Oh lord, I had no idea this even existed. Back in 1965, the Munsters characters were commissioned to do a TV special where they crash a performance at Marineland. Despite some cut aways to the Munsters, there is no plot, no side adventures, and the Munsters are genuinely just glorified mascots for this attraction. And boy it is awful. The mercifully hour long special was lost for a long time before being restored and revived for fans, and it’s probably a good thing. Despite a fairly spotless record of Television Specials, “Marineland” is a terrible utilization of these characters.
Herman (Fred Gwynne), Lily (Yvonne DeCarlo), Eddie (Butch Patrick), and the alternate Marilyn (Pat Priest) appear out of nowhere from Mockingbird Heights to Marineland of the Pacific all in a quest to–buy Eddie an exotic pet fish. Grandpa, who has it on good authority that Marineland was a fish store with giant tanks stocked with aquatic pets, decides to wander around while the Munster family take in the show. Despite them having literally nothing to do in this special, Universal studios dismissed any and all involvement with the project.
If you factor in the attractions and performances by animals that were all likely being abused, tortured, and starved, and it amounts to a pretty cringe inducing special overall. The producers struggle whether to give the Munsters their own sub-plot or just use them as glorified TV hosts, all the while handing us a ton of filler including forgettable musical numbers, and a ton of skits of the family at an animal attraction riffing off of each other. Even at merely fifty minutes, the TV special just goes on way too long, looking for unique ways to integrate the Munsters with this Marineland Park (eventually being bought out by Seaworld).
There’s a very long meeting with two walruses who scat for Herman and Lily for five minutes, and an obvious stunt double dressed as Grandpa Munster who does an act hanging from a pole over a hundred feet in the air. These segments go on way too long. They’re often so tedious, and the cast often looks as if they’re struggling to evoke some kind of enthusiasm for their trip in to this park. I’m elated they sought to restore this special for fans of “The Munsters” and classic TV, just be don’t expect a classic Munsters adventure.
Not even the talented cast could save this mess.
Now Streaming on Tubi TV.