‘Sigmund and Sea Monsters’ remade for a new generation

It’s been 44 years since sea monsters made an appearance in the sea of TV programming. The producing team of Sid and Marty Krofft launched “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters” in 1973 as their fourth liveaction Saturday morning television series. The tale of a friendly sea creature and the two young boys who befriend him came along after the prolific producing pair had created “H.R. Pufnstuf,” “The Bugaloos” and “Lidsville.”

The Canadian brothers are now in their 80s but show no signs of slowing down as they have joined forces again with Sigmund for a reboot of the series to be broadcast by Amazon Studios. The new tales of “Sigmund and the Sea Monsters” began to unfold Friday.

Making a new version of the series was an extremely easy decision for the Kroffts.

“You know ‘Sigmund’ is one of our favorites,” Marty Krofft says. “It was one of our three favorites along with ‘Land of the Lost’ and ‘H.R. Pufnstuf.’ Except for the sea monsters, ‘Sigmund’ was the first reality-based series we had done.”

“Sigmund” joins two other series the Kroffts are currently producing: “Electra Woman and Dyna Girl,” based on their 1976 series that was part of “The Krofft Supershow,” and the original series “Mutt & Stuff.”

The new version of “Sigmund” features a much larger production budget than the original. Krofft jokes that he and his brother were able to stay in business for so many years because they kept costs low and retained the rights to their programs.

“I would say the budget for the new ‘Sigmund’ is about 12 times what we had for the first one,” Krofft said.

The one thing that hasn’t changed is the story. The new series focuses on two young brothers — Johnny (Solomon Stewart) and Scotty (Kyle Breit-kopf ) — who save Sigmund from danger.

They always have looked for new young talent because at that stage in the actor’s career they have not been trained so much they no longer come across as kids. The key to all of the Krofft programs aimed at children was to make them as accessible as possible to young viewers.

In the original series, most of the threats to Sigmund’s freedom came from the housekeeper, played by veteran actor Mary Wickes, who watched the boys while their parents were away. In the new version, it’s Captain Barnabas (David Arquette), who is desperate to capture a sea monster to prove his claims they exist aren’t the rantings of a madman.

Krofft points out that the villains of their shows have become quite legendary, from Billie Hayes playing Witchiepoo on “H.R. Pufnstuf ” to Martha Raye’s Benita Bizarre on “The Bugaloos.” The executive producer was able to get Arquette to be the latest villain in the Krofft world because he’s been a longtime friend.

The original series ran for 29 episodes that covered two seasons starting in 1973. Unlike the new version, the first “Sigmund” had a musical element as star Johnny Whitaker would often break into a tune to explain what he was feeling. Those musical numbers were written by Danny Janssen, Wes Farrell and Bobby Hart. The original theme song has been updated for this series by The Roots.

Krofft doesn’t dismiss the idea of a musical number or two in the new “Sigmund,” but that would most likely happen when a second season gets ordered.

For now, there are seven episodes in the first season that they are using to introduce the viewers to the characters.

There have been some tweaks made rebooting the series, from the more expensive look to the lack of musical numbers. What hasn’t changed is the way the writers were able to offer tales of issues about friendship, not judging people, family and conservation without making the stories too heavy.