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Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends - The Complete First Season

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends - The Complete First Season

List Price: $39.98
Your Price: $29.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: awesome DVD set!
Review: I must say that this is one of the best put-together DVD season sets I have come across. "Rocky and Bullwinkle" has had its share of different names such as "The Bullwinkle Show", "Rocky and His Friends", and now "Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends", but one must realize that these above names are all one show. Producers simply changed the name as it switched networks during its original run.

Rocky and Bullwinkle debuted on network television in the fall of 1959, and became an instant smash. Today, producers have brought the magic back. On DVD for the first time, "Rocky and Bullwinkle" will be presented in five individual season sets. Finding this terrific show on television has been almost impossible, but now fans can rejoice!

This set includes all 26 episodes of the first season. The set also includes nearly a half hour of deluxe bonus features which are not limited to four rare "Dear Bullwinkle" segments that have yet to be seen, and a very rare savings stamp episode used to support their savings stamp club. Another treat for fans includes a few commercials and promos used during the show's original airing to support the show. These commercials probably haven't aired in over 40 years! Also included in the bonus features is a sneak-peak at 2004's "Complete Season 2" which includes two R&B episodes.

The packaging is especially nice; a slipcase with a foldout that holds the four discs and the detailed booklet. You just have to see it to believe it! The producers must have spent forever on the decorative art in the packaging. This packaging is definitely a treat for fans.

The episodes are all included and have been colorized and remastered. What people do not realize is that the first two seasons of R&B were in black and white. We should all thank the producers for colorizing the first season of the timeless classic as it just would not have been the same in black and white. The picture and sound quality is also amazing, considering these shows are approaching 45 years in age.

Another great treat for fans is the classic "Stokey the Bear" episode which was thought to have been destroyed shortly after its first airing.

A few minor flaws were found that we might notice, but would only matter to a critic. There is a small transparent bug in the lower right-handed corner of the screen for only about 30 seconds from the beginning of each segment. Many might ask why they did this. The answer lies in the fact that producers want to protect their material and so that these episodes cannot be copied and bootlegged. Also, the second season opening credits is being used for all of these episodes. This almost brought down my rating to four stars, but the immense work done on all other parts of the set clearly overrides that small detail.

The producers have done a wondeful job on this set and I am writing them and telling them how pleased I am with this set and that I hope they will release the other four seasons in the near future. I hope you all do the same. For such a wonderful price, one could not ask for more.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: And now here's something we hope you'll really like!
Review: Well, it's about time...this is one of the slyest and the most delightfully subversive cartoons to come from that era of the late 50s and early 60s...crammed full of all kinds of pop culture and political references that I'm still catching more and more of with every viewing...these guys did these cartoons with the same pretense as the guys over at Warners when they created the countless Looney Tunes & Merrie Melodies cartoons...they weren't for the kids, they weren't for the adults...they were made to see how they could top each other, and oh God, did they ever! My only complaint, and it's a small one, is the use of the second season theme music for all the segments (even though it's what Jay Ward wanted, the original and better-known theme music would have been appreciated by the fans), and Bullwinkle's Cheerios commercials would have been nice to see...though maybe those are in store in future seasons of the show. The "bug" in the bottom corner of the screen could have been done without, but it's a whole lot less distracting than watching most anything on FX (or far too many other channels) these days with banners covering the bottom third of the screen promoting upcoming made-for-cable movies every few minutes. That aside, the humor is there in all its glory and the picture quality is just great. If you can get past those minor sticking points, enjoy...and look forward to season two, I know I will!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Maganificant and all the other positive adjectives!
Review: If you do not get this I will be dissapointed. Every single person in the USA should have this collection for in my book it is the best show on earth! FORGET BARNUM AND BAILY!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Wayback Machine, of a sort
Review: The DVD is hugely better than the VHS, at least on my players - that nasty copy-protection signal on the tape played havoc with the colors.

Even after all these years, the Fractured Fairy Tales (with the little Fractured Fairy), Mr. Peabody, and Aesop & Son are as much fun as I remembered. These cartoons were a real part of growing up for my generation. However dignified and learned someone may seem, people seem to light up when they discuss these cartoons - and everyone will talk about them.

This is heady fare, though. These cartoons are meant to be savored - a full DVD (let alone four!) gets to be a bit much. The feature cartoons themselves are always enjoyable. The little pieces at the beginning, end, and around the ads tend to wear on me, though. Seeing each a few times would be OK, but the same ones recur a bit more frequently than I would like.

In some ways, it's even better coming back to these as an adult. Boris and Natasha are the iconic Cold Warriors. The race to the moon was current news, back then. These 'toons really do capture their moment, not just in visual style but in social commentary, as well. I can't wait for the next bunch to come out on DVD. I won't endurance-watch them, as I did these - budgeting how I watch them will just make them better.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Secret Ingredient: Mooseberries
Review: This is a great package of the first season of Rocky and Bullwinkle, and watching these cartoons is like reuniting with old friends. I never watched these as a young child, but did as a teenager when the show was in reruns. I always adored the wry humor, frequent puns, and double entendre that young children wouldn't understand anyway. This really is a cartoon for all ages. This set is a very good effort and a joy to watch, with a couple of minor quibbles.

Apparently the second season opening credits were used, which, though Jay Ward's favorites, should have been left for the second season set; I would have preferred they didn't 'slice and dice' the episodes for a new vision of artistic merit. I also would have preferred it to be more easily divided up to allow for better skipping of the very repetitious credits and bumpers. They were fine as a kid when you watch it once a week, but not when you watch a couple of episodes back to back. The adventures were fun, and I particularly enjoyed the "Box Top Robbery" (which poked good natured fun at sponsor, General Mills) sequence, although I must admit that with 40 (!) episodes the cold war "Jet Fuel Formula" serial started to wear a bit thin.

These are minor complaints though, and the underlying cartoons are still as fresh and wonderful as they were 40 years ago. Peabody and "Fractured Fairy Tales" were always my favorites, and remain so to this day. Cartoons will, unfortunately, never be this intelligent or genuinely funny ever again. I recommend this to anyone with a sense of humor, whether you have seen these 1,000 times or are a neophyte. These cartoons stand the test of time and will be old friends for life.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: This will brighten you Badenov day or A Bullwinkle in time
Review: Wheather you loved the old show, or have never seen it, this DVD set is a great buy. All the old favorites are there, everything you remember and probably a lot of stuff you don't.

Fractured Fairy Tales, Aesop and Son, and all your favorite characters Dudley DO Right, Nell, Horse Snidley Whiplash,Inspector Fenwick,Of COurse Rocky and Bullwinkle, Boris, Natasha, Fearless Leader, Sherman, Mr. Peabody, and a host of historical characters.

They are all there just like you remember and i don't think you can afford to miss the DVD

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: As funny as I remember.
Review: I grew up with Rocky and Bullwinkle, Mr. Peabody, and the Fractured Fairy Tales and am so pleased to have them available on DVD. The puns, the Cold War humor, the dead pan delivery all delight me now as they did then. The down side is having to sit through all the introductory material for each episode.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Can I exchange my DVD for a new set??
Review: I have always love the Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle; but I missed out on alot of the jokes because of my hearing problem and much to my dismay when I got too excited and bought the DVD first seaon of the show, I was greatly disappointed to find it doesn't have any closed captions. I thought it was stupid not to have it when all the DVDs that I have bought over the last two years has closed captions and/or subtitles!! Can I get a refund and buy the politically correct version when it is released?? I doubt it! Otherwise, the set is terrificccccccc! Now I am awaiting my Astroboy DVD (with close captions/subtitles hopefully included!!)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Please release season 2 !
Review: Ok, I'm probably biased because this is one of, if not the, favorite show of mine. I was utterly amazed that they released this on dvd, since a dvd revival was nowhere to be found when Universal made the live-action film.
I have almost the entire series recorded from various channels over the years and due to the magnitude of shorts, etc, vhs is not a very user-friendly format for this series. With the dvd release, you can watch a particular short without hours of ff/rew.

The quality is excellent! The packaging is excellent! The show is excellent!

I do not mind the changed opinging sequence, I do not mind the (near-invisible) watermark. I guess I am a strange breed, because I understand that there may be a few (minute) things associated with marketing the series to todays audiences. This set blows away the Buena Vista compilations released in the early 90's. Speaking of editing, the BV volumes actually were missing segments of the story! Was I the only one who noticed this?

So, if you love or even like Rocky & Bullwinkle, you will not be disappointed with this collection. Let the nit-pickers pick at every little thing they find wrong with it, they just make themselves miserable by not enjoying what is here and instead picking apart a release we are lucky to have.

Now, please release the rest of the series :) I will buy every volume!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: a note on "colorization"
Review: Just to clarify -- one reviewer here notes that the original R&B episodes were in black and white, and this collection colorizes them. But that is not entirely accurate, according to histories of Jay Ward Productions such as "The Moose That Roared" (fantastic book!).

Although the makers of the show were aware that b&w TV sets far outnumbered color sets in 1959, and that their show had to be prepared so that it would "read" well in b&w broadcast (or, to be precise, b&w reception), every indication is that even the earliest episodes were made in color. Even at that early date, the owners of the rights to cartoon programs were aware that cartoons had a very long syndication shelf-life -- that cartoons would continue to hold appeal for successive generations of child audiences (as proved by the success of the various studio libraries of theatrical cartoons, such as Warner Bros. Looney Tunes, that had already been released to television, and were as popular with television audiences of the 50s as they were with theater audiences of the 40s).

So while the first two seasons of R&B may have been seen in b&w, they were indeed made in color, with those long-term re-broadcasting rights in mind. While this collection may restore greater quality to the color reproduction, this is not an example of modern colorization imposed on originally b&w material.

(I hasten to make this point because this practice offends some people, and I would hate to see them turned away from this collection on that point.)


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