Rocky & Bullwinkle Box Set #3

[Muzzawhy]

Q#1: Does anyone have inside scoop on what will be in the THIRD Box Set - Just season #3??? #3 & #4???

I was trying to record off the Boomerang versions and the video quality is just awful. I think one person refered to them as "having been salvaged by forces returning from Vietnam" or something like that.
Q#2: Why, if box sets are available, does Boomerang use such poor quality versions???

Even thought the seiral are in sequence, the others (Peabody, Aesops) seem randomly ordered. The Mr. Know It All and Bullwinkles Corner also seem random (and oft repeated).

[Geezil]

Q#2: Why, if box sets are available, does Boomerang use such poor quality versions???

A#2: Because as far as the U.S. syndication market is concerned, that's the only package Boomerang can get! :( The pristine version in those box sets is the one in TV syndication internationally, excepting the United States.

Why? I have no idea whatsoever (though I'm willing to bet the answer involves lawyers at some level). So let's all just be thankful we're getting the fresh version in any form.

[gilligan fanati]

this doesn't help much at all but http://www.tvshowsondvd.com/newsitem.cfm?NewsID=3168

[A. Leal]

Yes, every indication, particularly in the preview included in the last set, and the general way Sony seems to be going about this, is that the third Bullwinkle DVD set will be the "third" season (technically, the first season of "The Bullwinkle Show.") According to Keith Scott's indispensable The Moose That Roared, the serils for this season were "Missouri Mish Mash" (aka The Kirward Derby Story), "The Lazy Jay Ranch," "The Three Moosketeers," "Topsy Turvy World," and "Painting Theft," the shortest.

I expect any randomness in the Boomerang airings of the show are due to the simple fact that specific supporting segments only aired originally at certain times; for example "Dudley Do-Right" and "Aesop and Son" weren't added until "The Bullwinkle Show" era, or "third season," thus mixing up the segments gives viewers a chance to see their favorites more often rather than slogging through. Of course, this may be applying too much logic to the situation, but seems a reasonable explanation to me. And considering how many US syndicated/cable runs will include more than one "Bullwinkle's Corner/Mr. Know It All/Bullwinkle's Fan Club" segment per show (as opposed to only one, originally), perhaps as filler, a certain amount of repetition there is unavoidable, I'd expect.

[MarkTheShark]

Yes, every indication, particularly in the preview included in the last set, and the general way Sony seems to be going about this, is that the third Bullwinkle DVD set will be the "third" season (technically, the first season of "The Bullwinkle Show.") According to Keith Scott's indispensable The Moose That Roared, the serils for this season were "Missouri Mish Mash" (aka The Kirward Derby Story), "The Lazy Jay Ranch," "The Three Moosketeers," "Topsy Turvy World," and "Painting Theft," the shortest.

I expect any randomness in the Boomerang airings of the show are due to the simple fact that specific supporting segments only aired originally at certain times; for example "Dudley Do-Right" and "Aesop and Son" weren't added until "The Bullwinkle Show" era, or "third season," thus mixing up the segments gives viewers a chance to see their favorites more often rather than slogging through. Of course, this may be applying too much logic to the situation, but seems a reasonable explanation to me. And considering how many US syndicated/cable runs will include more than one "Bullwinkle's Corner/Mr. Know It All/Bullwinkle's Fan Club" segment per show (as opposed to only one, originally), perhaps as filler, a certain amount of repetition there is unavoidable, I'd expect.

I'm no expert, but here is what I know about this.

The Bullwinkle Show that appears on Boomerang and on some local TV stations (including "Me TV" in Chicago) is a syndicated package of 98 half-hours which has been around for years and years. This version of the show is *owned* by General Mills, the show's original sponsor, and is distributed by The Program Exchange. This company handles all the domestic distribution of Jay Ward and TTV cartoons which were produced for General Mills (I think), so this would (as far as I know) include all the Ward stuff except for the characters from "George Of The Jungle," which is handled by another distributor (used to be Worldvision, but could be a different company today for all I know). The Ward estate owns video rights for all the cartoons as far as I know (?).

The syndicated shows *do not* represent the shows as they originally aired (and neither do the DVD versions, which are based on a foreign syndicated package so as not to infringe on any rights owned in perpetuity by General Mills). The syndicated "Bullwinkle Show" covers (as far as Rocky & Bullwinkle storylines) the first two seasons (which originally aired under the "Rocky & His Friends" title in 1959-1961) and most of the final season of "The Bullwinkle Show" ("Bumbing Bros. Circus" through "Wossamotta U," minus "Moosylvania" and "Moosylvania Saved"). The R&B serials which aired in the third season (and first season under the "Bullwinkle Show" title) are *not* included in this syndicated package at all, so the Rocky and Bullwinkle segments in the forthcoming DVD set may be new to many viewers. The first two seasons' worth of Rocky & Bullwinkle storylines are covered in syndicated shows #1-78, which leads me to believe that this comprised the full package at one time, before the final 20 half-hours were added. (The last time the series aired as part of a commercial network's Saturday morning lineup was during the 1981-1982 season, and that package, which was different from the current syndicated package, began with "Bumbling Bros. Circus" but had more of the other supporting segments featured than the current syndicated versions of those episodes.) Additionally, the current syndicated versions of Bullwinkle shows #79-98 have at least three Rocky & Bullwinkle chapters in each show, with usually a "Fractured Fairy Tale" (all of which, I believe, are repeated from earlier in the rotation) and two of the short segments ("Bulllwinkle's Corner"/"Mr. Know-It-All"). The original show, to my knowledge, *never* included three Rocky & Bullwinkle chapters in one half-hour.

The Rocky & Bullwinkle chapters have for years been separated into two different syndication packages. The other one is called "Rocky & His Friends" (though the on-screen title sequence is from "The Rocky Show") and though it has been at least 25 years since I have seen this version of the show, I believe it includes the R&B chapters from the third season. Ironically, the R&B storylines which *originally* aired under the "Rocky & His Friends" title are syndicated under the "Bullwinkle Show" title, and about half of the cartoons which originally aired on "The Bullwinkle Show" are syndicated as part of "Rocky & His Friends," which underscores the fact that this is really all one show anyway.

One other thing is that the syndicated "Bullwinkle Show" episodes were remastered on tape in the early 1990s after having been distributed on 16mm film for many years. Prior to this, the occasional "Commander McBragg" or "Sing-A-Long Family" short from Total Television would show up in the rotation, but when the shows were remastered, all of the Total TV shorts were dumped and replaced with a repeat of a "Bullwinkle's Corner" or a "Mr. Know-It-All" segment. If you think the current Boomerang versions look bad, you should have seen the beat-up film prints circulating prior to 1990.