

It’s true Steven Universe copped a lot of flak for having gay and non-binary characters but at least they were able to do it. I can’t tell if they can get away with this because it’s more for adults or because this kind of social progressiveness is now more acceptable in kids’ media.
ROCKO MODERN LIFE 2019 TV
Between “Fat Cats in Tiny Houses” and the Chameleon Brothers ruining a classic TV show, I’m getting the impression Joe Murray doesn’t much like the state of modern TV.Īnd now we have an actual trans character! This show really doesn’t hide behind anything, they just come out and do what they want. The Chameleon Brothers make the reboot using cheap-ass CGI, producing an artless, unlovable monstrosity. Rocko petitions Conglom-O to bring back his favorite TV show from the 90s, “The Fatheads”. This thing is pressing all the right buttons. Now they’re doing the 2008 economic crisis! Which is accidentally prophetic considering the economy is tanking again this year. I don’t have any patience for nostalgia - remember this was a time when actors and athletes couldn’t come out of the closet because the scandal might end their career - but that doesn’t make our current dystopia any less terrifying. But it does feel simpler in a lot of ways. It’s hard for me to tell whether the 90s really were a simpler time or whether it was just as complicated but I never noticed because I was only ten. That makes it ideally suited for a comeback now that everything has got exponentially more complicated. Rocko tries to live a simple life but can’t cope with how bonkers the rest of the modern world is. Rocko gets hounded and terrorized by the modern world - iPhones and Facebook and taco trucks - which is exactly what the original show was about too.
ROCKO MODERN LIFE 2019 MOVIE
The plot of this movie is Rocko returning home after 20 years in space and finding that everything has changed. They straight-up tell you, “Look, this sucks.” There’s not enough of that, everyone else is being too polite.

The parodies are so unsubtle and I love how unpretentious they are. “Look like a tool!” There is something refreshing about the unvarnished honesty of this.

There was even one episode that suggested Rocko might be gay. This show was always pretty daring when it came to gross jokes and sly adult references. Although having a kids’ cartoon actually specify that one of its main characters has had his balls removed is so Rocko. Actually he says in this he’s a steer, which is a castrated male cow, so I’m getting some mixed signals. Is Heffer trans? A heifer is a lady cow, right, but he uses male pronouns. There’s plenty of Aussies who do great American accents, but I’ve never once heard an American do a decent Aussie accent. Americans have this idea of how Aussies sound, and it’s never right. He definitely sounds like an American, though. In fact I’m not even sure I knew he was a wallaby. Is it bad that I never noticed Rocko has a really shitty Australian accent? You just don’t notice these things when you’re a kid. Is it possible that Really Really Big Man’s nipples of the future made me gay? No. We’re man-children in our 30s with cash to spend on Pokémons and Captain America, so bringing back some classic TV shows seems like a no-brainer. I can’t blame Nickelodeon for wanting to make a buck out of the Millennials. Both were originally produced by Nickelodeon, which clearly wanted to cash in on some 90s nostalgia, but were acquired by Netflix and distributed there.

Rocko’s Modern Life, which ran from 1993 to 1996, returned in the 45-minute special Static Cling. Invader Zim, which originally ran from 2001 to 2002, returned in the film Enter the Florpus. Last year saw the return of two animated TV shows from my childhood.
