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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: 4 stars
Summary: Here's something you'll really like ...
Review: Pop-culture historians can draw a line from "Bullwinkle" to "MASH," "Saturday Night Live" and "The Simpsons." Matt Groening did just that when he paired Bullwinkle and his Homer Simpson on the cover of TV Guide's issue celebrating the "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time."

Those who missed out on the fun need not fret. Sony Wonder finally has brought the show's first season to DVD. The four-disc set packs in 26 shows, more or less as they aired back in the day. The first season of "Rocky and His Friends" -- as it was called at the time -- covered two "R&B" arcs: the epic "Jet Fuel Formula" (40 episodes) and "Box Top Robbery" (12). The "R&B" adventures have been returned to twice-a-show cliffhangers, unlike on past videos that mashed together the segments.

Hard-case nostalgists will note that intros and some music come from the second season, a decision apparently based on Jay Ward's preference. The addition of modern watermarks during intros will inspire some head-scratching. And dashing Dudley Do-Right makes a premature entrance. But all in all, the "R&B" experience remains intact. Only the Cap'n Crunch ads are missing.

"R&B" animation was done on the cheap in Mexico, so it's hard to say how much quality has been lost. The DVDs' images are colorful and reasonably sharp, but with non-stop minor wear. Audio sounds crisp, with some odd variations in volume. The presentation is probably as good as it's going to get -- and it's good enough.

Extras are fun, but seem thrown together. The rarely seen Bullwinkle puppet dispenses advice to the lovelorn in unaired live-action bits. Black-and-white promos hype "Rocky and His Friends" while "The Bullwinkle Show" sports color bumpers. Moose and squirrel do their patriotic bit for U.S. bonds. Season 2, expected next year, is teased in two episodes about moon mice. A short but sweet booklet surveys the show and its creators.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Rocky & Bullwinkle Intact & Beautifully Resotred on DVD ! !
Review: At last! Rocky & Bullwinkle get the restoration treatment they deserve. I grew up with these guys. Loved them then, and now that I understand all the jokes, love 'em even more.

This is a collectors and R&B fans dream come true. All 5 seasons are planned for release and this is the first. Four discs, 26 shows, that include the entire 40 episodes of "Jet Fuel Formula" and 12 episodes of "Box Top Robbery".

You also get 20 Fractured Fairy Tales; 21 Mr. Peabody's; 6 Aesop and Son's and 5 Dudley Do-Right's.

The video and sound from these shows is the best you've seen or heard yet. Bill Conrads naration was so clean I thought, at first, it was someone else!

Extras include "Dear Bullwinkle" (footage of the Bullwinkle puppet originally planned as bumpers for the show); "Classic Commercials and Promo's" (used to promote the show); "Rocky & Bullwinkle Savings Stamp Club" (a rare episode to promote U.S. Savings Bonds); "The Many Faces of Boris Badenov" (a montage of Boris disguises) and a "Sneak Peak" at the release of "Complete Season 2" (two R&B episodes with the Metal Munching Mice).

My only concern (a minor one I suppose) is the comment made in the intro by Jay Ward's daughter, Tiffany Ward (in the enclosed 16 page booklet). She says, "We've brought all the episodes together under one name, using the rare second-season opening (Dad's favorite), beautifully restored the original prints, and replaced the music as Dad later requested with themes he specifically produced for the first two seasons."

I take that to mean that most of these shows do not use the original openings and music. If that's true, I would have preferred them "as shown on TV", but I've been waiting for this so long I will overlook that. Especially since the quality is so good.

This is a MUST for your DVD library.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hello Fearless Leader! Moose and squirrel are on DVD!
Review: This boxed set is amazing. Even though I am not of the baby boom generation that originally grew up with the series, I was alive when "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends" resurfaced on Nickelodeon in the early 1990s. I was a fan from the first episode I saw. The dialogue in these cartoons is some of the best dialogue ever written; It's intelligent, and you still laugh. I bought the first season as soon as it was released on DVD. It's worth the investment if you are a lover of the show. I can't wait for season 2!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A Cartoon Classic
Review: I just finished watching the final disc of this box set - and I enjoyed every minute of it! Rocky & Bullwinkle is one of those cartoons you either love or hate - and if you love it, you should buy this set. If you hate it, what are you doing reading this, anyways? ;)

The packaging is great. Colourful and filled with images of all the best characters. I love the "Hello Low IQers!" when you first open the package. It makes me smile every time.

I grew up on this show - but not during its original airing. I grew up on one of the many RE-airings of the show, so I can't say much about the altered images or music in the openings. I don't really know how altered they were when I first saw them on TV, myself. I DO know that the overall integrity of the show is still largely intact - and any casual fan of the show won't even notice whatever changes have been made. I'm sure a lot of hardcore fans won't be too bothered by it, either. The R+B logo in the lower corner DOES seem a bit daft, but it's easy to ignore and didn't detract from my enjoyment of the show.

The sound and video is just great (especially for a show so old!) and the show itself is divine, as expected. My only MINOR complaint would be that it takes awhile for the disc to get to the main menu. I'm used to having to sit through an FBI warning and a studio logo - but watching Bullwinkle run back and forth with a water tub gets REALLY old by the twentieth time you load the disc. I tend to only watch one episode at a time (or even only half an episode at times), so I'd say I've watched him run back and forth like that about 30 times by now ;) I would've preferred it just going straight to the menu and running Bullwinkle in the background or something. Plus, some variety in the disc main menu designs would've been nice. I like how each episode's scene menu has a different character's image on it.

Overall, I would definitely recommend this to any fans of the show. It's just a delightful show, especially when viewed in order! :)

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Moose? Squirrel?
Review: B. Is moose! Is squirrel!

N. Is always moose and squirrel.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: It's just not the same anymore :-(
Review: As one that was around during the orignal airings of Rocky & Bullwinkle, I can still vividly remember coming home from school, and plonking down in front of the tele, in time to hear the blasts of trumpet fanfare announcing the start of the Rocky & Bullwinkle show.
So, I was over the top with excitement at the release of this series, but alas, my enthusiasm was short lived after realising they changed the original music score. I'm aware of the reasons behind this change, but I'm sorry, it's totally ruined the show for me to the point that I simply can't watch it in fear of losing the little memory I still have of the original series music.
In view of the offered reasons in the booklet, I dunno what they were thinking when the powers that be, decided to change history.
Otherwise, I would've given it 5 Stars.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Nothing Up My Sleeve-PRESTO!
Review: This catchphrase will strike a chord for all lovers of Moose and Squirrel (as Boris and Natasha call them) and so will this excellent DVD! The original opening (pre-dancing moose) is here as well as the first two serials (Jet Fuel & Box Top Robbery). This is of special interest to Bullwinkologists as the latter serial was not seen in reruns for many years as sponsor General Mills objected to the theme. Speaking of Banned Bullwinkle, we have the long-suppressed Dudley Do Right cartoon "Stokey the bear". The creators of Smokey the Bear objected to the satirizing of their character as a pyromaniac bear (I won't spoil it, but it will help to be a history buff to get the punch line of this episode).

Additionally, we have some ultra-rare footage of the legendary Bullwinkle puppet sequences. This is only to satisfy your curiousity if you've read/heard about this because these segments are VERY bad. This Bullwinkle appears as a sarcastic smart-alec as opposed to the lovably idiotic innocent we are accustomed to seeing. But they should be here for good moose history.(The notorious Bullwinkle puppet segment where he tells the kids to pull off their television knobs and some real kids actually obeyed this does not appear here). Some nice circa 1960 commercials for the show appear with some amusing twists by Boris Badenov (the classic General Mills commercials are not included) and an intriguing episode on US Savings Bonds features the only actual joint appearance of R&B, Boris & Natasha, AND Sherman and Peabody in the same episode. It would be nice to have had a couple of rare episodes of "Crusader Rabbit," the Jay Ward show that started it all in 1949, but I'm sure that will eventually come on DVD. A few nitpickers will notice the replacement logo for R&B in the introductory titles,but that is an extrememly minor complain.

Fractured Fairy tales (including a wicked Sleeping Beauty lampoon of Walt Disney himself), Sherman and Peabody (including their bizarre debut where "If a boy can adopt a dog, why can't a dog adopt a boy?") and the hero of the great white north Dudley Do-Right appear in all of their wild puns, imaginative stories, inside jokes (although you really don't have to get all the inside references to enjoy this show-most of it is funny enough on its own) and overall wonderfulness. Now here's something we KNOW you'll REALLY like!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Great show, presentation could be improved
Review: I'm not old enough to have seen this when it originally aired, but I watched it on tapes when I was little and it's an incredibly funny show; if you're not familiar with it, I recommend checking out some of the good lines in the imdb, such as:

Natasha Fatale : Boris, is Moose you said you killed in previous episode?
Boris Badenov : Look, it's his show. If he wants to be hard to kill, let him.

Rocky : Bullwinkle, do you know what an A Bomb is?
Bullwinkle : Sure, a bomb is what some people call our show.
Rocky : I don't think that's very funny.
Bullwinkle : Neither do they apparently

I take off 2 points because there are no captions or subtitles, and the navigation system is not the best.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Hello Fearless Leader! Moose and squirrel are on DVD!
Review: This boxed set is amazing. Even though I am not of the baby boom generation that originally grew up with the series, I was alive when "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends" resurfaced on Nickelodeon in the early 1990s. I was a fan from the first episode I saw. The dialogue in these cartoons is some of the best dialogue ever written; It's intelligent, and you still laugh. I bought the first season as soon as it was released on DVD. It's worth the investment if you are a lover of the show. I can't wait for season 2!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: SONY BITES ROCKY & BULLWINKLE ARE 5 STAR
Review: I LOVE THE SHOW ROCKY & BULLWINKLE BUT I WISH SOMEONE ELES WHOLD COPY THE SHOW.


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