Whatever you call it, be it "Rocky and His Friends" (original title) "The Bullwinkle Show" (the re-titled title) or "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends" (the DVD release title), this early cartoon from the early sixties, even preceding "The Flintstones", is a true classic. Like most of the productions of Jay Ward, the animation tends to be among the cheapest and most basic ever made, filled with its mistakes largely in part because of a lower budget, making it more technically poor in comparison to other cartoons of the time. The best part of the show, however, is how it manages to appeal to all audiences through subtle contrasts of characters and writing - something that one can't say about most animated series today.
The premise of R&B is the part that appeals to little kids - two friends, an anthropomorphic moose and squirrel, have a series of crazy adventures, told in the manner of a radio program. Most of these adventures normally involve a pair of two 'Pottsylvanian' spies named Boris and Natasha, who work for what is supposed to be a form of the Soviet Union, but that tends to remind me at least more of Nazi Germany. All of the characters are outstanding, the duo of Rocky and Bullwinkle being among the most memorable in the history of animation, Rocky being the straight man and Bullwinkle the lovable idiot. The stories always tend to be of the more ridiculous sort - whether it's trying to recover a recipe for an unknown powerful Jet Fuel, unmasking box top counterfeiters, or finding the treasure of the late race car driver Monte Zoom. The art, as in all Jay Ward productions, is the cartoon-y, simplistic style not unlike most other cartoons of the time, giving the show a cheerful, bright look that is intended to appeal to younger audiences. Visually and structurally, it is a show for kids, causing most adults to dismiss it at first glance with the mindset of being 'just another Saturday morning cartoon'.
However, such an assumption would be wrong. The part of the show that makes it click with grownup audiences is the writing, which contains some of the most brilliant, witty and satirical dialogue in the history of cartoons. The puns and the word plays contained within the episodes is, simply put, outstanding and something that most cartoons today fail to do in their more childish and silly humor. Most kids below ten and even several years older would not normally catch such humor, but this is not to say it is wasted upon their younger minds. The series was a true family show, quite potentially before the term itself existed, in its subtle contrast of the typical kiddie cartoon mixed with the sophisticated wittiness of the adult world. Two very opposite things, and yet, the show blends them so brilliantly it's really quite a thing to behold.
The other segments within the half-hour show are also great, as they too feature this exact same component of the R&B portions. Fractured Fairy Tales takes many creative and superb twists on well-known fairy tales, while Aesop's Fables does a similar thing with the numerous fables of Aesop. Dudley Do-Right is always funny and entertaining as well in being its own side story (hence the reason why this part later got its own show), while Peabody's Improbable History does strange takes on world history. These segments are refreshing breaks from the main attraction, and the manner in which the show carries out like a radio program by having the two segments in each episode separated by all the other bits in the middle makes it all the greater.
Of course, as mentioned above, the technical side of R&B leaves much to be desired. The animation is extremely cheap with plenty of mistakes and looking no better than the constrained movements one would find in a flipbook. The voice actors were clearly limited, as many of the voices is the Fractured Fairy Tales, Aesop's Fables, and Peabody's Improbable History are reused over and over again, as if the actors didn't have a huge range of voices they could switch to. This is not to say any of the voices are particularly grating or annoying; they're really not. The repetition of hearing the same voices reused is what makes this problematic, showing how small the budget must have been.
Nonetheless, even despite these criticisms, it is not the use of a big budget allowing great animation and a variety of voices that makes R&B work. It is the combination of a kiddie show premise filled with all the wit and humor that adults can enjoy. "The Bullwinkle Show" will always remain a classic in cartoon history because of this, with a variety of unforgettable characters, stories, and jokes that make it a milestone. That's what the show was all about to begin with, and it is because of this that I give it a full 10/10.
The premise of R&B is the part that appeals to little kids - two friends, an anthropomorphic moose and squirrel, have a series of crazy adventures, told in the manner of a radio program. Most of these adventures normally involve a pair of two 'Pottsylvanian' spies named Boris and Natasha, who work for what is supposed to be a form of the Soviet Union, but that tends to remind me at least more of Nazi Germany. All of the characters are outstanding, the duo of Rocky and Bullwinkle being among the most memorable in the history of animation, Rocky being the straight man and Bullwinkle the lovable idiot. The stories always tend to be of the more ridiculous sort - whether it's trying to recover a recipe for an unknown powerful Jet Fuel, unmasking box top counterfeiters, or finding the treasure of the late race car driver Monte Zoom. The art, as in all Jay Ward productions, is the cartoon-y, simplistic style not unlike most other cartoons of the time, giving the show a cheerful, bright look that is intended to appeal to younger audiences. Visually and structurally, it is a show for kids, causing most adults to dismiss it at first glance with the mindset of being 'just another Saturday morning cartoon'.
However, such an assumption would be wrong. The part of the show that makes it click with grownup audiences is the writing, which contains some of the most brilliant, witty and satirical dialogue in the history of cartoons. The puns and the word plays contained within the episodes is, simply put, outstanding and something that most cartoons today fail to do in their more childish and silly humor. Most kids below ten and even several years older would not normally catch such humor, but this is not to say it is wasted upon their younger minds. The series was a true family show, quite potentially before the term itself existed, in its subtle contrast of the typical kiddie cartoon mixed with the sophisticated wittiness of the adult world. Two very opposite things, and yet, the show blends them so brilliantly it's really quite a thing to behold.
The other segments within the half-hour show are also great, as they too feature this exact same component of the R&B portions. Fractured Fairy Tales takes many creative and superb twists on well-known fairy tales, while Aesop's Fables does a similar thing with the numerous fables of Aesop. Dudley Do-Right is always funny and entertaining as well in being its own side story (hence the reason why this part later got its own show), while Peabody's Improbable History does strange takes on world history. These segments are refreshing breaks from the main attraction, and the manner in which the show carries out like a radio program by having the two segments in each episode separated by all the other bits in the middle makes it all the greater.
Of course, as mentioned above, the technical side of R&B leaves much to be desired. The animation is extremely cheap with plenty of mistakes and looking no better than the constrained movements one would find in a flipbook. The voice actors were clearly limited, as many of the voices is the Fractured Fairy Tales, Aesop's Fables, and Peabody's Improbable History are reused over and over again, as if the actors didn't have a huge range of voices they could switch to. This is not to say any of the voices are particularly grating or annoying; they're really not. The repetition of hearing the same voices reused is what makes this problematic, showing how small the budget must have been.
Nonetheless, even despite these criticisms, it is not the use of a big budget allowing great animation and a variety of voices that makes R&B work. It is the combination of a kiddie show premise filled with all the wit and humor that adults can enjoy. "The Bullwinkle Show" will always remain a classic in cartoon history because of this, with a variety of unforgettable characters, stories, and jokes that make it a milestone. That's what the show was all about to begin with, and it is because of this that I give it a full 10/10.