'Toon Reviews 18: Rocko's Modern Life Season 1 Episode 4: Keeping up With the Bigheads/Skid Marks

Keeping Up With the Bigheads

The first cartoon starring the Bigheads was more about their relationship in addition to Bev’s questionable admiration for Rocko.  This cartoon is more about their ties with their wallaby next-door neighbor.  Unlike his wife, Ed Bighead despises everything about Rocko who only tries to be friendly with him and never intends any harm.  This usually portrays Ed as an irrational jerk with anger issues who deserves the humiliation he often gets in return.  His conflict-inflicting actions for this cartoon certainly leave him open to just that. 

You get an idea of Ed's actions from his relentless treatment of the “parasites” he finds in his gardening through picking them out when they’re trying to get food, trapping them in a prison box, and slamming the door when the bugs protest.  Considering the bug characters from the previously discussed cartoon, it truly is a problem that Ed’s going this far with dealing with them.  His temper worsens when a weed from Rocko’s yard grows into his and destroys some flowers.  Since it’s clear that Rocko didn’t intend for this to happen, when Ed harshly declares that he’s going to have Rocko’s property condemned, it’s easy to sympathize with Rocko and be against Ed for acting drastically over something that isn’t that big a deal.  In fact, Ed is so brutal with insults about the prospect of Rocko’s home being removed that Rocko, who’s usually calm and friendly around everyone including jerks like Ed, retaliates by firmly stating that he’s going to make it so that his house is the nicest one in the neighborhood. 

From there, the cartoon is the show’s usual brand of creative exaggerations on life’s tribulations as Rocko and Heffer refurbish Rocko’s home and garden.  There’s a few memorable antics such paving Spunky onto a crack in the wall after the dog gets into cement, and a comedic explosion of tar from Heffer standing on the hose that gives Ed his first round of comeuppance when he ends up feathered by a plane of chickens who had their feathers plucked.  There’s even raunchy humor that works through subtlety when Heffer, being a cow, does an elaborate dance ending with a squishy sound of him landing in his “fertilizer” without any words or visuals of it. 

In the end, just when it seems like Rocko’s home isn’t spruced up in time to avoid condemnation, everything works out when Heffer’s fertilizer brings about many beautiful flowers, and a “breen” coating from earlier shines up his house, proving to truly look nice when it dries.  It shows that even though Rocko is typically put through bad luck while going through life, when he’s up against consequences as drastic as losing his home, he avoids losing to that extent.  In fact, it’s Ed who gets the worst punishment as what should be the case when he loses his great-looking garden to liberated bugs, and it’s his house that gets condemned.  All the same, it’s unfortunate that Rocko’s house ends up looking like a dump again despite there being no reason for that to happen between the previous nice shot of it and the following poor one.  It prevents the cartoon from being as satisfying as it could’ve been. 

Despite that, it’s still good that it’s satisfying enough with the jerk character getting what was coming to him, and the character we’re supposed to root for being likable through it all.

A-

Skid Marks

I’m someone who knows how big a task driving can be.  You always have to stay alert of what’s on the road and have enough knowledge on how to maneuver a car.  However, as life would have it, anything can happen when you go out driving.  There’s quite a few cartoons throughout the series in which Rocko runs into mishaps with his car, and given my feelings towards the magnitude of driving responsibilities, I get some particular enjoyment out of those cartoons. 

They all start with this one where Rocko loses his car when he’s caught driving without a gas cap.  He has to go to the DMV to clear everything out so to get his car back, and from there, the relatable cause for mishaps along with this show’s trademark form of entertainment bring about one enjoyable take on what people are put through at such a place after another.  They start off simple with a look at how boring waiting at that place can be through scenes of Spunky being left outside next to a dog skeleton after Rocko says he’ll be back soon, and Rocko standing and waiting for a long time, even when he reaches the front desk. 

The entertaining perspectives of the process build when Rocko ends up in a drivers’ reeducation program.  He takes an eye test where he reads a subliminal message that the doctor’s a madman on the letter chart and ends up stuck in a bulging eyeball pose which the doctor uses to look over his pupils, turning out to be a clever take on the familiar cartoonish gag.  Then he’s put in a classroom to prepare for a driver’s test taught by a highly entertaining drill sergeant-like instructor specializing in going from calm to having an explosive temper over things as minor as a cough.  The instructional video the students are assigned to watch stands as an irony when an educating video on the “rules of the road” is taught by a goofy blank-eyed clown who doesn’t look like he knows them. 

All throughout this comedic collection of DMV antics, Rocko is frequently warned to not get the fat guy, building up to how his driving test may go, which is relatable to the idea that whether or not you pass your driving test largely depends on the type of instructor you test with.  When Rocko’s instructor turns out to be a fat elephant, you’re led to wonder how he’ll get through the test since he’s apparently with the instructor everyone hoped he wouldn’t get.  As it turns out, the only odd thing about Rocko’s instructor is that he only works with an imaginary car and expects Rocko to go along with it, so the test goes just fine.  The relatively smoothness of the test is even explained through a later reveal that the fat guy was someone completely different from the elephant. 

If that’s not enough, the cartoon turns out another good example of Rocko getting a truly great end after what he was put through when just as he’s thwarted from getting his car back because of the missing gas cap, a squirrel hitchhiker from the beginning reveals he took it and returns it at the command of the police.  There’s even a nice scene of the entire DMV cheering Rocko on that can also count for humor with jabs at how sappy the scene is, yet you’re still left with a positive impact of Rocko getting his driving rights back. 

I can without a doubt say this cartoon passes the test of being a great and entertaining driving-themed cartoon that can be enjoyable to anyone who’s been out or is going out on the road.

A+

The Ranking

1. Skid Marks
2. Who Gives a Buck?
3. Dirty Dog
4. Jet Scream
5. Keeping Up With the Bigheads
6. No Pain No Gain
7. Bedfellows
8. Leap Frogs

The next Rocko's Modern Life review features Rocko becoming boss for the day at his comic book store job with Filburt running the counter, and Heffer facing the wrath of Satan Peaches.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the great Steven Universe episode "The Answer."

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

If you would like to check out other Rocko's Modern Life reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.