Rocko's Modern Life

From Free net encyclopedia

(Redirected from Spiky)

Template:Infobox television |format = Animated series |runtime = approx. 0:22 (0:11 per episode) |creator = Joe Murray |starring = Carlos Alazraqui
Tom Kenny
Doug Lawrence
Linda Wallem
Charlie Adler |country = USA |network = Nickelodeon |first_aired = September 18, 1993 |last_aired = November 24, 1996 |num_episodes = 52 |imdb_id = 0106115 }} Rocko's Modern Life was an American animated series whose four seasons aired from 1993 to 1996. The show was based around the surreal, parodistic adventures of an anthropomorphic wallaby named Rocko, and his life in the city of O-Town, located on the border of Michigan and Canada. The series was created by Joe Murray. One of Nickelodeon's Nicktoons, it was the fourth series released in the Nicktoons group, and the first to be introduced since the original three were introduced in August 1991. The program was produced by Games Productions.

The show was renowned by many as one of Nickelodeon's freshest, most offbeat offerings, as well as being laden with suggestive double entendres and innuendo. For this reason, it has become a prominent cult classic. It is also credited for being the precursor to SpongeBob SquarePants, which was created by director Stephen Hillenburg. The show has been credited as being the second Nicktoon to be popular among adults (the first being Ren & Stimpy), followed by The Angry Beavers, SpongeBob SquarePants, The Fairly OddParents, and Invader Zim. The show, despite these claims, has not yet been released on DVD.

1 Characters
2 Episodes
3 Trivia
4 Cultural references and innuendo
5 Cast and crew
6 External links

[edit]

Characters

Image:Rocko alone.gif

Rocko James Wallabee (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui) is a wallaby who emigrated to the United States from Australia. He is a sensible, moral, and somewhat timid character who enjoys the simple pleasures in life, such as doing his laundry or feeding his dog, Spunky. He is neat, compassionate, and self-conscious. Rocko works at "Kind of a Lot o' Comics" and his hobbies include recreational jackhammering and pining for the love of his life, Melba Toast. Due to Rocko's benevolence and non-confrontational personality, he is often taken advantage of by the other characters. Rocko would prefer to live a quiet life, but his reckless friends often throw him into turbulent situations. His most common catchphrase is "_______ Day is a very dangerous day".
Heffer Wolfe (voiced by Tom Kenny): 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, a mail carrier, and a security guard at Conglom-O, which caused him to go insane in a reference to The Shining. Strangely, as his last name suggests, he was raised by a family of wolves who decided not to eat him as a child; his "birthmark" is actually their plotting lines of how to best divide him up into choice dishes.
Philbert Robert Norbert Wilbert Turtle III (voiced by Doug Lawrence): Philbert Robert Norbert Wilbert Turtle III, also briefly known as Filburt Shellbach, is Rocko's other best friend, a neurotic turtle wearing Woody Allen-style glasses. He started out as a background character and became a main character in the second season. He lives in a trailer and earns his money by collecting cans "here and there", and has a penchant for "sauce". Filburt has an extremely weak stomach and even the slightest wrong movements can give him nausea. He eventually started a family with Doctor Hutchison, a bubbly cat with a hook for a hand. One of their children turned out to bear a strong resemblance to Heffer, thanks to his having sat on their egg during the incubation period. Among Filburt's catchphrases are "Oh fish sticks!", "I'm nauseous... I'm nauseous..", and "Turn the page....and wash your hands."
Spunky (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui): Rocko's dog; he looks similar to a whippet. He willingly eats almost anything he sees.
Edward Bighead (voiced by Charles Adler): A grumpy old toad who is Rocko's neighbor. He is aggressive towards Rocko and most people. Ed works at the large corporation Conglom-O. 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: according to his nameplate at Conglom-O, his job title is "Toad". Ed seems to have very bad luck wherever he goes and thus is very cynical. He hates his life.
Beverly Bighead (voiced by Charles Adler): Ed's wife, a boisterous redhead who enjoys flirting with other men and speaks with a very gravelly voice. Unlike her husband, she actually enjoys the company of Rocko, Heffer and Philbert. Her favorite bedroom pastime with Ed is to make him crack plates in mid-air with his tongue like clay pigeons.
Chuck and Leon (voiced by Carlos Alazraqui and Tom Kenny): 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. Both have pseudo-Swedish accents.
Really Really Big Man: an insectoid superhero who lives in O-Town. He is very big and depicted as a kind of Editorial cartoon. He is also Rocko's hero.

[edit]

Episodes

[edit]

Season 1: 1993-1994

No Pain, No Gain/Who Gives a Buck
Leap Frogs/Bedfellows
Jet Scream/Dirty Dog
Keeping Up With the Bigheads/Skid Marks
Power Trip/To Heck and Back
The Good, The Bad, and The Wallaby/Trash-O-Madness
Spitballs/Popcorn Pandemonium
A Sucker for the Suck-O-Matic/Canned
Carnival Knowledge/Sand in Your Navel
Cabin Fever/Rinse & Spit
Rocko's Happy Sack/Flu-In-U-Enza
Who's For Dinner/Love Spanked
Clean Lovin'/Unbalanced Load

[edit]

Season 2: 1994-1995

I Have No Son
Pipe Dreams/Tickled Pinky
The Lounge Singer/She's the Toad
Down the Hatch/Road Rash
Boob Tubed/Commute Sentence
Rocko's Modern Christmas: You Can't Squeeze Cheer From A Cheese Log
Hut Sut Raw/Kiss Me I'm Foreign
Cruisin'
Born to Spawn/Uniform Behavior
Hair Licked/Gutter Balls
Junk Junkies/Day of the Flecko
Snowballs/Frog's Best Friend
Short Story/Eyes Capades

[edit]

Season 3: 1995-1996

Bye, Bye Birdie/Belch of Destiny
The Emperor's New Joe/Schnit-heads
Sugar Frosted Frights/Ed is Dead
Fish-N-Chumps/Camera Shy
Nothing to Sneeze At/Old Fogey Froggy
Manic Mechanic/Rocko's Happy Vermin
I See London, I See France/Fatlands
Fortune Cookie/Dear John
Speaking Terms/Tooth and Nail
Wacky Delly
The Big Question/The Big Answer
An Elk for Heffer/Scrubbin' Down Under
Zanzibar/Fatal Contraption

[edit]

Season 4: 1996-1997

With Friends Like These/Sailing the 7 Zzz's
Pranksters/From Here to Maternity
Ed Good, Rocko Bad/Teed Off
Wimp on the Barby/Yarn Benders
Mama's Boy/Feisty Geist
S.W.A.K./Magic Meatball
Closet Clown/Seat to Stardom
The High Five of Doom/Fly Burgers
Heff in a Handbasket/Wallaby on Wheels
Dumbells/Rug Birds
Hypno-Puppy Luv/Driving Mrs. Wolfe
Put to Pasture/Future Schlock
Turkey Time/Floundering Fathers

[edit]

Trivia

Heffer first appeared (with the MTV logo branded on his butt) in a 1989 MTV station ID that Murray animated.
The episode "Leap Frogs" was eventually banned due to sexual innuendo (Bev Bighead tries to seduce Rocko) during the show's rerun cycle on Nick, replaced with "Wallaby on Wheels". It is, however, shown on Nicktoons TV.
When "Wallaby on Wheels" replaced "Leap Frogs," Nickelodeon stopped airing "Heff in a Handbasket."
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.
The creator of the series, Murray, has since moved on and is now currently working on a new 2005 show, Camp Lazlo.
Rocko was originally supposed to have an older sister named Magdalene, but she was dropped out of protest against political correctness. Joe Murray had not yet introduced her in the first season, and abandoned the character entirely when Nickelodeon executives, under pressure from feminist critics who derided the cartoon for being centered around the antics of three male friends, demanded a stronger female character be included in the show. His sister did appear in flashbacks in select episodes, though she was a younger character than had been originally envisioned.
Rocko made his first computer appearance on the Nickelodeon 3D Movie Maker CD Rom Game. Furthermore, he also has a combination platformer/puzzle game available for the SNES entitled Rocko's Modern Life: Spunky's Dangerous Day.
Rocko's original color was golden yellow. This was changed to avoid a copyright problem involving a pre-existing golden yellow kangaroo that was the mascot for an Australian company.
Some episode lists mistakenly pair "Heff in a Handbasket" with "Floundering Fathers," and "Turkey Time" with "Wallaby on Wheels."

[edit]

Cultural references and innuendo

Main article: Cultural references and innuendo in Rocko's Modern Life

The program is well known for its frequent pop culture references and its subtle and sometimes controversial references to adult subject matter.

[edit]

Cast and crew

Crew

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

Cast

Carlos Alazraqui as Rocko James Wallabee/Spunky/Leon/Granny Rocko
Tom Kenny as Heffer Wolfe/Chuck/Mr. Fathead/Mr. Smitty/Really Really Big Man/Peaches/Various males
Doug Lawrence as Philbert Robert Norbert Wilbert Turtle III/Peter Wolf
Linda Wallem as Dr. Hutchison/Mrs. Virginia Wolf/Grandma Wolf/Cindy Wolf/Tammy the Pig/Various females
Charlie Adler as Ed Bighead/Gladys/Mr. George Wolf/Grandpa Wolf/Bev Bighead/Mr. Dupette
Joe Murray as Ralph Bighead
Kevin Meaney as Mother Hutchison (appeared only in two episodes)
Nancy Cartwright as Mrs. Fathead/Philbert's mother