The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends
Hokey smoke!
Genre: Comedy Surreal comedy Slapstick Variety Running Time: 23 minutes Country: United States Release Date: November 19, 1959 – June 27, 1964 Network(s): ABC (1959–61) NBC (1961–64) Created by: Jay Ward Alex Anderson Bill Scott Distributed by: NBCUniversal Television Distribution (on behalf of DreamWorks Classics) Starring: June Foray Bill Scott Paul Frees Daws Butler Edward Everett Horton Walter Tetley Charlie Ruggles Hans Conried Seasons: 5 Episodes: 163 (815 segments)

The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends, also known as Rocky and His Friends (for its first two seasons, and aired in black and white) and The Bullwinkle Show (for its last three seasons, and aired in color), is an American animated television series that originally aired from November 19, 1959 to June 27, 1964.

Summary

The series follows a talking moose, Bullwinkle, and a flying squirrel, Rocky, who go on adventures, while being pursued by Fearles Leader's evil spies, Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale.

Why It Rocks

1. Since it was premiered in November 1959, the show rescued the television animation marketing from making any more infamous low-budget TV cartoon shows, which were already done in the 1950s.
2. It is one of the most popular 1960s shows in history.
3. The side segments, like Aesop and Son, Peabody And Sherman, Dudley Do Right and Fractured Fairy Tales, are amazing to pad out the running time for a half-hour variety show. One of the segments, Peabody's Improbable History, spawned a movie and a television series.
   • Likewise, Rocky and Bullwinkle got a reboot after its 2000 feature film and 2014 short, though not nearly as well remembered as the original.
4. A bunch of likable characters, including the duo of Rocky and Bullwinkle.
   • Gidney and Cloyd, the two moon men have invisibility powers and the scrooch gun (handled by the latter). Their backstories of their first trip to the Earth, their career as media celebrities and conversion to American citizens (despite the approach being rather limited in Rocky and Bullwinkle's case) also helped flesh out their personalities. They also remember the creation of the Kirward Derby on their home planet.
5. It had very humorous 1990s Taco Bell commercials, which had very nice animation.
6. It compensates for its bad animation with genius writing.
   • The animation particularly shines for the TV commercials, looking very nice.
7. It spawned a video game, as well as the 2000 live-action/animated hybrid theatrical feature film, which is very well-received.
8. It also spawned a restaurant, called Bullwinkle's Restaurant.
9. The soundtrack is so catchy.
10. The satire can be also be well done.
11. A batch of interesting story arcs, such as:
    • Jet Fuel Formula
    • Upsidaisium
    • Missouri Mish Mash
    • Moosylvania
    • Wossamotta U
    • The Mark of Zero
    • The Treasure of Monte Zoom
    • The Ruby Yacht
12. The amazing antagonists, Boris, Natasha and Fearless Leader, are the best part.

Bad Qualities

1. It spawned a Boris and Natasha live-action movie in 1992, which is poorly-made.
2. Sometimes, some story arcs take a long time to binge-watch. A couple of them lasts over 2 hours long.
3. The animation by Mexican studio, Gamma Productions, hasn't aged that well, especially during it's time.
4. Gidney and Cloyd (the moon men) were written out after the third season arc "Missouri Mish Mash", with Captain Peter "Wrong Way" Peachfuzz following after the fourth season story arc "Banana Formula".
5. Some story arcs involve Native American and Chinese stereotypes, which can be considered offensive today.
6. The infamous puppet show almost caused many children to cause mischief with their television sets. Thankfully, television sets nowadays don't have external antennas.

Reception

• Rocky and His Friends was ranked #47 on TV Guide's 50 Greatest TV Shows of All Time.

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