Media
Related: About this forumThe Cartoon That Knew Too Much: Rocky and Bullwinkle
Before Rick and Morty or The Simpsons, there was Rocky and Bullwinklethe dumbest smart show on television. 🐿️🦌
This classic cartoon wasnt just silly slapstick. Hidden under the moose jokes and flying squirrel antics was Cold War satire, meta humor, and political commentary that went straight over kids headsbut spoke directly to adults.
In this video, we explore:
How Rocky and Bullwinkle predicted the future of postmodern TV
The genius of breaking the fourth wall and anti-narrative storytelling
Why a kids cartoon became a secret Trojan horse for media criticism
How it shaped cartoons like South Park, BoJack Horseman, and Rick and Morty
If you love classic cartoons, media analysis, and retro animation deep dives, this episode is for you.

Just Jerome
(312 posts)doesnt that just excite the old nostalgia nerve!
AllaN01Bear
(27,185 posts)hey rockey, whats me pull a rabbit out of my hat, out comes a lion and roars . rockey says . now herse something you really may like.
surfered
(8,715 posts)Borogove
(218 posts)tryharder
(13 posts)I stole the Rocky & Bullwinkle, did some more time. But now Im back in (something resembling) school and learning all kinds of new things about my political bodies!
LetMyPeopleVote
(168,554 posts)LetMyPeopleVote
(168,554 posts)Probatim
(3,171 posts)-misanthroptimist
(1,427 posts)That's right, DVD!
Some of the smartest and dumbest (but funny) humor ever to grace the small screen, imo.
And some of the worst puns! You'll wince in pain...and then laugh like a maniac.
bucolic_frolic
(52,030 posts)That was the good stuff. The reruns ran for a while too.
-misanthroptimist
(1,427 posts)But that was four or five years ago. I think there's around 20 discs, give or take. That's a lot of entertainment for the price!
mdbl
(7,212 posts)Even more fun as an adult.
aggiesal
(10,266 posts)A couple of No Goodniks, for real.
txwhitedove
(4,191 posts)of the couch yelling "Help, Cecil, help!" Loved them, loved the 'No Bikini Atoll'. "The show was surprisingly sophisticated. There were topical and political references in among the bad puns. Like many good children's entertainment, the writers were writing for themselves, not kids, and the humor shows it."
NNadir
(36,401 posts)There was also Dudley Doright, Fractured Fairy Tales, and Sherman's wayback machine.
That show was pure magic.
When my kids were small the only children's show in my recollection that compared in subtle wit, albeit with more social than political focused commentary, was Fairly Odd Parents.
iscooterliberally
(3,123 posts)I remember hearing the narrator say, "we were going to kill them off, but realized we couldn't get away with that on a kids' show" as a child. I thought it was hilarious.
ChazInAz
(2,948 posts)The famous Kirwood Derby.