The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends: The Complete Series [DVD]

CARTOONS FOR THE REST OF US
One of the things I love about many of the Warner Brothers cartoons, especially the later ones, is that they were clearly made for adults. Even when I watched “Rocky and Bullwinkle” as a kid, I knew that these were adult cartoons (I mean G-rated adult cartoons). Since there were several features on the show, I think we should discuss them one at a time.1. Rocky and Bullwinkle Vs. Boris and NatashaThe main story was done like a movie serial, with one chapter at the beginning and another at the end of the show. Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale are spies who work for a country that looks suspiciously like the old Soviet Union. The only thing thwarting their plans to take over the USA is the brilliant mind of one Rocket J. Squirrel and the not-so brilliant mind of one Bullwinkle Moose, who really has no idea what’s going on during the show. Boris’ boss is “Fearless Leader” (what a great name for a dictator!). He spends most of his screen time telling Badenov how stupid he is. Yet in the episode “Mechanical Munching Mice” Boris has a brilliant “fiendish plan.” In those pre-cable days, practically every home had a TV antenna on the roof. So Boris created an army of huge mechanical mice with sharp teeth. Their job? To chew off every metal TV antenna in the country! As TV screens all over the nation go blank, people panic. They don’t know what to do. They have long ago lost the ability to communicate with others, even members of their own family! (Of course, you might suggest that they should read a book. What are you, nuts?) As they stare at their blank screens, the entire population is easy prey for the two spies.2. Fractured Fairy Tales. Narrated by the great Edward Everett Horton, this feature will make you wonder why any child ever read a fairy story. “Rapunzel” is a typical example. A woman has an uncontrollable desire for “rampion,” some sort of flower, which grows in the garden owned by the witch next door. When her husband goes into to the garden to get some, the witch is not pleased. But she tells him he can take all he wants, as long as he agrees to give the child his wife is about to have to the witch! She names it “Rapunzel” (which is short for “rampion”) and locks her up in a tower. The only way to get in the sole window is to have Rapunzel let down her incredibly long hair. The king’s son, walking through the forest, sees the tower, climbs up Rapunzel’s hair, and instantly falls in love. But the witch is not pleased, and throws the prince out of the tower, after pulling his hat down over his eyes. As Horton tells us, for two years the prince wandered through the forest, bumping into trees. Then, hearing Rapunzel singing, he finds the tower and meets Rapunzel again. Only he can’t see.Rapunzel: Why don’t you take off your hat?Prince (excited): I CAN SEE!Well, that’s the way things go in fairy tales.3. Aesop and Son-I never liked this replacement for “Fractured Fairy Tales” in which Aesop and his son recreate some of his most famous stories; not very funny.4. Bullwinkle’s Corner-As Rocky explains, this is “the cultural part of our program.” a celebration of famous poems. In “Little Miss Muffet,” Bullwinkle plays the title role and Rocky is the spider. “Little Miss Muffet sat on a tuffet eating her curds and whey (Bullwinkle: Boy, this stuff is terrible.) Rocky is confused. What’s a tuffet? Bullwinkle: It’s what I’m sittin’ on!5. Mr. Peabody-Mr. Peabody is a dog. He’s also a genius. All alone in his small New York apartment, Peabody decided he needed a family, so he adopted a boy named Sherman. But because there was so little for a boy to do in a tiny apartment, Mr. Peabody invented the WAY-BAC machine. Set the date and place, and you are transported there instantly (how you get back is never explained). Peabody and Sherman meet people like Napoleon, Leonardo Da Vinci, Don Juan, and Wyatt Earp. They even go to China to see Confucius, who they find working in a “Yen Arcade.” “You put yen in slot, and Confucius gonna give you one of his famous sayings.” Politically, it’s completely incorrect, but totally hilarious.6. Dudley Do-Right-This part of the show is a salute to our neighbor to the North (Canada, that is). Dudley Do-Right is a member of the Canadian Mounties. As such, he spends almost every waking moment trying to catch arch-villain Snidely Whiplash. There is nothing Snidely won’t stoop to, from blowing up bridges to stealing money from widows and orphans. Dudley is in love with Nell Fenwick, a true-blue Canadian girl is there ever was one. This is also quite convenient, since Nell lives at the RCMP camp and is the daughter of Dudley’s boss, Inspector Fenwick. The inspector speaks like Eric Blore, a British actor who spoke very slowly onscreen. This was good, because you could go to the snack bar, buy your popcorn, and return to your seat, and Blore would still be in the middle of his first sentence. You never missed any of the action!

Love
Love it.

Rocky and Bullwinkle
Great collection!

Moose & Squirrel rock!
These guys are the antidote to politics!

if you like rocky and bullwinkle you will like all these old original cartoons. and for those of yo not in the USA, the DVDs don’t have any region code so they will play anywhere.

sustaining ironic commentary from Bullwinkle

I love rocky and Bullwinkle I grew up with them