''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American
animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the
ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
and
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
television networks.
The current blanket title was imposed for home video releases more than 40 years after the series originally aired and was never used when the show was televised; television airings of the show were broadcast under the titles of ''Rocky and His Friends'' from 1959 to 1961 (and again in Canada in 1963), ''The Bullwinkle Show'' from 1961 to 1964, and ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'' (or ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'') in syndication.
Produced by
Jay Ward Productions
Jay Ward Productions, Inc. (sometimes shortened to Ward Productions) is an American animation studio based in Costa Mesa, California. It was founded in 1948 by American animator Jay Ward.
The Jay Ward Productions library and rights were previou ...
, the series is structured as a
variety show
Variety show, also known as variety arts or variety entertainment, is entertainment made up of a variety of acts including musical performances, sketch comedy, magic, acrobatics, juggling, and ventriloquism. It is normally introduced by a comp ...
, with the main feature being the
serialized adventures of the two title characters, the
anthropomorphic flying squirrel Rocket J. ("Rocky") Squirrel and
moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...
Bullwinkle J. Moose. The main
antagonists
An antagonist is a character in a story who is presented as the chief foe of the protagonist.
Etymology
The English word antagonist comes from the Greek ἀνταγωνιστής – ''antagonistēs'', "opponent, competitor, villain, enemy, ri ...
in most of their adventures are the two
Russian
Russian(s) refers to anything related to Russia, including:
*Russians (, ''russkiye''), an ethnic group of the East Slavic peoples, primarily living in Russia and neighboring countries
*Rossiyane (), Russian language term for all citizens and peo ...
-like spies
Boris Badenov
Boris Badenov is an antagonist of the 1959–1964 animated cartoons ''Rocky and His Friends'' and ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, The Bullwinkle Show'', collectively referred to as ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'' for short. He was originall ...
and
Natasha Fatale, both working for the
Nazi
Nazism ( ; german: Nazismus), the common name in English for National Socialism (german: Nationalsozialismus, ), is the far-right totalitarian political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in ...
-like
dictator
A dictator is a political leader who possesses absolute power. A dictatorship is a state ruled by one dictator or by a small clique. The word originated as the title of a Roman dictator elected by the Roman Senate to rule the republic in tim ...
Fearless Leader
Fearless Leader is the main antagonist in the 1959–1964 animated television series '' Rocky and His Friends'' and ''The Bullwinkle Show'', both shows often collectively referred to as ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show''. He is the employer of ...
. Supporting segments include "
Dudley Do-Right
Dudley Do-Right is a fictional character created by Alex Anderson, Chris Hayward, Allan Burns, Jay Ward, and Bill Scott, who appears as the main protagonist of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", a segment on '' The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.' ...
" (a parody of old-time melodrama), "
Peabody's Improbable History" (a dog named Mr. Peabody and his boy Sherman traveling through time), and "Fractured Fairy Tales" (classic
fairy tales retold in comic fashion), among others.
[
''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' is known for quality writing and wry humor. Mixing ]pun
A pun, also known as paronomasia, is a form of word play that exploits multiple meanings of a term, or of similar-sounding words, for an intended humorous or rhetorical effect. These ambiguities can arise from the intentional use of homophoni ...
s, cultural and topical satire
Satire is a genre of the visual, literary, and performing arts, usually in the form of fiction and less frequently non-fiction, in which vices, follies, abuses, and shortcomings are held up to ridicule, often with the intent of shaming ...
, and self-referential humor
Self-referential humor, also known as self-reflexive humor, self-aware humor, or meta humor, is a type of comedic expression that—either directed toward some other subject, or openly directed toward itself—is self-referential in some way, int ...
, it appealed to adults as well as children. It was also one of the first cartoons whose animation was outsourced; storyboards were shipped to Gamma Productions, a Mexican studio also employed by Total Television
Total Television was an American animation studio founded in 1959 by Buck Biggers, Chester "Chet" Stover,p.478 Erickson,Hal ''Television Cartoon Shows: An Illustrated Encyclopedia, 1949 through 2003'' McFarland & Co., 2005 Joe Harris, and Trea ...
. The art has a choppy, unpolished look and the animation is extremely limited even by television animation standards at the time, yet the series has long been held in high esteem by those who have seen it; some critics described the series as a well-written radio program with pictures.
The show was shuffled around several times during its run, airing in afternoon, prime time, and Saturday-morning cartoon
"Saturday-morning cartoon" is a colloquial term for the original animated series programming that was typically scheduled on Saturday and Sunday mornings in the United States on the "Big Three" television networks. The genre's popularity had a br ...
timeslots, and was influential to other animated series from ''The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'' to ''Rocko's Modern Life
''Rocko's Modern Life'' is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an anthropomorphic Australian immigrant wallaby named Rocko and his friends: the eccentric stee ...
''. Segments from the series were later recycled in the ''Hoppity Hooper
''Hoppity Hooper'' is an American animated television series produced by Jay Ward, and sponsored by General Mills, originally broadcast on ABC from September 12, 1964 until 1967. The series was produced in Hollywood by Jay Ward and Bill Scot ...
'' show.
There have been numerous feature film adaptations of the series' various segments, such as the 2000 film '' The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'', which blended live-action and computer animation; and the 1999 live-action film ''Dudley Do-Right
Dudley Do-Right is a fictional character created by Alex Anderson, Chris Hayward, Allan Burns, Jay Ward, and Bill Scott, who appears as the main protagonist of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", a segment on '' The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.' ...
''. Both films received poor reviews and were financially unsuccessful. By contrast, an animated feature film adaptation of the "Peabody's Improbable History" segment, '' Mr. Peabody & Sherman'', was released to positive reviews in 2014. A rebooted
''Rebooted'' is the third season of the computer-animated television series '' Ninjago: Masters of Spinjitzu'' (titled ''Ninjago'' from the eleventh season onward). The series was created by Michael Hegner and Tommy Andreasen. The season aired f ...
animated series also based on "Peabody's Improbable History", '' The Mr. Peabody & Sherman Show'', debuted on Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...
in October 2015.
Another reboot animated series based on the main and final segments, '' The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'' premiered on Amazon Prime Video on May 11, 2018.
In 2013, ''Rocky and His Friends'' and ''The Bullwinkle Show'' were ranked the sixth-greatest television cartoon of all time by ''TV Guide
TV Guide is an American digital media company that provides television program listings information as well as entertainment and television-related news.
The company sold its print magazine division, TV Guide Magazine LLC, in 2008.
Corpora ...
''.
Background
The idea for the series came from Jay Ward
Joseph Ward Cohen Jr. (September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989), also known as Jay Ward, was an American creator and producer of animated TV cartoon shows. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bu ...
and Alex Anderson, who previously collaborated on ''Crusader Rabbit
''Crusader Rabbit'' is the first animated series produced specifically for television. Its main characters were Crusader Rabbit and his sidekick Ragland T. Tiger, or "Rags". The stories were four-minute-long satirical cliffhangers.
The concept ...
'', based upon the original property ''The Frostbite Falls Revue''. This original show never got beyond the proposal stage. It featured a group of forest animals running a television station. The group included Rocket J. Squirrel (Rocky), Oski Bear, Canadian Moose (Bullwinkle), Sylvester Fox, Blackstone Crow, and Floral Fauna. The show in this form was created by Alex Anderson. (The bear and fox characters would later be retooled for Ward's next series, ''Hoppity Hooper
''Hoppity Hooper'' is an American animated television series produced by Jay Ward, and sponsored by General Mills, originally broadcast on ABC from September 12, 1964 until 1967. The series was produced in Hollywood by Jay Ward and Bill Scot ...
''.) Bullwinkle's name came from the name of a car dealership in Berkeley, California, called Bullwinkel Motors. Anderson changed the order of the last two letters of the name and gave the name to his moose.
Ward wanted to produce the show in Los Angeles; however, Anderson lived in the San Francisco Bay Area and did not want to relocate. As a result, Ward hired Bill Scott as head writer and co-producer at Jay Ward Productions, and he wrote the ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' features. Ward was joined by writers Chris Hayward
Christopher Robert Hayward (June 19, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American television writer and producer. He was the co-creator, with Allan Burns, of the television shows ''The Munsters'' (1964) and ''My Mother the Car'' (1965), and the cr ...
and Allan Burns
Allan Pennington Burns (May 18, 1935January 30, 2021) was an American screenwriter and television producer. He was best known for co-creating and writing for the television sitcoms ''The Munsters'' and ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show''.
Early life ...
; they eventually became known for creating ''The Munsters
''The Munsters'' is an American sitcom depicting the home life of a family of benign monsters. The series starred Fred Gwynne as Frankenstein's monsterEpisodes referring to the fact that Herman is Frankenstein's monster include #55, "Just Anoth ...
'' with Allan going to co-create ''The Mary Tyler Moore Show
''The Mary Tyler Moore Show'' (also known simply as ''Mary Tyler Moore'') is an American television sitcom created by James L. Brooks and Allan Burns and starring actress Mary Tyler Moore. The show originally aired on CBS from 1970 to 1977. Mo ...
''. In a 1982 interview, Scott said, "I got a call from Jay asking if I'd be interested in writing another series, an adventure script with a moose and a squirrel. I said, 'Sure.' I didn't know if I could write an adventure with a moose and a squirrel, but I never turned down a job."
Production
The series began with the pilot ''Rocky the Flying Squirrel''. Production began in February 1958 with the hiring of voice actor
Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...
s June Foray
June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...
, Paul Frees
Solomon Hersh "Paul" Frees (June 22, 1920November 2, 1986) was an American actor, comedian, impressionist, and vaudevillian. He is known for his work on Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Walter Lantz, Rankin/Bass, and Walt Disney theatrical cartoons during ...
, Bill Scott, and William Conrad. Eight months later, General Mills
General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...
signed a deal to sponsor the cartoon program, under the condition that the show be run in a late-afternoon time slot, when it could be targeted toward children. Subsequently, Ward hired the rest of the production staff, including writers and designers. However, no animators were hired. Ad executives at Dancer, Fitzgerald and Sample, the advertising agency for General Mills, set up an animation studio in Mexico called Gamma Productions S.A. de C.V., originally known as Val-Mar Animation. This outsourcing of the animation for the series was considered financially attractive by primary sponsor General Mills, but caused endless production problems. In a 1982 interview by animation historian Jim Korkis, Bill Scott described some of the problems that arose during production of the series:
We found out very quickly that we could not depend on Mexican studios to produce anything of quality. They were turning out the work very quickly and there were all kinds of mistakes and flaws and boo-boos...They would never check...Mustaches popped on and off Boris, Bullwinkle's antlers would change, colors would change, costumes would disappear...By the time we finally saw it, it was on the air.
Network television: 1959–1973
The show was broadcast for the first time on November 19, 1959, on the ABC
ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet.
ABC or abc may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting
* American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster
** Disney–ABC Television ...
television network under the title ''Rocky and His Friends'' twice a week, on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons, following '' American Bandstand'' at 5:30 p.m. ET, where it was the highest-rated daytime network program. The show moved to the NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an American English-language commercial broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Entertainment division of NBCUniversal, a division of Comcast, its headquarters are l ...
network starting September 24, 1961, broadcast in color, and first appeared on Sundays at 7:00 p.m., just before ''Walt Disney's Wonderful World of Color
The Walt Disney Company has produced an anthology television series since 1954 under several titles and formats. The program's current title, ''The Wonderful World of Disney'', was used from 1969 to 1979 and again from 1991 to the present. The pr ...
''. ''Bullwinkle''s ratings suffered as a result of airing opposite perennial favorite '' Lassie''. A potential move to CBS
CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...
caused NBC to reschedule the show to late Sunday afternoons (5:30 p.m.) and early Saturday afternoons in its final season. NBC canceled the show in the summer of 1964. It was shopped to ABC, but they were not interested. However, reruns of episodes were aired on ABC's Sunday morning schedule at 11:00 a.m. until 1973, at which time the series went into syndication. An abbreviated 15-minute version of the series ran in syndication in the 1960s under the title ''The Rocky Show''. This version was sometimes shown in conjunction with ''The King and Odie'', a 15-minute version of Total Television's ''King Leonardo and His Short Subjects
''King Leonardo and His Short Subjects'' (also known as ''The King and Odie Show'') is a 1960–1963 American Saturday-morning animated television series that aired on NBC, sponsored by General Mills. It was created by Total Television (which wou ...
''. ''The King and Odie'' was similar to ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' in that it was sponsored by General Mills and animated by Gamma Productions. NBC later aired ''Bullwinkle Show'' reruns at 12:30 p.m. ET Saturday afternoons during the 1981-1982 television season.
Syndication
On cable, the series had extended runs on Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its networks division's Kids and Family Group. It ...
(1992–1996), Cartoon Network (1996–2003) and Boomerang
A boomerang () is a thrown tool, typically constructed with aerofoil sections and designed to spin about an axis perpendicular to the direction of its flight. A returning boomerang is designed to return to the thrower, while a non-returning ...
(mid 2000s). Since the late 2000s, The Program Exchange has typically only licensed the series for short-term runs; nationally, the series has seen limited airings on WGN America
WGN America was an American subscription television network that was owned by the Nexstar Media Group, and was the company's only wholly owned, national cable-originated television channel. The channel in its final form under the WGN branding ra ...
(2009), VH1 Classic
MTV Classic (formerly VH1 Smooth, VH1 Classic Rock, and VH1 Classic) is an American pay television network owned by Paramount Media Networks. It was originally launched in 1998 as VH1 Smooth, an adult contemporary and smooth jazz channel. It w ...
(2012), and Boomerang (2013).
''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'' remained in syndicated rerun
A rerun or repeat is a rebroadcast of an episode of a radio or television program. There are two types of reruns – those that occur during a hiatus, and those that occur when a program is syndicated.
Variations
In the United Kingdom, the word ...
s and was still available for local television stations through The Program Exchange
The Program Exchange was a syndicator of television programs. It was founded as DFS Program Exchange in 1978, which became elongated to the DFS-Dorland Program Exchange from 1986 to 1987. From 1986 to 2008, it was a division of Saatchi & Saatchi ...
as late as 2016; WBBZ-TV
WBBZ-TV (channel 67) is an independent television station licensed to Springville, New York, United States, serving the Buffalo area. It is owned by ITV of Buffalo, a company controlled by former news photographer Philip A. Arno. WBBZ-TV's stu ...
, for instance, aired the show in a strip
Strip or Stripping may refer to:
Places
* Aouzou Strip, a strip of land following the northern border of Chad that had been claimed and occupied by Libya
* Caprivi Strip, narrow strip of land extending from the Okavango Region of Namibia to ...
to counterprogram 10 PM newscasts in the Buffalo, New York
Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from Sou ...
, market during the summer 2013 season. The underlying rights are now owned by WildBrain
WildBrain Ltd. (formerly known as DHX Media, Ltd.) is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest library of childr ...
, who acquired the licensing, production, and distribution rights to Ward's library in 2022. These rights were previously held by Universal Pictures
Universal Pictures (legally Universal City Studios LLC, also known as Universal Studios, or simply Universal; common metonym: Uni, and formerly named Universal Film Manufacturing Company and Universal-International Pictures Inc.) is an Ameri ...
, which acquired the library of predecessor companies DreamWorks Animation and Classic Media
Classic Media, LLC, doing business as DreamWorks Classics, is an American entertainment company owned by DreamWorks Animation, which is a subsidiary of Universal Pictures and a division of Comcast's NBCUniversal. It was founded as Classic Media ...
in 2016 (coinciding with The Program Exchange's shutdown), and who in turn with copyright holder Ward Productions formed the joint venture Bullwinkle Studios, which managed the Rocky and Bullwinkle properties. Despite the move, Universal still owns the rights to the co-productions Ward produced with DreamWorks
Sponsor General Mills
General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...
retained all United States television rights to the series. Two packages, each containing different episodes, are available. The syndicated version of ''The Bullwinkle Show'' contains 98 half-hour shows (#801–898). The first 78 comprise the Rocky and Bullwinkle story lines from the first two seasons of the original series (these segments originally aired under the ''Rocky and His Friends'' title). Other elements in the half-hour shows (''Fractured Fairy Tales
''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the American Broadca ...
'', '' Peabody's Improbable History'', ''Dudley Do-Right
Dudley Do-Right is a fictional character created by Alex Anderson, Chris Hayward, Allan Burns, Jay Ward, and Bill Scott, who appears as the main protagonist of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", a segment on '' The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.' ...
of the Mounties'', '' Aesop and Son'', and short cartoons including ''Bullwinkle's Corner
''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the American Broadca ...
'' and ''Mr. Know-It-All
''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (commonly referred to as simply ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'') is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959, to June 27, 1964, on the ABC and NBC te ...
'') sometimes appear out of the original broadcast sequence. The final 20 syndicated ''Bullwinkle Show'' episodes feature later ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' story lines (from "Bumbling Bros. Circus" through the end of the series, minus "Moosylvania") along with ''Fractured Fairy Tales'', ''Bullwinkle's Corner'', and ''Mr. Know-It-All'' segments repeated from earlier in the syndicated episode cycle. Originally, many syndicated shows included segments of Total Television's ''The World of Commander McBragg
Commander McBragg is a cartoon character who appeared in short segments (usually 90 seconds) produced by Total Television Productions and animated by Gamma Productions. These segments first appeared in 1963 on the animated series ''Tennessee Tuxedo ...
'', but these cartoons were replaced with other segments when the shows were remastered in the early 1990s. A package, promoted under the ''Rocky and His Friends'' name but utilizing ''The Rocky Show'' titles, features story lines not included in the syndicated ''Bullwinkle Show'' series.
The most recently syndicated ''Rocky and His Friends'' package retains the 15-minute format, consisting of 156 individual episodes, but like ''The Bullwinkle Show'', the content differs from the versions syndicated in the 1960s. The various supporting segments, including ''Fractured Fairy Tales'' (91), ''Peabody's Improbable History'' (91), and ''Aesop and Son'' (39) segments are syndicated as part of ''Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales'', and 38 of the 39 ''Dudley Do-Right'' cartoons are syndicated as part of ''Dudley Do Right ''(sic)'' and Friends''. Syndicated versions of the shows distributed outside of the United States and Canada combine the various segments under the package title ''Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends''; it is this version of the show that is represented on official DVD
The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kind ...
releases through DreamWorks Classics and the official online version sold at websites such as Amazon Video
Amazon Prime Video, also known simply as Prime Video, is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming and rental service of Amazon offered as a standalone service or as part of Amazon's Prime subscription. The service pr ...
.
Characters
The lead characters and heroes of the series were Rocket "Rocky" J. Squirrel, a flying squirrel (who anchored the perspective of the show's younger audience), and his best friend Bullwinkle J. Moose, a dimwitted but good-natured moose
The moose (in North America) or elk (in Eurasia) (''Alces alces'') is a member of the New World deer subfamily and is the only species in the genus ''Alces''. It is the largest and heaviest extant species in the deer family. Most adult ma ...
(who carried a bulk of the adult humor with his spontaneous puns). Both characters lived in the fictional town of Frostbite Falls, Minnesota
Minnesota () is a state in the upper midwestern region of the United States. It is the 12th largest U.S. state in area and the 22nd most populous, with over 5.75 million residents. Minnesota is home to western prairies, now given over to ...
, which was purportedly based on the real city of International Falls, Minnesota. The scheming villains in most episodes were the fiendish spies Boris Badenov
Boris Badenov is an antagonist of the 1959–1964 animated cartoons ''Rocky and His Friends'' and ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, The Bullwinkle Show'', collectively referred to as ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'' for short. He was originall ...
(a pun on Boris Godunov) and Natasha Fatale (a pun on femme fatale), forever attempting to "catch Moose and Squirrel". Other characters included Fearless Leader
Fearless Leader is the main antagonist in the 1959–1964 animated television series '' Rocky and His Friends'' and ''The Bullwinkle Show'', both shows often collectively referred to as ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show''. He is the employer of ...
, the dictator of the fictitious nation of Pottsylvania and Boris and Natasha's superior; Gidney & Cloyd
Gidney and Cloyd are fictional characters originally appearing in the American animated television program ''Rocky and His Friends'' (now known, along with ''The Bullwinkle Show'', as ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'' or simply ''Rocky and Bullwin ...
, little green men from the Moon who were armed with scrooch guns; Captain Peter "Wrongway" Peachfuzz, the captain of the S.S. ''Andalusia''; various U.S. government bureaucrats and politicians (such as Senator Fussmussen, a recurring character who opposed admitting Alaska
Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...
and Hawaii
Hawaii ( ; haw, Hawaii or ) is a state in the Western United States, located in the Pacific Ocean about from the U.S. mainland. It is the only U.S. state outside North America, the only state that is an archipelago, and the only state ...
to the Union on the grounds of his own xenophobia
Xenophobia () is the fear or dislike of anything which is perceived as being foreign or strange. It is an expression of perceived conflict between an in-group and out-group and may manifest in suspicion by the one of the other's activities, a ...
); and the inevitable onlookers, Edgar and Chauncy.
Structure
When first shown on NBC, the cartoons were introduced by a Bullwinkle puppet, voiced by Bill Scott, who would often lampoon celebrities, current events, and especially Walt Disney
Walter Elias Disney (; December 5, 1901December 15, 1966) was an American animator, film producer and entrepreneur. A pioneer of the American animation industry, he introduced several developments in the production of cartoons. As a film p ...
, whose program '' Wonderful World of Color'' was next on the schedule. Compared with the dim-witted and lovable moose that most fans of the series would grow up with, in this short-lived version Bullwinkle was portrayed as a sarcastic smart-aleck. On one occasion, "Bullwinkle" encouraged children to pull the tuning knobs off their television sets. ("It's loads of fun, and that way, you'll be sure to be with us next week!") The network received complaints from parents of an estimated 20,000 child viewers who actually did so. Bullwinkle told the children the following week to put the knobs back on with glue "and make it stick!" The puppet sequence was dropped altogether. Scott later re-used the puppet for a segment called "Dear Bullwinkle," where letters written for the show were read and answered humorously. Four episodes of "Dear Bullwinkle" are on the Season 1 DVD.
Each episode is composed of two ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' cliffhanger
A cliffhanger or cliffhanger ending is a plot device in fiction which features a main character in a precarious or difficult dilemma or confronted with a shocking revelation at the end of an episode or a film of serialized fiction. A cliffhang ...
shorts that stylistically emulated early radio and film serials. The plots of these shorts would combine into story arc
A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vid ...
s spanning numerous episodes. The first and longest story arc was '' Jet Fuel Formula'' consisting of 40 shorts (20 episodes). Stories ranged from seeking the missing ingredient for a rocket fuel formula, to tracking the monstrous whale ''Maybe Dick'', to an attempt to prevent mechanical metal-munching moon mice from devouring the nation's television antennas. Rocky and Bullwinkle frequently encounter the two Pottsylvanian nogoodniks, Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale.
At the end of most episodes, the narrator, William Conrad, would announce two humorous titles for the next episode that typically were puns of each other (and usually related more to the current predicament than to the plot of the next episode). For example, during an adventure taking place in a mountain range
A mountain range or hill range is a series of mountains or hills arranged in a line and connected by high ground. A mountain system or mountain belt is a group of mountain ranges with similarity in form, structure, and alignment that have arise ...
, the narrator would state, "Be with us next time for 'Avalanche
An avalanche is a rapid flow of snow down a slope, such as a hill or mountain.
Avalanches can be set off spontaneously, by such factors as increased precipitation or snowpack weakening, or by external means such as humans, animals, and eart ...
Is Better Than None,' or 'Snow's Your Old Man.'" Such a 'This' or 'That' title announcement was borrowed from '' The Adventures of Sam Spade'' radio shows produced in 1946–1950. The narrator frequently spoke with the characters, thus breaking the fourth wall
The fourth wall is a performance convention in which an invisible, imaginary wall separates actors from the audience. While the audience can see through this ''wall'', the convention assumes the actors act as if they cannot. From the 16th cen ...
.
Episodes were introduced with one of four opening sequences:
* Rocky flies about snow-covered mountains. Below him, hiking on a snowy trail, Bullwinkle is distracted by a billboard featuring his name, and walks off a ledge. He becomes a large snowball as he rolls downhill. Rocky flies to him and pushes against the snowball, slowing it to a halt at the edge of another cliff. Bullwinkle pops out of the snowball to catch the teetering squirrel at the cliff edge.
* In a circus, Rocky is preparing to jump from a high diving board into a tub of water tended by Bullwinkle. However, when Rocky jumps, he ends up flying around the circus tent, while Bullwinkle chases after him carrying the tub. As Rocky lands safely, Bullwinkle tumbles into the tub. This was the same intro used for the Buena Vista VHS series in the early 1990s.
* Rocky is flying acrobatically about a city landscape. Bullwinkle is high atop a flagpole painting, and is knocked from his perch as the squirrel flies by. Rocky attempts to catch the plummeting moose with a butterfly net, but the moose falls through. Rocky then flies lower to find his friend suspended from a clothesline, having fallen into a pair of long johns.
* Similar to the previous opening, Rocky is again flying about the city. Bullwinkle is suspended from a safety harness posting a sign on a large billboard. He loses his balance as the squirrel zooms past him and tumbles off the platform. The moose lands on a banner pole mounted on the side of a building, and the recoil springs him back into the air. He lands on a store awning, slides down, and drops a few feet to a bench on which Rocky is seated. The impact launches the squirrel off the bench, and Bullwinkle nonchalantly catches him in his left hand to end the sequence.
Episodes ended with a bumper
Bumper or Bumpers may refer to:
People
* Betty Bumpers (1925-2018), American activist, First Lady of Arkansas, wife of Dale Bumpers
* Dale Bumpers (1925–2016), American politician, governor of Arkansas and senator
* Bumper Robinson (born 197 ...
sequence in which a violent lightning storm destroys the landscape, appearing to engulf Rocky and Bullwinkle in the destruction and accompanied by dramatic piano music. The music would become more lighthearted, and the ground would scroll upward while the outlines of the heroes gradually appeared. We then see a smiling sun overlooking a barren field which rapidly fills with sunflowers until Rocky and Bullwinkle finally sprout from the ground.
Supporting features
The ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' shorts serve as "bookends" for popular supporting features, including:
* "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties
Dudley Do-Right is a fictional character created by Alex Anderson, Chris Hayward, Allan Burns, Jay Ward, and Bill Scott, who appears as the main protagonist of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", a segment on ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.'' ...
", a parody of early-20th-century melodrama and serial film, silent film serials of the Northern (genre), Northern genre. Dudley Do-Right is a Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Canadian Mountie in constant pursuit of his nemesis, Snidely Whiplash, who sports the standard "villain" attire of black top hat, cape, and large handlebar moustache. This is one of the few Jay Ward cartoons to feature a background music track. As is standard in Ward's cartoons, jokes often have more than one meaning. A standard gag is to introduce characters in an irized close-up with the name of fictional actors displayed in a caption below, a convention seen in some early silent films. The names are usually silly names or subtle puns, e.g., Abraham Wilkes Booth as Dudley Do-Right, Sweetness N. Light as Nell Fenwick, and Claud Hopper as Snidely Whiplash. On one occasion, Whiplash's role is credited to the then-incarcerated bank robber Willie Sutton. Occasionally, even the scenery is introduced in this manner, as when "Dead Man's Gulch" is identified as being portrayed by "Gorgeous Gorge," a reference to professional wrestler Gorgeous George.
* "Peabody's Improbable History" features a genius talking dog named Mister Peabody who has a pet human boy named Sherman. Peabody and Sherman use Peabody's "WABAC machine" (pronounced "way-back", spelled WAYBAC in season 1, episode 4 ("Wyatt Earp"), and partially a play on words of the names of early computers such as UNIVAC and ENIAC) to go back in time to discover the ''real'' story behind historical events, and in many cases, intervene with uncooperative historical figures to ensure that events transpire as history has recorded. The term "Wayback Machine" is used to this day in Internet applications such as Wikipedia and the Internet Archive to refer to the ability to see or revert to older content. These segments are famous for including a pun at the end. For example, when going back to the time of Pancho Villa, they show Pancho a photo of a woman and he promptly feels the urge to take a nap. When Sherman asks why this is so, Peabody says that the woman's name is Esther, and whenever you "see Esther" (siesta), you fall asleep. Mr. Peabody is named after a dog belonging to Scott's son John. Sherman is named after UPA director Sherman Glas.
* "Fractured Fairy Tales" presented familiar fairy tales and children's stories, but with altered, modernized storylines for humorous, Fairy tale parody, satirical effect. This segment was narrated by Edward Everett Horton; June Foray
June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...
, Bill Scott, and Paul Frees, and an uncredited Daws Butler often supplied the voices. A typical example was their spin on "Sleeping Beauty." In this version, the prince (a caricature of Walt Disney) ''doesn't'' wake up Sleeping Beauty; instead, he builds a theme-park around her ("Sleeping Beautyland"), and gets headlines in ''Variety (magazine), Variety'' magazine ("Doze Doll Duz Wiz Biz").
* "Aesop and Son" is similar to "Fractured Fairy Tales", complete with the same theme music, except it deals with fables instead of fairy tales. The typical structure consists of Aesop attempting to teach a lesson to his son using a fable. After hearing the story, the son subverts the fable's moral with a pun. This structure was also suggested by the feature's opening titles, which showed Aesop painstakingly carving his name in marble using a mallet and chisel and then his son, with a jackhammer and raising a cloud of dust, appending "And Son." Aesop was voiced (uncredited) by actor Charles Ruggles and the son, Junior, was voiced by Daws Butler.
* "Bullwinkle's Corner" features the dimwitted moose attempting to introduce culture into the proceedings by reciting (and acting out) poems and nursery rhymes, inadvertently and humorously butchering them. Poems subjected to this treatment include several by Robert Louis Stevenson ("My Shadow", "The Swing", and "Where Go the Boats"); William Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud, "Daffodils"; "Little Miss Muffet", "Little Jack Horner", and "Wee Willie Winkie"; John Greenleaf Whittier, J. G. Whittier's "Barbara Frietchie"; and "The Queen of Hearts" by Charles Lamb (writer), Charles Lamb. Simple Simon (nursery rhyme), Simple Simon is performed with Boris as the pie man, but as a variation of the famous Abbott and Costello routine "Who's on First?".
* "Mr. Know-It-All" again features Bullwinkle posing as an authority on any topic. Disaster inevitably ensues. Boris Badenov
Boris Badenov is an antagonist of the 1959–1964 animated cartoons ''Rocky and His Friends'' and ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, The Bullwinkle Show'', collectively referred to as ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show'' for short. He was originall ...
plays a variety of roles as Bullwinkle's antagonist in most of the segments.
* "The Bullwinkle and Rocky Fan Club", a series of abortive attempts by Rocky and Bullwinkle to conduct club business. The fan club consists only of Rocky, Bullwinkle, Boris, Natasha, and Captain Peter "Wrongway" Peachfuzz. These shorts portray the characters as somewhat out of character, with even more fourth-wall breaks than in the story arcs.
* "Commander McBragg, The World of Commander McBragg", short features on revisionist history as the title character would have imagined it; this was actually prepared for ''Tennessee Tuxedo and His Tales'' (and later shown on ''Underdog (TV series), The Underdog Show''). Although the shorts were animated by the same animation company, Gamma Productions, they were produced for Total Television, rather than Ward Productions. These segments were packaged with pre-1990 syndicated versions of ''The Bullwinkle Show'' and appear in syndicated episodes of ''The Underdog Show'', ''Dudley Do Right and Friends'', and ''Uncle Waldo's Cartoon Show''. Since 1990, this feature has been divorced from the Bullwinkleverse, and it has never been included in Bullwinkle home videos.
Voices
The following table summarizes which characters were voiced by which actor, as documented in the ''Frostbite Falls Field Guide'' and June Foray interview in the Complete Series boxed set, as well as Rocky and Bullwinkle-related sub-articles here on Wikipedia.
Cultural impact
* In 1962, as a publicity stunt, Ward leased a small island on a lake between Minnesota and Canada, which he named after "Moosylvania", a small island shown in the later ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' cartoons. In a campaign to make the island into the 51st state, he and Scott drove a van across the country to about 50–60 cities collecting petition signatures. Arriving in Washington, D.C., they pulled up to the White House gate to see President Kennedy, and were brusquely turned away. They then learned that the evening that they had arrived during the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis.
* Also in 1962, British Invasion band Herman's Hermits got its name because bandmates thought lead singer Peter Noone looked like Sherman of "Mr. Peabody" fame, and the name "Herman" was close enough to "Sherman" for them.
* In the sci-fi movie ''Back to the Future'', Marty McFly is accidentally sent back in time to November 5, 1955, ending up on the Twin Pines Ranch, owned by "Old Man Peabody," who angrily shoots at the DeLorean, mistaking it as a spaceship, taken from his son Sherman, when Marty, who was also mistaken as an alien, accidentally killed a pine sapling. Director Robert Zemeckis named the landowner after Mr. Peabody, the time-traveling dog: the subtle joke being that Mr. Peabody apparently did ''not'' take kindly to competing time-travelers.
* TSR, Inc. released ''Bullwinkle and Rocky Role-Playing Party Game'' in 1988, a roleplaying game based on the world of Rocky and Bullwinkle. The game consisted of rules, mylar hand puppets, cards, and spinners.
* Data East produced a Pinball, pinball machine titled ''Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' (1993).
* In 1999, Mattel made Rocky and Bullwinkle-themed cars under its Hot Wheels line.
* In 2002, ''Rocky and His Friends'' ranked #47 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time, ''TV Guide''s 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.
* In January 2009, IGN named ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' as the 11th-best animated television series.
* To date, ''Rocky and Friends'' has aired in 100 countries.
Revival attempts
There were a few attempts to revive ''Rocky & Bullwinkle'' throughout the 1970s. A revival in 1981 parodied the Super Bowl. A script was written, storyboards were produced, the network gave it a green light, but the project was canceled because of objections from the NFL (actual team owners were parodied and Boris was Match fixing, fixing the game).
Another revival attempt took place at Disney in the mid-1980s, back when the company was distributing the show on VHS. Developed by Tad Stone and Michael Peraza, Michael Peraza Jr., the revival was named ''The Secret Adventures of Bullwinkle'' and would have been a modern take on the old Bullwinkle show, with the return of characters like Mr. Peabody and Sherman and Dudley Do-Right and would have featured new segments like "Fractured Scary Tales", a parody of horror films, and a new "Mr. Know It All" skit that, among other things, had Bullwinkle programming a VCR. Before the two presented their pitch, they discovered Disney did not have the rights to the series or characters, only to the video distribution of the old Bullwinkle show, and the concept was abandoned.
Home media
The program debuted on home video with two compilation Capacitance Electronic Disc, CED Videodiscs released by RCA during the format's rise in the early 1980s, featuring complete, uncut story arcs and accompanying alternating segments and bumpers. Volume 1 contained the complete story for ''Wossamotta U'', while volume 2 contained ''Goof Gas Attack'' and ''The Three Mooseketeers''.
Walt Disney Studios Home Entertainment, Buena Vista Home Video released the show on VHS, Betamax and LaserDisc in the early 1990s, under the title ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle''. These are presented differently from when broadcast. Two "Rocky and Bullwinkle" chapters were sometimes edited together into one (removing the "titles" for the next chapters as well as part of the recap at the beginning of the next), usually showing the storyline in four or five chapters per video. For example, the 12-episode ''Wossamotta U'' adventure is reduced to seven episodes, and runs about seven minutes shorter. The "Bullwinkle Show" closing was used on these.
The first eight videos were released under the "Classic Stuff" banner, with covers and titles being parodies of famous paintings or painters. Four more videos were released under the "Funny Stuff" banner but, unlike the first eight, these were not numbered, the video titles matched the title of the featured "Rocky and Bullwinkle" storyline, and the covers represented scenes from shows (such as Bullwinkle pulling a rhino out of a hat as the cover for "Painting Theft" (the change in the banner might have been due to a video magazine publishing a letter criticizing the editing)). "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Season 1" is available in Cracker Barrel for VHS.
Gray market releases
Years after the Buena Vista releases ended, another series of "Rocky and Bullwinkle" VHS tapes were released, both separately and as a boxed set. These videos included ''Upsidaisium (story arc), Upsidaisium'', ''The Last Angry Moose'', ''Metal-Munching Mice'', ''Much Mud'', and ''Rue Britannia''. However, these were released through GoodTimes Entertainment, GoodTimes Video and were not authorized by Ward Productions. The copies used were from 16 mm ''Bullwinkle Show'' prints. Some other companies also released unauthorized editions of ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'', including Nostalgia Family Video, which also released all 98 of ''The Bullwinkle Show'' package shows via 16 mm ''Bullwinkle Show'' prints, and Bridgestone Multimedia, which released eight episodes as ''Rocky and his Friends'' using an old broadcast 16 mm print.
The copyright status of these 98 episodes (along with some episodes of ''Hoppity Hooper
''Hoppity Hooper'' is an American animated television series produced by Jay Ward, and sponsored by General Mills, originally broadcast on ABC from September 12, 1964 until 1967. The series was produced in Hollywood by Jay Ward and Bill Scot ...
'') is disputed. As of 2017, the copyright is generally recognized as valid, and attempts to post the gray-market releases on video sites have historically been greeted with DMCA Notice and take down, take down notices.
In 2002, Jay Ward Productions established a partnership with Classic Media called Bullwinkle Studios. From 2003 to 2005, the partnership produced DVDs of the first three seasons of the series, which were renamed (for legal reasons) ''Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends''. Releases then stalled until 2010, when season 4 was released, in part to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the series. The complete series was released on January 4, 2011, marking the debut of season 5 on DVD. A standalone release of season 5 was released on March 29, 2011. The DVDs for the first three seasons were distributed by Sony Wonder, while seasons 4, 5, and Complete Series sets are currently distributed by Vivendi Entertainment. The complete series was re-released on DVD again on March 12, 2019, by Universal Pictures Home Entertainment, to celebrate the show's 60th anniversary.
The DVD releases differ somewhat from the originals. The original opening bumpers as seen on the network run were restored, but the title of the show was replaced with the name "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends" (never used during the show's television run) and a modern logo with styling inconsistent with the rest of the animation (pictured) somewhat clumsily inserted into the original bumpers. A William Conrad sound-alike was used to announce the new title, which some viewers found jarring. In addition, a semi-transparent "R&B" logo appears for five seconds at the beginning of each segment in the lower right-hand corner. Some segments were moved from their position in the original episodes. Also, the season 5 shows on DVD recycle supporting features found on the DVDs for the first four seasons. Mathematically, this makes sense, since the total number of supporting features (assuming two used per show) exactly equals the number of shows created during the first four seasons. The first set, most of the second set, and the fifth season set use the second opening and closing used for the ''Rocky and His Friends'' broadcast, while the last two story arcs in the second set, as well as the third- and fourth-season sets, use the original opening and closing from the ''Rocky and His Friends'' broadcast. Frank Comstock's musical themes are replaced on the sets with Fred Steiner's music produced for ''The Bullwinkle Show''. In addition, the first four season sets include optional Spanish-language audio tracks.
In 2005, Classic Media released a series of "best of" DVD compilations of popular segments of the series: two volumes of ''The Best of Rocky and Bullwinkle'', plus the single-volume ''The Best of Boris and Natasha'', ''The Best of Mr. Peabody and Sherman'', ''The Best of Fractured Fairy Tales'', and ''The Best of Dudley Do-Right''. These compilations contain episodes from the entire run of the show.
On October 30, 2012, Classic Media released a DVD called ''The Complete Fractured Fairy Tales'', which includes all 91 ''Fractured Fairy Tales'' segments.
On May 14, 2019, Universal Pictures Home Entertainment released a 2-disc DVD called ''Mr. Peabody & Sherman: The Complete Collection'', which includes all 91 ''Peabody's Improbable History'' segments.
During the time the show was available on Hulu (it was offered as a free series before it went to a subscription-only model), the DVD versions of the episodes were used instead of the syndication prints.
Reboots
On April 12, 2018, it was announced that a reboot of the series from DreamWorks Animation would premiere on Amazon Prime Video on May 11, 2018. The series is executive produced by Scott Fellows and Tiffany Ward (the daughter of Jay). The cast includes Tara Strong as Rocky, Brad Norman as Bullwinkle, Ben Diskin as Boris, Rachel Butera as Natasha, Piotr Michael as Fearless Leader, and Daran Norris as the Narrator.
On February 3, 2022, it was announced by Variety (Magazine), ''Variety'' (magazine) that WildBrain
WildBrain Ltd. (formerly known as DHX Media, Ltd.) is a Canadian media, animation studio, production, and brand licensing company, mostly associated as an entertainment company. The company is known for owning the largest library of childr ...
signed a deal with Jay Ward Productions
Jay Ward Productions, Inc. (sometimes shortened to Ward Productions) is an American animation studio based in Costa Mesa, California. It was founded in 1948 by American animator Jay Ward.
The Jay Ward Productions library and rights were previou ...
to do another reboot of the franchise. WildBrain CEO Eric Ellenbogen and Jay Ward
Joseph Ward Cohen Jr. (September 20, 1920 – October 12, 1989), also known as Jay Ward, was an American creator and producer of animated TV cartoon shows. He produced animated series based on such characters as Crusader Rabbit, Rocky & Bu ...
's daughter Tiffany Ward are teaming up.
In other media
Advertising
* In 1966, the duo appeared between show segments in ads for General Mills
General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...
' Frosty O's cereal and Kendall "Curad Comic Strips" plastic bandages
* In the mid-1960s, the show promoted the "Rocky and Bullwinkle Saving Stamp Club" (at the time, the U.S. Post Office was directly under control of the federal government). Stamp albums of unused stamps could be exchanged for U.S. savings bonds, which paid interest. To date, Rocky and Bullwinkle have not appeared on any U.S. postage stamps.
* Rocky and Bullwinkle were in a 1986 television commercial for Hershey's Kisses snack pack (this was Bill Scott's final appearance as Bullwinkle before his death).
* In the 1990s Rocky and Bullwinkle appeared in some ads for Taco Bell, wherein they ate real tacos by stopping Boris and Natasha from selling burgers.
* In 1995, Boris and Natasha appeared in two Energizer batteries commercials, in which the spies is trying to stop the Energizer Bunny. Rocky and Bullwinkle also appeared in a commercial.
* Pacific Data Images, PDI/DreamWorks Animation, DreamWorks CGI versions of Rocky and Bullwinkle appeared in a 2014 GEICO advertising campaigns, advertisement for GEICO, appearing with the GEICO Gecko in the Rocky Mountains.
Children's opera
* In 1997, The Los Angeles Opera toured a children's production, named ''Les Moose: The Operatic Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'', around various L.A. County Elementary Schools. The story followed Boris and Natasha as they tried to steal the formula for Mooseberry Rocket Fuel from Bullwinkle J. Moose.
Comics
* A syndicated daily newspaper comic strip titled ''Bullwinkle'' began on July 23, 1962, with original stories drawn by Al Kilgore. It was syndicated by the Bell Syndicate and ended in 1965.
* Rocky and Bullwinkle stories were published in Four Color.
* Rocky and Bullwinkle comic books were published by Dell Comics, Gold Key Comics, Charlton Comics and Star Comics (an imprint of Marvel Comics). All were called ''Bullwinkle and Rocky''. The comics, although for children, did contain numerous references spoofing issues such as celebrity worship or the politics of the 1980s. In one Star Comics issue, Bullwinkle owns a small company, which makes him eligible to compete in a fun run in Washington, D.C., for presidents of small companies. When Bullwinkle says he is there for the race, it is mistaken that he is campaigning for President. The comic also spoofed U.S. President Ronald Reagan, and he personally thanks Bullwinkle for stopping Boris and Natasha by rewarding him with monogrammed jelly beans. Another comic broke the fourth wall when the narrator is outraged at a plot of Boris', to which Boris claims he has control of everyone "by capturing the Marvel Comics building and tying up the editor". When the narrator comments on how this is morally wrong, Boris quiets him by saying, "You will agree or you will not find paycheck in mail this month!" The same issue made reference to the 1988 Summer Olympics, 1988 Olympics, which Boris had engineering in Fort Knox, Kentucky, in an attempt to steal its gold by carving all the bars into gold medals, as well as furnishing false information to every country so Pottsylvania would win all the gold medals (and thus take all true gold) by virtue of default. After Boris is foiled, the narrator comments that the games will go on as planned in real time in Seoul, South Korea.
* From 2013 to 2014, IDW Publishing with DreamWorks Classics and Bullwinkle Studios released comics of ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'', ''Dudley Do-Right'' and ''Peabody and Sherman''.
* From 2017 to 2020, American Mythology Productions released comics of Rocky and Bullwinkle and it was written by Todd Livingston.
Films
* ''Boris and Natasha: The Movie'' (1992), is a live-action feature film starring the two villainous spies. Neither Rocky nor Bullwinkle appears in this film; however, the characters of Toots and Harve are identified as "Moose" and "Squirrel" at one point in the film. The film was originally intended for theatrical release, but was premiered on Showtime (TV network), Showtime.
* ''Dudley Do-Right
Dudley Do-Right is a fictional character created by Alex Anderson, Chris Hayward, Allan Burns, Jay Ward, and Bill Scott, who appears as the main protagonist of "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", a segment on '' The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.' ...
'' (1999), a theatrical live-action film, starred Brendan Fraser, Sarah Jessica Parker and Alfred Molina.
* '' The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'' (2000) is a theatrical film starring Rocky and Bullwinkle. It was a mix of live-action with Rocky and Bullwinkle appearing as Computer animation, computer animated cartoon characters created by Industrial Light & Magic. June Foray returned to voice Rocky, while Bullwinkle was voiced by Keith Scott (voice actor), Keith Scott. Robert De Niro, Jason Alexander and Rene Russo played the live-action versions of Fearless Leader, Boris and Natasha, respectively. This film takes place 35 years after the show's cancellation.
* '' Mr. Peabody & Sherman'' is a 2014 animated film based on the two characters of the same name from the original cartoon.
* ''Rocky & Bullwinkle (2014 film), Rocky and Bullwinkle'' is a short animated film produced by DreamWorks Animation, and directed by Gary Trousdale. It was originally planned to theatrically accompany the DreamWorks' feature film, ''Mr. Peabody & Sherman'', but was instead released on the Blu-ray#Blu-ray 3D, Blu-ray 3D release of the film. The short features June Foray as Rocky and Tom Kenny as Bullwinkle.
Music recordings
* Golden Records released a phonograph album of songs, ''Rocky the Flying Squirrel & His Friends'' (1961), using voice actor
Voice acting is the art of performing voice-overs to present a character or provide information to an audience. Performers are called voice actors/actresses, voice artists, dubbing artists, voice talent, voice-over artists, or voice-over talent ...
s from the series. Boris and Natasha, for example, sing: "We will double, single and triple cross our very closest friends!"
* A 78 rpm single (Golden 659) was released on yellow vinyl. This had Rocky singing "I Was Born To Be Airborne" on one side, backed with Bullwinkle singing "I'm Rocky's Pal". The single sold in grocery stores. Paul Parnes (who later wrote songs for ''Sesame Street'') is credited as composer. "Some nutty characters get together here for the benefit of the very young. Lots of laughs for the juvenile sense of humor."
* The pseudonymously named Boris Badenough released a record called "Hey Rocky!" on Trax Records in 1986. The record featured a house-music beat underneath clips from the series.
* In 2007, Blackstone Audio released the audio tracks of 15 of the ''Fractured Fairy Tales'' on CD.
Toys
* In 1999, Mattel released a numbered collector series under its Hot Wheels toy line, the "Car-Toon Friends" series. It contained four cars; the now-retired model "XT-3" for Rocky, "Double Vision" for Bullwinkle, "Saltflat Racer" for Natasha and "Lakestar" for Boris. They are no longer produced with these paint jobs and, as of December 2012, are hard to find.
Video games
* THQ released ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends (video game), The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends'' for the Nintendo Entertainment System, Game Boy, and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Super NES in 1992. Absolute Entertainment also released a version for the Sega Genesis, in 1993.
* A trivia game, titled ''Rocky & Bullwinkle's Know-It-All Quiz Game'', was released for Windows 95/98 and Mac (for PC), in 1998.
* Zen Studios released an Xbox Live Arcade video game titled ''Rocky and Bullwinkle (video game), Rocky and Bullwinkle'' for download on April 16, 2008.
* Data East released a pinball in 1993. Brazilian video game magazine ''Ação Games'' gave the pinball a fun rating 4 out of 4.
Parodies, cameos and references
* The Season 9 episode of ''The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
'' titled "Simpson Tide", the opening couch gag is a recreation of the ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' animated bumper seen at the end of each ''Bullwinkle'' short. The music accompanying it is also adapted from the original music in the bumper.
* Rocky and Bullwinkle made a brief cameo in the Comedy Central animated show ''Drawn Together'' in the episode "Foxxy vs. the Board of Education" when the hospital's waiting room features cartoon cameos including Rocky getting stuck into Bullwinkle's anus.
* Rocky and Bullwinkle were planned to appear in ''Who Framed Roger Rabbit'' along with Mr. Peabody and Hoppity Hooper
''Hoppity Hooper'' is an American animated television series produced by Jay Ward, and sponsored by General Mills, originally broadcast on ABC from September 12, 1964 until 1967. The series was produced in Hollywood by Jay Ward and Bill Scot ...
, a frog character also made by Jay Ward. These cameos were cut.
* In the animated series ''Arthur (TV series), Arthur'', the opening sequence of "Do You Believe in Magic?" parodies Bullwinkle attempting to pull a rabbit out of a magician's hat. Arthur pulls a lion out by mistake and says "Nothing up my sleeve...presto!" However, unlike Bullwinkle, Arthur ''does'' manage to pull a rabbit out of a hat: Buster, who claims "And now here's something we hope you really like!", just like Rocky would.
* The season 3 ''Rugrats'' episode "Sour Pickles" features a flashback to Stu and Drew as babies watching "Blocky and Oxwinkle" with June Foray providing the voices of Blocky and Svetlana.
* In an episode of Adult Swim's ''Robot Chicken'', in the "Papercut to Aorta" segment "Of Moose and Squirrel", a Cutout animation, cutout animated ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' spoof of John Steinbeck's ''Of Mice and Men'' has the duo playing George and Lennie, respectively, acting out some of the major moments of the story.
* A season 6 episode of ''The Powerpuff Girls'', called "I See a Funny Cartoon in Your Future", is a homage to ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'', lacking background music, the narrator talking constantly, pointing out the obvious and making puns, Madame Argentina (the antagonist of the episode) being voiced by June Foray
June Foray (born June Lucille Forer; September 18, 1917 – July 26, 2017) was an American voice actress. She was best known as the voice of such animated characters as Rocky the Flying Squirrel, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, Lucifer from Disney' ...
and a cliffhanger with two different titles.
* Rocky and Bullwinkle made cameos in the background in the ''South Park'' trilogy "Imaginationland: The Movie, Imaginationland". Creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone have mentioned ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' as one of their biggest influences for ''South Park'', primarily for its humor and satire.
* In the SpongeBob SquarePants (season 5), season 5 episode of ''SpongeBob SquarePants'' titled "Stanley S. SquarePants", a squirrel character who resembles Rocky made a cameo on a TV screen while SpongeBob's cousin Stanley changes the channels but accidentally destroys the TV.
* ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' has been referenced several times in ''Family Guy''.
** In the Season 3 episode "Family Guy (season 3)#ep1, The Thin White Line", Peter Griffin, Peter mistakes the Indoor tanning, tanning beds as time machines and accidentally pulls out a lion and Rocky the Flying Squirrel shows up and says, "And now, here's something we hope you'll really like", a frequent segue in the show.
** In the Season 3 episode "Family Guy (season 3)#ep36, The Kiss Seen Around the World", a cutaway shows that Peter and Brian Griffin, Brian travel back in time to meet Christopher Columbus in 1492, which parodied the ''Peabody's Improbable History'' segments.
** In the Season 7 episode "Stew-Roids", after Stewie Griffin, Stewie's steroids injection wears off and leaves him with large arm-flaps of loose skin, he jumps out the bedroom window and flies like Rocky, landing on a mailbox with Rocky's quote, "And now here's something we hope you'll really like".
** In the Season 10 episode "Thanksgiving (Family Guy), Thanksgiving", during Quahog's annual Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade, Thanksgiving parade, List of Family Guy characters#Tom Tucker, Tom Tucker mentions the Rocky and Bullwinkle float while a car alarm interrupts his news reporting.
* In ''True Lies'', Harry Tasker (Arnold Schwarzenegger) convinces Helen (Jamie Lee Curtis) that she was going to be a spy and her contact's name would be Boris. He went on to say that her name would be, and she interrupts to say "Natasha?" and is told, "No, Doris". For the rest of the film they are called Boris and Doris... This refers to and spoofs Rocky and Bullwinkle's nemeses, Boris and Natasha.
See also
* List of Rocky and Bullwinkle episodes, List of ''Rocky and Bullwinkle'' episodes (including links to articles on the various story arc
A story arc (also narrative arc) is the chronological construction of plot in a novel or story. It can also mean an extended or continuing storyline in episodic storytelling media such as television, comic books, comic strips, board games, vid ...
s)
* Upsidaisium (story arc)
* Bullwinkle's Restaurant
* Dudley Do-Right Emporium
* The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (film), ''The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle'' (film)
Notes
References
* ''The Simpsons
''The Simpsons'' is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical depiction of American life, epitomized by the Simpson family, which consists of Homer Simpson, Homer, Marge ...
: The Complete 9th Season'', 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment
Further reading
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* Chunovic, Louis. (1996) ''The Rocky and Bullwinkle Book''. Bantam Books.
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External links
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Jay Ward's "Jazz from the Swamp: A tribute to Moosylvania" record
(characters) at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. .
"Aesop and Son"
at Don Markstein's Toonopedia. .
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Adventures of Rocky And Bullwinkle
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends,
1950s American animated television series
1960s American animated television series
1950s American satirical television series
1960s American satirical television series
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American children's animated adventure television series
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American Broadcasting Company original programming
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Television shows set in Minnesota
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