A series of segments consisting of the serialized adventures of a flying squirrel named Rocky and his dimwitted Moose fried Bullwinkle, classic fairy tales and fables given an ironic or deconstructive twist in Fractured Fairy Tales or Aesop & Son's Fables, an intelligent dog, Mr. Peabody, and his adopted boy, Sherman, travel through time helping historical figures with their problems, and a dimwitted but well intentioned Canadian Mountie named Dudley Do-Right squares off against the villainous but always foiled Snidely Whiplash.
Following Jay Ward's establishment of TV animation as a viable avenue with the cartoon, Crusader Rabbit, Jay Ward had lost rights to the character as the result of a protracted legal battle. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends became the next major project for Jay Ward and running from 1959-1964, became a pop culture phenomenon that helped inspired many series that came afterwards.
While the animation on the show is noticeably economical with simple shapes and usages of static backgrounds and frames, the show makes up for its frugal use of resources by way of clever writing that works on both a simple surface level, as well as injection of subtext beneath the surface that skewers everything from cold war politics to prevalence of mass media. The show in many ways is like reading a collection of Sunday newspaper comics with Rocky and Bullwinkle's adventures parodying serialized adventures while other shorts such as Mr. Peabody, Fractured Fairy Tales, and the rest are basically "done in ones" that work as set ups to punchlines that hit more often than miss.
There's a lot in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends one can point to that can be traced to newer more contemporaneous animated series. With it's variety based format and usage of cheeky subversive background humor it's pretty clear that shows like Animaniacs that took a similar approach owe a lot to their existence from tropes and tools experimented with in this show. The show also gives us some terrific variations in humor with Rocky and Bullwinkle's buddy dynamic hitting all the right notes on their adventures and misadventures as they run afoul of Pottsylvanian agents Boris & Natasha often inadvertently escaping death whilst unaware such a threat existed, Mr. Peabody with his dry pompous intellectually superior delivery, and the deconstructions of classic children's fables and fairy tales good naturedly skewering the tropes and cliches in ways that we take for granted with the likes of the enduring Shrek franchise.
While most of the humor is really good, not all parts of the show are equal. The Dudley Do-Right shorts while charming are one of the weaker elements as it's a very one note parody of silent film era melodramas such as The Perils of Pauline or "Northwesterns" which had waned in popularity considerably in the 50s losing favor to the much more popular westerns. There are also occasion flubs in the writing where word plays, puns, or punchlines won't land as well as they should, but the quick pace and variety elements of the show ensure that no joke is lingered on for too long.
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends helped shape the landscape of TV animation with its unique format, memorable characters, and clever writing more than making up for its thrifty budget. While not every element of the show is equal, the variety appeal of the show where you were never sure exactly what you'd get kept its audience coming back for more and made it a benchmark in TV animation.
Following Jay Ward's establishment of TV animation as a viable avenue with the cartoon, Crusader Rabbit, Jay Ward had lost rights to the character as the result of a protracted legal battle. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends became the next major project for Jay Ward and running from 1959-1964, became a pop culture phenomenon that helped inspired many series that came afterwards.
While the animation on the show is noticeably economical with simple shapes and usages of static backgrounds and frames, the show makes up for its frugal use of resources by way of clever writing that works on both a simple surface level, as well as injection of subtext beneath the surface that skewers everything from cold war politics to prevalence of mass media. The show in many ways is like reading a collection of Sunday newspaper comics with Rocky and Bullwinkle's adventures parodying serialized adventures while other shorts such as Mr. Peabody, Fractured Fairy Tales, and the rest are basically "done in ones" that work as set ups to punchlines that hit more often than miss.
There's a lot in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends one can point to that can be traced to newer more contemporaneous animated series. With it's variety based format and usage of cheeky subversive background humor it's pretty clear that shows like Animaniacs that took a similar approach owe a lot to their existence from tropes and tools experimented with in this show. The show also gives us some terrific variations in humor with Rocky and Bullwinkle's buddy dynamic hitting all the right notes on their adventures and misadventures as they run afoul of Pottsylvanian agents Boris & Natasha often inadvertently escaping death whilst unaware such a threat existed, Mr. Peabody with his dry pompous intellectually superior delivery, and the deconstructions of classic children's fables and fairy tales good naturedly skewering the tropes and cliches in ways that we take for granted with the likes of the enduring Shrek franchise.
While most of the humor is really good, not all parts of the show are equal. The Dudley Do-Right shorts while charming are one of the weaker elements as it's a very one note parody of silent film era melodramas such as The Perils of Pauline or "Northwesterns" which had waned in popularity considerably in the 50s losing favor to the much more popular westerns. There are also occasion flubs in the writing where word plays, puns, or punchlines won't land as well as they should, but the quick pace and variety elements of the show ensure that no joke is lingered on for too long.
The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends helped shape the landscape of TV animation with its unique format, memorable characters, and clever writing more than making up for its thrifty budget. While not every element of the show is equal, the variety appeal of the show where you were never sure exactly what you'd get kept its audience coming back for more and made it a benchmark in TV animation.