"Carnival Knowledge"/"Sand in Your Navel"

2011-11-27T19:10:00.001-08:00

Rocko's Modern Life. Sounds more like a philosophical treatise or a droll postmodern novel than a kid's cartoon. But in 1993 free spirit Joe Murray agreed to helm one of the most sophisticated and truly sick shows to air on the Network for Kids. It followed the misadventures of Rocko, a sympathetically mild-mannered wallaby trying to make it in the shrill and soulless world of the 90's.

Why write about a Nicktoon? Aside from the desire to desperately appeal to the head honchos of a certain pop-culture review site that capitalizes on taking nostalgic children's programming seriously, why bother revisiting Rocko?

There are a lot of answers to that. Where most cartoons, even the loud and noisy ones, were about having fun and discovering the world, Rocko depicted life in America as corrupt, un-fulfilling, and dangerous. Beneath the bright colors and surf-rocky music lurked a cynical intelligence.But the main one is that of all the animated programming Nickelodeon aired in its original run, it is Rocko's Modern Life that demands to be seen with an adult eye. This is partially because of the infamous amount of "adult" content an average episode is known to contain, but also due to the satirical themes and methods this show would routinely employ. Plus, there are only four seasons, they're all on Netflix instant, and it requires a hell of a lot less effort than covering The X-Files. Over the course of what will probably turn out to be way too many months, I will be re-watching every episode of Rocko and blogging about it here. Each is usually split into two, and I'll be looking at each segment separately, talking about what works, what doesn't, and why these episodes are more significant to an adult audience. It's a lot of work for absolutely zero potential return, so let's get to it!

"Carnival Knowledge"

I'm going by the order that these episodes appear on Netflix, and it's important to note that, if we go by the Wikipedia and IMDB episode guides, Season 1 is all messed up. The pilot, "Trash-O-Madness" technically comes first. But those guides list a much later episode as first and this one feels like a slightly better introduction, so I'm just going to run with it.

We open with the terrifying shot of a screaming child on a roller coaster before panning to another screaming child down below. This jarring unpleasantness is interrupted for a second when Rocko and Heffer enter the scene. Rocko is trying to ask Heff about something when the big lug notices something else: "What's going on over at the sewage treatment plant?"

Yes, it's a carnival, loaded with unpleasant, unhealthy "attractions" and catered by a slug named Slippy who only seems to care about fleecing every poor sap who wanders by (he also, uh, enjoys reading what appears to be a slug porno mag, which is definitely a place I did not want my brain to go). Rocko is hesitant, but he does perk up when Slippy mentions games. "I've never won anything before," the wallaby says, wistfully. It doesn't seem like this will be the place to start, especially when he and his friend are forced to fork over "a mere $30".

Many Rocko episodes, especially in this first season, will follow a pretty rote formula: Rocko and Heffer go somewhere seeking something simple and innocent. This place they have come to is revealed to be corrupt and disreputable but they stay anyway. They lose all their money, are physically abused, and scream a lot. Snot, spit, and/or sweat usually shows up. Something breaks and someone flies into the air or through a wall. Then, despite everything else, the simple thing is recovered, and even though it may not be worth much, Rocko feels somewhat redeemed.

The rides in this carnival are pretty fucked up, and it's clear right off the bat how strange this cartoon is trying to be: what other ostensible "kid's show" would dare to feature sleazy carnies, cigar-smoking frogs, frogs being squished by hammers, meltings, exposed skulls, screaming children and references to obscure baseball players in the same episode? Games include "Chemical Toss", "Oil Spill" and a challenge to flip a frog onto a lily pad. Rocko gets a chance to vent a little bit when his frog, a liver-spotted creature with a derby hat and a cigar, insists on insulting him over and over, and he smashes the see-saw so hard it sends the amphibian into orbit.

This carnival is a haven for all things ugly and destructive, and is good only for ripping off people's money (or shorts). Even in the end, when Rocko finally wins a game, his prize is a shitty little Chinese finger trap, and even that breaks almost instantly. It's also interesting to note that most of the rides here have to do with some sort of man-made power source (oil, electricity, log mills, toxic waste, etc.). Perhaps the way Rocko and Heffer waste their money parallels the way all of us and society as a whole waste money securing finite resources. I don't know if that was intentional (it probably wasn't) but it's pretty damn clever either way.

"Sand in Your Navel"

As I said above, Rocko's chief characteristic is how mild he is. He only wants very basic things for himself. His friendship with Heffer gets him into trouble because it drags him into situations he's too nice to say no to. The Rocko/Spunky relationship is the same song in a different key: Rocko wants to protect Spunky, whom he considers his closest friend, and usually ends up grievously injuring himself in the process and getting no reward from his dog, who is oblivious of his owner's attempts at rescue.

Spunky is a wonderful, adorable twist on the "loyal pet" trope in that he's not really loyal so much as a lower life form. Also stupid and prone to eat/drink disgusting things, as when he slurps up the buckets of Rocko's sweat in the opening scene (sweat, drool, snot and other PG bodily fluids make regular appearances in the world of Rocko). Suffering from extreme heat, Rocko decides to take his mutt to the local beach to cool off, but ends up running afoul of two foes: a skeevy one-eyed pelican and a mountainous purple hippo lady with huge cleavage.

Let's talk about the latter first. This is the sort of thing you have to convince yourself really happened years later. Yes, Rocko really did get stuck between the breasts of a giant hippo in a bikini, and yes, she really did bellow How DARE you! at him in a shockingly Ed Bighead-type voice, even though she was hardcore flirting with him moments earlier. It happens twice. The main difference between me seeing this as a child and as an adult is that I wasn't strangely reminded of Keith Olbermann when I was watching this at age 10.

As for the pelican, he's introduced in a kind of throwaway manner and only becomes important later when he scoops Spunky up to sell him as fish. Rocko of course panics and goes to extreme lengths to get his dog back, even crossing over into a nude beach with his shorts on his head (causing a prudish censor to appear and pin a flimsy black bar over his crotch). When it comes to Spunky, Rocko freaks out pretty easily, and we get to hear him scream the mutt's name multiple times in the course of 11 minutes, which may or may not impact how willing you are to embrace this show.

I mentioned before how many Rocko episodes center around the quest for some innocent object. Here (and elsewhere), Spunky plays that role, and is the only thing our hero cares about in this world of expensive parking, traffic jams, and the faux-relaxation of the beach. Even though Rocko gains nothing from this whole endeavor, it's enough for him to see his dog happy at the end, body frozen in a block of ice. 'Cause that's the other thing about Spunky: for all his stupidity and obliviousness, he's virtually indestructible. It's the only way he could take all the punishment he does, and the show seems to imply that sometimes it's better to be blissfully ignorant of the terrors that surround us. Especially when there are so many.

Random Thoughts:

-What was Rocko trying to tell Heffer before they spotted the carnival? He seems pretty nervous about it.

-I admit, I had to look up who "Nolan" was a reference to.

-"Boy, you have a buoy in your pants." Shades of Spongebob present here in that random pipe-smoking walrus, also voiced by Tom Kenney.

-Something else I remember about this show is the abundance of references to nudity, especially buttocks. No real butt jokes yet but the nude beach thing is definitely an eyebrow-raiser.

Kind of a Lot O'Blog

"Carnival Knowledge"/"Sand in Your Navel"