Huge irony, as animation (aided by computers) is being re-discovered in the present, that the highest compliment one can pay to an animated feature in our current age is to say that "the market is kids, but adults will find things in the script to enjoy also." Folks, here is big revelation. That trick is not new. In fact, the producers of this ground-breaking series, Jay Ward and Bill Scott, not only invented that approach, they virtually patented it. The segments, especially the poetry, fractured fairy tales, and trips back in history, had puns within puns within puns. And, of course, puns only work if you already know the answer, so in effect this series was written by adults, for adults, and, in order to bring home a paycheck, I am sure these guys had to console themselves with the inevitable truth that the vast majority of their audience would, unfortunately, be children. (But, through the magic of DVD, streaming video and God-knows-what-new-media will arrive in the decades to come, adults can finally get a chance to match wits with the writers of this half-century old show.) And the casting? William Conrad was a "force" in Hollywood in those days, directing behind the scenes, doing voice-overs, and ultimately had his own show (Cannon). Horton had one of the most distinctive voices in the history of TV, with a pitch un-matched even to the present. And Hans Conried actually appeared on talk shows of the era to show how many different voices he could do. Even the intros to the commercials were unique and ahead of their time -- "SAY ROCKY WATCH ME PULL A RABBIT OUT OF A HAT!" Defines the word "classic."
Review of The Bullwinkle Show
