Through the 2006 DVD collection of
The Bugaloos, TV shows from The World of Sid and Marty Krofft would come to be released from Rhino Home Video. And though they
had plans to continue with
Dr. Shrinker (and presumably other Krofft Productions releases) on DVD, it didn't happen before their licenses ran out (and Rhino pretty much withdrew from TV-on-DVD releases at that time, in any case). Afterward, Universal Studios Home Entertainment had control of the rights to home video releases of the Krofft properties, but sadly only used them for re-issuing
Complete Series and
individual season sets for the original 1974
Land of the Lost, as a tie-in for the 2009 theatrical remake starring Will Ferrell.
Late yesterday
The Hollywood Reporter announced that the North American home video rights to the entire Sid and Marty Krofft library (excepting
Land of the Lost, which stays with Universal) has been newly acquired by Vivendi Entertainment, who currently distributes DVDs at retail for Shout! Factory, Classic Media, RHI Entertainment, The Weinstein Company and many others. According to
THR's article, children's shows are naturally the focus and one quote in their story says that "
Vivendi will release full-series sets and compilations of various titles beginning in the third quarter, including rare clips as bonus features."
Three Krofft shows specifically mentioned are
H.R. Pufnstuff, Sigmund and the Sea Monsters and
Lidsville. The first and last of those have been completely released on DVD by Rhino in the past, while
Sigmund had one of it's two seasons released back in 2005. All of the previous Rhino releases are out of production, however. One question that seems to be up in the air right now has to do with the 1991 version of
Land of the Lost on television: since Universal retains rights to the original 1974 incarnation of the show, do they also have the rights to the '90s remake? Or is Vivendi free and clear to finally release that version on DVD? We don't know right now, but hopefully we can find out. Stay tuned!
