Rocko's Modern Life
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Rocko's Modern Life was an animated series whose four seasons aired from 1993 to 1996. The show concentrated on the life of a wallaby named Rocko trying to survive everyday modern life in the city of O-Town. It was created by Joe Murray and based on his own childhood in Australia.
The show was renowned by many as one of Nickelodeon's freshest, most offbeat offerings, as well as being laden with suggestive double entendres. It is also credited for being the ancestor to SpongeBob SquarePants, since SpongeBob's creator, Stephen Hillenburg, worked on Rocko's Modern Life. The show has been credited as being probably the first Nicktoon to be popular among adults, followed by The Angry Beavers, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, and Invader Zim.
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Characters
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Rocko
- Rocko: a wallaby who has emigrated to the United States from Australia; works at "Kind of a Lot o' Comics" (although he had other jobs, including being a product tester at Conglom-O and being an underwear model). A running gag is that other characters assume that Rocko is another kind of animal (usually a rabbit or a dog), and then he goes into a lengthy (and often unconvincing) explanation that he is a wallaby.
- Heffer Wolfe: Rocko's best friend, a happy-go-lucky and not-too-bright steer whom he met in high school. Heffer loves to eat and party. His favorite food is "Pasture Puffies". Though he is normally portrayed as being jobless, he has worked in a number of professions including a waiter at a coffee shop, a salesman at a tree farm, and a security guard at Conglom-O (which induced him to go insane).
- Filburt Shellbach: Rocko's other best friend, a neurotic turtle; started out as a background character and became a main character in the second season. He lives in a trailer and has no job (he earns his money by collecting cans "here and there"). He also has a hobby of snatching the wigs of wild birds. Filburt has an extremely weak stomach and even the slightest wrong movements can give him indigestion. Filburt also seems to have an obsession with fishsticks. He was married to Dr. Hutchinson in the third season, with whom he had four children: Gilburt, Shelburt, Norburt, and Missy. Among Filburt's catchphrases are "Oh fishsticks!" and "I'm nauseous... I'm nauseous... "
- Spunky: Rocko's dog; he looks similar to a whippet. He willingly eats almost anything he sees (this has repeatedly gotten him and Rocko in trouble).
- Ed Bighead: A grumpy old toad who is Rocko's neighbor. He hates Rocko (even though Rocko normally acts nice to him). Ed works at the large corporation Conglom-O (the company's motto is "We Own You"). His position with the company is usually in middle management, but it can be anything from assembly-line worker to an executive role, depending on the needs of the episode. Ed seems to have very bad luck wherever he goes and thus is very cynical. He hates his life.
- Beverly Bighead: Ed's wife, a boisterous redhead who enjoys flirting with other men. In the controversial episode "Leap Frogs", she unsuccessfully attempted to seduce Rocko.
- Ralph Bighead: Ralph is Ed and Bev Bighead's son. He was disowned by Ed for not wanting to work for Conglom-O, so he went to Holl-o-Wood to become a cartoonist. However, in a later episode, he and Ed finally reunited and ended their feud. He created a cartoon called The Fatheads. In an attempt to get out of his career as a cartoonist, Ralph also created the intentionally bad cartoon Wacky Delly to have it immediately cancelled (Instead, the show became a runaway hit, much to his dismay). Creator Joe Murray does the voice of Ralph.
- Chuck & Leon: Two chameleons who, like their species, adapt very well to many situations — usually to make a quick buck. They run a variety of businesses throughout the show.
- Paula Hutchinson: Dr. Hutchinson is a cat. She married Filburt in the third season of the show, much to their respective families' annoyances. They had four kids together: three sons and one daughter. She has a variety of jobs, including being a dentist, a surgeon, and a canine nutritionist and has a hook for one of her hands.
- Gilburt, Shelburt, Norburt, and Missy: The four children of Fiburt and Dr. Hutchinson, who all came from the same egg. Gilburt and Shelburt look exactly like Filburt while Missy is a miniature version of Hutchinson. Norburt, on the other hand, has Filburt's eyes but oddly resembles Heffer (most likely because Heffer had sat on the egg for a while before it hatched). He also believes that Rocko is his mother and constantly follows him around. For most of the series, the four are featured only as babies; however, they do appear once as teenagers in the episode "Future Schlock."
- Mr. Smitty: Rocko's boss. He is a smouldering old toad who owns "Kind of a Lot o' Comics". He has fired Rocko several times, but once also made him Employee of the Month.
- Wolfe Family: The Wolfe family adopted and raised Heffer. As their name suggests, they are all wolves, yet Heffer spent most of his life not realizing they weren't his real family. Virginia is the Mom, who always treats Heffer like a little kid. George is the father, who would like Heffer to grow up and get out of the house. There is also Peter and Cindy (brother and sister), but not much is known about them. They have a grandfather named Hiram (but called Willie), who hates Rocko and frequently calls him a beaver.
- Mr. Dupette: The CEO of Conglom-O, he is the self-described "slimy boss" of Ed Bighead and enjoys picking his nose. He is almost never seen without his assistant, Noway. He was also once the owner of the "Super Lot o' Comics" store where Rocko worked at before moving to "Kind of a Lot o' Comics".
- Bloaty the Tick and Squirmy the Ringworm: Two parasites who live on and in Spunky. Sometimes, entire episodes revolve around their odd couple relationship.
- Really Really Big Man: a superhero who lives in O-Town. He is very big and depicted as a kind of political drawing.
- Melba Toast: a female unseen character who Rocko has a crush on.
- Wallace: a large elephant who works at the Pizza Face restaurant. He once almost got into a brawl with Heffer but was stopped at the last moment by his boss.
- Peaches: Works for Satan; he's in charge of "Heck". He has attempted to lure Heffer into "Heck" several times but has repeatedly failed to do so. Due to his failures, he was punished by being forced to star in his own cartoon show: Peaches' Modern Life.
- Hippo Lady: a large hippo woman. Rocko apparently has a bad habit of accidentally crashing into her at public places (upon which she screams "How dare you!" and proceeds to pound him).
- The Hopping Hessian and The Talking Leg: a one-legged ghost from the Revolutionary War who lurks beyond the old Foto-Hut and a talking leg with a face on the foot who portrays his lost limb. They parody the Headless Horseman and his pumpkin.
- Flecko: a fly with a glass eye who lives in Rocko's house.
- Earl the Dog: a mutt, initially homeless, who enjoys mauling Rocko, Ed Bighead, the mailman, and basically anything else that is alive. He was adopted by Bev Bighead in the second season; Ed hates him.
Episodes
A typical half-hour episode of Rocko's Modern Life featured two fifteen-minute stories with a commercial break between. Occasionally, episodes would be parts one and two—telling one story over the half-hour timeslot.
Season 1 (1993)
- No Pain, No Gain / Who Gives a Buck (9/18/1993)
- Leap Frogs / Bedfellows (9/19/1993)
- Jet Scream / Dirty Dog (9/26/1993)
- Keeping up with the Bigheads / Skid Marks (10/3/1993)
- Power Trip / To Heck and Back (10/10/1993)
- The Good, the Bad, and the Wallaby / Trash-o-Madness (10/17/1993)
- Spitballs / Popcorn Pandemonium (10/24/1993)
- A Sucker for the Suck-o-Matic / Canned (10/31/1993)
- Carnival Knowledge / Sand in Your Navel (11/7/1993)
- Cabin Fever / Rinse and Spit (11/14/1993)
- Rocko's Happy Sack / Flu-in-u-Enza (11/21/1993)
- Who's for Dinner / Love Spanked (11/28/1993)
- Clean Lovin' / Unbalanced Load (12/5/1993)
Season 2 (1994-1995)
- I Have No Son! (half-hour episode) (2/25/1994)
- Pipe Dreams / Tickled Pinky (10/2/1994)
- The Lounge Singer / She's the Toad (10/9/1994)
- Down the Hatch / Road Rash (10/23/1994)
- Boob Tubed / Commuted Sentence (11/6/1994)
- Rocko's Modern Christmas (half-hour episode) (12/1/1994)
- Hut Sut Raw / Kiss Me, I'm Foreign (12/4/1994)
- Cruisin' (half-hour episode) (1/1/1995)
- Born to Spawn / Uniform Behavior (1/22/1995)
- Hair Licked / Gutter Balls (1/29/1995)
- Junk Junkies / Day of the Flecko (2/12/1995)
- Snowballs / Frog's Best Friend (2/26/1995)
- Short Story / Eyes-Capades (3/12/1995)
Season 3 (1995-1996)
- Bye, Bye Birdie / Belch of Destiny (10/22/1995)
- The Emperor's New Joe / Schnit-Heads (10/29/1995)
- Sugar-Frosted Frights / Ed Is Dead: a Thriller! (10/31/1995)
- Fish-n-Chumps / Camera Shy (11/12/1995)
- Nothing to Sneeze At / Old Fogey Froggy (11/19/1995)
- Maniac Mechanic / Rocko's Happy Vermin (12/3/1995)
- I See London, I See France / The Fatlands (12/10/1995)
- Fortune Cookie / Dear John (12/17/1995)
- Speaking Terms / Tooth and Nail (12/31/1995)
- Wacky Delly (half-hour episode) (1/21/1996)
- The Big Question / The Big Answer (1/28/1996)
- An Elk for Heffer / Scrubbin' Down Under (2/11/1996)
- Zanzibar! / Fatal Contraption (4/21/1996)
Season 4 (1996)
- With Friends Like These / Sailing the 7 Zzz's (7/8/1996)
- Pranksters / From Here to Maternity (7/9/1996)
- Ed Good, Rocko Bad / Teed Off (7/10/1996)
- Wimp on the Barby / Yarnbenders (7/11/1996)
- Mama's Boy / Feisty Geist (7/12/1996)
- S.W.A.K. / Magic Meatball (7/15/1996)
- Closet Clown / Seat to Stardom (7/16/1996)
- The High Five of Doom / Fly Burgers (7/17/1996)
- Heff in a Handbasket / Wallaby on Wheels (7/8/1996)
- Dumbells / Rug Birds (7/19/1996)
- Hypno-Puppy Luv / Driving Mrs. Wolfe (10/8/1996)
- Put out to Pasture / Future Schlock (10/10/1996)
- Turkey Time / Floundering Fathers (11/24/1996)
Interesting Facts
- The episode "Leap Frogs" was banned during the show's run on Nickelodeon. It is, however, shown on Nicktoons TV.
- The series' last episodes, "Turkey Time" and "Floundering Fathers," were not intended to be the last episodes. After they were aired, the show's status was put on hiatus—and cancelled a week after that.
- One of the more well-known things about the show was that The B-52's did the opening theme song for seasons two and later.
SpongeBob SquarePants Association
Rocko's Modern Life is perhaps most famous with todays cartoon goers for being the main precursor and basically, the closest relative and ancestor of SpongeBob SquarePants. A good portion of the former cast members for Rocko's Modern Life now work on SpongeBob, including SpongeBob's creator, Stephen Hillenburg, who was a writer, director, and storyboard artist for Rocko. Others include Derek Drymon, Tim Hill, Sherm Cohen, Mark O'Hare and many more. This has sparked a new popularity in Rocko's Modern Life in younger SpongeBob fans who did not grow up with Rocko, and this show has helped spark SpongeBob's popularity, many of whoms more adolescent fans (most of which are now between the ages of 12 to 16 years old) watched Rocko's Modern Life as young children.
Personnel
- Joe Murray: Creator, Executive Producer
- Andy Houts: Project Coordinator
- Stephen Hillenburg: Producer, Storyboard Director, Writer
- Derek Drymon: Storyboard Artist, Writer
- Doug Lawrence: Storyboard Director, Writer
- Jeff "Swampy" Marsh: Storyboard Director, Writer
- Timothy Berglund: Storyboard Director, Writer
- Tim Hill: Writer
- Mark O'Hare: Storyboard Artist/Director, Writer
- Sherm Cohen: Art Director
- Tom Yasumi: Art Director
Current Status
While Rocko's Modern Life has been cancelled for nearly 10 years now, it is still aired regurarly on Nicktoons TV. There are also several online petitions to bring the show out of cancellation and/or to release the series on DVD [1] (http://www.petitionspot.com/petitions/Rocko), [2] (http://www.petitiononline.com/2120/petition.html), [3] (http://www.petitiononline.com/mod_perl/signed.cgi?rockodvd).
Rumors of a season DVD set for the show are spreading amongst fans.
Rocko's Modern Life, as well as Spongebob Squarepants is occasionally played on Spike TV.
External Links
- Rocko's Modern Life (http://www.bcdb.com/cartoons/Other_Studios/G/Games_Animation/Rocko_s_Modern_Life/index.html) at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- TV Tome's Rocko's Modern Life guide (http://www.tvtome.com/RockosModernLife/)
- The Rocko's Modern Life FAQ (http://www.title14.com/rocko)
- Richard Brant's Rocko Page (http://members.aol.com/rockopage1/rocko.html)de:Rockos modernes Leben