Wallaby Wednesday: What is Rocko’s most American episode?

Depending on what stage in life and education one started watching Rocko’s Modern Life, the show offered a jumpstart on a few key names and images in American history.

For this author, Rocko’s original run coincided with early elementary school. During that time, the United States presidents most synonymous with Presidents’ Day were ingrained in my knowledge. The same went for the fundamentals of elections and voting for public office.

Anything pertaining to World War II, including the name of the event, and immigration would come later. With that said, once those were introduced on a later elementary syllabus, some illustrations and terminology rang Rocko bells. Ditto General George Custer, who makes a cameo at the end of “Feisty Geist.” Who knew he was a real-life figure before taking a unit on the Black Hills war in social studies?

And while the series mentions no actual national parks, the Rocko universe contains its share of natural American treasures. Visting those locations is one of many definitive American activities to form the crux of a Rocko segment. Others include engaging in the democratic process, taking in a ballgame and learning about the country and locale’s roots.

On this Fourth of July eve, we break down the American elements of six Rocko half-episodes. Assess the storylines, images and dialogue, then decide for yourself which one is the most uniquely U.S.-oriented.

“Spitballs”

Besides revolving around America’s national pastime, this episode depicts some characteristically American aspects of baseball fandom.

Rocko wants nothing more than to replace his shredded foul ball by authentically recreating the experience of catching one. Heffer wants an up-close, in-person glimpse of his idol, Spike Hammerhead, doing what he does best, followed by an autograph.       

In between, he chows on a steaming ballpark hot dog and indulges in other concessions. Meanwhile, both game-goers proudly wear their giveaway jockstraps. And why not? They each paid $50 for their tickets, so any free merchandise is a nice throw-in.

“Road Rash”

If the Rocko universe ever lives up to chorus of “Big Yellow Taxi,” it does so within this storyline. In the final scene, an American national park gives way to a parking lot for a piece of corporate America.

Throughout the preceding plot, Heffer takes Rocko on his quest to check Flem Rock off his bucket list while he still can. Time is as precious as the slice of the country’s natural majesty he yearns to see. But in an ironic twist, another chain of prototypically American fast food helps the travelers beat the clock.

While embodying his homeland’s not-so-flattering stereotype of slobbery and overeating, as he is wont to do, Heffer wins a pork restaurant’s hot dog-shaped vehicle. The replacement for his destroyed motorcycle gets an equally timely kick of “extra relish” from a gang of benevolent bikers. And from there, he and Rocko have the distinction of witnessing a last and a first on the once-cheirshed site.

One might take Heffer’s immediate shift in attention from the rock’s unceremonious (as promised) removal to the prompt installation of the new Chokey Chicken a sad commentary on American apathy. But as he and Rocko dine, he renames the existing national parks still on his checklist. One of those attractions, the world’s largest slice of processed cheese, even combines consumerism with mystique.

“Kiss Me, I’m Foreign”

If title cards alone decided this contest, Rocko’s depiction as the Statue of Liberty would all but clinch the distinction.

As it is, the ensuing episode portrays a test of how far an immigrant will go to preserve his keep in America. Since an error prevents him from being rewarded for doing everything right, he resorts to a sham marriage.

When that arrangement yields trouble, Rocko admits that, if he must make the choice, he would rather preserve his friendship than his residence. Fortunately, he and Filburt buy enough time for the immigration department to correct its own blunder.

 

“The Emperor’s New Joe”

While the story they tell Rocko carries uncertain credibility, the Chameleon Brothers are undeniably pursuing the American dream from an immigrant’s perspective. Their ambiguously Central European accents and breadth of enterprises throughout the series confirm their longing to bring their ideas from home to the land of opportunity and share a symbiotic relationship with consumers.

In this episode, that relationship is so crucial that they hastily bring their first skeptical café customer, Rocko, to the back and explain themselves. But even before another yarn for another patron makes the first less believable, they cannot convince Rocko to try their coffee again.

The all-American tactic of twisting one’s arm with please-buy-us-or-we’re-ruined melodrama does not work on the Chameleons’ fellow immigrant. In the show’s greatest patriotic speech since Heffer pitched the road trip to Flem Rock, Rocko reminds everyone, “We are not ruled by a tyrannical czar. A person has a right to do what they choose.”

He then supports his case with a quote by Thomas Jefferson before being ejected and derisively called “Honest Abe.” Lincoln’s likeness also appears in the background during Rocko’s speech in the form of the Lincoln Memorial. Ditto George Washington on the one-dollar bill plus the Capitol Building and a monument to the flag-raising at Iwo Jima.

The quote in question comes directly from the third president’s actual first inaugural address, and makes a valid point on dissent’s place in democracy.

“Ed Good, Rocko Bad”

Rocko’s naïve trust in the American electorate combines with the electorate’s naïve distrust in him to doom his dog-catcher campaign. The upshot is a demoralizing plunge from when he wins over the townspeople as a citizen activist in “Zanzibar.”

Premiering in the summer of the 1996 presidential cycle, “Ed Good, Rocko Bad” satirizes the extent and effects of attack ads. It highlights the superficial advantages of advanced campaign funding and how they can sway swing voters.

On the other hand, with its twist ending, it gives an example of ballot proposals at their best. Even if O-Town does not really know who they are putting into office, they do know and decide on his duties (pun unavoidable).

“Floundering Fathers”

This segment begins with Rocko, Heffer and Filburt transporting a collection of hot dogs combined to look like a hamburger. But as synonymous with all-American barbecues as that may be, Ed denies them a float in O-Town’s all-American parade.

Bighead’s xenophobic exclusion of the Australian-born Rocko sets off the segment’s plot, as everyone tells their interpretation of the city’s history.

Heffer’s version packs the most U.S. history terminology. By name-dropping Davy Crockett, minutemen, Lewis and Clark, Abraham Lincoln (or Abraham Heffer), redcoats, the OK Corral and the first Thanksgiving dinner, he tells what retroactively comes across as a hybrid of Drunk History and the Rocko segment “Yarnbenders.”

Ed similarly claims he is descended from a Founding Father, John Quincy Bighead. Unfortunately for him, he gets a serving of humble pie instead of apple when he learns John Quincy had cheated the land’s first residents. None other than Rocko’s ancestor divulges this fact, prompting a tribal leader to collect the centuries-old debt.