Goof Gas Attack is the fourth story arc from the fourth season of The Bullwinkle Show. It was broadcast on NBC during the 1962–1963 television season.
Episode summary
With no consumer goods or raw materials to offer to the global economy, Pottsylvania's ruling clique decides the only way it can thrive is to invade other countries, in secret. To do so, Fearless Leader commissions a device that shoots "goof gas," a substance that renders its victims hopelessly stupid and silly: doctors and physicists become mindless manchildren, opera virtuosos turn into rock and roll singers, and a member of Fearless Leader's inner circle who served as a test case became dumb enough to insult Fearless Leader to his face. In McKeesport, Pennsylvania, Rocky and Bullwinkle encounter Peter Peachfuzz, who is behaving even more erratically than usual. After some effort, Peachfuzz is able to explain the national crisis: Boris Badenov and Natasha Fatale have been squirting goof gas into institutions of higher education and culture across the United States. Along the way, Boris hits Rocky and Bullwinkle with the gas; Rocky is immediately rendered an idiot and believes himself to be Lennie Small from Of Mice and Men, but Bullwinkle shows no response, putting him in the awkward position of being the show's straight man until the gas wears off a couple of days later. Spotting a newspaper that with the headline "Boston Takes Washington 7–2," Boris and Natasha determine Washington, DC to be an easy target; reaching the United States Senate, they soon come to the conclusion that a goof-gas attack would be fruitless: the senators are already stupid and incompetent. Instead, Badenov and Fatale decide to use the same gas on a military missile-firing base. With the rocket scientists distracted by the goof gas, they start randomly pressing buttons, firing missiles all over the United States. Rocky, Bullwinkle and Captain Peachfuzz arrive and redirect the missiles towards Pottsylvania. Boris and Natasha believe their mission has been accomplished, not knowing or caring where the missiles were bound to land. An angry memo arrives from Fearless Leader, informing them that the missiles landed in Pottsylvania and, because they were so careless, that Boris and Natasha were being reassigned to the South Pole.
Video releases
In the early 1990s, this episode was released as the main feature of the video "Vincent Van Moose".
