in only 21 theaters.
Development Hell: A sequel was planned by Joe Clokey, Art Clokey's son, titled Gumby 2, which would likely be followed by a brand-new revival of the series, but it never caught on.
Franchise Killer: There has not been a new Gumby short or series since the movie's release. It only recently came back in the form of a comic book series in 2017. It's rather telling that they weren't expecting the movie to bomb so badly, as it was given the ambitious alternate title "Gumby 1", indicating they were fully expecting more movies to follow.
Non-Singing Voice: Tara's speaking voice was done by Patti Morse, but when she sang "Take Me Away" at the end, she was voiced by Melisa Kary.
The Shelf of Movie Languishment: The original film ended production in 1992 (which would explain all of the 1980s-style rock music) but wasn't released in theaters until three years later!
Technology Marches On: The Blockheads' computer uses a crude text-to-speech voice off a Macintosh, specifically the first version of MacinTalk.
a year later.