Rocko's Modern Life

[Avaitor]

Haha, wow. On episode 5, the intro gets a bug with old Nickelodeon bumper logos in.

Seems like they got a print from a summer block or something, but I do kind of dig that little Easter egg.

[Spark Of Spirit]

That's weird. But again, since this was all Shout had to work with I think they did a decent job.

I'm only on No Pain No Gain, and the show looks pretty good to me.

[Avaitor]

Yeah, the prints look fine. I just found that bug a little funny.

I'll report if I find any more, too.

[Spark Of Spirit]

Get away from me, Frank.

[Kiddington]

The version of Power Trip (the episode in question) that airs on Nicktoons also has the orange screen bug in the title cards as well. Assumably, this is the only master copy that Nickelodeon has, and one without said bugs either no longer exists, or was never made.

I don't believe any of the other episodes on the set have it, but I'm not sure. I'll probably go back and check them all later tonight, when inevitable boredom strikes again.

[Spark Of Spirit]

lol, the beginning of Skidmarks is a hell of a lot more bizarre than I remember it being.

I'm loving it.

[Commode]

I've seen the show so much in the last few years, due to Netflix and that I downloaded it at least once, but I went out and bought the DVD, if nothing else to help support the idea of future Nickelodean releases, and to show the company that someone cares.  I probably won't get around to watching it now, but I will eventually.

[Avaitor]

"Maybe we should try the neutering device later."

Oh damn, haha. Love this show.

[Spark Of Spirit]

While looking up info on the show after watching season 1 on DVD, I have to say one thing stuck out to me and that was criticism on the series. Even when it came out it seemed that people who didn't like it were prone to calling it a Ren & Stimpy clone. Even the Nostalgia Critic in his abortion called Nick month fell into this trap.

My question is... Why? It may have had some gross humor, but so did most 90s cartoons. Trying to find legitimate criticism on this show is ridiculous because it always boils down to people just not giving it a chance and labeling it as a clone to an inferior show.

[Kiddington]

Baseless criticism is baseless.

I've always hated those comparisons as well. Even at its peak, Ren & Stimpy was still filled with incredibly gross and disgusting gags, and by the time John K. left, pretty much lived and died off of them. Rocko wasn't like that at all. Hell, the grossest jokes I can even recall from Rocko, off the top of my head, were Really Really Big Man's "Nipples of the Future", and the laundry day episode.

Rocko was extremely tame by comparison. I still don't see the resemblance in humor myself.

[Spark Of Spirit]

R&S was all about gross out humor, that was its bread and butter. While Rocko had some, it had other styles of humor as well, relying far more on slapstick, dialogue and absurd (but not necessarily 'random') humor and had many episodes without any gross out gags at all.

Rocko was a hell of a lot more consistent in the quality of its jokes, too. It never rode a style of joke or gag for too long, while R&S frequently would.

I just wanted to see legitimate criticism on the show, but I have yet to see some.

[Commode]

http://forums.goldenagecartoons.com/showthread.php?t=13717&highlight=rocko%27s

Since this is from Thad K, this is pretty much the worst criticism of the show you'll get.  And it's not too bad, he at least likes some of it.

[Spark Of Spirit]

He probably doesn't like the other styles of humor present and considers them filler. I can see that. Especially since he seems to only really dig a certain style of humor in general.

[Mr. Big]

Joe Murray himself addressed the criticism regarding his show being compared to "Ren & Stimpy". He retorted that he never saw a single episode of the show until after Rocko was well-under production (he said he liked R&S, btw).

Linda Simensky, the executive for Nickelodeon at the time the show was airing, said "Rocko" was a cross between "Looney Tunes" and the National Film Board cartoons. I think I agree with that.

[Avaitor]

Actually, rewatching season 1, I've been finding a lot more gross-out jokes than I remembered. I can see why some people would fall into the Ren & Stimpy clone distinction early on, but that dies after a while.

But even that's mostly because R&S was still fresh and Rocko started around the point where shows with similarities were starting to air, even though they really didn't have much in common.