Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends: Complete Season 4 – DVD Review

DVD Reviews, Reviews



After a five year wait, the latest installment of the greatest animated TV series has finally arrived. Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends: Complete Season 4 gives the next 19 episodes about a dimwitted moose, his flying squirrel pal and two evil foreign agents. While the animation might have limited, the genius was overflowing. The characters are self aware that they’re part of a TV show. They have no problem mocking the situations. Yet for all its cerebral nature, it’s still goofy enough for a little kid to enjoy. It’s a show you can watch at any age without feeling too old or young. There are five serial adventures in the boxset.

“Painting Theft” demonstrates that world famous nogoodnik Boris Badenov can pull off a real crime. He and Natasha Fatale disguise themselves as security guards at a French museum. They steal major works of art and mail them to Bullwinkle. Boris figures the moose will be dumb enough to give them back. The plan goes wrong when Bullwinkle hangs them in a chicken coop and white washes over them. The blank canvas elevates Bullwinkle as a modern art world sensation.  Is Boris doomed? “The Guns of Abalone” makes the moose and squirrel animals on a mission. The episode spoofs The Guns of Navarone. “The Treasure of Monte Zoom” is hidden at the bottom of a lake. Boris wants to uncover the ultimate prize of race car driver Monte Zoom. Rocky and Bullwinkle are fishing on top of the water. Not that the villain cares. He’s going to blow the dam. However this plan is stopped not by heroics, but a mandate to remove violence from kiddie TV. He must go to a Plan B that won’t defy network standards.

“Good Gas Attack” turns the smartest people into blathering idiots. Turns out this is Boris’ latest scheme. There’s only one person immune from the aerosol attack on their brain: Bullwinkle. Can he save America even with Rocky completely turned into a mental moron? This has a classic finale as Boris arrives in Washington D.C. “Banana Formula” has Boris steal the formula for a dangerous weapon. He hides the formula inside a banana. He almost gets away except Bullwinkle gets his hooves on the fruit. The only good thing is that for a forgetful moose, Bullwinkle remembers everything he eats. Boris must extract that information.

The best news is with Season 4 and the previous sets, you can now watch all the Dudley Do-Right, Mr. Peabody, Fractured Fairy Tales and Aesop and Son. While there was a fifth season, they repeated the middle segments in the 33 new moose and squirrel episodes. Now you no longer have to wonder who else Mr. Peabody visited in the Wayback Machine. Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends: Complete Season 4 is shorter than the previous years while packing as much comic fun and perplexing adventure.

The video is 1.33:1 full frame. The transfers appear to have been put through the DVNR  process which means lines will vanish during motion scenes. The series was always rather dirty since it was made in a low budget production house in Mexico. There was always specks and hair trapped between the cells. The limited nature of the animation doesn’t make it feel too frustrating. There are also moments when an “R&B” bug appears at the lower right corner of the screen. This might annoy the “pure image” crowd. The audio is Dolby Digital mono. You’ll get to enjoy the great narration of William Conrad (Cannon) in a pure tone.

None.

Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends: Complete Season 4 delivers the penultimate collection of the legendary cartoon series. Even after 50 years, the moose and the squirrel are a hip delight. Most of jokes crack wise without seeming like historical artifacts. It was worth the wait, but hopefully the fifth season won’t take another five years. This is a series that must be completed for the sake of humanity else Boris wins.




Classic Media and Vivendi Entertainment present Rocky and Bullwinkle and Friends: Complete Season 4. Starring: Rocky, Bullwinkle, Boris, Natasha, and Mr. Peabody. Boxset Contents: 19 Episodes on 2 DVDs. Released on DVD: August 17, 2010.




Joe Corey is the writer and director of "Danger! Health Films" currently streaming on Night Flight and Amazon Prime. He's the author of "The Seven Secrets of Great Walmart People Greeters." This is the last how to get a job book you'll ever need. He was Associate Producer of the documentary "Moving Midway." He's worked as local crew on several reality shows including Candid Camera, American's Most Wanted, Extreme Makeover Home Edition and ESPN's Gaters. He's been featured on The Today Show and CBS's 48 Hours. Dom DeLuise once said, "Joe, you look like an axe murderer." He was in charge of research and programming at the Moving Image Archive.