Rocky and His Friends 

An comedic anthology featuring primarily the adventures of a heroic flying squirrel and his dumb moose friend.

Stars:

Edward Everett Horton, June Foray, Paul Frees

2 nominations.

Cast

Series cast summary:
Edward Everett Horton	...	Fractured Fairy Tales Narrator 78 episodes, 1959-1961
June Foray	...	Additional Voices / ... 78 episodes, 1959-1961
Paul Frees	...	Additional Voices / ... 78 episodes, 1959-1961
William Conrad	...	Narrator / ... 78 episodes, 1959-1961
Walter Tetley	...	Sherman / ... 78 episodes, 1959-1961
Bill Scott	...	Bullwinkle J. Moose / ... 78 episodes, 1959-1961
Daws Butler	...	Various Fairy Tale Characters / ... 77 episodes, 1959-1961

Storyline

Animated antics of flying squirrel Rocket J. Squirrel, or Rocky, and his dim companion, Bullwinkle J. Moose. And let's not forget the two spies who always complicate things for our heroes: Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale, who incognito try and help Rocky and Bullwinkle then immediately put them in life-threatening situations that result in major cliffhangers. Also features Grimm Fairy Tales Jay Ward-style and Peabody and Sherman taking intriguing trips through time courtesy of the Way-Back machine.

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Plot Keywords:

cartoon moose | cartoon squirrel | spy | voice over narration | narrator | 

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Genres:

Animation | Comedy | Family | Fantasy | Sci-Fi

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Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

19 November 1959 (USA)

Also Known As:

Rocky & Bullwinkle & Friends

Company Credits

Production Co:

Bullwinkle Studios,Jay Ward Productions,Producers Associates for Television (PAT)

Technical Specs

Runtime:

30 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Black and White (digitally colored)

Aspect Ratio:

4:3

Did You Know?

Trivia

On the days when Jay Ward didn't feel particularly creative, he closed up shop and took the whole crew to the racetrack with him This was brought up by a writer from the show in an issue of Writer's Digest.

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Quotes

Bullwinkle J. Moose: Hey, Rocky; watch me pull a rabbit outta my hat!
Rocket J. Squirrel: Again?
Bullwinkle J. Moose: Nothin' up my sleeve - Presto!
[pulls Rocky out of the hat]
Bullwinkle J. Moose: Well, I'm gettin' close.

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Alternate Versions

The currently available episodes of "Rocky and His Friends" on DVD (as Seasons 1 and 2 of "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends") differ from the original broadcast versions in several ways. The opening and closing animation from Season 2 has been applied to most of the episodes from both seasons, with a newer title logo and appropriately re-dubbed voice-over for the show's rebranding as part of "The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends" (a blanket title that covers this show and its later incarnation as The Bullwinkle Show on a different network). Furthermore, due to copyright issues, the original Frank Comstock theme music from "Rocky and His Friends" has been replaced by the music composed by Fred Steiner for "The Bullwinkle Show". The DVD releases also use the altered-for-syndication versions of the opening and closing sequences that excise any mention of the show's original sponsor, General Mills. While the DVDs present Rocky & Bullwinkle's serialized adventures in their chronological order, there's some debate over which backup segments ("Fractured Fairy Tales", "Peabody's Improbable History", "Aesop and Son", "Dudley Do-Right of the Mounties", "Bullwinkle's Corner", "Mr. Know-It-All") should be paired with each episode, as the segments have been mixed and matched, separated and recombined countless times in the decades since their original broadcast. While the current DVD versions of these episodes are considered the "official" versions in circulation, they fall short of being accurate representations of the show as originally broadcast from 1959-1961.

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Connections

Referenced in The Young and the Restless: Sharon Is Terrified by a Disturbing Visitor (2011)

User Reviews

Precursor to The Bullwinkle Show

Who would have ever thought, when this show came out, in 1959, that between this cartoon, and its successor, The Bullwinkle Show, that these cartoon characters would have five years of episodes?......kind of modelled in the old radio episodic format, I would say.

I wonder if Jay Ward would have also been surprised that his creation had lasted that long. He had done Crusader Rabbit, back in 1949---TV's first animated show ever----but certainly that cartoon could not hold a candle to this one.

From what I have read, there were no other cartoon TV series, up until this point, which had lasted 5 years (shortly AFTER this series began, The Flintstones ran 6 years---1960-1966). After Rocky, Bullwinkle (and Hanna Barbera's Flinstones) I think that it was EXTREMELY RARE that any animated series lasted 5 or more years......Until The Simpsons came along!.....

The story that I have read, as to why Jay Ward switched the name, from Rocky and His Friends, to The Bullwinkle Show, is very simple. In 1961 the show switched networks. The new station would only pick the series up if Ward renamed it The Bullwinkle Show (for what reason, I will never know). The rest is history......