Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle Vol. 4: Blue Moose [VHS]

Jay Ward's indelible mix of sight gags, groaning puns, over-the-top high and pop cultural allusions, and inspired vocal mimicry soldiers on in this vintage episode of Rocky and Bullwinkle, a touchstone for media satire that still sounds fresh and looks considerably fresher than the series' later syndicated repeats, thanks to a buff-and-polish restoration from the early '70s that cleans up its bright colors and sharp edges. The stars' serialized misadventures for this episode center on "Rue Britannia," the telltale tattoo that would confirm a fortune--and happens to reside on the sole of one Bullwinkle Moose, who has to fend off the dim-bulb sabotage of three teddibly British would-be heirs determined to nab the bounty. Mr. Peabody and Sherman set the Wayback Machine to encounter Cleopatra, Ptolemy, and Julius Caesar, with Caesar a clueless swain, Cleopatra a rather heavy-handed siren, and the outcome rooted in the show's winningly broad humor.

Even during its original network run, the show didn't cost anybody at Disney (who would subsequently snare the video rights) lost sleep over its slapdash animation. But the madcap Ward, his puckish writers, and superb vocal cast of voice-over wizards lobbed their anything-goes fusillade of then timely pop references and silly jokes with breakneck aplomb. It's a sobering testament to our post-literate age that classical literary references that worked for boomers then in grade school now might fly over the heads of their presumably better-educated offspring. Don't let that stop you: If your kids don't get the jokes, you will. --Sam Sutherland

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