Rocky & Bullwinkle S3

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.

The puns are punnier and the stories are zanier as Rocky and Bullwinkle enter their fun filled third season. It consists of 33 episodes with everyone's favorite animated moose and squirrel as well as their friends and enemies.

The central focus of the show is the continuing exploits of Rocky the Flying Squirrel and Bullwinkle J. Moose. Each episode features two segments of the current serialized story, and there are four of them this time around.

Missouri Mish Mash finds Bullwinkle and Rocky caught in the middle of a feud being run by Boris Badenov, their arch nemesis. However, when Bullwinkle finds a special hat, things really start to get interesting.

Lazy Jay Ranch finds our heroes moving to Wyoming after they buy a ranch. Turns out it's a worm ranch, and Boris has plans of his own for those worms.

The Three Moosketeers brings our heroes to the country of Applesauce Lorraine after the rightful king is replaced by the scheming Francois Villain. (Something tells me he's a bad guy.) Of interest, this is the first Rocky and Bullwinkle story to not feature Boris and his sidekick Natasha Fatale.

Topsy Turvy World finds the world's axis shifting. With the new North Pole on the Equator, it's up to Rocky and Bullwinkle to right the world before Boris gives Santa a bad name.

Of course, each episode also includes several special features. Either a Fractured Fairy Tale or an Aesop and Son (a fable like you've never heard before), Bullwinkle's Corner (poetry and nursery rhymes for laughs) or Mr. Know-it-All (Bullwinkle shows us how NOT to do something), and Peabody's Improbably History (a dog makes sure history goes as recorded) or Dudley Do-Right (a spoof of melodramas set in Canada.)

These shows are absolutely hysterical, if you can stand a good pun. The writers seem to be at the top of their game, with the puns coming so fast you just might miss one. It breaks all the rules of TV with the characters often talking directly to the audience or making references to their TV show, but it only adds to the laughter. While kids will enjoy watching, it's the adults that will get the word play and the now dated historical references.

Of course, being an animated show from the 60's means the animation isn't up to today's standards. Still, it does a good job of getting the story across and holds up to some of today's TV animation.

I was disappointed to recognize many of the Bullwinkle's Corner and Mr. Know-it-All segments this time around. They are recycled from earlier seasons. I don't know why this is, but I hope the fourth season contains new material.

This set consists of four single sided DVD's. The picture and sound are great, although the occasional bit of dust or grain does betray the show's age. Unfortunately, Sony still sees a need to include the clear R&B logo in the lower right hand corner for a minute of each segment. I hardly notice, but when I do it is annoying.

The set this time has a circus theme to the box, booklet, and menus. The booklet contains a funny biography of villains Boris and Natasha. Also this time around, the booklet contains information on the Bullwinkle's Corner and Mr. Know-it-All segments, something that's been missing in previous sets.

Extras are light. They include some third season intros from the Bullwinkle puppet (including the infamous one where he tells kids to rip off their TV's knobs so they won't miss the next episode), a preview of the next season, and some "best of" moments from the season.

While the extras aren't a reason to buy the set, the shows themselves are still as punny as they were over forty years ago. Anyone with a fond memory of the show and a strong constitution for puns will love it.

Although there were some complaints about the packaging of Season Two, Season Three is a Jay Wardian delight; the four discs are well protected, and there's even art inside the slipcase where you can barely see it. For the third season, the writing got both worse and better. Aesop's Fables are a snooze and Fractured Fairy Tales fall flat, but for R and B (Rocky and Bullwinkle, it's a high point. The set starts off with "Missouri Mish Mash" (shows 1-13, 26 episodes) featuring not only moon men Gidney and Cloyd, but the famed Kirward Derby. Then it's "Lazy Jay Ranch" (shows 14-22, 18 episodes), "The Three Mooseketeers (shows 23-26, 8 episodes), and the grand finale, "Topsy Turvy World" with Captain Peter "Wrongway" Peachfuzz (shows 27-33, 14 episodes).

Aside from the obvious delight of either reliving these episodes or discovering R and B anew, the show is a primer in the art of limited animation, and it's one Matt Groening has obviously been watching. The actual R and B episodes are quite short, as are the rotating supporting shorts "Bullwinkle's Corner," "Mr. Know It All," "Peabody and Sherman," and "Dudley Do Right" along with Aesop and the fairy tales. But the numerous stretches of repeating animation: "Hey Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat!" "Again?" known as interstices or bumpers, which segue in and out of commercials and station breaks are welcome rather than annoying, and make the show as familiar and comfy as an old chair.

The show is a brilliant coup of limited animation, since these bits are repeated every show. Matt Groening has clearly inherited the mantle of Jay Ward. Look at the long, lavish and looked-forward to openings of The Simpsons and Futurama. The small changes in each episode of the Simpsons on the sofa or the cartoon on the TV on Futurama seem like special bonuses and a gift to viewers, adding to the hand-made feel of the shows.

As many fans know, Homer J. Simpson's middle moniker is in tribute to Bullwinkle J. Moose and Rocket J. Squirrel, and another J., last name of Ward. Nancy Cartwright voicing Bart recalls an earlier female voicing a male character: June Foray as Rocky. Writers from R and B would also go on to work on the next generation of sitcoms: The Mary Tyler Moore Show, All in the Family and Barney Miller.

The one jarring note in this set is its title as "Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends," which appears in the bumpers. These stories originally aired on NBC, as "The Bullwinkle Show," and the order was different, starting with "The Three Mooseketeers" (episodes 157-164), followed by "Lazy Jay Ranch" (episodes 165-182), "Missouri Mish Mash," (episodes 183- 208), and "Topsy Turvy World," (episodes 209- 222). The title later changed when the show went into syndication. That tiny quible aside, Season Three is a tough act to follow. Hopefully some of the Quaker Quisp commercials are coming and more of what R and B fans really like.