What A Cartoon! - Rocko's Modern Life "To Heck and Back" and "Zanzibar"
Added 2024-10-07 04:00:03 +0000 UTCChosen by our premium patron Andrew, we're returning to our favorite Nicktoon, Rocko's Modern Life! This time we're straddling eras of the show. First, we're covering a season one trip to Heck as we learn about factory farming and codependence. Then, we start some "spring cleaning" in Autumn with a beloved musical tribute to sappy (but well-meaning) environmentalism. So listen now before Mother Nature kicks your butt!
Comments
As a kid (and a big Spongebob fan) I was frustrated that Lazlo was yet another happy-go-lucky child character clearly greenlit in the wake of Spongebobs seismic success. I've dipped my toe back into Lazlo after listening to this podcast and while I don't find it to be laugh-out-loud funny like SB and Rocko or even their heir-apparent, Flapjack and Chwoder, it's a beautifully designed series and has a very comfortable familiar atmosphere thanks to the usual roster of VO talent and lush Rough Draft animation.
Joshua Marchant
2024-10-18 23:25:55 +0000 UTCThere is definitely something to be said for putting out a great collection of episodes and just being satisfied with the end result. I'd be quite content with another physical media release of the show restoring the handful of censored episodes and also including Static Cling as opposed to getting another 13 episodes of questionable quality released exclusively on Paramount+ or sold to another streamer.
Joe Hodgson
2024-10-14 15:43:03 +0000 UTCAlso, the miserable “Fatal Contraption” has at least one good horrifying gag: out in the desert, the food processor trips up the Rocko universe’s Road Runner, who is immediately seen getting roasted by the Coyote, who waves in thanks to the food processor.
Thad Komorowski
2024-10-13 23:27:43 +0000 UTCRocko is definitely the Ren & Stimpy we all crave without the baggage and mental illness (whereas Spongebob is what Nick always wanted R&S to be). I’m sort of happy with Static Cling being a one-off (one Nick was clearly uncomfortable with given it was on the shelf for ages), because it showed that while they could recapture everything (I’d say it was better drawn than the original, actually)… that was when they were putting their all into a one-shot. As has been opined talking about R&S, today’s industry could not accommodate a show like Rocko. One of my favorite bits is during Tom Kenny’s freakout as the tour guide, with Heffer slowly backing away shaking his head… it’s a level of detail in the acting no one wants to bother with anymore. So… I agree with Bob on “the wrong child died”, but I’m pretty content with the 52 episodes we got that maintained a fairly high quality for the entire run (unlike R&S which had higher peaks but also varied wildly, or Spongebob where NOONE agrees on a dividing line and verge into insane diatribes/memes to make their point).
Thad Komorowski
2024-10-12 20:51:35 +0000 UTCFavorite Nicktoon of all time
Malfred Davies
2024-10-12 19:40:11 +0000 UTCWe got rid of the patron-backed WAC episodes because they started a feature of the Patreon when we did weekly episodes of WAC, and now we only produce 10-11 a year. We've definitely had a lot of fun covering episodes selected by listeners, but now that there are so few WACs in a year, we wanted to have more control over our own schedule. - Bob
Talking Simpsons
2024-10-10 16:01:19 +0000 UTCI HATE BALONEY!
Andrew O.
2024-10-09 23:57:05 +0000 UTCSo Camp Lazlo isn't *bad* per se but it does come as a bit of a hard recommend for hardcore Rocko fans. It's got a lot of the same parts as Rocko's— a lot of the same cast, nearly identical character designs, that same pomo 60's-meets-90s nostalgia— but it somehow doesn't come together quite the same. Perhaps its the camp setting and children characters holding it back which may explain why MANY of the episodes eventually centered on the Ed Bighead-esque scoutmaster/Smithers pair, both played by Tom Kenny. It still could make for an interesting WAC at some point if not only to catch up on Murray's later career but to also study how the show serves as the weird primordial ooze of modern-era Cartoon Network. You've got future alumni like Thurop Van Orman and JG Quintel getting their starts here and a lot of cross pollination from previous SpongeBob artists that would later go on to define the humor and feel of shows like Chowder, Adventure Time, and Regular Show. Still, even though its a little after my time (I was an older teen when this show, aimed at a much younger crowd, was new) it's still a guilty pleasure of mine, since before DVDs and streaming, it was the closest thing to a consistent hit of Rocko-like humor when it was still relatively hard to find reruns that show and Lazlo seemed to be on the air on Cartoon Network a LOT at the time.
John-Charles Holmes
2024-10-09 21:03:53 +0000 UTCAgreed on Cuphead. My kids were into it when it first showed up and I watched it with them not expecting much, but it was pretty entertaining. As a connoisseur of Christmas specials, the one starring the Devil is also an instant classic.
Joe Hodgson
2024-10-09 15:31:52 +0000 UTCI wanted to separate this comment for the hosts as they were asking for a cartoon that had more of this kind of 90s sensibility of characters who don't learn lessons for the sake of jokes and I thought of the perfect example! The Cuphead Show on Netflix. It was created by Dave Wasson who made Time Squad and long time animation director Clay Morrow. On top of having great animation, The Cuphead Show is legitimately funny show that doesn't mind making Cuphead and Mugman rivals or idiots for the sake of old-fashioned slapstick and escalation jokes. Heck, the Devil is the overarching villain who appears in many episodes, and Hell (although it is called "The Underworld") is a frequent setting too! It hits perfectly in that PG-sweet spot that would appeal to kids and adults. And even though it's mostly episodic, it did get enough episodes to make a fully satisfying series.
SilkiePJ
2024-10-09 01:00:38 +0000 UTCI'm sad to find out this is the last patron backed WAC, but I welcome that it's a double-header of great Rocko episodes. (Maybe we can learn why it got phased out on a TTTA?) Rocko was my favorite Nicktoon by the era, it captured that Ren and Stimpy's absurdity but had that pop culture commentary, real life anxiousness and distinct design that made me really love it. I also was humming along to the Zanzibar songs and remembering the great jokes from the Hell episode. I did watch Camp Lazlo as a Rocko fan and I would say it's very mid. It's pretty toned down compared to the wackiness that was in Rocko, but I never went to Summer camp so I don't know how many of the jokes just bounced off me. It had some funny characters and episodes, but the writing and visuals were a bit bland.
SilkiePJ
2024-10-09 00:53:44 +0000 UTCListening to you trying to remember WESAYSO from Dinosaurs makes me wish you’d cover an episode for the show (or even a mini-series if you’re feeling frisky). Any chance we’d ever see this happen?
Jim Gullickson
2024-10-08 12:47:15 +0000 UTCOh baby, oh baby, oh baby finally more Rocko on the podcast!
Tyler Rampley
2024-10-08 02:01:19 +0000 UTCThis inspired me to go back and watch a couple rockos. Been years.
RyanD
2024-10-08 01:15:17 +0000 UTCI was so excited to wake up and see this! Both episodes were memorable and formative for my husband and me and we’ve quoted them regularly since the day we met. For me, I was really scared of hell and the devil as a kid — my family wasn’t very religious, but I remember seeing the Looney Tunes cartoons “Devils Feud Cake” and “Satan’s Waiten’” as a kid (in one of them Satan is voiced by Frank Nelson, which also made me terrified of Frank Nelson and I’m forever thankful that the “yes” guy on the Simpsons wasn’t introduced until I was older). My family was just religious enough, though that when I asked if the devil/hell was real, expecting a clear “no,” like when I asked about other monsters I got a “well, nobody really knows” type answer which was not helpful. For whatever reason, though “To Heck and Back” quelled my fear a lot because it was so silly and fun and helped me approach my fear with humor. I even remember my dad watching along with me saying “I thought you were afraid of this?” and when I realized I wasn’t, huge childhood relief. My husband works in sustainability on film sets and does a lot of environmental activism in his free time and always, whenever he’s asked, credits “Zanzibar” for stoking his passion. He’s also dressed as Captain Compost Heap and The Grim Recycler for a lot of Halloweens and refers to himself as “Captain Compost Heap” so whenever I hear “A great big rotting pile!” I think “that’s my spouse!” He’s on trash mission of some sort today and I’ll definitely send this to him to listen to while he’s sorting compost IRL.
Kat Heagberg
2024-10-07 16:42:53 +0000 UTCRocko was not my favorite Nicktoon growing up, but it's now my favorite to return to. The humor, aside from maybe the absurd amount of fart noises, holds up really well and it's as entertaining for an adult as it is a kid. Thanks to Beavis and Butt-Head, I'm pretty sure I was in on the Choky Chicken joke from the start, even if I didn't have quite a full grasp (heh) over just what masturbation was. This show is definitely one of the top ones when searching for jokes snuck in to amuse an older demographic. I very much welcome Rocko back to WAC whenever you fellas feel like heading on over to O-Town (also a euphemism?).
Joe Hodgson
2024-10-07 16:32:05 +0000 UTCYes, the DBZ censored solution, HFIL (Home for Infinite Losers). Awful. Just like the Ginyu Force being sent to “another dimension” as Vegeta clearly kills nearly all of them.
RyoGeo
2024-10-07 16:21:08 +0000 UTCSpeaking of that rocko ep where bev tries to seduce rocko...the Spanish fly joke went over my head as a kid...and the Dinosaurs corp is WeSaySo
Frank Grimes
2024-10-07 14:41:02 +0000 UTCFor 'thing in children's media that got you being environmentally conscious', there was a song on Sesame Street about not wasting water that's been in my head for 30 years. Every time water is being wasted, I hear it, and I consider this a curse.
glowstickjuice
2024-10-07 11:17:41 +0000 UTCLove when you guys hit 90’s Nickelodeon
d doven
2024-10-07 04:26:18 +0000 UTC
