Turkey Time
As the last season nears the end, it’s a very good turn of events that it gets to have one more holiday cartoon, this time on Thanksgiving. In my experience, there aren’t a lot of well-known works to commemorate the day despite it being seen as a big event for many. This is probably because you can’t do much more than dinners gone wrong or Mayflower retellings, at least when it comes to TV and film. This cartoon seems to be proof of this as it follows the expected dinner gone wrong plot. However, with the right frame of mind to connect it to the theme of this particular series, it can also serve as a solid allegory for animal rights.
Driving everything is the innocence of Rocko, with this being his very first Thanksgiving. With that in mind, you have to wonder exactly how long he’s been in the states and see how confusing how he even came to America is. Sometimes you hear that he was living in America and knew all his friends when he was younger, and other instances show him to have come when he grew older. What's even the true story, and why can't the show make up its mind? Well if you can get past that, there’s still mild enjoyment from how Rocko comes to understand Thanksgiving. However, differentiating from how most people in real life celebrate, in O-Town, the citizens get their turkeys live, and then cook them fresh. I suppose that this is the best way for Rocko to really understand how Thanksgiving customs work, as well as give the cartoon its conflict. In a humorous scene of Heffer trying to explain how to ‘invite’ the turkey to dinner, it takes a while for Rocko to figure everything out. Then he gives an emphatic shocked response when he understands. If that’s not enough, somehow him and Heffer getting a turkey before everyone else entices all the other turkeys to come to Rocko’s house, must to the frustration of O-Town. Despite this being an inconvenience, Rocko sticks to his good nature and promises not to let anyone eat the turkeys.
It isn’t long though when the seller of the turkeys, Ed Bighead, discovers they’ve come to Rocko’s, and doesn’t hesitate to expose him. He does so in a reversal of a previous holiday special where instead of encouraging everyone to skip his party, Ed tells everyone to come to a party Rocko’s not actually having. This makes the cartoon once again fall victim to the world around Rocko being ridiculously passive. Do they seriously trust Ed as much as they do this late in the series? Does his bad reputation suddenly not exist? This makes their aggressive reactions of not being invited to Rocko’s turkey party all the more frustrating.
Ultimately, Rocko gives into the pressure, and decides to give them what they want while also keeping the turkeys safe. With Heffer giving a long-winded yet very fun and exhilarating introduction to the main course, Rocko successfully tricks the town into eating a vegetarian turkey. Even though everyone loves it, once Ed discovers the truth, the aggression is kicked up again, threatening to end the cartoon on a bad note. Luckily, everything works out, and O-Town proves to have hearts by seeing the innocence in the turkeys eyes the same way Rocko and Heffer did, and opt to not harm them. As for Ed, he refuses to listen, is made a fool when trying to go through with the turkey feeding, and ends the cartoon giving the turkeys their own feast of bird seed. It’s not new for turkeys to be treated like guests instead of food at Thanksgiving, but putting up a feast dedicated to them has some creative merit.
In all,
despite a few directions, this series successfully serves up a pleasing
Thanksgiving piece.
A-
Floundering Fathers
Some of the most appealing types of stories are those that give background to established characters and setting, and this cartoon does both. This would be big enough of a selling point, but it goes the extra mile by giving equal relevance to the key players of the series. Rocko, Heffer, Filburt, and Ed Bighead are all colorful personalities on their own, but this cartoon is the ultimate way of having them work off one another. That’s very fitting to see coming from one of the last cartoons of the series.
It’s Founder’s Day in O-Town, and Ed has appointed himself as head of the committee. Among the duties of such a figure is approving of the floats to appear in the annual parade. At the same time, Rocko and the gang have just put together their parade float, a hamburger made of hotdogs, which I think is simply a genius idea. They arrive at the last minute to submit their float, and Ed, being the overbearing jerk he is, rejects their offer.
The rest of the cartoon features Rocko and the others trying to convince Ed to change his mind as he explains why he has the right to judge all float approval. The background of his dominance comes from a rock that was principal in the founding of O-Town many years ago. According to Ed, his ancestor played a key role in discovering this rock by paying for ownership of it from the Native Americans living on the territory. It’s a very standard story of the founding of a town, but it does its part to allow the rest of the cartoon to unfold.
In an effort to still have a chance to let their float be in the parade, there are other stories depicting ancestors of the main players discovering the rock. Filburt comes close to the accuracy of Ed’s story by claiming that a nest of his turtle ancestors were under the rock long before Ed’s ancestor discovered it. He even has video proof of this, though Ed still promptly dismisses the claim. For entertainment’s sake though, the fun of the historical recounts are not just limited to claims based on evidence. Heffer’s recount, for instance, sounds completely artificial and fake. It involves seemingly imagined versions of himself claiming to be his ancestors acting out little of bits of any known historical event strung together. This greatly reflects Heffer’s childlike nature, and it’s a very funny take on history in execution; it could even be considered a highlight for the cartoon.
With all these radically different claims behind the rock, everyone is led to fight and in turn tip it over. This in turn brings Rocko’s historical relevance to the rock, as it reveals one of his wallaby ancestors who was living under the rock for over 200 years. Also, bits of Ed, Filburt, and even Heffer’s stories have truth to them too. However, it was the wallabies who inhabited O-Town first, and that in turn grants this wallaby the right to be the true honorable head of the parade. All works out fine as the gang gets their float approved for the parade after all, Ed gets comeuppance for his jerky behavior, and this new background is simply honorable for Rocko. The only minor qualm is that it’s never explained how this wallaby is alive after all these centuries, because I find it hard to suspend disbelief for that like I can for much of this show.
Despite that, it’s still a great cartoon of
interesting backgrounds, memorable moments, and especially a strong use of
characters working off of each other to drive everything.
A+
The Ranking
1. From Here to Maternity
2. Floundering Fathers
3. Heff in a Handbasket
4. Driving Mrs. Wolfe
5. Yarn Benders
6. Feisty Geist
7. Mama’s Boy
8. Hypno-Puppy Love
9. Dumbells
10. Wallaby on Wheels
11. Teed Off
12. Wimp on the Barby
13. S.W.A.K.
14. Closet Clown
15. Turkey Time
16. Sailing the 7 Zzzz’s
17. Pranksters
18. The High-Five of Doom
19. Magic Meatball
20. Rug Birds
21. Fly Burgers
22. Ed Good, Rocko Bad
23. Seat to Stardom
24. With Friends Like These
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