Looking for a fun DVD set for your kids? You can't do much better
than this one. You get a lot of video (17 22-minute programs), all of it
filled with the same decidedly offbeat, narrated storytelling style
creator Jay Ward made famous in his earlier "Rocky & Bullwinkle"
programs. Though "George of the Jungle" doesn't have the sly adult
themes of Bullwinkle, it still has plenty of appeal, to kids as well as
parents.
My 13-year-old daughter offers this review: "Silly. And 4 and a half out
of five stars."
Of the show's three cartoon series ("George of the Jungle," "Tom Slick"
and "Super Chicken"), my personal favorite is "Super Chicken." Its
far-fetched premise suits Ward's dry sense of humor to a tee. I've read
where some parents fear Super Chicken because they think the lead
character's continual need for "super sauce" may be a hidden drug
reference. Maybe it is, but I can't imagine today's kids being
influenced by it. In fact, the whole '60s sense of humor is what makes
these shows so funny in the first place. Many of the throwaway lines are
simply gems. "The pearl went back to the museum," explains the narrator
after a villainous mollusk is captured, "and the oyster went to jail to
serve every month with an 'R' in it for the next 30 years."
The show originally aired in 1967 and 1968 on ABC.
As far as these two DVDs go, they're pretty much just what you'd expect.
The video is a little fuzzy but it's not bad unless you've got a really
large-screen television. For each episode you can either Play All three
cartoons, or cherry-pick them out individually. A great plus: There's
only one commercial to sit through, a short promo for the new "George of
the Jungle" series on the Cartoon Network.
Disc 2 has two neat bonus features -- the pilot cartoons of both "George
of the Jungle" and "Super Chicken." The "George" pilot lacks the
familiar theme song, but includes a caricature of, of all people,
Humphrey Bogart as an elephant hunter. The "Super Chicken" pilot has
even more Superman-style premise and, though plenty watchable, is not
quite up to par to its later shows. Both pilots, by the way, look
tremendous, with brilliant color and crisp definition.
The only two things not to like on the DVD set: There are no subtitles
(I am not hard of hearing but I love watching television with subtitles
on), and as you start each episode, the "George of Jungle" theme plays
twice in a row. You see, and hear, it once as a 60-second show open, and
then immediately again as a 30-second introduction to the first cartoon.
The theme song is one of the catchiest ever, but hearing it twice in a
row every time you play an episode gets old.
After watching these old shows I noticed one of my favorite things about
them was their character voices. They're so familiar! George, Tom Slick
and Super Chicken are voiced by Bill Scott, best known as the voice of
Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right and Mr. Peabody. Tom Slick's girlfriend
Marigold (and nearly every other female) is June Foray, the voice of
Rocky and Nell Fenwick. Best of all are the contributions of Paul Frees.
In the world I run in (note my byline) Frees is best known as the Ghost
Host at Walt Disney World's Haunted Mansion, but he also supplied the
voice to hundreds of television characters, including the Pillsbury
Doughboy. Here he provides, among other things, a dead-on impression of
Ed Wynn (the Mad Hatter in Disney's "Alice in Wonderland" and Uncle
Albert in "Mary Poppins") for the character of Super Chicken's lion
sidekick Fred. Frees did the same voice for Captain Peachfuzz of "Rocky
& Bullwinkle" fame.
