Rocko's Modern Life

Rocko's Modern Life
Genre	Family, Comedy, Blue humor, Satire, Slapstick
Format	Animated series
Created by	Joe Murray
Developed by	Nickelodeon
Written by	Tim Hill Martin Olson George Maestri Stephen Hillenburg Mark O'Hare Robert McNally-Scull Joe Murray Jeff "Swampy" Marsh Jeff Meyers Dan Povenmire Mr. Lawrence Timothy Berglund Vince Calandra Derek Drymon Rob Porter John McIntyre Roger Chiasson Nick Jennings Kevin O'Brien Ron Hauge Don Spencer Conrad Vernon Carlos Alazraqui Nichole Poinski Raymond Johnson Joe D. Suggs Andy Houts Veronica Alicino Antoine Guilbaud
Directed by	Joe Murray Timothy Berglund Roger Chiasson Stephen Hillenburg Doug Lawrence Jeff "Swampy" Marsh Mark O'Hare Robert McNally-Scull Jeff Myers Dan Povenmire
Creative director(s)	Stephen Hillenburg
Starring	Carlos Alazraqui Tom Kenny Doug Lawrence Charles Adler Linda Wallem
Theme music composer	Sarah Frost-Goetz
Opening theme	"Rocko's Modern Life"
Composer(s)	Pat Irwin
Country of origin	United States
Language(s)	English
No. of seasons	4
No. of episodes	52 (List of episodes)
Production
Executive producer(s)	Joe Murray Vanessa Coffey Mary Harrington
Producer(s)	Joe Murray
Running time	23-24 minutes (11-12 per episode) (approx.)
Production company(s)	Joe Murray Productions Games Animation, Inc.
Broadcast
Original channel	Nickelodeon
Picture format	4:3
Audio format	Mono,Tagalog Language (for Nick on TV5)
Original run	September 12, 1993 – November 24, 1996
Status	Cancelled

Rocko's Modern Life is an American TV animated series, the fourth of Nickelodeon's Nicktoons, created by Joe Murray and aired for four seasons from 1993 to 1996. Joe Murray is also known for creating the animated show on Cartoon Network called Camp Lazlo. "Rocko's Modern Life" was based around the surreal, parodic adventures of an anthropomorphic wallaby named Rocko, and his life in the city of O-Town. The program was produced by Joe Murray Productions and Games Productions. The show is laden with double entendres, innuendos, and social commentary.

History

Originally, the character Rocko appeared in an unpublished comic book titled Travis. Murray tried selling the comic book in the late 1980s, between illustrating jobs, and did not find success in getting it into production. Many other characters appeared in various sketchbooks. He described the early 1990s animation atmosphere as "ripe for this kind of project. We took some chances that would be hard to do in these current times (the 1990s)".^[1] Murray wanted funding for his independent film My Dog Zero, so he wanted Nickelodeon to pre-buy television rights for the series. He presented a pencil test to Nickelodeon Studios, which afterward became interested in buying and airing the show.

Linda Simensky, then in charge of animation development in Nickelodeon, described the Nicktoons lineup and concept to Murray. He originally felt skepticism towards the concept of creating a Nicktoon as he disliked television cartoons. Simensky told him that Nicktoons differed from other cartoons. He told her that he believed that My Dog Zero would not work as a cartoon. He then researched Nickelodeon at the library and found that Nickelodeon's "attitude was different than regular TV." Murray combed through his sketchbooks, developed the Rocko's Modern Life concept, and submitted it to Nickelodeon, believing that the concept would likely be rejected. According to Murray, around three or four months later he had "forgotten about" the concept and was working on My Dog Zero when Simensky informed him that Nickelodeon wanted a pilot episode. Murray said that he was glad that he would get funding for My Dog Zero.^[2] On his website he describes My Dog Zero as "that film that Linda Simensky saw which led me to Rocko."^[3] "Sucker for the Suck-O-Matic" was originally written as the pilot; the executives decided that Heffer Wolfe, one of the characters, would be "a little too weird for test audiences." Murray, instead of removing Heffer from "Sucker for the Suck-O-Matic," decided to write "Trash-O-Madness" as the pilot episode.^[2]

When the series was in development prior to the release of the first episode, the series had the title The Rocko Show.^[4]

In 1992, two months prior to the production of season 1 of Rocko's Modern Life, Murray's first wife committed suicide.^[5] Murray felt that he had emotional and physical "unresolved issues" when he moved to Los Angeles. He describes the experience as like participating in "marathon with my pants around my ankles." Murray initially believed that he would create one season, move back to the San Francisco Bay Area, and "clean up the loose ends I had left hanging." Murray said that he felt surprised when Nickelodeon approved new seasons;^[2] Nickelodeon renewed the series for its second season in December 1993.^[6]

After season 3 he decided to hand the project to Stephen Hillenburg, who performed most work for season 4; Murray continued to manage the cartoon.^[2] He said that he would completely leave the production after season 4. He said also that he encouraged the network to continue production, but Nickelodeon eventually decided to cancel the series. He described all fifty-two episodes as "top notch", and in his view the quality of a television show may decline as production continues "when you are dealing with volume."^[2] On his website he said that, "In some ways it succeeded and in some ways failed. All I know it developed its own flavor and an equally original legion of fans."^[1] In a 1997 interview Murray said that he at times wondered if he could re-start the series; he feels the task would be difficult.^[2]

Production

Murray's Joe Murray Productions and Games Animation rented office space on Ventura Boulevard in the Studio City neighborhood of the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles, California.^[7] The production moved to a different office building on Vineland Avenue in Studio City. Executives did not share space with the creative team.^[8][9] Rough Draft Studios assembled the animation.^[10] According to Murray, as Rocko's Modern Life was his first television series, he did not know about the atmosphere of typical animation studios. Murray said that he opted to operate his studio in a similar manner to the operation of his Saratoga, California studio, which he describes as "Very relaxed."^[2] His cadre included many veterans who, according to him, described the experience as "the most fun they had ever had!" He, saying that the atmosphere was "not my doing," credited his team members for collectively contributing.^[2] Murray described the daily atmosphere at the studio as "very loose," adding that the rules permitted all staff members to use the paging system to make announcements. He stated that one visitor compared the environment of the production studio to "preschool without supervision."^[8][9] Murray stated that 70 people in the United States and over 200 people in South Korea animated the series.^[2]

Murray produced the pilot episode, "Trash-O-Madness," at his studio in Saratoga; he animated half of the episode, and the production occurred entirely in the United States, with animation in Saratoga and processing in San Francisco.^[11] While directing during recording sessions, Murray preferred to be on the stage with the actors instead of "behind glass" in a control room, which he describes as "the norm" while making animated series.^[12] He believes that, due to his lack of experience with children, Rocko's Modern Life "skewed kind of older."^[13] Murray noted, "There's a lot of big kids out there. People went to see 'Roger Rabbit' and saw all these characters they'd grown up with and said, 'Yeah, why don't they have something like that anymore?'"^[14] When he began producing Rocko, he says that his experience in independent films initially led him to attempt to micromanage many details in the production. He said that the approach, when used for production of television shows, was "driving me crazy." This led him to allow for other team members to manage aspects of the Rocko's Modern Life production.^[13]

Several members of the Rocko crew would later join Stephen Hillenburg in production of another Nicktoon, SpongeBob SquarePants, including SpongeBob voice Tom Kenny, who voiced Heffer Wolfe and other characters on Rocko's Modern Life.

Pat Irwin later went on to work on Pepper Ann & JetCat from KaBlam!

Jeff "Swampy" Marsh and Dan Povenmire later went on to create the hit Disney Channel animated series, Phineas and Ferb.

Writing style

The writers aimed to create stories that they describe as "strong" and "funny." The writers, including George Maestri and Martin Olson, often presented ideas to Murray while eating hamburgers at Rocky's, a restaurant formerly located on Lankershim in the North Hollywood section of the San Fernando Valley. He took his team members on "writing trips" to places such as Rocky's, the LaBrea Tar Pits, and the wilderness. If he liked the story premises, the writers produced full outlines from the premises. Outlines approved by both him and Nickelodeon became Rocko's Modern Life episodes. Maestri describes some stories as originating from "real life" and some originating from "thin air."^[15][16] Murray stated that each episode of Rocko's Modern Life stemmed from the personal experiences of himself and/or one or more of the directors or writers.^[2] He said that he did not intend to use formulaic writing seen in other cartoons; he desired content that "broke new ground" and "did things that rode the edge," and that could be described as "unexpected." He did not hire writers who had previous experience with writing cartoons, instead hiring writers who worked outside of animation, including improv actors and comic artists. He said that story concepts that "ever smacked close to some formula idea that we had all seen before" received rejection.^[17]

Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, a storyboard writer, says that writers of Rocko's Modern Life targeted children and adults. He cites Rocky and Bullwinkle as an example of another series that contains references undecipherable by children and understood by adults. Aiming for a similar goal, Marsh described the process as "a hard job." According to him, when censors questioned proposed material, sometimes the team disagreed with the opinions of the censors and sometimes the team agreed with the rationale of the censors. He says that "many people" told him that the team "succeeded in this endevour" [sic] and that "many parents I know really enjoyed watching the show with their kids for just this reason."^[18] John Pacenti said the series "seems very much aimed at adults" "for a children's' cartoon."^[19] Marsh believes that the material written by Doug Lawrence stands as an example of a "unique sense of humor." For instance, Marsh credits Lawrence with the "pineapple references" adding that Lawrence believed that pineapples seemed humorous.^[18]

Animation style

Murray's animation lacked parallel lines and featured crooked architecture. In an interview he stated that his design style contributed to the show's "Wonky bent feel."^[2] Jean Prescott of The Sun Herald described the series as "squash-and-stretch."^[20] A 1993 Houston Chronicle article described the series' setting as having a "reality that is "squashed and stretched" into a twisted version of real life."^[21] The background staff hand-painted backgrounds with Dr. Martin Dyes,^[12] while each episode title card consisted of an original painting.^[12] Linda Simensky said that she asked the creators of Rocko's Modern Life about why the women in the series were drawn to be "top-heavy," the creators told her that they believed that drawing women "the traditional way" was easier. Simensky described the creators as "talented guys" who formed "a boy's club" and added that "we pushed them to be funny, but a lot of their women are stereotypical."^[22]

Music

There are 3 versions of the Rocko's Modern Life theme song. The first and original version can be heard playing throughout season one and was composed by Pat Irwin, who also composed the series' background music. The second version of the theme song was a slightly remixed version of the first and was only used during episodes 8 and 9 of season one. One of the changes included high pitched voices added to the chorus. The third version of the theme song was performed by Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider from The B-52's. They performed the Rocko's Modern Life theme song from Season 2 onwards. At first Murray wanted Paul Sumares to perform the theme song since Sumares created most of the music found in My Dog Zero. Murray wanted the same style in My Dog Zero exhibited in Rocko's Modern Life. Nickelodeon wanted a person with more experience.^[4] According to Sumares, believing for the request to be a long shot, Murray asked for Danny Elfman and felt stunned when Nickelodeon decided to honor his request by asking Elfman to perform.^[4] According to Murray, Elfman, his first choice, was booked. Therefore he chose the B-52's, his second choice.^[4] According to Sumares Murray decided to use the B-52's instead of Elfman. Murray states that the difference between the stories "could just be a recollection conflict, because Paul is a brilliant amazing guy."^[4] Murray also sought Alan Silvestri. According to Sumares Viacom did not want to use Silvestri as the organization wanted a band "slightly older kids could identify with."^[4]

Plot

The plot follows the life of a wallaby, Rocko, who has immigrated to America from Australia. In America, he is faced with various problems and challenges involving his pals who try to teach him what it means to be a good friend. Many of the locations in the television show Rocko's Modern Life have the letter "O" for example O-Town and Conglom-O. When asked about the use of "O" in his show Murray said,

I always got a big kick out of the businesses that were 'House-O-Paint', or 'Ton-O-Noodles', because their names seemed to homogenize what they sold, and strip the products of true individuality and stress volume ... and we all know, the American dream is volume! So what better company to create volume than 'Conglom-O', and since a majority of the town worked at Conglom-O, it should be called 'O' Town. I also wanted the town to be 'anytown' USA, and I used to love sports players with a big ZERO on their back. It was funny to me.^[2]

The plot locations included the following:

• O-Town is the town in which Rocko lives.
• Chokey Chicken is a favorite restaurant/hang-out place for Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt. At some point during the fourth season the restaurant was renamed "Chewy Chicken" due to the former name referring to a euphemism for masturbation (i.e., "choking the chicken"), though earlier episodes continued to air with the "Chokey Chicken" name. It's a parody of KFC.
• Conglom-O Corporation is the biggest company in town; it even runs City Hall. Mr. Dupette, who has very peculiar ways to see if the employees are fit to work there, manages Conglom-O. Conglom-O does not seem to have a specific purpose or product—it is a giant company that manufactures many products. Conglom-O's slogan is always shown beneath its name. The slogan is "We own you," revealing in a later musical episode that they own everything in O-Town. When Ed Bighead was shown to work at Conglom-O in 1961, the slogan stated "We Will Own You" (alluding to the future of megacorporations). The illustration that appears with the logo and on top of the official Conglom-O Corp. skyscraper is a martini glass with the earth in place of an olive.
• Heck is where "bad people" go when they die. Run by Peaches, it is where Heffer is doomed to eternal suffering.
• Holl-o-Wood is a town that resembles the Hollywood section of Los Angeles, California.
• Kind of a Lot O' Comics is a comic book store where Rocko works. His boss, Mr. Smitty, is a cruel toad who only concentrates on selling comics. Rocko, however, is very nice and giving. For example, when a customer sneezed all over a comic, Rocko gave him a fresh copy and did not charge him for the previous comic.

Episodes

Main article:

Characters

All the characters in the Rocko's Modern Life series are animals. There is a wide range of species, and the vast majority of them are also mentally unstable. Murray said that he matched personalities of his characters to the various animals in the series to form a "social caricature".^[13] Rocko, the protagonist, is a wallaby who encounters various dilemmas and situations regarding otherwise mundane aspects of life. His best friend Heffer Wolfe is fat and enthusiastic while Filburt often feels uncomfortable or disturbed.

• Carlos Alazraqui as the voice of Rocko, Spunky, Leon and Granny Rocko
• Tom Kenny as the voice of Heffer Wolfe, Chuck, Mr. Smitty, Really Really Big Man, Peaches and various males
• Mr. Lawrence as the voice of Filburt Shellbach and Peter Wolfe
• Linda Wallem as the voice of Dr. Paula Hutchison, Mrs. Virginia Wolfe, Grandma Wolfe, Cindy Wolfe, Tammy the Pig, and various females
• Charlie Adler as the voice of Ed Bighead, Gladys, Mr. George Wolfe, Grandpa Wolfe, Bev Bighead, Mr. Dupette, Mr. and Mrs. Fathead and various males

Crew

• Joe Murray: Creator, Executive Producer, Writer, Story Editor (Season 1–3)
• Andy Houts: Project Coordinator
• Stephen Hillenburg: Producer, Storyboard Director, Writer, Creative Director
• Derek Drymon: Storyboard Artist, Writer
• Doug Lawrence: Storyboard Director, Writer
• Dan Povenmire: Storyboard Director, Writer
• Swampy Marsh: Storyboard Director, Writer
• Timothy Berglund (aka Timothy Björklund): Storyboard Director, Writer
• Martin Olson: Writer
• George Maestri: Writer
• Peter Burns: Writer
• Gary Conrad and Merriwether Williams: Writer
• Vince Calandra: Writer
• Tim Hill: Story Editor (on Season 4 only)
• Mark O'Hare: Storyboard Artist
• Steven E. Gordon: Storyboard Artist
• Robert Hughes: Animation Director
• Antoine Guilbaud: Storyboard Artist
• Tom Yasumi: Animation Timer, animation director
• Danny Antonucci: Storyboard artist
• Jeff Myers: Storyboard Director
• Kevin O' Brien: Storyboard artist
• Joe Suggs: Storyboard Artist
• Conrad Vernon: Storyboard Artist
• Bert Ring: Storyboard Artist
• Alan Smart: animation director
• George Chilatas: animation director
• Nick Jennings: storyboard artist
• Pete Michels: animation director
• Chris Savino: animation artist
• Howy Parkins: animation director
• Roger Chiassen: writer/storyboard director
• Robert McNally Scull writer/storyboard artist
• Pat Irwin: Music composer

Writers

• Tim Hill: 36 episodes, 1994–1996
• Martin Olson: 33 episodes, 1993–1996
• George Maestri: 32 episodes, 1993–1996
• Stephen Hillenburg: 27 episodes, 1993–1996
• Mark O'Hare: 25 episodes, 1993–1996
• Robert McNally-Scull: 24 episodes, 1993–1996
• Joe Murray: 23 episodes, 1993–1995
• Jeff "Swampy" Marsh: 23 episodes, 1993–1996
• Jeff Meyer: 22 episodes, 1993–1996
• Dan Povenmire: 22 episodes, 1993–1996
• Doug Lawrence: 20 episodes, 1993–1995
• Timothy Berglund: 18 episodes, 1993–1995
• Vince Calandra: 13 episodes, 1993–1994
• Derek Drymon: 7 episodes, 1996
• Rob Porter: 7 episodes, 1996
• John McIntyre: 6 episodes, 1996
• Roger Chiasson: 4 episodes, 1993
• Nick Jennings: 4 episodes, 1993
• Kevin O'brian: 3 episodes, 1993
• Ron Hauge: 3 episodes, 1993
• Don Spencer: 3 episodes, 1993
• Conrad Vernon: 2 episodes, 1993
• Carlos Alazraqui: 2 episodes, 1994–1995
• Nichole Poinski: 1 episode, 1993
• Raymond Johnson: 1 episode, 1993
• Joe D. Suggs: 1 episode, 1993
• Andy Houts: 1 episodes, 1993
• Veronica Alicino: 1 episode, 1996
• Antoine Guilbaud: 1 episode, 1996

Reception

Murray said that the cartoon "resonated" with people because the scenarios depicted in the cartoon involving "the neurosis, the daily chores of everyday life" were based on Murray's own experiences "breaking out into the world" after leaving school.^[23] On September 19, 1993, the series' first night of airing, Rocko's Modern Life received a 3.0 in ratings. By January 31, 1994 the series' audience grew by 65%.^[6]

Ted Drozdowski of The Boston Phoenix stated in the "Eye pleasers" article that he enjoyed Rocko's Modern Life because of "jovial excitement," "good-hearted outrage," "humanity," and "pushy animated characterizations."^[24]

A music video for Animal by Pearl Jam featuring Rocko's Modern Life characters was made for Nickelodeon.

Airing history

• Nickelodeon (1993–1996) (1993–2001) (Reruns)
• Nicktoons (2002–2007; 2008; 2010–present) (Reruns)

Awards

Timothy J. Borquez, Patrick Foley, Michael Giesler, Michael A. Gollorn, William B. Griggs, Tom Jeager, Gregory LaPlante, Timothy Mertens, and Kenneth Young of Rocko's Modern Life received a 1993 Daytime Emmy Award for "Outstanding Achievement in Film Sound Editing."^[25]

George Maestri was nominated for a CableACE Award for his Rocko's Modern Life writing.^[26][27]

The series won an Environmental Media Award in 1996 for the episode "Zanzibar!".^[28] The award was accepted by the episode's writers, Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh.^[29]

Reviews

Ken Tucker of Entertainment Weekly described the series as "a witless rip-off of Ren & Stimpy: mucus jokes without the redeeming surrealism or contempt for authority."^[30]

Common Sense Media reviewer Andrea Graham, whose review is posted on Go.com, describes Rocko's Modern Life as "somewhat edgy" and gave the series four out of five stars. Graham tells parents to watch for "innuendos."^[31]

Other broadcasts

In 1994 the series aired on MTV.^[30] In Malaysia Rocko's Modern Life aired in MetroVision around 1996.^[32] In the early 2000s Nickelodeon Japan marketed the show along with The Ren and Stimpy Show.^[33] In Australia, it was shown on ABC Kids.^[34]

Rocko's DVD

Fans have requested that Nickelodeon produce a DVD collection of the series for years. In 2008 Nickelodeon partnered with Amazon.com to allow new and old programming to be made available on DVD through CreateSpace. As part of the deal Amazon.com is responsible for producing the discs (on one time burnable media) on-demand as well as cover and disc art.^[35] Two DVDs were released on September 16, 2008.^[36][37]

Prior to the official DVD releases, Murray stated that he has not heard of any plans for a DVD release and that there are several illegal DVD releases of the series sold on eBay. He commented, "But at least someone is trying to give Rocko fans what they want. Because Nickelodeon sure isn't doing it."^[38] Murray worked with his legal team to regain the rights, so that an official DVD can be released.^[39]

The official home video release of the series in the United States was in 1995, when selected episodes were released on VHS by Sony Wonder.^[40] Paramount Home Entertainment later re-released the episodes in 1997 and 1998.^[41][42]

Select episodes from the first season of the show have been released on Zune and iTunes as part of the Nick Rewind releases. iTunes and Zune has a "Best of Vol. 1" collection of 6 Rocko episodes.

The complete first season is available in streaming format on Netflix.

Marvel Comics series

Episodes and comic book chapters

During Tom DeFalco's Editor-in-Chief career, Marvel Comics produced a seven-issue comic book series based on the television series.^[43] Marvel published the series from June 1994 to December 1994 with monthly releases.

Nickelodeon approached Marvel, asking the company to produce comic book series for Rocko's Modern Life and Ren and Stimpy. Marvel purchased the license for Rocko from Nickelodeon. The staff created the comics, and Susan Luposniak, a Nickelodeon employee,^[44] examined the comics before they were released.^[45] Joe Murray said in a December 2, 2008 blog entry that he drew some of the pages in the comic book series.^[46]

The comics contain stories not seen in the television show. In addition, the comic book series omits some television show characters and places, while some original places and characters appear in the comics. John "Lewie" Lewandowski wrote all of the stories except for one; Joey Cavalieri wrote "Beaten by a Club," the second story of Issue #4.

Troy Little, a resident of Monroe, Oregon, wrote to Marvel requesting that the title for the comic's letters column should be "That's Life." In Issue 3, published in August 1994, the editors decided to use the title for the comic's "Letters to the Editor" section.^[44][45] In Issue 5, published in October 1994, the editors stated that they still received suggestions for the title for the comic even though the editors had decided on using "That's Life" by Issue 3.^[47]

Merchandise

By January 31, 1994 Nickelodeon received ten "licensing partners" for merchandise for the series.^[6] Hardee's distributed Rocko toys.^[48] Viacom New Media released one game based on the show, Rocko's Modern Life: Spunky's Dangerous Day, in the United States for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System. In addition, Nickelodeon 3-D Movie Maker features various characters from the show. Rocko also appeared in the game Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots. Nick.com created two free online games featuring Rocko, using Shockwave Flash (which requires the Shockwave plugin).^[49][50] Hot Topic has been selling Rocko's Modern Life merchandise such as t-shirts, wrist bands, key chains and other items as part of their Nick Classic line.

Nickelodeon's website safety guide

In the late 1990s and early-to-mid 2000s^[51][52] Nickelodeon used Rocko's Modern Life characters in several short comics collected under the title "A Byte-Size Online Safety Guide" explaining netiquette, internet security, and internet safety to readers of Nick.com.

See also

• List of programs broadcast by Nickelodeon
• List of animated television series

References

External links

• Rocko at Nickelodeon Australia website
• Rocko at Nickelodeon UK website (Archive)
• Archive of Nickelodeon Southeast Asia Rocko's Modern Life website (Archive)
• Rockos Modernes Leben (Germany)
• Rocko's Modern Life at the Internet Movie Database
• Rocko's Modern Life at TV.com
• Rocko's Modern Life at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Rocko's Modern Life FAQ - Includes interviews with "Rocko" creator, and production staff
• "Rocko's Modern Life" (Archive) at Nick.com
• Image of Rocko crew in one photograph
• Joe Murray's Blog