The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show

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. 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.

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.
• 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.
• 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.

Much of the success of the series was due 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", and episodes continued to be made until 1973.

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 Edward Everett Horton, Daws Butler, Paul Frees, Bill Scott, June Foray, and Hans Conried.