Rocko’s Modern Life: Season Three (a J!-ENT DVD Review)

June 14, 2012 by Dennis Amith 

Hilarious and all-out crazy!  “Rocko’s Modern Life” was a Nickelodeon animated series considered racy for its time.   While tame compared to other animated series of today, “Rocko’s Modern Life: Season Three” is fun animated comedy series with plenty of humor and visual gags that old and newer fans will surely enjoy!  Recommended!

Images courtesy of © 2012 Viacom International Inc. All Rights Reserved.

DVD TITLE: Rocko’s Modern Life: Season Three

TV SERIES AIR DATE: 1995

DURATION: 13 Episodes (+/- 5 Hours)

DVD INFORMATION: Full Screen, Close Captions

COMPANY: Shout! Factory

RATED: Not Rated

RELEASE DATE: July 3, 2012

Directed by Joe Murray, Stephen Hilenburg, Jeff “Swampy” Marsh, Timothy Bjorklund, Mr. Lawrence, Mark O’Hare, Robert Scull, Jeff Myers, Dan Povenmire

Written by Joe Murray, Martin Olson, George Maestri, Tim Hill, Stephen Hillenburg, Mark O’Hare, Jeff “Swampy Marsh, Jeff Myers, Robert Scull, Dan Povenmire, Mr. Lawrence, Timothy Bjorklund, Vince Calandra, Derek Drymon, Robert Porter, John McIntyre, Carlos Alazraqui

Produced by Joe Murray

Executive Producers: Mary Harrington, Joe Murray, Vanessa Coffey

Creative Producer: Stephen Hillenburg

Supervising Producer: Linda Simensky, Ken Kessel, Michelle JAbloner-Weiss

Line Producer: Paul C. Fabela, Krist-Ann Pehrson, Brad Gunther

Post-Production Producer: Richard Leroy

Music by Pat Irwin

Edited by Bradley Carow, Mark R. Crookston

Art Directionb y Roger Chiasson, Nick Jennings, Ken Kessel

Featuring the voices of:

Carlos Alazraqui as Rocko

Tom Kenny as Heffer Wolfe

Charles Adler as Ed Bighead

Mr. Lawrence as Filburt Turtle

Joe Murray as Ralph Bighead

Dom Irrera as Slippy

Charlotte Booker as Bug

Quinn Kitmitto as Dog

What’s a wallaby to do when he’s surrounded by annoying neighbors, freeloading pals, heaps of laundry and the weight of life in general? Why, turn to his loyal canine, Spunky, and dim-witted best pal, Heffer, to help him confront the trials and tribulations of modern life. Season One tosses Rocko and his pals into the surreal worlds of the DMV, the carnival, health clubs, vacuum cleaners, bath time, trash day and, of course, the ongoing battle with the cruel and petty Ed Bighead!

In 1993, a wallaby named Rocko, would make his appearance on Nickelodeon.

Created by Joe Murray, “Rocko’s Modern Life”, would explore the life of Rocko in the city of O-Town.  Away from his life in Australia, Rocko explores American life with his not-so-smart and always hungry steer named Heffer, a neurotic turtle named Filburt and his loyal dingo dog named Spunky.

And while it aired on Nickelodeon, it was one of the first animated series on the cable network to feature adult humor, innuendos and a comedic satirical look on what was going on with society at the time.

The series would latest from 1993 through 1996 and the staff of “Rocko’s Modern Life” would regroup and work with producer Stephen Hillenburg, who would go on to create a Nickelodeon series known as “SpongeBob SquarePants”.

But “Rocko’s Modern Life” was popular enough to have its own Marvel comic book series, merchandise and clothing line, video games and more!

“Rocko’s Modern Life” concluded with 52 episodes being made (each episode features two mini-episodes).  With the release of the first two seasons on DVD courtesy of Shout! Factory, the the third season will now be released on DVD on July 3, 2012.

Here is a spoilerless sumamary of what is featured on “Rocko’s Modern Life: Season Three”:

DISC ONE

• Episode 27: Bye, Bye Birdie/Belch of Destiny – Filburty is sick and Rocko and Heffer “bird sit”.  In “Belch of Destiny”, Heffer has clogged up Rocko’s toilet.
• Episode 28: The Emperor’s New Joe/Schnit Heads – Rocko becomes the next “Victim” for the Chameleon Brothers new scam.  In “Schnit Heads”, Heffer becomes a member of the “Sausage Club”.
• Episode 29: Sugar Frosted Frights/Ed is Dead - Filburt is afraid of Halloween.  In “Ed is Dead”, Rocko suspects that Bev has murdered Ed.
• Episode 30: Fish-N-Chumps/Camera Shy – Rocko, Heffer and Filburt experience bad luck on a fishing trip.  In “Camera Shy”, Rocko makes a video for his parents but Heffer and Filburty shoot footage of Rock sleepwalking naked.
• Episode 31: Nothing to Sneeze At/Old Fogey Froggy – Bev gets a nose put on by accident.  In “Old Fogey Froggy”, Ed tries to recapture his youth by hanging out with Heffer, Rocko and Filburt.
• Episode 32: Manic Mechanic/Rocko’s Happy Vermin – Rocko’s car dies and needs to be repaired.  “Rocko’s Happy Vermin” features Ed’s “bug prisoners” trying to escape to Rocko’s for a better life.
• Episode 33: I see London, I see France/Fatlands – Rocko and Heffer go to France.  In “Fatlands”, Spunk gains too much weight and it has an effect on Bloaty and Squirmy.

DISC 2

• Episode 34: Fortune Cookie/Dear John – Filburt and Mr. Lucky receive a horrible fortune.  In “Dear John”, Rocko’s kitchen is destroyed by a government satellite, the night before his party.
• Episode 35: Speaking Terms/Tooth and Nail – Rocko and Heffer appear on “The Nosey Show”.  In “Tooth and Nail”, Rocko must confront his nail-biting program.
• Episode 36: Wacky Delly – Ralph wants out of his contract on the show.
• Episode 37: The Big Question/The Big Answer – Filburt wants to pop the question to Dr. Hutchinson.  In “The Big Answer”, Filburt and Dr. Hutchison plan their wedding.
• Episode 38: An Elk for Heffer/Scrubbin’ Down Under – Heffer must bring an Elk back home for dinner.  In “Scrubbin’ Down Under”, Rocko’s “spinach tooth” is revealed.
  
• Episode 39: Zanzibar/Fatal Contraption – O-Town goes through a musical and recycling campaign.  In “Fatal Contraption”, Rocko’s food processing purchase wreaks havoc with his life.

VIDEO & AUDIO:

“Rocko’s Modern Life” is presented in full screen and audio in Dolby Digital.  While an older animated series, “Rocko Modern Life” still manages to look good.  The animation is best know for its character design and is visually driven courtesy of the many gags featured.    For its time, the animation and its character design was quite different from any other animated series that have been made and featured on television and it worked!

With that being said, unlike today’s animation which utilizes a lot of CG and known for heavy details, especially when it comes to art backgrounds, this old school animation which does look good on DVD is not going to have the same clarity as today’s modern series.  But for an older animated series, it looks good on DVD and definitely much better than what people have recorded off television on VHS.  There is a little artifacting and edge enhancement used, but that is to be expected for a DVD release and by no means will it effect viewing of the series.

As for audio, audio is presented in Dolby Digital and is dialogue driven.  Voice acting is well-done and dialogue is crystal clear, including the opening theme song by Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider of the B-52′s and the series music of Pat Irwin of the Raybeats.  I detected no hiss, crackle or popping during my viewing of the series.

The are no subtitles but the series does feature closed captioning.

SPECIAL FEATURES:

“Rocko’s Modern Life: Season Three” comes with the following special features:

• Selected Scene Commentary by Joe Murray – (30:16) It’s important to note that although its called “selected scene commentary”, this featurette is more about “Rocko’s Modern Life” creator Joe Murray.  Murray reflects on the past and talks about this amazing team behind the hit animated series, the creation of the series, its characters, music and more.

Before there was “SpongeBob SquarePants”, there was “Rocko’s Modern Life”.

A series that really burst into the scene as Nickelodeon’s replacement for its popular “Ren and Stimpy” animated series.

And while “Ren and Stimpy” would be known for its black comedy, violence and sexual innuendo, “Rocko’s Modern Life” tried to bridge an inbetween type of comedy that had adult humor, but a little smarter as it satirized social situations of the mid-’90s.

And in some way, both “Ren and Stimpy” and even “Rocko’s Modern Life” would help pave the way to much more adult black comedy with even more sexual innuendo and violence such as “Beavis and Butthead” and “South Park”.  As for “Rocko’s Modern Life”, it did have racy humor and back in the mid-90′s, series creators never knew if the episodes would pass with Nickelodeon censors and air on television.

But the series was popular among adults back then and now here we are with the third season being released on DVD.

And the craziness of the series, watching them today, while mild compared to shows like “South Park”, you start to see how creators were really trying to push the button of what they can release on television.

In season three, we have Heffer accidentally Filburt’s bird, Hefer joining the sausage club and chowing down on sausages was hilarious, Heer and Filburt secretly filming Rocko naked and the film becoming an underground hit and sure, I do enjoy the Hefer episodes but the Rocko episodes with him going to France or trying to get Spunky to lose weight were fun.  All episodes featured in the third season was enjoyable, fun and all-out crazy and as entertaining as it was back in 1995, it’s enjoyable still…in 2012.

While I watched this series along with my younger cousins back in the mid-90′s, for parents who are wondering if these Nickelodeon episodes are fine for children.  Well, the adult humor is there, but what was racy in the mid-90′s are probably nothing today.  There is no profanity, but you have Ed (the toad) showering and revealing his rear-end to a naked Rocko being filmed and the video becoming an underground hit.  But personally, I’ve watched the series with my 9-year-old son and what may considered as innuendo, adults will get.   If anything, my son felt the humor was similar to what he watches on “SpongeBob SquarePants”.  In fact, the Ed nude scene when he is in the shower and showing him 60-years-later made him laugh, but his comment was “in SpongeBob SquarePants, Patrick also showed his butt” and truthfully, as long as it was not human characters, seeing a toad’s naked pimply butt in the shower is not what I’m going to be worried about as a parent.

Today’s animated series are much more racier and sure, I probably wouldn’t have shown this to my song if he was younger but what was racy in the mid-90′s is quite tame today and whatever innuendo there is, will go over the heads of the kids who don’t understand.  There is no swearing, there is nothing like “South Park” type of humor.  If anything, it seemed more of a precursor of “SpongeBob SquarePants” in terms of humor.

“Rocko’s Modern Life: Season Three” is a fun and hilarious third season that fans will definitely enjoy.  As for the DVD release, once again, “Rocko’s Modern Life” is old school animation, so one should not expect the same type of clarity as today’s, more-detailed animation.  But for its time and even now, I don’t think I have seen animation or character designs like it.

Also, you do get a really cool featurette on Joe Murray reflecting on his time working with his crew and creating the series.

Hilarious and all-out crazy!  “Rocko’s Modern Life” was a Nickelodeon animated series considered racy for its time.   While tame compared to other animated series of today, “Rocko’s Modern Life: Season Three” is fun animated comedy series with plenty of humor and visual gags that old and newer fans will surely enjoy!  Recommended!