Where's the love for Rocky and Bullwinkle?

[C to the J]

You know, I've always pondered a couple of possible replacements for June Foray as the voice of Rocky.

1. Tress MacNeille - like June, she not only does many voices for women and girls, but she is pretty good at voicing boys. Junior Asparagus in the Netflix-exclusive VeggieTales TV series would be somewhat equivalent to Rocky.

2. Phyllis Smith - most of us best know her for performing Sadness from Inside Out. There are some instances where her voice makes me think of how Rocky would sound if he was gloomy.

 

[ErinAardvark]

My parents named their kittens Boris and Natasha. Does that count?

 

[MikaelaMuppet]

You know, I've always pondered a couple of possible replacements for June Foray as the voice of Rocky.

1. Tress MacNeille - like June, she not only does many voices for women and girls, but she is pretty good at voicing boys. Junior Asparagus in the Netflix-exclusive VeggieTales TV series would be somewhat equivalent to Rocky.

2. Phyllis Smith - most of us best know her for performing Sadness from Inside Out. There are some instances where her voice makes me think of how Rocky would sound if he was gloomy.

And The Office.

 

[minor muppetz]

I've been thinking about this quite a bit recently, but it seems like while the show was a big hit and has had merchandise and such, it seems like it's not that big, maybe even more underground than the Muppets (though maybe more "cult").

It seems the characters haven't really been in much else besides the original series. Yeah, we had Rocky and His Friends and The Bullwinkle Show, but they're pretty much the same show. And the characters have been in many commercials, both during the shows run and after. Aside from that, there's been four movies, two shorts, the Mr. Peabody Netflix series, The Dudley Do-Right Show (which didn't really have any new material), a live show at Universal Studios, and a Chuck E. Cheese-type restaurant, and I think there's plans for either a new CGI Bullwinkle movie or series. There's also Hoopity Hopper, which is kinda like a sixth season of the original series but with only the main segment replaced, all supporting segments being repeats of what was already shown on the Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, but Bullwinkle, Boris, and Dudley Do-Right all made guest appearances in the Hoopity Hopper segments, and the Bullwinkle puppet appeared in a Fractured Flickers episode.

And that's not to mention the fact that there were plans for things that did not get produced. There were plans for a New Bullwinkle Show, with audio at least recorded for a pitch tape (I had thought it was animated, but I saw a post on the Jay Wards Wacky World Facebook page, stated by Keith Scott, that only audio was recorded), and I recently learned that the theatrical Fractured Fairy Tale short was originally written to be part of the show. And there were plans for a Bullwinkle SuperBowl special which got canceled when the NFL threatened to sue whoever would sponsor it. And of course back when Disney had the video rights somebody pitched a new Bullwinkle series, mistakenly thinking the company owned the characters.

It would have been great if we had more Bullwinkle productions on a scale similar to Muppets, Disney, Looney Tunes, Scooby Doo, Tom and Jerry, and other long-running franchises. Of course Bullwinkle seems toe Jay Wards biggest hit. Crusader Rabbit might have run as long but isn't remembered, George of the Jungle seems to be big despite the original series only having 17 episodes. But the other shows only lasted a season, if they got past the pilot stages.

 

[D'Snowth]

I think perhaps it's because Rocky and Bullwinkle always engaged in ample amount of adult humor (not vulgar like Simpsons or Family Guy, more like topical and political humor) that goes right over the kids heads and only adults understand - even moreso than anything else you've mentioned . . . and considering how dumb kids are today from watching so much SpongeBob, there probably isn't a market for Rocky and Bullwinkle without compromising the source material's integrity by dumbing it down so much that it would appeal to kids and turn off adults.

 

[LittleJerry92]

I still have my Rocky and Bullwinkle plushies.

Is it sad I want to re-watch the live action movie just to see how it stands out for me as an adult?

 

[D'Snowth]

I consider the movie an example of what it was like when remakes used to be good. Was it the greatest movie ever? No. But, it not only was true to the original source material, but it also managed to poke fun at itself while still remaining true to itself. Why? Because even back then, the original show would occasionally poke fun at itself.

Not to mentionn, it offered a decent plot exposition as to why Rocky and Bullwinkle are out of place in the modern world: their cartoon world was literally frozen in time when the show was canceled in the 60s, so they didn't experience the progression of the ensuing decades like the 70s, 80s, or 90s. This actually made sense. What I never understood is how in the two Brady Bunch movies, the Brady's were somehow frozen in their 70s world while the rest of the world around them progressed . . . and how is it they never even aged since the 70s either?

 

[LittleJerry92]

That's another thing.

I haven't seen it since it came out in theaters.

Like, man. I'd be down to watch it on amazon or something....

 

[D'Snowth]

I see it on cable from time to time, like on HBO or something like that, but I have a DVD copy of the movie (I say "copy" because I transfered it from the VHS release).

 

[LittleJerry92]

Why not just....

Get it on DVD?