Well, I thought I'd start a thread for one of my all-time favorite Rocky and Bullwinkle storylines, "The Treasure of Monte Zoom", from season 4.

In my opinion, this is a great episode if you prefer Boris and Natasha over Rocky and Bullwinkle. In many storylines, it takes awhile before either of them appear. Sometimes, we get a bit of build-up. We may see Boris' shadow right before the end of a chapter, with the narrarator wondering who it could be (as if we couldn't figure it out ourselves). But in many stories once they appear they often seem to have more focus than Rocky and Bullwinkle. And in this story they appear right at the start of chapter 1.

The plotline invovles Boris and Natasha attempting to get a treasure chest that was burried at the bottom of a lake. Boris' plan is to blow up a dam to let the water run out, which would also endanger many innocent people, and this time Boris is prepared for Rocky and Bullwinkle to arrive in the (TA-DA!) nick of time, as he has weapons to stop them (and they comically don't work).

After Rocky and Bullwinkle stop the dam from exploding, Natasha sees the treasure map and suggests they just pull a plug in the middle of the lake. After having a difficult time, Boris tricks Bullwinkle into doing it and then pushes him into the water and down the drain, with Rocky going after Bullwinkle. Interestingly, although they saw an X through a glass-bottom boat, the treasure is already unburried when the water goes down the drain.

Without giving too much more away, once they get the treasure chest Boris and Natasha have trouble getting it opened, though Bullwinkle manages to find a way that the two villians had overlooked (which even Rocky didn't notice).

Anyway, this is one of my favorites. It was released on video by Buena Vista in the early 1990s, under the title Mona Moose (which was volume 1), and the compilers of that video sure did do a good job with the contents (ditto with volume 4, Blue Moose. All the others had at least one weak entry... and coincidently or not neither VHS had Aesop and Son).



This storyline includes many funny, quotable lines. Some of my favorite lines include:
  • Natasha: (after Boris' gun only produces a sign that says "BANG") "Boris, we forgot: There's no violence allowed on television anymore!"
  • Boris: (after thinking he's about to crush Bullwinkle with the treasure chest) "You know what I always say: Somebody down there likes me!"
  • Boris: "If I have to work this hard to get rich I might as well get a job!"
    Natasha: (shocked) "Oh, Boris! What you said!"
  • Bullwinkle: (after laughing at a bad joke he told) "You get it?"
    Rocky: (annoyed) "I got it."
    Bullwinkle: "Thousands won't!"
    Boris: (in disguise) "You said it!"
  • Rocky: "I must say I'm disapointed."
    Bullwinkle:" Well then go ahead. Say it."
    Rocky: "Okay, I'm disapointed."
    Bullwinkle (and Rocky, anticipating what Bullwinkle says): "And I'm Bullwinkle."
And of course, there's one funny line that I really like, which often seems to be quoted by fans on websites (and it was quoted in "The Moose That Roared"). It comes after Rocky and Bullwinkle overhear Boris and Natasha talking about getting an A-bomb to blow up the treasure chest.

Rocky: Do you know what A-bomb means?
Bullwinkle: Certainly! A-bomb is what some people call our program!

Overall, it's a funny storyline. As with the rest of season four it was not included in the "Bullwinkle Show" syndication package (so that must mean it was part of the less common "Rocky Show" syndication package). There's a lot more I'd like to talk about, but I'll save it for later and give some of you a chance to talk about this episode. But before I go, I must also point out that this has a very funny ending, leading to another real funny quote, from Bullwinkle: "This must be one of those adult cartoons!"