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Happy 2019! Now that the holidays are over and a new year has come our way, it's finally time to get back in business with reviewing seasons of certain shows. Today, I'm starting by picking up where we left off with Season 2 of Rocko's Modern Life:
Hut Sut Raw
At times I feel like camping episodes only exist to make
certain characters suffer. Most of the
ones I know feature people adjusted to city living put at the mercy of nature,
and their lack of experience in the outdoors leads to endless hardships. It’s not exactly the most entertaining
subplot, and this cartoon about camping is honestly no different to the usual
setup. Then again, being from a show
about the challenges of modern life, it was bound to happen eventually.
We have Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt deciding
to go camping with Rocko being the only one wiling to truly rough it. With this in mind, consider that one of the points
of the series is that Rocko, an average everyman, is continuously put through
hardships that come with seemingly simple things. It barely turns out unpleasant because most
of the hardships feel inherent, are exaggerated for laughs, and most of the time aren’t inflicted by outside
sources or dumb decisions. This time, it becomes
frustrating that all adversities Rocko and his friends are put through are
self-inflicted.
The route to the
campsite reveals it to be a mall that imitates nature. It’s the outdoors sport that most visitors,
including Heffer and Filburt, enjoy.
While it is a fair point that this isn’t actually camping, it’s clearly
what the guys are better adjusted to. For that, it makes Rocko’s decision to ditch
this clear sense of luxury near impossible to support. He and his friends instead set up camp in a
section of woods a distance behind the mall, and from there it’s nothing but
survival struggles. It’s just things going wrong for these characters used to suburban living and decent
hygiene.
The longer they endure the
harshness of the wilderness, the more it’s hammered in that they are not cut
out for camping like this. They lose the
tent and can’t get decent food and water.
It’s especially concerning that their hunger ends up feeling so genuine
that it’s near impossible to have a fun time watching these characters take on
modern life like it usually is. Yes,
they suffer on a regular basis, but the cartoons usually let the challenge
happen and the characters keep their cool all throughout. Here, the effects of struggling in the wild
feel too believable to get invested on an entertaining level. There are even some forms of suffering
unfairly personally inflicted on the protagonists. Creatures steal their
stuff, and when it seems like it’s raining steaks for them, they turn out to be
for shrews who chase them away. It’s
honestly unfortunate that this mean-spiritedness hurts the cartoon this much
when the show usually has a good handle on it.
That said, there are still plenty of enjoyable moments in this camping
trip. There’s solid laughs from Heffer’s
attempts to set up the tent before it’s destroyed, and Filburt declaring the
lake water disgusting via a visual gag of fish dating in it. Even when squirrels eat all of Heffer’s food,
the occurrence is capped by humorous one-liners from them. Attempts at finding food are also quite
humorous with each character getting up to a memorable escapade although
Rocko’s seemed a bit much for the censors.
Because of this, you can’t see it on DVD releases or modern reruns.
Here it is now for your viewing pleasure though:
Also the conclusion is satisfying when they
all go back to Rocko’s house to camp out there with all the modern amenities
they could hope for. Even so, it shows
that they could’ve just done something like this in the first place to avoid
their suffering. Maybe if their outdoor camping didn’t go as horribly wrong
as it did, there’d be more of a point. There’s still a decent amount of enjoyment here,
but like most camping episodes, it supports the belief that everyone should
stay away from the great outdoors.
C+
Kiss Me I’m
Foreign
Ridiculous concepts were pretty much made for animation. The medium of no limitations can provide all
the essentials to make anything work. Among
many oddball story ideas out there, this is one that’s very creative in setup
and is believable through the strengths of the characters. In addition, this cartoon is also one to put
a humorous spin on some of the more complex issues of life such as immigration
and citizenship.
Apparently, Rocko
hasn’t been qualified as a citizen of the United States so he has to be
deported back home to Australia. It’s a
huge event that could force him out of the principal setting of the whole
series though it’s not exactly staged as particularly emotional. That said, it’s a bit unsettling that his
neighbors hold a surprise party over Rocko being deported. Thankfully, this is a matter of
misunderstanding when most of the party is quick to turn things around so Rocko
can stay, except of course for Ed Bighead.
It’s from this relatable topic
that brings on the bizarre story premise when Rocko’s citizenship is maintained
through being roped into a marriage with Filburt. This is one of those pairings of characters
that convincingly work well as friends, but picturing them as a married couple
is really crossing the line. Attempting
to make the façade convincing leads to a lot of awkwardness with Rocko and the
others acting like Filburt’s a female.
Fortunately through awareness of how crazy all this is and hilarious
images such as Filburt as a bride, gown and all, the awkwardness feels very
funny to the audience.
The approach to
this interesting concept even continues to the actual married life. Filburt takes the role of Rocko’s wife very
seriously through adhering to all the usual motions of the general idea of
married life. Through it all, Rocko has
no good reason to talk against it with the government official hounding him, and the fake marriage needing to be maintained to avoid deportation. This makes for many humorous occurrences of
Filburt as a happy housewife through preparing Rocko for his day and constantly
calling him while he’s busy at work. Filburt
does turn from supportive to unreasonably frustrated out of nowhere, but this
flaw is made to work through the cartoon’s nature. It has the phony marriage feel like a real
one considering that arguments are kind of a given from anyone living
together. Seeing him go from supportive
to agitated and lazy is a stark yet funny contrast especially when his fights
with Rocko are creatively interpreted as a boxing match. Even funnier is that they transcend to
friendly conversations like when Filburt explains his behavior
and Rocko thanking him for being a good friend while still sounding tense.
Clearly the cartoon does a lot with its out-there premise. However, there’s room for endearment from
Filburt needing to marry Rocko. It
effects the possibility of ending up with his true love, Dr. Hutchison. By the way, the chemistry they show towards
each other is a nice continuation of the events of an earlier cartoon. It honestly makes certain moments kind of
emotional, even if they’re followed by a joke later like when Dr. Hutchison is stopped just as she's about to break into song. By the end, their relationship sounds possible after all when Rocko is named a US
citizen in the end. However, this feels
somewhat contrived for a lack of a reason for the sudden citizenship and it’s
never mentioned that Rocko and Filburt are technically still married. It may end with a couple head-scratchers, but
it’s nevertheless impressive for the cartoon to turn out as good as it does
with a premise so bizarre.
One more thing, it’s remarkable that Rocko and Filburt, two
males getting married predates today’s frequent LGBT representation by nearly
two decades. Think of how more
meaningful it would’ve been if Filburt didn’t need to pretend to be female and
the marriage remained legit.
A
The Ranking
- Rocko’s Modern Christmas
- Tickled Pinky
- Boob Tubed
- Kiss Me I’m Foreign
- The Lounge Singer
- Road Rash
- I Have No Son
- Commuted Sentence
- Down the Hatch
- Pipe Dreams
- She’s the Toad
- Hut Sut Raw
The next Rocko's Modern Life review is on another full-length cartoon where Heffer's grandpa, for all his stereotypical grumpy old man behavior, gets solid development during a cruise.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews, I pick up where we left off with Steven Universe Season 3 with the episode "Crack the Whip."
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.
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