Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Complete Season 1

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Complete Season 1
by Dun Roman, Gerald Ray, Gerard Baldwin, Jim Hiltz, Rudy Zamora

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• ROCKY AND BULLWINKLE & FRIENDS-SEASON 1 (DVD MOVIE)

DVD Reviews of Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Complete Season 1

DVD Review: Get moose and squirrel!
Summary: 5 Stars

In the decade since Disney introduced "quality" limited animation with "Duck Tales," there's been an explosion of well-written and well-drawn animated shows, mostly on "Cartoon Network." Some are aimed at kids, but many are written by adults, for adults.

Of course, "Rocky & Bullwinkle" got there first -- thirty-five years earlier! Unlike the crap churned out by Hanna-Barbera (anyone who doesn't like "Rocky & Bullwinkle" probably thinks garbage like "The Flinstones" is uproariously funny), "R&B" was penned by talented writers who would later go on to classic live-action series (eg, "Mary Tyler Moore"). They didn't write for the kiddies, but to suit their own taste. (I had to ask my mother who Phil Spitalny was.)

That taste included satire. True, "Animaniacs" and "Rokko's Modern Life" are often satirical, but their focus is principally pop culture. "Rocky & Bullwinkle" wasn't afraid of social and political barbs.

The first dozen or so shows are tepid; those unfamiliar with "R&B" might wonder why TV Guide picked the show as one of the all-time-50-best programs. Everything is in place, but little of it jells. The writers haven't really "let go" and discovered just how crazy they could be. The "R&B" episodes haven't started ragging on society and politics, nor has William Conrad yet discovered his classic over-the-top delivery. (The statement by another reviewer that his voice is badly redubbed in early episodes is quite wrong.) "Fractured Fairy Tales" sticks too close to the originals (though one of the characters lives in a town named "Daniels on the Rocks"). Only "Mr. Peabody's Improbable History" has hit its stride, because the Waybac [sic] presents history as it "should" have been, inviting all sorts of historical lunacy and non-sequiturs.

Things start falling into place around the dozenth program. The character designs become rounder and more pleasing (Boris and Natasha, especially, lose their crude ugliness), Fearless Leader morphs from Soviet apparatchik into scar-faced Nazi, and the satire starts hitting its mark. Captain Peachfuzz lands, though has yet to acquire his Ed Wynn voice.

Speaking of which "Rocky & Bullwinkle" had the best voice talent of its day -- June Foray, Daws Butler, Paul Frees, and the incredible Bill Scott, whose unbelievable range of voices are unidentifiable as coming from a single actor. Walter Tetley (The Great Gildersleeve's nephew) plays Sherman, Charles Ruggles (Gale Storm's father on "My Little Margie") is Aesop, and the inimitable Hans Conreid renders Snidely Whiplash (was there ever a better comic name?) in deliriously over-the-top style.

Visually, "Rocky & Bullwinkle" was awful-looking, with weak, muddy colors, and a palette barely wider than brown, blue, and green. So the image quality of this release is shocking shocking! The colors are far brighter and cleaner, and the color gamut finally acknowledges the long and medium wavelengths. Most of the dirt and scratches are gone, as well, so we can only assume we're seeing an element much closer to the source (the original negative, perhaps?).

"Rocky & Bullwinkle" was vastly superior to just about anything else on the air at that time -- "The Simpsons" of its era. (Jay Ward would spin in his grave if he heard me say it, but "South Park" is the legitimate bastard grandchild of "Rocky & Bullwinkle.") In the later seasons, you'll see some timeless classics, such as R&B attending Wossamotta U., a magic hat that makes its wearer supremely intelligent, and "Riding Hoods Anonymous."

Unreservedly recommended. Now if the producers would only pull the next four seasons out of their hat...