Put to Pasture
At last, we’ve reached the final episode of the series. Format-wise, it doesn’t really go for anything too special with the standard procedure of two cartoons making up the half-hour. Looking into the cartoons that make up the episode, their subject matter seems fairly fitting for a series finale, though both vary in execution.
Kicking off the episode is a cartoon that takes the wise approach of reflecting on one of the most prominent characters in the cast, Heffer. It even has a creative framing devise reflecting on near-death experiences from overeating, something that’s happened in some of Heffer’s most memorable performances. Passing out from eating too much of his signature snack, Pasture Puffies, and being rushed to the hospital, Heffer becomes the center of what the cartoon presents.
The most major players of the series, sympathetic over Heffer’s condition, are driven to reflect on the first time they met Heffer. Filburt recalls meeting Heffer while serving free samples at a store with Heffer showing up to eat every last bit of the samples in disguise, driving Filburt to insanity. The Bigheads first met Heffer, who was a paperboy at the time, whose haphazard throwing led to Ed’s apparently attractive face getting disfigured to the ugly sight it is now. Though really, this probably wouldn’t have happened if Bev wasn’t holding an active blender at the time. The most standout memory comes from Rocko who apparently first met Heffer in high school. Not wanting the big fat dumb new student to be left out, Rocko invited Heffer to be his and Filburt’s lab partner. Heffer’s sheer stupidity, childish attitude, and big appetite could have ruined all chances for them getting a passing grade on a potato clock. In the end though, since his actions involved a lot of eating, a combination of stuffing Heffer with all manner of potato goods and exaggeration of light got the brightest bulb.
Basically, these recounts of Heffer are all in the manner of making big gags out of his primary traits; gluttonous, stupid, destructive, and childish. This ultimately brings up a major point of concern. For a work meant to reflect on the appeal of a major character of the series, all these segments do is highlight Heffer as nothing but a nuisance. I mean, it’s all accurate to what the audience has come to expect from Heffer, but there’s more to him than his negative qualities. He’s shown to be capable of being a good friend before, even to the point of being of decent support on several occasions. To say that the only thing to take from Heffer are his troublesome ways just doesn’t feel right.
Plus, there are many blatant and at times confusing touches to the flashbacks. As previously mentioned, the Bigheads’ first meeting of Heffer blames Heffer for Ed’s face when actually it was Bev’s blender that did all that. Filburt’s first time meeting Heffer is said to be with the free samples, but what about how he was clearly present when Heffer was his lab partner at school? Speaking of that, there’s just more confusion to when Rocko first came to America that’s been going on for the whole series. He’s been shown to have been there in youth before, but what does that say for other suggestions of him coming there as an adult?
As for
Heffer’s hospitalization, he turns out fine, as most could probably expect, but
everyone going from relieved to disgusted with him cements this cartoon’s mixed
state. It’s nice that it has good humor
to reflect on Heffer’s appeal, but branding him as a total nuisance does little
favor.
C
Future Schlock
Moving onto the true final cartoon of the series, this goes for a very interesting route to say the least. It features a unique setup to place itself apart from the rest of the series, but still thoroughly delights with all the charms and aesthetics the audience should expect by now. The whole thing turns out to be a mix of familiar tones, but also a fair amount of surprises.
The most glaring surprise is apparent right at the start, with the cartoon mainly taking place in the distant future. The overall setup for the future isn’t too far off from what standard depictions of such a time look like, with everything reflecting a space age, lots of flying things, sky high buildings, etc. The featured characters are the children of Filburt and Dr. Hutchison, Gilbert and Shellbert who take after Filburt, Norbert taking after Heffer, and Missy taking after Dr. Hutchison. Gilbert and Norbert go about their business in manners similar to their past counterparts, and find relics of that distant era. You’d think the big thing would be a framed picture of their past ancestors, but the biggest find is an old rotten banana peel. Curious to why it’s here, Gilbert and Norbert meet up with their other siblings and show the peel to their dad, Filburt, and he recounts its solemn origins.
This in turn shifts the focus to the main cast as the audience is most familiar with, the staging, humor style, and character dynamics all feeling right at home. It even has a premise that wouldn’t feel out of place in a standard cartoon with Rocko and Heffer noticing Ed Bighead with a monkey set to be launched into space. Bringing to mind something along the lines of animal rights, they take pity and try to release the monkey to freedom. Then in a twist, the monkey turns out to be demented and unsympathetic, leading Rocko and Heffer onto a rocket set to launch it into space, and then setting it off. All that’s left of the monkey is the banana Rocko and Heffer tried to feed it which is found by Filburt, and left in the refrigerator.
That refrigerator is the same one where his kids would eventually find the peel, in turn bringing many implications. For one, it was there to serve as a reminder of Filburt’s best friends who essentially disappeared forever. It would also explain why the kids apparently live at a future version of Rocko’s old house, bringing heavy emotions amidst the series’ trademark humorous overtones. Still, it’s not all emotional as that same rocket turns up in this time period 17 years after its initial launch, landing Rocko and Heffer in the future. As for the banana peel, it’s apparently found by that monkey and group of sentient bananas, and that old rotten peel is their ruler. In most other shows, this would be bizarre and nonsensical beyond all reasons, but with all the weirdness this particular show has brought, it’s right at home.
Anyway, the cartoon concludes in a somewhat
interesting manner with Rocko and Heffer deciding to settle into this future
version of their hometown. Filburt is
even back to his familiar youthful appearance probably from a future
suit he’s wearing and anti-aging cream he applies throughout the cartoon. The real interesting
thing is that just as the three friends reunite and settle in, the kids take
control of the rocket, and in the last moment, it shoots them into space
again. In most cases, this would be a
simple funny ending gag with many implications, but it stands out more through
what becomes of these events many years later.
It contradicts some of what was built up here, but that will be covered
when the time officially comes.
As far as series finales go, this is
honestly not as big or grand as many others I’m familiar with. However, for a work of this show, featuring
the staple entertainment style along with a few extra touches to the overall
presentation make it a solid way for it all to go out.
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. Future Schlock
14. S.W.A.K.
15. Closet Clown
16. Turkey Time
17. Sailing the 7 Zzzz’s
18. Pranksters
19. The High-Five of Doom
20. Magic Meatball
21. Put to Pasture
22. Rug Birds
23. Fly Burgers
24. Ed Good, Rocko Bad
25. Seat to Stardom
26. With Friends Like These
Final Thoughts
We’ve once again come to the end of
another look at an entire animated series with these reviews of the final
season of Rocko’s Modern Life. When it comes to overall impressions of the
final product, I can conclude that the quality of the series is all-around
consistently strong. Granted, the batch
of cartoons in this final season is probably my least favorite of them all, but
what’s present still keeps up the great strengths the show has had going for
it.
Now for the most part, the standards
and customs of Season 4 are basically the relatable, hilarious, and majorly
outrageous ones we’ve come to expect from the overall series. The main idea remains following average
everyman Rocko finding challenges in just living his life in a wild, eccentric,
cartoonish world. Things like delivering babies, facing past bullies, matters of crushes, independent living, and
driving lessons are all enhanced by extreme antics and staging to highlight the
seemingly simple charges never really being simple. It’s just as fun, witty, and genius as it's always been. Granted,
presumably because of the change in showrunner, the approach to the antics in
Season 4 does feel somewhat different to those of the other seasons. I find that many cartoons are very heavy with
dialog which in turn doesn’t allow for much atmosphere for the jokes or time to
process them. This is just my perception
though, and while I don’t find it as funny or impactful, it doesn’t take away from
the overall strong entertainment. It’s
clear that no matter who’s running the show, the main ideas of getting through
life and what makes them work so well are always considered. That’s easily why the series as a whole has
remained good overall for the entire run.
Despite this season seeming to rely more on dialog than atmosphere to define its outrageous undertones, a few things make it really stand out from all the others. It has its own set of distinctive ideas, presentations of topics, and even big character moments to have it leave its own creative mark. With distinctive ideas, much of them are additions to the inherent bizarre qualities that come from the show’s way of presenting life’s challenges. Some of them are creative ideas like Ed acting as a pirate in his sleep because of a bad childhood memory; Heffer being a game show contestant where the grand prize is a place in the afterlife; a huge mess of emotions with Rocko hypnotized to act like a dog and Bev adopting him; a futuristic look at the main series setting; and even a full-on spoof of fairy tales. These types of bizarre stories are inventive to some extent and even have a good charm with a largely character-driven aesthetic that can only bring good benefits.
On the other end, the bizarrness of the
stories can sometimes be a little much like Ed being controlled by an
all-knowing 8-ball like meatball; Rocko being sentenced to turn into a fly
for a crime he didn’t commit; and an entire cartoon devoted to Rocko becoming
so famous because of his butt. The show
may be known to be bizarre, but plots like these take the weird ideas to a
whole new level beyond typical comfort.
Thankfully, the less pleasing weird plots are made up for by the real
stand-out cartoons, and that doesn’t solely apply to the better weird
plots. Some use the weird nature of the
series to make a big statement about topics that honestly feel way more adult
than one would expect. There are solid
jabs at parenthood in “From Here to Maternity,” Ed coming out as a clown has a
lot of clever coding to real instances of coming out, and Heffer’s attempts at
independence in “Mama’s Boy” creatively showcase the challenges of living on
one’s own. Giving the series more of a
soul than the outrageous comedy styles suggest are how characters actually
develop in various stories. Filburt and
Dr. Hutchison’s marriage is actually followed up on in quite a few cartoons as
they have children and watch them grow right into the distant future. In spite of the season mostly not doing him
justice, it’s interesting that Heffer is the subject of one of the final
cartoons ever showing how the core cast first met him. Among the many challenges he typically faces,
some of Rocko’s best moments are landing romances that actually land well for
him despite nothing being done with either.
He also gets a lot of relevance with a reveal that his ancestors founded
O-Town. I guess some could say that in
toning down the pure antics, characters were allowed much broader development, but
that’s a totally worthwhile benefit.
Above all, it says a lot about how what this season has to offer really
stands out.
Now, in addition to a few cartoons
being too weird for their own good, there is at least one noteworthy element to
why I find this season to be the weakest of them all. One thing I’ve noticed a lot is that shows
tend to burn out a lot as they go on longer.
In other words, they seem to have a harder time keeping up what made their main storytelling so strong time and time again. You can only imagine how this applies to
animated series still running to this day.
In the case of this season for Rocko’s
Modern Life, I find a few instances of the show losing sight of what made
every whacky and exaggerated life instance work well. It may be a main part of the premise for
things to constantly go wrong for Rocko, but in the past, there’s always been a
good balance of heart in just about everything.
All challenges felt like they were just part of the process no one could
do anything about, and rarely felt like a result of everyone actively trying to
harm Rocko. In Season 4, there seem to
be way more than averages instances of things going wrong for Rocko
intentionally. He’s the butt of his
friends’ shenanigans, people actively detest him when he joins in on a
heartfelt moral, and his mean neighbor tends to overpower him for a cartoon’s
majority. That’s not even mentioning how
his friends start venturing into more stereotypical behavior and away from
their true developed selves frequently.
I mean, Heffer’s always been a gluttonous couch potato, but in the past,
he’s proven to be a decent friend too.
In this season, his lack of intelligence and consideration is shown in
far more amounts than welcome. It’s like
the stories only take his basic prominent traits like they’re all there is too
him when in fact there’s more to him. Heck, even Filburt frequently joins him
in messing around although his dominant traits were always being like the exact
opposite of Heffer. This only adds to
the idea of the world actively turning against Rocko and that only those
bizarre by nature can properly thrive in this world while the straight men must
be punished. So not to exaggerate too much,
this is not to say this is the case for the entire season. In fact, there are plenty of good moments for
him, some previously mentioned, and his friends are also represented well for
the most part too. It’s just that when
they don’t get good portrayals, it stands out way more here. I’d like to believe that it would probably
have turned out worse if the show went on longer; some fans might not like
hearing this but maybe it’s good the show ended here. This way, any missteps don’t have a huge
effect, and the show as a whole is deservedly so fondly remembered.
In spite of a few differences in
construction and some more frequent weak points, Season 4 of Rocko’s Modern Life brings a strong end
to the series. With its creative takes
on subject, solid character development, and witty nature, the series is sure
to delight for all of its run. Given how
I’ve come to view Nickelodeon as a whole, I say that’s pretty impressive, or
more appropriately, a hoot.
Highly Recommended
But wait!
There’s more!
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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