Cruisin' (Rocko's Modern Life Season 2 Episdoe 8) - 'Toon Reviews 24

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Cruisin’

I know from experience that when you’re around the elderly, many of them can get pretty difficult.  At times, it’s easy to forget that most likely, younger people will live similarly to them.  This cartoon shows younger characters realize what older people go through.  At the same time, there’s a balanced perspective showing older people have lots to learn too. 

This is another one of Season 2’s full half-hour specials that develops supporting characters.  One of the interesting things about Heffer’s background is that he’s a cow raised by wolves.  This cartoon is about Grandpa Wolfe.  He’s not the ideal pick for a headlining character being your average grumpy old man and any background of him we get isn’t followed up on.  Still, what we get from Grandpa in the spotlight is fine. 

At the start though, he doesn’t make the viewing experience very pleasant as Rocko and Heffer drop him off at a senior cruise.  Worse, Grandpa’s bad attitude and Heffer’s poor cognition get Rocko and Heffer trapped on that cruise against their will.  From there, the younger passengers are forced to do harsh physical labor and put up with Grandpa’s unruliness. 

The start of the cartoon may seem harsh, a few things lessen the toll.  Throughout Rocko and Heffer’s servitude, there are interesting ways to flesh the elderly out.  Despite a few visual gags of mountains of false dentures for Heffer to brush and wheelchairs rolling around on deck, others show they’re quite active.  They include chasing Heffer who scratches their walkers and rebelling against their pureed dinners with a food fight.  As for Grandpa, while pretty unenjoyable with his treatment of Rocko, there’s legit background on him.  When he was young he was in love with a wolf named Winifred.  Apparently, his attitude was even present back then as Winifred points. 

Then in the cartoon’s second half, things get more interesting.  Rocko diverts the cruise ship from ramming ducks, sending everyone into the Bermuda Triangle.  At the mercy of animation, all sorts of inventive antics happen there like a random gremlin floating around and Heffer getting abducted by aliens for a minute.  The biggest feature is a strange clock that turns the young passengers old and the old passengers young.  There’s a fair share of interesting pointers to this turn of events.  Rocko and Heffer turned old get an understanding of what Grandpa and the other old people put up with as the youthful elderly mess around with them. 

Speaking of which, it’s an amusing occurrence to see the old people turned young, but still show awareness that they’re older than they look.  It’s for that reason Winifred still refuses to be won over by Grandpa’s flirting even if it doesn’t do justice for his character.  Even with his attitude, Grandpa does prove to have a heart after all.  For all his belittling of Rocko, he dives into the ocean to save him when he’s blown overboard being young and strong enough to do so.  He needs to be rescued himself later, but making the effort still counts a lot.  I believe that this is the perfect moment that gets the cruise out of the Bermuda Triangle with different generations showing consideration for each other. 

I’m always up for creative occurrences even if they do get strange or ridiculous, but applying virtues to live by is a welcome practice to have them leave an impact.  This may not be the show at its best nor does it have the most interesting character moments, but creative occurrences teaching an often overlooked life lesson make it stand out.

A

The Ranking

1. Rocko’s Modern Christmas
2. Tickled Pinky
3. Boob Tubed
4. Kiss Me I’m Foreign
5. The Lounge Singer
6. Road Rash
7. I Have No Son
8. Commuted Sentence
9. Cruisin’
10. Down the Hatch
11. Pipe Dreams
12. She’s the Toad
13. Hut Sut Raw

The next Rocko's Modern Life review covers Filburt migrating to his birthplace, almost, and Heffer brings an interesting approach to being a security guard.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews, almost a year after the last time I looked into that show, I start a new review set on the third DVD volume of Disney's DuckTales.

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.