The writers, however, leave their history books at the door. The sign simply reads, “The End.”Īn unexceptional installment of Peabody’s Improbable History has the WABAC machine deposit the dog genius and Sherman outside the hangar of the Wright Brothers (1/31/60), on the roof of which is painted the motto, “If you want it done, get it done Wright”. Rocky, however, confesses that the “T” wasn’t really what he was trying to spell – only the beginning of it – then holds up a sign of what the completed message was supposed to read. Rocky and Bullwinkle bring their prize safely into port – then Bullwinkle praises Rocky on his fast and clever thinking. Exactly four o’clock – “T” time! They conclude that whoever is in charge down there must be British, wave a salute to the boys, then fly away. The fliers look down and observe the letter – then also observe the time of day. Grabbing a can of white paint and a paintbrush, Rocky soars over the top of the fake whale, painting a large white letter “T” atop it. Not realizing the craft is not a real whale, nor under the control of the bad guys, the Britishers prepare to open fire upon our helpless heroes. Our heroes are attempting to sail back their prize of battle to England, when they are spotted from above by a squadron of British fighter planes. Once in a while, more modern-looking jet aircraft would appear, as in the final chapter of the story arc, Maybe Dick, the Wailing Whale, Rocky and Bullwinkle have succeeded in locating and removing Boris and Natasha from a huge mechanical craft made to look like a giant whale, which Boris has been using to disrupt shipping. “We always land this way”, he calls down to our heroes – “It saves wear and tear on the wheels.” He is only saved when the plane is speared through its belly by the trunk of a tall forest tree. “Oooh, Boris, why didn’t you become violinist like Mama wanted?”, he moans. Rocky can glide down, but in order to keep the moose safe, Boris must provide him with the sole remaining parachute – and goes down with the ship himself. Releasing the boys from their seat belts, Boris hears all three engines conk out, and announces they will be landing soon – so bail out. Natasha bails out with one, and Boris is about to follow (“I hate to leave a place that holds such pleasant memories”), when a call comes over the radio from Fearless Leader, not to kill moose and squirrel. Then Boris, after takeoff, destroys the instruments on the control panel and has Natasha jettison all but two parachutes. Boris’s business card reads, “Fly now, pray later”, which Boris covers for as merely “a misprint.” Natasha, as stewardess, straps the boys into their seat belts – one-way belts that lock into place to keep them in their seats. A flight charterer quotes them a price of $1,000, causing Bullwinkle to respond, “You could buy the place for $8.00 cash.” Boris appears, to undercut the charter price to 85 cents (the total cash Rocky is carrying), with the usual intent to do moose and squirrel in. Our heroes need to get back to Frostbite Falls for an ingredient to Bullwinkle’s secret rocket fuel formula recipe – but no commercial carrier offers service to such a remote location. A slightly-more traditional one, in the form of a battered Ford Tri-Motor, appears in the series’ first story arc, Rocket Fuel Formula, where Boris Badenov poses as pilot Ace Rickenboris.
Ward’s planes were sometimes designed in strange and artistically-distorted fashion, with fuselages so wide and bloated, they often looked more like dirigibles with portholes. Jay Ward studios would cover just about any subject at some time or another in its storylines, and made periodic use of planes in some of its Rocky and Bullwinkle arcs, mostly as incidental means of transportation. In no particular order, we’ll attempt to wrap up remaining contributors to television aviation over the next few weeks, then finally move on to new trails, after this longest subject excursion in the history of this column. Our instruments are beginning to give indication that we are nearing our final destination.
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