# "Hey, Rocky, watch me pull this dvd out of my hat" **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 11, 2026, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-rocky-watch-me-pull-this-dvd-out-of-my-hat/1032292 "2026-08-11T05:06:58Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-rocky-watch-me-pull-this-dvd-out-of-my-hat/1032292/21 "2026-08-11T18:22:35Z")
It looks like it might be a licensing conflict. As far as I can tell, the rights to the characters have reverted to Jay Ward’s estate, which is currently being run by his family. But the broadcast rights to the original show is owned by General Mills. My understanding is Jay Ward Productions can license the characters for new productions. (Which they did with Universal to make some movies.) But they can’t authorize the use of the original show. General Mills can license the broadcast of the original episodes but apparently it hasn’t done so since 1998. As far as I can tell, there are no issues with music rights. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-rocky-watch-me-pull-this-dvd-out-of-my-hat/1032292/22 "2026-08-11T18:59:37Z")
Both of those DVD sets were apparently issued by Universal (if the Amazon listings are accurate in that regard), so either the broadcast rights are separated from the home video rights, or General Mills gave a license to Universal for the DVDs. ---
**Author:** ![Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/marvin_the_martian/32/2898_2.png) [@Marvin\_the\_Martian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marvin_the_Martian)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-rocky-watch-me-pull-this-dvd-out-of-my-hat/1032292/23 "2026-08-11T19:08:36Z")
At the risk of being repetitive, if you look at the box pictured in the RB2 Amazon listing it clearly states 18 DVDs and an appropriate total running time. The textual Amazon description appears to be wrong. And RB2 includes non-DVD items not included with RB1. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-rocky-watch-me-pull-this-dvd-out-of-my-hat/1032292/24 "2026-08-11T22:29:16Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Rocky and Bullwinkle out of costume: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieOGZtGUjRQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ieOGZtGUjRQ) So did the two of them just play all the characters? ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-rocky-watch-me-pull-this-dvd-out-of-my-hat/1032292/25 "2026-08-11T22:41:57Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > So did the two of them just play all the characters? And am I the only one who found those mechanical rats terrifying as a kid? ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 10:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-rocky-watch-me-pull-this-dvd-out-of-my-hat/1032292/26 "2026-08-11T22:47:55Z")
> [@BigT](#): > > So did the two of them just play all the characters? They did a lot of them, but not all of them. June Foray: Rocky, Natasha Fatale, Nell Fenwick, and most of the other female characters Bill Scott: Bullwinkle, Dudley Do-Right, Fearless Leader, Mr. Peabody, and others Veteran voice actor Paul Frees did Boris Badenov, Captain Peachfuzz, Inspector Fenwick, etc. Other voice actors (including Hans Conried, Daws Butler, Walter Tetley, Charlie Ruggles) did certain voices. William Conrad was the narrator/announcer for a lot of the segments, while Edward Everett Horton was the narrator for Fractured Fairy Tales. ---
**Author:** ![blondebear](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/blondebear/32/1022_2.png) [@blondebear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/blondebear)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-rocky-watch-me-pull-this-dvd-out-of-my-hat/1032292/27 "2026-08-11T23:07:38Z")
Interesting trivia re: Moosylvania… In 1962 Jay Ward and his publicist staged a “Statehood For Moosylvania” publicity stunt/campaign. They leased an island in Minnesota and drove around the country with a petition asking for the island to become the “State of Moosylvania”. After visiting 50 or 60 cities and collecting signatures from fans they drove to Washington D.C. with the petition hoping to present it to President Kennedy. Unfortunately their timing wasn’t too good, they arrived in the middle of the Cuban Missile Crisis and were turned away. Full story here: [Moosylvania and the campaign of '62](https://jillswenson.substack.com/p/moosylvania-and-the-campaign-of-62) ---
**Author:** ![Garak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/d78d45/32.png) [@Garak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garak)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 10:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-rocky-watch-me-pull-this-dvd-out-of-my-hat/1032292/28 "2026-08-13T10:45:05Z")
not this particular set, but Technology Connections has a [video](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hzz_d9Y44ZE)talking about differences in DVD quality between different releases of the same show ---
**Author:** ![WildaBeast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wildabeast/32/6_2.png) [@WildaBeast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WildaBeast)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2026, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-rocky-watch-me-pull-this-dvd-out-of-my-hat/1032292/29 "2026-08-18T22:29:04Z")
If you look at the comments section of that Technology Connections video, you’ll see he’s posted a pinned comment stating that he later discovered that those were actually counterfeit/bootleg DVDs he’d gotten his hands on. That makes me wonder if RB1 is actually a counterfeit and not a legit release, and that’s why it’s so much cheaper than RB2. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hey-rocky-watch-me-pull-this-dvd-out-of-my-hat/1032292.md?page=1)