Rocko's Modern Life
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 "America is a very dangerous place"
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"Rocko's Modern Life" is an American animated television created by Joe Murray for Nickelodeon. The series centers on the surreal life of an anthropomorphic Australian-immigrant wallaby named Rocko as well as his friends: the gluttonous steer Heffer, the neurotic turtle Filburt, and Rocko's faithful dog Spunky. It is set in the fictional town of O-Town, and is laden with adult humor, including double entendre, innuendo, and satirical social commentary.
Murray created the title character for an unpublished comic book series in the late 1980s, and later reluctantly pitched the series to Nickelodeon, who were looking for edgier cartoonists for their new Nicktoon. The network gave the staff a large amount of creative freedom, with the writers targeting both children and adults. The show premiered on September 18, 1993, and ended on November 24, 1996, totaling four seasons and 52 episodes.
After the show's cancellation, much of the staff regrouped to work on SpongeBob SquarePants, created by producer Stephen Hillenburg. The creator Joe Murray also went on to create his second project, Camp Lazlo, for Cartoon Network.
Plot
Rocko is a wallaby who has moved from his native Australia to the United States. But life in the United States isn't as idyllic as he had hoped it would be, for he is surrounded by annoying neighbors, tons of laundry, and life's issues in general. By Rocko's side to help him over the obstacles and through the challenges life throws at him are his best friend Heffer (a dim-witted bovine), his canine companion Spunky, and his neurotic buddy Filburt.
Why It's a Modern Life
- The characters have a pretty unique personality and design-wise; The main protagonist is an immigrant Australian wallaby named Rocko who is trying to live his modern life with the help of his best friends, the gluttonous steer Heffer and the perpetually nervous turtle, Filburt.
- The show was one of the first six Nicktoons on Nickelodeon, and it was by far the best and most down-to-earth.
- A stark, unique animation style, one that presents everything at a slight angle, provides a great backdrop for Rocko's adventures and paints a truly different world that sets the cartoon apart from all others.
- The show is an excellent example of the beginning of the adult cartoon era despite being a kids show.
- Your typical Rocko episode has mundane adult annoyances like credit cards, parking, the DMV, air travel, and other things you'd find in a live-action except here, have the added benefit of being in a wacky cartoon.
- Years after being off the air, it spawned a comic book adaptation that serves as a slight but great continuation of the series.
- To add to the surreal and psychedelic humor of the show, inanimate objects are personified in a goofy way.
- Great character designs.
- Hilarious Looney Tunes inspired humor.
- The show inspired SpongeBob SquarePants with not only its same short of characters, but also the late Stephen Hillenburg began his animation career as a writer on this show. That was how he met future SpongeBob voice actors Tom Kenny (Heffer) and Mr. Lawrence (Filburt).
- It was one of the first cartoons to avert the "Status Quo is God" trope, as we get to see Filburt and Dr. Hutchison's relationship advance throughout the series' run.
- Many memorable episodes, such as:
- "To Heck and Back"
- "I Have No Son!"
- "Power Trip"
- "Tickled Pinky"
- "Wacky Delly"
- "Skid Marks"
- "Hut Sut Raw"
- "Jet Screams"
- "Down the Hatch"
- "The Fatlands"
- "Dirty Dog"
- "Clean Lovin'"
- "Sugar Frosted Frights"
- "Ed is Dead: A Thriller"
- "Rocko's Modern Christmas"
- "Camera Shy"
Bad Qualities
- The series harbors many, many inside jokes and innuendos just below the surface of its goofy cartoonish art-style. As seen in some of the episode titles ("Schnit-Heads," "Who Gives a Buck?"), some character/establishment names (Doctor Bendova, the Chokey Chicken fast-food restaurants, Mr. Horny), and countless other little occurrences throughout every episode on occasion. They are in general pretty funny however.
- In fact, "Leap Frogs" was so sexual that it got banned. Another episode with satanic references called "Heff in a Handbasket" was also banned; at this point, Nickelodeon paired their sister episodes ("Bedfellows" and "Wallaby on Wheels" respectively) together for reruns.
- There was an episode where there's a poster in the background saying "be hot" and "be naughty". The circumstances of the scene are basically a reference to phone sex operators (or in this case, Rocko becoming a "specialty phone worker").
- Rocko and Heffer going to a demo pit with a sign that says "jack all u want".
- Heffer and Filburt playing a board game called Spank the Monkey in "Gutter Balls".
- A gross scene where Heffer gets milked in "The Good, the Bad and the Wallaby".
- A scene in "Cabin Fever" where Ed Bighead has a disturbing hallucination where he sees his roommates as demons tormenting him.
- An in-show movie called Night of the Shaved Kittens showing the shaved paw of a zombified kitten.
- Many disgusting, typical gross-out scenes, consisting of a lot of eye-gouging scenes.
- Ed Bighead, Rocko's neighbor, can be very mean at times.
- As if wasn't enough, Rocko's boss Mr. Smitty can also be unlikable at times. Due to his mean-spirited behavior towards Rocko.
- There were a few bad episodes such as:
- "Bedfellows"
- "Sand in your Navel"
- "Rocko's Happy Sack"
- "Unbalanced Load"
- "Uniform Behavior"
- "Belch of Destiny"
- "Fatal Contraption"
- "With Friends Like These"
- "Fly Burgers"
- At times, the show had a tendency to overuse sound effects from the Hanna-Barbera library.
Reception
Rocko's Modern Life is considered to be one of the best cartoons Nickelodeon made. The IMDb rating is a 7.9/10.
Videos
Trivia
- The show is notable for launching the careers of voice actors, including Tom Kenny and Carlos Alazraqui.
- Creator of the series Joe Murray later created Cartoon Network's Camp Lazlo in 2005 and PBS Kids' Let's Go Luna in 2018.