It’s become easy (and lazy) to say that they just don’t make them like they used to, because, like it or not, things change, and if they did make them like they used to, the world would be an awfully boring place. Infrequently, though, forces converge to produce a truly unique pop culture moment that absolutely could not have happened at any other time. In the early 90s, there was a tremendous surge in creativity in the illustrated arts (from comics to animated tv shows), and, though it might be hard to understand for modern viewers, Nickelodeon was a vehicle for this surge. Though all programs of this era produce a certain amount of wistful reflection in those who remember them, there seems to be a special place reserved for Rocko’s Modern Life, which hit a nice groove between the bedlam of Ren and Stimpy and the popular appeal of Doug. That’s not to say that a show like this could never be made again; it’s just increasingly hard to believe that the execs at the top would greenlight a show this weird.
Rocko is a wallaby who, like most cartoon animals, lives in a house and is gainfully employed. He has a dog named Spunky, a cow friend named Heffer (fulfilling the fat/stupid quotient in comedy math), a turtle friend named Filburt (fulfilling the nerd quotient), and a neighbor named Earl Bighead, who shouts disparagingly at people. Beyond that, he has few distinguishing features, save for his ever-present Hawaiian shirt, but that’s okay, because neither does O-Town, the anonymous burg in which they all dwell. O-Town is a nightmare of American consumerism as seen from the outside looking in, all cavernous malls, ant-like rows of Levittown houses, and parking lots that seem to have replaced deserts and farmland as self-sustaining ecosystems. But Rocko takes it all in stride, never trying to get ahead of himself or his head any higher than the water line.
Being weird is a very different thing than it used to be. Before Hot Topic commodified exactly how kids who would never be prom king were supposed to dress and act, being weird was David Lynch and deliberately off-putting music that didn’t just alienate your parents; it kind of freaked them out. A Lynchian air pervades this entire series, but since it was marketed largely towards kids under the age of 9, it didn’t strike its primary audience as anything that they should feel averse to, let alone something in any way subversive. To be clear: when Heffer is banished to the underworld for his gluttony (in Heck, no less, in a direct acknowledgement of the omnipresence of Nickelodeon’s censors), the lord of Darkness (known as ‘Peaches’) remains masked until the end, only then to reveal that his head is actually an udder, with several milk-squirting nipples. Say whatever you want about the virtues of Tim Burton (who, as far as I can tell, seems to be the patron saint of black-wearing suburban kids), but even he never embraced imagery this surreal.
If there is a weak link in the show (or at least something distinctly less weird than everything surrounding it), it’s Rocko himself. Rocko is a lead character from the Doug/Tommy Pickles model, in which we know that he’s the protagonist of the show primarily because we spend the most time with him, rather than acting as any kind of driving force. He plays the straight man to the more obvious humor of Heffer and Filbert, but also to the world around him, which is filled with sight gags and seemingly as many moving parts as the Toontown sequence from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? He works just fine as a lead (indeed, the show probably wouldn’t work if he was as weird as everything else surrounding him), but he takes a supporting role in O-Town, which is so bizarre that it can’t help but draw your eye away from him whenever a sight gag comes onscreen.
DVD Bonus Features
There are none.
"Rocko's Modern Life: Season One" is on sale June 21, 2011 and is not rated. Directed by Don Spencer, Joe Murray, Mr Lawrence, Roger Chiasson, Stephen Hillenburg, Timothy Bjorklund. Written by Joe Murray, Vince Calandra, Martin Olson, Nick Jennings, George Maestri, Mitchell Kriegman. Starring Carlos Alazraqui, Charles Adler, Linda Wallem, Mr Lawrence, Tom Kenny.
