DVD Review HTF REVIEW: Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends: Complete 1st Season (1 Viewer)

[Joe Road]

Picked up the set yesterday.
The booklet says they used the second season opening. When did the show become the bullwinkle show? ALso when did they use the flashing lights closing credits instead of the little card closing? I also think the "rocky and bullwinkle and friends" title card was edited into the opening credits. It looks so out of place when rocky is jumping off the diving board. What did it used to be?

 

[Keith Paynter]

From Jerry Beck's Cartoon Research site:



While I understand their desire to protect their materials, I am disappointed that watermarking has invaded the home theater marketplace, after infecting television for years...

 

[Jeff Swearingen]

I did a little investigating tonight after I watched an episode and got curious...if somebody knows if this info I pulled from the web is correct or not that's just great

Rocky and his Friends was 1959-61
then it moved to NBC as The Bullwinkle Show (which I think was when the flashing lights began) for three years.
then in 64 it moved to ABC for a nine year run.

So if my grad math courses actually did me any good, I count 14 potential seasons for DVD. Instead of complaining about a little watermark on season 1, lets start asking when season 2 is coming out and how quickly they plan on releasing the others! (if its at the rate the simpsons are going our DVD players might be covered with dust in a corner by the time season 14 hits the shelves)

 

[Joe Road]

from the included booklet:

"We've brought all the episodes together under one name using the rare-second season opening (dad's favorite)..."

I'm assuming the opening refered to is the one that begins every episode with the parade? But I'm still assuming the openings for each short have still been edited to include the "rocky and bullwinkle and friends" title card. When Rocky is jumping off the high dive you can hear the music stop for a second. I'll have to check my old VHS copies if I can still find them.

Also in the booklet:

"(I)..look forward to sharing the next four seasons with you in the future"

Only four more to go!

 

[Josh Sieg]

"(I)..look forward to sharing the next four seasons with you in the future"

I hope this doesnt mean we'll have a bunch of unreleased seasons.

Also, anyone know why this was released a week early??

 

[Randy Korstick]

I think the nine year run on ABC was re-runs of the 1st 5 seasons which would explain why there are only 4 more to go.

 

[Chris Sypal]

According to this page, there are 326 segments. If there are always two segements to an episode, that would mean 163 episodes, which would lead to about six seasons of about 26 episodes each. Anybody have more detail on how the seasons are split up?

 

[Randy Korstick]

I believe in the later seasons the segments were much shorter which could mean 3 per episode. I seem to remember this from the laserdisc releases.

 

[Ray G]

I thought this was a very good review, as it was interesting to get the opinion of someone who was not particularly a fan of the series. R&B is definitely an aquired taste, as the animation and the production values are terribly crude by today's standards (and even compared to typical TV animation from the same era, such as the early Yogi Bear/Flitnsones, etc. stuff from Hanna Barbera) and the humor is very over the top silly. I happen to be a huge fan of this series and can't wait to get this to replace the VHS tapes Buena Vista (Disney) put out about a decade ago. The behind the scenes stories surrounding this series and Jay Ward (a very unique character) are very interesting, and I highly recommend two recent books on the subject The Rocky & Bullwinkle Book (which is nicely illustrated), and the more detailed The Moose That Roared (both should still be in print).

Ray G

 

[Ray G]

One other point that I wanted to make. I agree that watermarks on DVDs are really tacky, but let's face it we're not talking Citizen Kane or Lawrence of Arabia here; it's freakin' Rocky & Bullwinkle! This show was produced to be viewed on 19" black & white sets with a picture so crude that today's watermarks wouldn't even be visible amongst the snow from the rabbit ear reception and the general analog picture crud. Even those fortunate few with one of those big, beautiful RCA "living color" TVs in 1961 would be stuck w/ a picture where "calibration" meant adjusting the tint control so that the sky resembled some vaguely familiar shade of blue. Sorry for the rant on this, but I feel much better now.

Ray G

 

[Patrick McCart]

but let's face it we're not talking Citizen Kane or Lawrence of Arabia here

Hey, it's the Citizen Kane or Lawrence of Arabia of animated TV!

 

[Gord Lacey]

Ray, so you're saying it's okay to watermark an old release? I don't really understand why. The watermark was added to the DVD, not part of the original airing.

I'm confused.

Gord

 

[Rodney]

Well, I am really disapointed hearing about these watermarks. I still don't understand the rationale behind it, and I hope that this doesn't start a trend. I have this set on order, so I will see just how bad it is in a few days.
It's always something, isn't it?

 

[Joe Road]

I am more mad at them changing the opening and closing credits than the watermarks. I'm surrprised no one else is upset about the opening/closing.

 

[Josh Sieg]

I'm surrprised no one else is upset about the opening/closing.

Seeing as how i usually use the DVD time search function, and I go to 1:45, it skips the opening, and goes right to the first short, and i skip the closing, no, it doesn't bother me. I also don't remember how the original openings used to be, so it doesn't bother me one bit.

 

[Joe Road]

I also wanted to point out how amazing these transfers are. They look so much better than my VHS tapes. They did a great job restoring the video.

 

[Rodney]

I'm surrprised no one else is upset about the opening/closing.

It was reported earlier in this thread that the DVD is using the second season opening. Is this not true?

 

[Patrick McCart]

I just picked this up and I'm extremely pleased!

It's another case of "windex on the dirty glass" for this. The film elements obviously have a tiny bit of wear, but the detail and color are so beautiful! The sound seems to have some re-recorded parts (I'm guessing some parts were lost), but it still is amazing.

The bug is a non-issue... it wasn't even noticable until a few segments in (only because I remembered about it and looked for it).

I'll be picking up all the seasons if they're this good.

 

[Kevin Porter]

I've contemplated getting this set sight unseen but is that reccommended. I haven't seen these in so long and I can't recall too much about them. Any suggestions/opinions?

 

[Josh Sieg]

Any suggestions/opinions?

Hurry before stores jack up the prices.
But this set looks amazing. I whole heartedly recomend it!