While channel surfing one day, I happened upon a cartoon I had never seen before. I was watching what appeared to be a dog, a steer and a small kangaroo-type-person riding a large vacuum cleaner down the street. The vacuum cleaner had the words "Suck-O-Matic" emblazoned across its sides. Most people would have immediately pressed the channel-up button and been done with it, but there was something about this production that was special and I was immediately hooked. I guess you could say that from that moment on I was destined to have my own Rocko's Modern Life Web Page.
Why I Like Rocko's Modern Life
Where and When Can Rocko's Modern Life Be Seen?
Season 1 / 1993 - 1994
Season 2 / 1994 - 1995
Season 3 / 1995 - 1996
Season 4 / 1996 - 1997
Here's something else I think you'll like:
In a time when most animated programs are simply half-hour commercials for toys and action figures, it is refreshing to find a program that is dedicated to the quality of the program itself and not the sales figures of some mega-toy-chain.
Rocko's Modern Life has quality oozing from every pore. From high-quality animation (none of that Japanese three-frame-per-second stuff) with extra bonus sight-gags hidden here and there to so-easy-to-relate-to-it's-scary story lines with well camouflaged adult humor mixed in, it's pretty obvious that a lot of work went into the production of this program.
I like to watch Rocko on a VCR with a good freeze frame so if I think I saw something I can go back and find out what it was. What was it that Rocko ran into on his second run down the hill in Snowballs? Who really got zapped in the product testing area at Conglomo in Canned? Go through these scenes one frame at a time to find out!
I have yet to decide what my all-time favorite Rocko episode is. I make things easier on myself by breaking it down by seasons. My first-season favorite is Who's For Dinner / Love Spanked (Okay, so I couldn't decide upon one eleven-minute segment) and for the second season I'd have to go with Pipe Dreams / Tickled Pinky. I'm a sucker for anything with the word "beaver" in it (Guam is another funny word) and Rocko's dating habits remind me of my own (always fall for the one who doesn't know you exist). The person who came up with the answer to the question "What happens when you flush a goldfish that isn't really dead yet" is an absolute genius and that thing about the Brasilian Soccer Team was great! (My apologies to Brasil)
There is another category I'd like to mention. For some reason, I have this extra category for one of the many Rocko episodes that are tied for second. A Sucker For The Suck-O-Matic is easily the most perfect example of a Rocko's Modern Life episode. Everything that was drawn was drawn the way I like it, everything that was said was said the way it should have been said. The plot was exactly what a Rocko plot should be. The premise was wonderful and the implications were amazing. Why doesn't all this make it a first-place episode? I don't know. I guess I'm just silly or something. If someone wanted to watch just one Rocko episode to find out what it was about then this is the one to see.
Rocko's Modern Life is about a Wallaby named Rocko and his normal, ordinary, every-day adventures. Whether he is attending traffic school, flying to Las Vegas on a discount airline or doing a bit of grocery shopping, Rocko's experiences in every-day life are easy for anyone to relate to.
Spunky is Rocko's dog. Spunky eats what should not be eaten, gets himself into trouble on occasion and does other typical dog-like stuff. Keep an eye on Spunky - he's sometimes doing something off to the side or in the background where you may not notice him.
Rocko's friends are Heffer, a gluttonous steer and Filburt, a neurotic turtle. Heffer, the only steer in a family of wolves, was not aware that he had been adopted until Rocko spills the beans in Who's For Dinner. Heffer tried to pass Rocko off as a Coyote to Heff's wallaby-hating, poor-sighted grandfather but the grandfather thinks Rocko is really a beaver, another animal he hates. This leads to much beaver-related sarcasm at Rocko's expense in this and other episodes. The Wolfe family is made up of mother Virginia, father George, brother Peter, sister Cindy and grandfather Hiram "Willie".
During the first season, Filburt usually played more generic roles such as that of a Grocery Store Clerk, DMV Clerk, Projectionist or just someone hanging out at the comic book store. He took on the role of one of Rocko's friends in Power Trip and Rinse & Spit and became more of a regular character in the second season. In the second season, Filburt is often dating Dr. Hutchinson, his Dentistry Instructor from Rinse & Spit. Dr. Hutchinson, a cat, has also been a Surgeon in Tickled Pinky, a Pharmacist in Kiss Me I'm Foreign and a Canine Nutritionalist in Fatlands (In that order). In the third season, Filburt and Hutch are married in the two-part episode The Big Question / The Big Answer.
Rocko lives next door to Ed Bighead and his wife Beverly, both toads. Ed, an executive at Conglomo, is fairly grumpy and takes both gardening and himself a bit too seriously. Rocko's other neighbor is Melba, an unseen female that Rocko lusts after in Love Spanked.
As of this writing, Rocko is back on Nickelodeon, early on weekday mornings. Your best bet is to check your local listings on www.tvguide.com or www.thegist.com to find out what time it's on in your area.. There are also a few videos available through retailers such as Amazon.Com and others. Good luck!
Rocko's Modern Christmas: You Can't Squeeze Cheer From A Cheese Log is shown at random times on Nickelodeon throughout December. It has also been seen on independent television stations around Christmas time. Keep an eye on the television listings. Rocko's kindness, generosity and nurturing qualities really shine through in this one. An instant Christmas Classic!