Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends - The Complete Second Season (1959) Review

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(More customer reviews)Unlike some reviews that are allowed here, I actually own this set of DVD's and have watched all of it.
Those of us who are die hard R&B fans wondered if we'd see more after the release of Season 1. Happily, our concerns are unfounded with the release of Season 2. The restoration treatment is as good as the first set. Some fans did not like the "watermark" of "R&B" in the corner on the first edition. I don't like that trend either but, at least here, it is transparent and only visable for a few seconds.
This set includes four double-sided discs with 52 shows, that include 36 episodes of "Upsidasium", 16 episodes of "Metal Munching Mice", 12 episodes of "Greenpernt Oogle", 8 episodes of "Rue Brittania", 14 episodes of "Buried Treasure" and 14 episodes of "Wailing Whale".
You also get 35 Fractured Fairy Tales; 34 Mr. Peabody's; 17 Aesop and Son's and 18 Dudley Do-Right's.
"Mr. Know-It-All" and "Bullwinle's Corner" are in plentiful supply as well.
Extras include "Classic TV Commercials" (3 Cheerios commercials that featured Bullwinkle); "June Foray Interview" (the voice behind many cartoon characters including Rocky's - from Sept. 2003); "Sneak Peak at Complete Season 3" (yes, the "Dirwood Kirby episode!); and "Moosecalls - The Best of Bullwinkle Sings" (a montage of R&B clips edited with voice-overs and graphics to spoof a TV record album pitch - which looks like it was put-together for this DVD set).
While I was pleased to see the content expanded, I was disapointed in the packaging. In a word - CHEAP. Sony Wonder should be ashamed of itself for releasing such a collector's item in a cheesy package. I returned two copies before I got one with un-broken plastic DVD holders! It also would have been more thoughtful if the double-sided discs were ordered, so that those of us with multi-disc changers could watch all the Side A's and then flip the discs to watch all of the Side B's. If you want to watch this set in order, you'll have to flip each disc after watching Side A.
The opening and ending titles for each "show" are modified to read "Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends", as was the first season release. It would be nice if one of the remaining sets had the original graphics/titles included (Ponsoby Britt where are you?).
Watching these classics again reminds us of why these were the first cartoons to appeal to adults and children alike. So stop reading this and buy it already!

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Studio: Genius Products IncRelease Date: 06/14/2005Run time: 1160 minutesRating: Nr

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Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends - The Complete Third Season (1959) Review

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(More customer reviews)Sony Wonder, Bullwinkle Studios and Ward Productions continue the Rocky & Bullwinkle Series with this release of the "3rd Season". Calling it "Rocky & Bullwinkle and Friends" the 4-DVD set holds a total of 726 minutes of show content and 12 minutes of "Special Features".
As before, the restoration is the best applied to these classic cartoons yet. Although, sadly, it still isn't on par with the restorations done with the Looney Tunes series currently being released. However, us die-hard fans have waited a long time for this, so I won't complain too loud.
Here's what awaits you:
26 episodes of "Missouri Mish Mash" (with Gidney & Cloyd)
18 episodes of "Lazy Jay Ranch" (with Lazy Jay, of course)
8 episodes of "The Three Moosketeers" (with King Wuncelaus, Francois Villian, Athos, and Philippe Mignon)
14 episodes of "Topsy Turvy World" (with Captain Peachfuzz)
Those no-goodnicks, Boris and Natasha, appear in all but "The Three Moosketeers".
Also, spaced out between the episodes are Aesop and Son (11); Bullwinkle's Corner (20); Peabody (22); Fractured Fairy Tales (22); Mr. Know-It-All (13); and Dudley Do-Right (11).
The "Special Features" are less than exciting. The best of them is the "Live Bullwinkle Puppet Clips". This is a collection from the 1961 Bullwinkle Show in where Bill Scott voices a puppet that intros the cartoons. It includes the one occasion where Bullwinkle instructs the kids to "...pull the knobs off your TV sets. That way, we'll be sure to be with you next week." The remaining two "Special Features" include a "Sneak Peek at Season 4" (good news....more are coming!) that is an episode from "Painting Theft", which will appear on the next set. Lastly, the "Best of Bullwinkle Follies" is nothing more than a quick edit of a bunch of scenes from Season 3 (can you say "filler"?). It would appear they are running out of material for the "Special Features". If Sony wants an idea for the next release, how about the opening and closing of the "Bullwinkle Show"? Long live "Ponsoby Britt" !
Sony got the message about the cheap packaging on the last set and this set is back to a "fold-open" slipcase design that holds the single-sided DVD's better.
These are classics and belong in your collection.

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Studio: Genius Products IncRelease Date: 09/06/2005

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George of the Jungle: The Complete Series Review

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(More customer reviews)Looking for a fun DVD set for your kids? You can't do much better than this one. You get a lot of video (17 22-minute programs), all of it filled with the same decidedly offbeat, narrated storytelling style creator Jay Ward made famous in his earlier "Rocky & Bullwinkle" programs. Though "George of the Jungle" doesn't have the sly adult themes of Bullwinkle, it still has plenty of appeal, to kids as well as parents.
My 13-year-old daughter offers this review: "Silly. And 4 and a half out of five stars."
Of the show's three cartoon series ("George of the Jungle," "Tom Slick" and "Super Chicken"), my personal favorite is "Super Chicken." Its far-fetched premise suits Ward's dry sense of humor to a tee. I've read where some parents fear Super Chicken because they think the lead character's continual need for "super sauce" may be a hidden drug reference. Maybe it is, but I can't imagine today's kids being influenced by it. In fact, the whole '60s sense of humor is what makes these shows so funny in the first place. Many of the throwaway lines are simply gems. "The pearl went back to the museum," explains the narrator after a villainous mollusk is captured, "and the oyster went to jail to serve every month with an 'R' in it for the next 30 years."
The show originally aired in 1967 and 1968 on ABC.
As far as these two DVDs go, they're pretty much just what you'd expect. The video is a little fuzzy but it's not bad unless you've got a really large-screen television. For each episode you can either Play All three cartoons, or cherry-pick them out individually. A great plus: There's only one commercial to sit through, a short promo for the new "George of the Jungle" series on the Cartoon Network.
Disc 2 has two neat bonus features -- the pilot cartoons of both "George of the Jungle" and "Super Chicken." The "George" pilot lacks the familiar theme song, but includes a caricature of, of all people, Humphrey Bogart as an elephant hunter. The "Super Chicken" pilot has even more Superman-style premise and, though plenty watchable, is not quite up to par to its later shows. Both pilots, by the way, look tremendous, with brilliant color and crisp definition.
The only two things not to like on the DVD set: There are no subtitles (I am not hard of hearing but I love watching television with subtitles on), and as you start each episode, the "George of Jungle" theme plays twice in a row. You see, and hear, it once as a 60-second show open, and then immediately again as a 30-second introduction to the first cartoon. The theme song is one of the catchiest ever, but hearing it twice in a row every time you play an episode gets old.
After watching these old shows I noticed one of my favorite things about them was their character voices. They're so familiar! George, Tom Slick and Super Chicken are voiced by Bill Scott, best known as the voice of Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right and Mr. Peabody. Tom Slick's girlfriend Marigold (and nearly every other female) is June Foray, the voice of Rocky and Nell Fenwick. Best of all are the contributions of Paul Frees. In the world I run in (note my byline) Frees is best known as the Ghost Host at Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion, but he also supplied the voice to hundreds of television characters, including the Pillsbury Doughboy. Here he provides, among other things, a dead-on impression of Ed Wynn (the Mad Hatter in Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" and Uncle Albert in "Mary Poppins") for the character of Super Chicken's lion sidekick Fred. Frees did the same voice for Captain Peachfuzz of "Rocky & Bullwinkle" fame.

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Swing into action with Jay Ward’s last-produced, classic series, George of the Jungle! Join dim-witted, but big-hearted George as he saves his jungle friends with the help of wife, Ursula, his friend Ape and his "dog", Shep the elephant. All 17 shows are complete with episodes of Tom Slick, the coolest racecar driver this side of Frostbite Falls, and Super Chicken, who’s always there to save the day when fowl play’s afoot! It’s a jungle of fun with a cartoon series kids and adults can enjoy!

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The Best of Mr. Peabody & Sherman, Vol. 1 Review

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(More customer reviews)**Updated 6/7/10**
For those who have the season 1, 2, 3 and the upcoming 4 you will want to avoid this, but it is still fun in its own right
The numbers are the sequence numbers for Mr. Peabody, not the episodes they appeared in.
From season 1
Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends - The Complete First Season
1 Benjamin Franklin (aka Introduction) Mr. Peabody goes out & gets a pet boy.
From season 2
Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends - The Complete Second Season
38 Pancho Villa
36 Christopher Columbus
47 Francisco Pisaro
50 William Shakespeare
55 Ferdinand Magellan
From season 3
Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends - The Complete Third Season
64 Ludwig Von Beethoven
65 Calamity Jane
68 Jules Verne
70 Lawrence of Arabia
76 Jim Bowie
From season 4
Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Season 4 (2pc)
78 Charge of the Light Brigade
85 Wellington at Waterloo
86 Florence Nightingale
91 Cleopatra (the final Mr. Peabody cartoon produced)
Now lets all contact Classic Media and encourage the release of Rocky & Bullwinkle cartoons from Season 5!

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The genius dog, Mr. Peabody, is taking his pet boy Sherman out for a walkthrough timeand they are saving the most famous figures of history... from themselves! School yourself with Peabody and Sherman's greatest time warps: They show Wellington where Waterloo actually is, fix up a piece of music for Beethoven, and even help Ferdinand Magellan fight a bull.Includes 15 recollections of improbable history, featuring:Pancho Villa!, Ludwig Van Beethoven!, and Florence Nightingale! (along with 15 of Mr. Peabody's worstever puns!)

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Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends - The Complete First Season (1959) Review

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(More customer reviews)I won't speak for the content, if you like Moose & Squirrel, you'll want this set. But you (and the makers) should know the Pros and Cons of the set, to whit:
PROS:
* Remastered sound and video - there are still imperfections in the video, but the color is more vivid than I've seen on TV broadcasts
* Two complete stories: Rocket Fuel Formula and Box Top Conspiracy
* Play All - Watch all episodes on each of the four discs in succession
* Entire episodes shown - including all periphral cartoons (Dudley Do-Right, Peabody, Aesop & Son, and Fractured Fairy Tales) as well as commercial lead-ins
* Nice packaging - when the first thing you see on opening a DVD set is a moose saying, "Hello Low IQers!", you know the makers respect the Jay Ward tradition!
CONS:
* Altered Title - The title sequence is altered in the middle to change it from the original to "Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends", with an obvious switch in voice and animation quality. The alteration is cheap and unnecessary
* Season Two Intro - The documentation says that the intro to each episode was the one used in the second season, which was Jay Ward's favorite. If this were a collection, that would be a good decision, but as a "season one", it should have the season one intro. This makes me think there may not be a season two set in which to display Ward's favorite intro, which would be sad indeed. All I know is I sure would have preferred to see Season One EXACTLY as it was originally presented.
* Dubious accuracy - All the tampering (season 2 intro) has achieved is to ensure that the Rocky And Bullwinle show will never be accurately reproduced.
BOTTOM LINE:
* The only way to enjoy watching Rocky Bullwinkle is to see the episodes in proper sequence
* This DVD set provides the first two stories in their entirety that comprised the first season
* Each of the four discs provides almost 3 hours of uninterrupted Jay Ward & Friends brand hilarity, what more could you want? After all, you searched for "bullwinkle", didn't you?
* You read this far? Buy it already!

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Studio: Genius Products IncRelease Date: 06/14/2005Rating: Nr

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