Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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46 of 46 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great for kids, great for families, February 12, 2008
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.
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30 of 33 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
At last!!!, December 4, 2007
More than 6 hours of classic "George of the Jungle", "Super Chicken", and "Tom Slick" cartoons plus the never-before-seen pilot episodes of both "George of the Jungle" and "Super Chicken"!
Running for 17 episodes, George of the Jungle was a spoof of the Tarzan story. A "show" consisted of three unrelated cartoons, each running about six minutes. They are "George of the Jungle", "Tom Slick", and "Super Chicken".
"George of the Jungle"
Life in the Imgwee Gwee valley is not easy for George (voiced by Bill Scott). He doesn't quite understand his mate Ursula (voiced by June Foray), "that funny-lookin' fella who never shaves". His best friend is an ape named Ape (voiced by Paul Frees) who sounds Oxford educated, and then there's Shep, George's pet elephant who behaves like a lap dog. Also lots of trees...
"Tom Slick"
Tom Slick is a clean-living, stalwart hero type (voiced by Bill Scott). Scott also did the voice of Gertie Growler (his only female role), the mother of Marigold, Tom's girlfriend (voiced by June Foray). The villain, Baron Otto Matic, and the Baron's henchman, Clutcher (voiced by Paul Frees) are the bane of Tom's existence. Tom's vehicle, The Thunderbolt Greaseslapper, is an incredibly versatile machine that can be modified into a car, motorboat, airplane, hot air balloon or whatever Tom and Otto are racing. As Tom would often say: "There's no such word as failure in auto racing, Marigold."
"Super Chicken"
Mild mannered millionaire Henry Cabot Henhouse III (voiced by Bill Scott) undergoes a transformation to the super-powered fighting fowl whenever he drinks his "Super Sauce". This substance is prepared by his valet, Fred, a lion (voiced by Paul Frees), and is generally drank from a martini glass. As Super Chicken he flies around in his "Super Coop", combatting evil, assisted by the non-super, somewhat cowardly Fred who is constantly reminded by his employer, "You knew the job was dangerous when you took it, Fred!"
Watch out for that tree!!
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Watch out for that tree!, February 16, 2008
At last, here are all seventeen shows of George of the Jungle. The box says 17 episodes, but that's misleading, because you really get the full half hour shows with supporting segments Tom Slick and Super Chicken. The bonus features are pilot episodes of George and Super Chicken, which show how both shows were later enhanced by their unfogettable theme songs. "Box" is misleading also; the cover opens like a book, with a disc on each side, and an insert with brief info on the shows. Classic Media is now part of Entertainment Rights Group, which has released some Filmation shows. This same simple, attractive packaging was used for Felix the Cat Golden Anniversary Edition, but the George set costs half as much.
The first disc starts with an ad for the new, and very different looking George cartoon running on Cartoon Network. The theme in that version is slightly changed, from "Fellah and Ursula stay in step" to "Maggie and Ursula", probably because in the original George calls Ursula "fellah" and also calls his elephant "Shep", thinking him a doggie. In the pilot, "Fellah's" real name is Jane.
As most fans know, George of the Jungle, which aired in 1967, was the brainstorm of Jay Ward Productions, creators of Rocky and Bullwinkle, Hoppity Hooper, and Fractured Flickers, not to mention commercials for Cap'n Crunch, Quisp, and Quake. The stellar voice cast features Bill Scott, Paul Frees, Daws Butler, and June Foray. One reviewer made a valid point that Classic Media ought to include captioning for deaf viewers. Other than that, unlike so many recent cartoon releases, this one is all good. The menu allows you to play one half hour show or a segment (George, Tom or Super Chicken) at a time. At such a great price, it's a great chance to introduce your kids to, and revisit yourself, a great '60s cartoon.
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