Rocko's Modern Life

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Murray created the title character for an unpublished comic book series in the late 1980s, and later reluctantly pitched the series to Nickelodeon, who were looking for edgier cartoonists for their new Nicktoon.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.

Plot

Rocko is a wallaby who has emigrated to the United States of America from Australia. He lives in O-Town and tries to get through life but, of course, comes across a multitude of dilemmas and misadventures he must get through. Other characters include Rocko's best friend, Heffer, a steer who has been raised by wolves, Filbert, an easily upset turtle, and Ed Bighead who detests Rocko and hates having him for a next door neighbor. On this show, Rocko has such adventures as trying to adapt to a new vacuum cleaner, having Heffer move in temporarily after his parents kick him out, and going to a movie theater.

Why It's a Modern Life

1. 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.
2. Both intros are great.
3. The show was one of the first six Nicktoons on Nickelodeon, and it was by far the best and most down-to-earth.
4. 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.
5. The show is an excellent example of the beginning of the adult cartoon era despite being a kids show.
6. 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.
7. Years after being off the air, it spawned a comic book adaptation that serves as a slight but great continuation of the series.
8. To add to the surreal and psychedelic humor of the show, inanimate objects are personified in a goofy way.
9. Great character designs.
10. Hilarious Looney Tunes inspired humor.
11. 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).
12. 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.
13. 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

1. 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.
2. Many disgusting, typical gross-out scenes, consisting of a lot of eye-gouging scenes.
3. Ed Bighead, Rocko's neighbor, can be very mean at times.
   1. As if wasn't enough, Rocko's boss Mr. Smitty can also be unlikable at times. Due to his mean-spirited behavior towards Rocko.
4. 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"
5. At times, the show had a tendency to overuse sound effects from the Hanna-Barbera library.
6. Despite WIAML#2, the Seasons 2-4 version doesn't set the tone of the show as well as the first, and is a bit less catchy.

Trivia

• The show is notable for launching the careers of voice actors, including Tom Kenny and Carlos Alazraqui.
• Static Cling was originally meant to release in 2018 as a television special until Netflix purchased rights to the special and it became a Netflix Original.