Bullwinkle

The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show was a television animated series created and produced in the USA by Jay Ward. Rocky & Bullwinkle enjoyed great popularity during the 1960s, and is frequently rerun in the United States.

The heroes of the show are Rocket "Rocky" J. Squirrel, a flying squirrel, and his best friend Bullwinkle J. Moose, a dim-witted but good-hearted moose, from the fictional town of Frostbite Falls, Minnesota (inspired by International Falls, Minnesota).

They foil the schemes of villains Mr. Big, Fearless Leader, and the fiendish but inept agents of the fictitious nation of Pottsylvania, Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale (see Boris Godunov, femme fatale).

Other segments on the show were also popular. These included:

• Dudley Do-Right, a parody of early 20th century melodrama and silent film. Dudley Do-Right was a Canadian Mountie who was always trying to catch his nemesis Snidely Whiplash, and who was so interested in his own horse he scarcely noticed the flirtatious advances of his would-be love interest, Nell Fenwick.
• Peabody's Improbable History, featured a genius dog named Mr. Peabody who had a pet boy named Sherman; Sherman and Peabody used Peabody's "WABAC machine" (pronounced "way-back") to go back in time to discover the real story behind historical events. The WABAC machine inspired the naming of the Wayback Machine, a web site that allows visitors to browse an archive of historically significant websites.
• Fractured Fairy Tales, presenting familiar fairy tales and children's stories with the storyline humorously changed.
• Aesop & Son, similar to the above, only dealing with fables as opposed to fairy tales. The usual framing portion consists of Aesop attempting to teach a lesson to his son using a fable, but after the story his son subverts its moral with a pun.
• Bullwinkle's Corner, presenting Bullwinkle reading a classic poem that he inadvertantly and humourously distorts.
• Mr. Know-It-All, presenting Bullwinkle trying to give practical advice on something only to have it go disasterously wrong.

Each segment was announced by Rocky, who would invariably be interrupted by Bullwinkle's cry of "Hey, Rocky, watch me pull a rabbit out of my hat." Undaunted by by Rocky's response ("That trick never works."), Bullwinkle then pulls out something preposterous, like a rhinoceros.

Much of the success of the series was due to its ability to work on two distinct levels. As an animated series with zany characters and plots, it appealed to children; but its clever use of puns and topical references that were often over the head of children appealed to adults. The animation is quite limited while the scripts and audio are inventive and sometimes sophisticated. Some critics at the time described the effect as being like a well written radio program with illustrations.

The show started in 1959 as Rocky and His Friends on the ABC television network. In 1961 the series moved to NBC and was renamed The Bullwinkle Show. The show moved back to ABC in 1964 and was cancelled that same year, although episodes continued to be aired on ABC until 1973 when it went into syndication.

A movie (The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle) was released in 2000; this film was mostly live action with the characters of Rocky and Bullwinkle added in animation. A live action movie Dudley Do-Right, featuring Dudley and friends, was released in 1999.

The animated show featured many noted voice-artists, including:

• Daws Butler: Aesop's Son
• William Conrad: Narrator
• Hans Conried: Snidely Whiplash
• Edward Everett Horton: Narrator of Fractured Fairy Tales
• June Foray: Rocky, Natasha, Nell Fenwick
• Paul Frees: Boris, Cloyd (a moon man), Captain Peachfuzz, and Inspector Fenwick
• Charles Ruggles: Aesop
• Adventures of Rocky & Bullwinkle and Friends (video game)