The company behind these adventures is Fox, which will be reimagining the character for modern audiences in various mediums, doing so with rights from the late Clokey's son, Joseph. Part of that deal will also include all previous versions of the character. Notes Fox, "Competition for globally recognized intellectual property is fierce. Uncovering this gem, with its built-in awareness and affinity, and bringing it to Fox, adds meaningful value and creative possitiilities to the IP itself and to multiple divisions of our company. Fox is proud to be home to these iconic characters. Welcome one and all."
Maybe it's us, but that seems to be saying that they believe they can make a lot of money from Gumby and friends.
Clokey first developed the idea of Gumby back in 1955, with the Christian Science Monitor reporting, "He named the jolly green humanoid after thoughts of his grandparents' farm in the Midwest. According to GumbyWorld, little Art used to play in the farm's muddy clay, a mixture they called 'gumbo.'"
Between 1955 and 1956, 25 eleven-minute episodes aired on NBC, and those episodes, under the title The Gumby Show, went into syndication in 1959, with new episodes being produced until 1969. In the early 1980s, Eddie Murphy had some fun with the character during his run on Saturday Night Live, dressing as him frequently proclaiming, "I'm Gumby, dammit!"