Wednesday, January 16, 2019

Snowballs/Frog's Best Friend (Rocko's Modern Life Season 2 Episode 12) - 'Toon Reviews 24


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Snowballs
I’m not a winter person, but I do enjoy snow themed activities.  This includes seeing cartoons dedicated to such activities.  This right here is a really fun one working off of a premise that reminds that there’s no harm in working in some fun when you have a job to do if it doesn’t go too far. 
Rocko’s job is to drive through the mountains to another town to pick up comic books for his boss.  However, Heffer, who’s coming along, takes in the spirit of the location and urges Rocko to take the opportunity to break from the drive to try skiing on the way.  The admirable thing is that Rocko doesn’t buy into this until there’s a legit reason to go to the nearby Mount Frosty ski resort.  While driving, officials from Mount Frosty cause an avalanche that jams the traffic, quickly convincing drivers to turn off the highway and go to the resort.  As you can tell, it’s a total scam to get people to come, and it doesn’t stop there. 
Rocko has a lot of money from Mr. Smitty, most of which is meant for the comics he has to pick up.  The ski resort has a tagline that everything is $5 which makes it seem like going skiing would be a fine way to pass the time while the road’s blocked.  The catch is that every THING is $5, so Rocko and Heffer have to pay for more than just all day passes.  I normally would be disturbed by this ploy, but I honestly find it as a pretty humorous take on how roadside attractions tend to be rip-offs. 
There are also plenty of solid ski related gags from Rocko building up his skills.  Being inexperienced, he gets a few funny clunks from trying to get on the chairlift, showing that getting on is harder than it looks.  There also a few funny run-ins with trees while he’s on the slopes, but he does get noticeably better, and Heffer shows genuinely friendly support. 
Eventually, Rocko is deemed ready to try the most dangerous slope at the resort, the Devil’s Crevice which works as a solid payoff to everything in this cartoon.  It starts off with a slow impactful buildup as the chairlift takes Rocko and Heffer up the mountain into space.  Rocko, scared by the height, is shocked to learn that he’s been completely ripped off with no more $5 to back out of skiing.  There’s no turning back, so he has no choice but to do the slope. 
The run through Devil’s Crevice makes for an exciting climax.  There’s a collection of shots at different angles to emphasize the steepness of the mountain and the speed of the skiing.  It’s also made funny by many creative gags like Rocko skiing through traffic of people and cars, and breaking out of the side of the mountain and bringing out a frozen caveman.  Finally, his comic problem is solved when he suddenly finds himself doing a ski jump and wins money instantly. 
Everything works out with Rocko fulfilling his duty thanks to Heffer using the money to buy and deliver the comics in his place, and we’re left with an awesome ski experience.  However, there’s believable after effects of this with Rocko ending up in an all-body cast and never wanting to ski again.  It’s not a total happy ending, but the fun stuff is still very much fun. 
In the end, this is a great cartoon big on winter excitement, even if winter’s not your season.  That said, while it does show that working in fun is fine if circumstances allow, you should probably make sure you’re good at skiing first.
A



Frog’s Best Friend



In this cartoon all about the Bigheads, it’s shown that sometimes, characters who act like total grumps for most of the series can be sympathetic.  A big reason for this is that the grump in question, Ed Bighead, has to deal with someone who acts even worse than him. 
Starring alongside the Bigheads is Earl, a monstrous dog who appears in the theme song, but surprisingly isn’t a regularly seen character.  Right at the start, Earl proves to be nothing short nasty when a fairy frees him from the science lab wanting to put him down, and he thanks her by eating her.  Through showing no regret for his, Earl is certainly no sympathetic creature.  His viciousness is further shown when he gets to the Bigheads’ house.  Not only does he destroy a fly man’s truck, but delights in chasing down Ed.  By the way, it’s a particular highlight to the cartoon as Ed is chased in a vast variety of ways. 
In a more plot-based direction, another highlight is someone finally standing up to Earl, Ed’s wife Bev.  When she catches Earl digging up her flowers, Bev shows no hesitation in telling him off, something most would be too terrified to do.  It does the trick to get Earl to back down, and Bev becomes drawn to the fear and sadness in the dog’s eyes.  She also deduces that Earl is subjected for experiments and is so moved by this state of affairs that she adopts him.  The moment is staged to make it feel like Earl has a soul and does deserve to be given a chance to be good.  Not to mention, the scene demonstrates Bev’s appeal as a character.  Everything brings an impression that Earl can be a decent character if another one disciplines him.  This sounds like a good direction for the cartoon, but that ends up not being the case. 
The cartoon instead focuses much more on Ed getting harassed by Earl while he’s under Bev’s care.  Normally this wouldn’t be a problem since Ed is usually the bad guy who deserves some comeuppance.  Here, Ed doesn’t really do anything bad, so he doesn’t deserve to suffer.  Every time Bev has him go out and bond with Earl, the dog proceeds to maul him without hesitation.  The worst part is that Bev doesn’t even notice this.  She could easily scold Earl to make sure he behaves, but instead she ignores his bad actions and anything Ed is enduring.  It doesn’t help that she keeps feeding Earl luscious steaks while Ed sticks to a very unsubstantial diet.  By the time Ed lures Earl into being launched into space, these actions, while extreme, feel like Ed’s right for doing this. 
For that, the ending where Earl comes back, Ed’s impounded and still denied good food while Bev does nothing is a total downer.  It just doesn’t seem fair that Ed Bighead, for all his bad moments, is left to suffer through the one time he’s in the right.  Earl should’ve acted good on a regular basis, or at least through Bev keeping an eye on him.  Maybe Ed could’ve made Earl act mean which would put Ed in the wrong when trying to get rid of Earl thus justifying the ending.  The potential for Earl to develop and be good is there through the genuine bond Bev has with him, but apart from that, it’s not fully realized and the wrong character is punished. 
The cartoon can still work overall if you know the general nature of Ed Bighead, but this sequence of events and their disappointments do not work in its favor.
C-


The Ranking
  1. Rocko’s Modern Christmas
  2. Tickled Pinky
  3. Boob Tubed
  4. Gutter Balls
  5. Uniform Behavior
  6. Kiss Me I’m Foreign
  7. The Lounge Singer
  8. Road Rash
  9. I Have No Son
  10. Snowballs
  11. Commuted Sentence
  12. Cruisin’
  13. Born to Spawn
  14. Down the Hatch
  15. Junk Junkies
  16. Pipe Dreams
  17. She’s the Toad
  18. Hair Licked
  19. Hut Sut Raw
  20. Frog’s Best Friend
  21. Day of the Flecko

The next Rocko's Modern Life review finishes Season 2 with Rocko in a "short guy wants to be big" story, and also features him get glasses for a jackhammer competition.
Next time on MC Toon Reviews, DuckTales asks you if you're "Dime Enough for Luck." 
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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