Friday, October 25, 2019

Zanzibar / Fatal Contraption (Rocko's Modern Life Season 3 Episode 13) - 'Toon Reviews 36

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Zanzibar


A good word to describe this show is unpredictable mainly because by now, it’s established itself to have an ‘anything goes’ format to its plots.  This cartoon is certainly unpredictable, but to me, it’s just that in the best kind of way. 
Without much of a reason, it suddenly goes in a musical route which in my opinion is one of the best ways to tell an animated story.  I always say that great animation and great music are among the greatest combinations ever for how they’re both versatile and have the utmost entertainment potential.  As this cartoon shows, it’s also principal in making a statement that would otherwise be too preachy to put to standard words. 
With that in mind, there’s actually a very interesting reason Joe Murray and his crew decided to make this cartoon a musical.  Although Joe is not a fan of musicals, he wanted to think of a way to make a statement about protecting the environment without sounding preachy.  The musical format turned out to be a great way to make the work entertaining and fun, so long as it followed his one rule of not having Rocko himself sing.  With these guidelines set, the resulting cartoon is a rare environmental work that’s actually engaging and has legit fun with what it’s trying to do, staying true to the series’ comedic roots. 
The opening number of all of O-Town spring cleaning eases the audience into what to expect and the showy style of the music match the energetic motions of the characters.  Rocko being out of the eccentric musical spirit is also reflective of the decision to not have him actually sing. 
The environmental angle makes itself known when it’s revealed that the O-Town dump is full and no one can dump their garbage there.  Ed Bighead suggests dumping his trash anywhere he wants which Rocko is quick to oppose. The element that stands out the most as opposed to any moral values is a jerky song from Ed about how he doesn’t care about the environment. 
Then comes the biggest music/animation marriage when the series’ offbeat humor brings an environmental lesson from a random sentient compost heap.  His lesson is an unbelievably catchy song setting any eco-friendly virtue imaginable to a fast energetic beat like o-zone depletion, deforestation, and of course recycling.  Such a setup makes the lessons stick way better than any lecture could, and there’s plenty of character in it as everyone is quickly mesmerized while Rocko calls the song sappy. 
When there’s one part of O-Town not doing their part, Ed’s company Conglom-O, the musical fun still continues as the crowds point out that “you can’t fight city hall.”  Rocko gives a standard speech to inspire hope, causing them to go to Conglom-O and voice their concerns.  What’s funny about it all is that everyone still keeps up the beat with the same tune playing in the background while everyone sing-repeats little things Rocko and Heffer say. 
Eventually, it’s only Rocko who gets in, very easily in fact, but at the last minute, the townspeople do their part by finalizing the cause with one more musical number.  Conglom-O proves loyal by making Ed do all the clean-up, but Ed himself is still a jerky polluter after this.  That said, fate is on the side of good when Ed’s aggressive un-eco-friendly song gets him burned by that faulty o-zone layer.
Thanks to the random yet welcome emphasis on music, you’ll be wishing that protecting the environment could be as fun as this cartoon suggests after watching it.


A+


Fatal Contraption


I find the cartoons paired together in this last episode for Season 3 to go together very well.  First, you have an all-musical cartoon “Zanzibar” and then it’s immediately followed by this cartoon where there’s little to no dialog.  It’s kind of like a calm down following so much energy and singing.  In fact, Joe Murray has stated that doing cartoons without dialog is something he always wanted to do with the series.  For that, this one is special for being the only one to do that.  However, the story and likability of the characters make the fact that it has very minimal dialog the best thing to get out of this cartoon. 
It starts off fine with Rocko finding the food in his house drab and unappealing.  He sees an ad for a food processor and decides to buy one.  At the store, there’s a funny visualization of the process of choosing a food processor equating to something like picking out a new puppy.  They’re all sentient with many multi-colored ones playing together while hoping to be chosen.  Rocko’s attention though goes to a lonely purple food processor in the corner which is what tends to happen a lot when choosing a puppy, at least in my experience. 
Once Rocko brings the food processor home, the appeal of the cartoon really starts to go down.  He sets it up for one job, and it fudges it.  Rocko’s response is to immediately take the food processor back after that one blunder.  I really can’t imagine someone as well reasoning as Rocko to just give up on something after one failed attempt.  Shouldn’t he be more encouraging for it to get something right?  One-and-done deals are hardly ever the fair way to go, especially not this one.  You’d think that he’d just try to suck up the food processor when it turns out he can’t return it, but that’s not so.  Rocko then tries to put it in the basement, but can’t considering that it’s sentient which feels so wrong considering how sympathetic the food processor appeared. 
Sadly, the food processor loses sympathy too.  It takes out other appliances like Rocko’s toaster and blender, but then it tries to harm Spunky, his dog.  A few failed attempts, while messed-up, are quite funny, but the food processor gets noticed when it gets close to fulfilling its goal.  From there, Rocko continues to be homicidal towards the food processor via many attempts to get rid of it.  In all fairness, there is imagination put into the attempts and the ways the food processor finds its way back.  My personal favorite is it getting flushed down the toilet and coming back in a fish.
It all goes too far when Rocko’s attempts to lose the food processor get his house destroyed and responds by leaving it in the desert.  It’s only here when after all the alleged fun of Rocko’s conflict with the food processor, there’s emotional weight to the lack of dialog.  Rocko finally feels bad for abandoning it and goes out to find it just as his car gets a flat.  Just the somber music and animation of him and the food processor succumbing to the desert heat is enough to sell how hard the situation is.  Ultimately though, things end decently as Rocko at least gets heat relief from a glass of cactus juice offered to him while the food processor opens a casino.  In fact, it doesn’t even need Rocko anymore.  Too bad Rocko doesn’t have any viable way to escape the desert. 
Aside from the unique gimmick and some good humor in spots, the featured players being so quick to go at each other doesn’t allow this cartoon to stand as strong as it should.  Still, it’s a decent end to Season 3.

C+

The Ranking
1.      Wacky Delly
2.      Zanzibar
3.      The Big Answer
4.      Camera Shy
5.      The Emperor’s New Joe
6.      Ed is Dead: A Thriller
7.      Bye Bye Birdie
8.      Speaking Terms
9.      Sugar Frosted Frights
10.  The Big Question
11.  An Elk for Heffer
12.  I See London I See France
13.  Nothing to Sneeze At
14.  Schnit-Heads
15.  Dear John
16.  The Fat Lands
17.  Belch of Destiny
18.  Tooth and Nail
19.  Rocko’s Happy Vermin
20.  Manic Mechanic
21.  Old Fogey Frog
22.  Fish-N-Chumps
23.  Fatal Contraption
24.  Fortune Cookie
25.  Scrubbin’ Down Under
Final Thoughts
It is said that Joe Murray believes that Season 3 of Rocko’s Modern Life is where the show really peaked, and I’m inclined to agree.  The series has had two seasons to establish its outrageously relatable premise of exaggerating modern life to make a point that nothing is ever truly easy.  Going into the third one, the established formula is able to take on bolder ideas that make for one memorable experience after another.
A major strength to Season 3 is the usual creative extent of the stories brought about by the premise which tends to go all out to lengths most other shows hardly ever reach.  Some of them involve interesting ideas, fresh takes on story genres, creatively portrayals of the life of an artist, and even new canon paths for characters.  Right at the start there are plenty of impressive moments to be found in the featured cartoons.  A story about Rocko and Heffer having trouble with a taking care of a bird and accidentally killing it is hilariously executed.  The entire cast gets in on a fabricated story of a trend-dependent kingdom whose intent is to get people to buy disgusting coffee.  There’s self-awareness to the design aesthetic of the show where there’s a humorously dramatic story about Bev Bighead getting a nose.  The two spooky-themed cartoons, “Sugar Frosted Frights” and “Ed is Dead,” add a comedic edge to help them stand out from the frightening norm.  Topical moments like cults, obsessive habits, and manliness relate to oddball things like enjoying sausages, becoming mad with nail-biting, or the natural relations to elks.  Taking care of the environment also moves away from its expected preachy approach, and goes in an unexpected route by turning the subject into an elaborate musical.  With that element to Season 3, it’s pretty remarkable that the show pulls off a funny scenario, but still leaves an impact on the issue. 
As a result, the entire show is open to going bolder with its directions.  “Wacky Delly” for instance is the ultimate standout work from here as it follows the passions as well as the plights often faced for people in the arts.  It doesn’t hold back with showing the featured character of animation, Ralph Bighead voiced by Joe Murray himself, aren’t always happy working in this field.  It’s also not afraid to bring up an idea that some shows are created just so they can fail.  However, through an exaggeratedly huge mess of animation, the final product brings a genius satire that things can become popular even if they’re bad.  In fact, highly artistic shows can be majorly overlooked in favor of what mainstream audiences demand.  That certainly explains a lot about certain popular franchises in today’s age.  It’s not just about being harsh and honest about favorite mediums like animation.  The bold direction of Season 3 also allows for character development that actually sticks.  “The Big Question” and “The Big Answer” are two cartoons in an arc that serve as a culmination to the often-seen intimacy between the characters Filburt and Dr. Hutchison.  There’s compelling emotion behind the two proposing to each other, as well as a conflict behind the disapproval of cats and turtles becoming an item.  Given the show all this is coming from, there’s a fair share of strong comedic sequences, and they actually blend with the drama instead of acting like a separate entity.  However, the biggest thing about these cartoons is that the final results of Filburt and Dr. Hutchison marrying is that it sticks for the rest of the series.  While it’s not shown all the time, the forthcoming season of the show does feature scenes of these characters together and even entering different phases of married couples.  Ultimately, Season 3 benefits the show not just with making great animated entertainment from what life has to offer. It also makes strong statements on major topics and features major growth with grand moments in characters’ lives.  For that, the show’s world is much more immersive than ever as well as fun to spend time in.
Although Season 3 really begins to nail this show’s formula, it’s sad but true to say that it’s still not perfect.  There are surprisingly a few comedic takes on topics and creative concepts that feel a lot more divisive.  Cartoons of this kind can be fun to some people, but a few story decisions and character treatments can easily come off as off-putting.  Some like “Fish N Chumps” and “Manic Mechanic” offer solid twists to troubles of fishing and cars dying, but very little elements stand as especially funny.  In some cases, the story isn’t all that satisfactory as the characters still fail to get out of trouble after everything they’re put through.  Speaking of debatable satisfactory, it also becomes an issue if a concept puts a character through so much suffering.  “Fortune Cookie” may be one of the more memorable cartoons, but I personally find it hard to get fully invested with nothing going right for Filburt or virtually everyone.  He gets a bad fortune, and the superstition surrounding fortune cookies is staged to be completely true.  Even when he’s covered in lucky charms and wins a game show, it’s hard to really feel happy because by then, everything is destroyed, and that’s no exaggeration.  Can it even be counted that everything is fixed?  To a lesser extent, Ed Bighead can hardly escape this setup when he’s given a midlife crisis of feeling too old when denied a promotion because of his age.  That starts off fairly, and the following sequence of deliberately acting younger is very appropriate.  However, the ultimate results prove unsatisfactory when he’s denied another promotion because he acts too young.  I get it’s a joke, but I can’t find it funny because he can’t win no matter what, and that doesn’t seem fair because he never does anything wrong in that cartoon. 
When it comes to poor treatment, Rocko seems to start getting the worst of it.  That normally doesn’t come as a surprise, but he usually ends up with something satisfying despite everything.  Near the end of Season 3 are some of his worst struggles that offer nothing good in return.  In “Scrubbing Down Under” he wins an award, but immediately after, everyone including his best friend laugh at him for getting spinach in his teeth.  Then his treatment goes way too far as his attempts to remove the spinach put him in an all body cast. Finally, a bizarre fantasy element puts him at the mercy of hygiene information he doesn’t need to hear, like he’s being berated for a rule he followed.  How can that be funny when it’s clearly not fair?  Even cartoons built on gimmicks can’t shake off how unfair Rocko gets it.  The final cartoon of the season, “Fatal Contraption”, immerses itself so well in using little to no dialog, and right after an all-musical cartoon too.  However, it’s hard to enjoy the cartoon itself with everyone acting so unlikable.  Rocko is quick to abandon his new food processor when it doesn’t work which is harsh.  The food processor becomes sympathetic, but then it loses sympathy when it responds by destroying the other devices and trying to kill Rocko’s dog.  Audiences can easily be turned off from the story when characters resort to murder to solve all problems.  Then while the food processor makes it big, Rocko ends up stranded in the desert with nothing.  Again, some may find this funny, but it’s also easy to wonder how this is a good way to end a cartoon.  Basically, the works of this season don’t always turn out in a way to successfully appeal to everyone.  Still, even with works that arguably fall flat, they’re made up for with how well the season highlights work.
Even with its few lows, Season 3 of Rocko’s Modern Life is elevated by the strengths of its many highs.  The humor improves, the characters meet new beginnings, and it makes major new societal statements while continuing to make its usual ones and keeping to its sense of fun.  There’s clear thought gone into these cartoons, and you can’t help but stand amazed over how hilariously relatable it can get no matter how modern our times are.  I’ll see you when the time comes to look at its final season.
And one more thing: “if you’re not nice to Mother Nature, she’ll kick our butts.”
 

Highly Recommended

For the time being, be sure to continue looking out for reviews of Xiaolin Showdown Season 2.  Until then:

Stay Animated Folks!

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