The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show and Underdog original cartoons (1 Viewer)

[darkrock17]

I watched them in the original airings. The local stations here time shifted them to early weekday mornings and I never understood why they were only on one day a week, after all - I looked for them every day at that time. I loved "Fractured Fairy Tales," "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties," and "Peabody's Improbable History." "Aesop and Son" was OK as were the rest of the short bits with Rocky and Bullwinkle. I didn't "get" "The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle" at all... That made them all the better once I got the discs and watched it all again with adult eyes.

The Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle was what the actual R&B shorts were called in 1987 when The Program Exchange started that packaged version that aired on Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network throughout the 90's and into the very early 2000's.

 

[Mark Y]

I thought I read somewhere that it stayed at NBC until it entered syndication in 1973. Odd that it would return to NBC in 1981 after being in syndication for 8 years up to that point.

It switched to ABC some time in the 1960s, certainly by 1966 because I have a couple shows on tape from that era. The Sunday morning ABC reruns ended in 1973. Then it was in syndication, but eight years later, a version of the show aired Saturday mornings on NBC during the 1981-82 season while a different version was still playing in syndication.

The version of the show which NBC ran in 1981-82 consisted of the later Rocky & Bullwinkle storylines starting with "Bumbling Bros. Circus." Now, as they ran in syndication, these comprised the last 20 half-hours and most had three Rocky & Bullwinkle chapters, a Fractured Fairy Tale, and two of the shorter cartoons (Bullwinkle's Corner, Mr. Know-It-All, Fan Club, Commander McBragg). But the NBC reruns were configured differently, with only two Rocky & Bullwinkle chapters per show, and all the other features present as well -- I remember Dudley Do-Right being on a lot, while very few Dudleys appeared in the syndicated "Bullwinkle Show." So while each storyline in this last group of shows was usually finished in two days in syndication, they lasted a little longer in the Saturday morning NBC version of the show.

 

[Lord Dalek]

Not sure what's the deal with the replaced Rocky & Bullwinkle music. The Comstock stuff (what little of it there was anyway) is what I grew up with, so I don't think I'll ever reall enjoy Steiner's contributions.

 

[darkrock17]

Not sure what's the deal with the replaced Rocky & Bullwinkle music. The Comstock stuff (what little of it there was anyway) is what I grew up with, so I don't think I'll ever reall enjoy Steiner's contributions.

Here's Fred's Broadway theme for 1961.

 

[MatthewA]

The closing music to that was on the Buena Vista Home Video VHS and laserdisc releases.

 

[Nelson Au]

Andrew, that’s the music I remember that I saw. If I understand what I’m reading, this is the theme used when the series switched to NBC. That’s what’s on the DVD sets?

Fred Steiner had quite a varied portfolio of work!

 

[darkrock17]

Andrew, that’s the music I remember that I saw. If I understand what I’m reading, this is the theme used when the series switched to NBC. That’s what’s on the DVD sets?

Fred Steiner had quite a varied portfolio of work!

No, this what's on the DVDs.

Season 1



Season 2

 

[Lord Dalek]

Andrew, that’s the music I remember that I saw. If I understand what I’m reading, this is the theme used when the series switched to NBC. That’s what’s on the DVD sets?

Fred Steiner had quite a varied portfolio of work!

Yes they replaced the better known Frank Comstock theme from the ABC days with that

 

[darkrock17]

Yes they replaced the better known Frank Comstock theme from the ABC days with that

Fred's music is what the general public would associate with Rocky & Bullwinkle over Frank's.

 

[Matt Hough]

Matt, does your Bullwinkle plush have the (incorrect) yellow antlers?

Yes, and he's holding a Wassomatta U. pennant.

 

[darkrock17]

Yes, and he's holding a Wassomatta U. pennant.

This one

 

[Nelson Au]

Andrew, I don’t like that opening animation and music on those two YouTube links above. If that’s on the DVD’s that’s too bad.

 

[darkrock17]

Andrew, I don’t like that opening animation and music on those two YouTube links above. If that’s on the DVD’s that’s too bad.

Those openings are from the first two seasons when the show was on ABC when it was called Rocky & His Friends.

 

[JoeDoakes]

The Bullwinkle Show theme is better. I don’t know about the digital cleanup, but the Tennessee Tuxedo set it awesome

 

[Matt Hough]

This one
View attachment 86687

Yep.

 

[Mark Y]

The Bullwinkle Show theme is better. I don’t know about the digital cleanup, but the Tennessee Tuxedo set it awesome

Tennessee Tuxedo is great in that it has all the (Tuxedo) cartoons, but (1) no attempt was made to reassemble the actual shows, each "show" is just the Tennessee Tuxedo cartoon only (with other characters' cartoons presented separately), and (2) the version of the theme song (audio) is different from what was used in the series.

All these shows have a complicated history regarding which cartoons were featured on which shows in what years. And if you factor in the syndicated reruns, it gets even more complicated.

Regarding the various show openings used in the series: From what I have seen in "collector copies" of original network shows, the show always had the "main version" of the theme song at the beginning -- "parachuting for your pleasure, sailing seas in search of treasure" -- you know, the one where Tennessee is a bullfighter, Tennessee and Chumley get sprayed up in the air by a whale, etc.

There were at least two versions of the SONG -- one had a Hispanic voice saying the line "see see see, Tennessee Tuxedo" so it was more like "si, si, si, Tennessee Tuxedo" -- then in later seasons the voices were redubbed to have the show's characters' voices singing the theme song (this is the way I always heard it in syndication).

The audio they use on the DVDs is neither one of these; it sounds like it might be the same group of singers as on the first version of the theme song, but without the Hispanic solo voice doing the "si, si, si" part.

There were two other animated segments which were used during the original network run to introduce the "second half" of the show. One involving a balloon with lyrics referring to Mr. Whoopee as "Mr. Answer Man," and a third one with a football game played by a team of Tennessees vs. a team of Chumleys, with another Tennessee as a referee. An instrumental version of the theme song plays, with a bunch of voices chanting "Rah rah rah, Tennessee Tuxedo."

I never saw "Version 2" (with "Mr. Answer Man") in color until I got these DVDs. (I think this one also had the voices re-recorded in later seasons.) I do remember the "football" one being used as a show opening in select episodes of the syndicated reruns, I think toward the end of the run. I saw this in Chicago in the early 1980s.

On the DVDs, these three intros are rotated at the beginning of the Tennessee Tuxedo cartoons. Each one has one of the three openings at the beginning, and each one has the closing credits, which again are the same visually as what I always saw in syndication, but the audio is completely different.

And the "Mr. Answer Man" intro appears frequently, but it has some kind of logo bug on it as if it was recorded from some TV channel in fairly recent years. Where would this have been shown since the original run? Like I said, prior to the DVDs, I'd never seen it in color.

 

[Mark Y]

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks Mark, you really know these cartoons!

I think I’ll try to order the complete Rocky and Bullwinkle DVD set. I guess there will never likely be a remastered blu ray. I’m still a little confused with the titles and theme music that is used from those YouTube videos, but I’ll see them when I get the discs.

It’s seems as with Rocky and Bullwinkle, Tennessee Tuxedo has a similar mix up of the shorts that were inserted in each episode vs what was originally broadcast. That’s fine, I guess we’ll never know and it doesn’t look like they were matched by anything like themes or connections to the main storylines of Rocky and Bullwinkle or Tennessee Tuxedo.

I’ll add Tennessee Tuxedo and then I’ll also look into the Underdog set perhaps a little later.

Looking back at those YouTube vidoes of the Tennessee Tuxedo intros and sampling a few episode on YouTube really brought back memories of seeing them and Mr. Whoopee too. Those were great as they were educational. I think there must have been a block of these cartoons I saw as a kid where they were all shown in an afternoon time slot. Rocky and Bullwinkle, Tennessee Tuxedo, Underdog, and a few more. And the animation style is simplistic, but also very cool. These will be interesting to add to my collection. They will be added to The Flintstones and The Jetsons Blu Rays. And Looney Tunes too.

Seeing those videos for Rocky and Bullwinkle and Tennessee Tuxedo makes me nostalgic and sad at the same time as it was such a great and simple time.

 

[Mark Y]

Here's a basic summary of which cartoons went where, the best I can reconstruct it.

It starts with "King Leonardo And His Short Subjects" which premiered in 1960. It featured "The King & Odie" (which were two-part storylines, one at the beginning of the show and the other at the end).

In between were "The Hunter" and "Tooter Turtle," plus the short cartoon "Twinkles," which was also occasionally shown on "Rocky And His Friends."

The "King Leonardo" show ended in 1963. Then "Tennessee Tuxedo And His Tales" premiered. "The Hunter" and "The King & Odie" each had 26 new cartoons made for the first season of "Tennessee Tuxedo."

A year later, "Underdog" premiered on NBC in 1964. This is where it starts to get jumbled up. "Underdog" had four-part cliffhangers, two of which bookended each show. In between were "Go Go Gophers" and reruns of "The Hunter." For a time, "Go Go Gophers" alternated with reruns of "Aesop And Son" from the Rocky & Bullwinkle shows.

Meanwhile, "Tennessee Tuxedo" was still running, and since "The Hunter" moved over to the "Underdog" show, his spot on "Tuxedo" was taken by "Tooter Turtle." (There were no "new" Tooters produced.)

"The Underdog Show" changed formats later, and at one point they took out the other segments and just played the four-part Underdog storyline in a half-hour show.

After that it gets pretty confusing. "The Beagles" featured "Klondike Kat" and reruns of "The King & Odie." I'm not sure where "Commander McBragg" first appeared, but ended up in the syndicated "Underdog Show" (but I don't think McBragg was originally part of Underdog).

At one point "The Beagles" and "Tennessee Tuxedo" were merged together in a show. Then there was "The Dudley Do-Right Show," a Sunday morning series featuring Dudley, McBragg, The Hunter and Tooter Turtle. But for the syndicated "Dudley Do Right And Friends," they swapped out Tooter Turtle and put in The King & Odie.

There is no point in trying to reassemble them in "original broadcast order," even if there was actual documentation of what went where, it would be constant repeats of the same cartoons on different shows.

 

[Nelson Au]

Thanks again Mark, that’s quite a review of the cartoons that were in the main shows. Most of those cartoons rings a bell. But I don’t recall ever seeing the King Leonardo and The King and Odie! My memories are what I saw in syndication of course.