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Rocko's Modern Life
Format	Animated series
Created by	Joe Murray
Developed by	Nicktoons Network
Starring	Carlos Alazraqui Tom Kenny Doug Lawrence Charles Adler Linda Wallem
Opening theme	"Rocko's Modern Life"
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
Producer(s)	Joe Murray
Running time	22 minutes (11 per episode) (approx.)
Broadcast
Original channel	Nickelodeon
Original run	September 18, 1993 – January 10, 1997
External links
IMDb profile
TV.com summary

Rocko's Modern Life is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray that aired for four seasons from 1993 to 1997. The show was based around the surreal, parodic adventures of an anthropomorphic wallaby named Rocko, and his life in the city of O-Town. One of Nickelodeon's Nicktoons, it was the fourth series released in the Nicktoons group, and the first to be introduced since the original three were introduced in August 1991. The program was produced by Joe Murray Productions and Nickelodeon Studios, and occasionally by Games Productions.

The show is laden with suggestive double entendres, innuendo, and social commentary. It has become a prominent cult classic. There are three separate versions of the Rocko's Modern Life theme song (the new version performed by the B-52's), as well as a "remaster" of the first theme which added a high-pitched chorus line to the "Rocko's Modern Life" line, and the third was the same theme in instrumental. Rocko's Modern Life ended production in 1996. ^[1]

Contents 1 History 2 Animation style 3 Episodes 4 Places and locations 4.1 List of places in the television show 4.2 List of places in the comic book 5 Characters 6 Main voice cast 7 Cast and crew 8 Production 9 Comic book series 10 DVD Collection 11 Video games and software 12 References 13 External links

Originally, the character Rocko appeared in an unpublished comic book titled Travis.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 in production. Many other characters appeared in various sketchbooks.

In 1992, Murray created another idea for an animation series. After finishing his independent film My Dog Zero, he focused on changing the story into a television series. Murray presented a pencil test to Nickelodeon Studios, which afterwards became interested in buying and airing the show. Murray focused on a pilot episode he had written called "Trash-O-Madness." ^[2]

"Trash-O-Madness" was completed and shown to Nickelodeon executives before any other episodes were produced. Nickelodeon decided that Rocko's Modern Life would make a better television series than My Dog Zero. Murray originally wrote "Sucker for the Suck-O-Matic" as the pilot; the executives decided that Heffer Wolfe, one of the characters, would be "a little too wierd for test audiences." ^[sic] 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 Rocko's World. ^[3]

Murray stated that each episode of Rocko's Modern Life stemmed from a personal experience of himself and/or one or more of the directors or writers. ^[2]

During the making of season 3 of Rocko's Modern Life, Murray faced problems with work and his personal life, so he decided to hand the project to Stephen Hillenburg, who performed most work for season 4; Murray continued to manage the cartoon. ^[2] In 1996, Murray asked Nickelodeon executives to stop producing the series because Murray wanted more time to spend with his family. It was supposed to be on hiatus after the last episode ("Turkey Time / Floundering Fathers") but was later canceled. ^[2]

Murray's animation lacked parallel lines and featured many crooked doors. In an interview Murray stated that his design style contributed to the show's "Wonky bent feel." ^[2]

Main article: Rocko's Modern Life media and release information

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]

”

• Chokey/Chewy Chicken is a favorite restaurant/hang-out place for Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt. Through the first part of the fourth season it was called 'Chokey Chicken.' However, it had to be changed to 'Chewy Chicken' because 'Chokey Chicken' was a clear reference to choking the chicken, a slang term for masturbation.
• Conglom-O Corporation is the biggest company in town, it even runs City Hall. It is run by Mr. Dupette, who has very peculiar ways to see if the employees are fit to work there. It doesn't seem to have a specific purpose or product - it's just a giant company that manufactures every product. 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 mega-corporations). 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. The televisions in Heck do not have remotes.
• 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.
• O-Town is the town in which Rocko lives.

• Bet Your Life Race-Ways - A horse racetrack featured in Issue #4's first story, "Remote Controlled"
• Cafe Low-Cal - A health food restaurant featured in Issue #3's story, "Eat This! It's Good for You!"
• Club Seals - A nightclub and concert hall featured in Issue #4's second story, "Beaten by a Club."
• The Grease Pit - A fast food restaurant featured in Issue #4's first story, "Remote Controlled"
• Hardening of the Arteries Eatery - A fast food restaurant featured in Issue #3's story, "Eat This! It's Good for You!"
• Humongo Comicon - Rocko works as a comic book dealer at the 1994 convention in Issue #7's first story, "Conned Again"
• O-Town is the town in which Rocko lives. In the second story of the first issue of the comic book, a news station van bears "WBUK." The "W" call sign, generally found east of the Mississippi River, implies that O-Town is east of the Mississippi.
• Pet Paradise Pet Supplies - A pet supply store that Rocko arrives at in Issue #6's second story, "Lice on the Loose"
• St. Nick O'Time Hospital - A hospital appearing in Issue #1's first story, "Dental Hijinks."

Main article: Characters in Rocko's Modern Life

Characters	Image	Voice actor
Rocko		Carlos Alazraqui
Heffer Wolfe		Tom Kenny
Filburt Shellbach		Mr. Lawrence
Spunky		Carlos Alazraqui
Ed Bighead		Charlie Adler
Bev Bighead		Charlie Adler

• Cast

• Carlos Alazraqui as Rocko/Spunky/Leon/Granny Rocko
• Tom Kenny as Heffer Wolfe/Chuck/Mr. Smitty/Really Really Big Man/Peaches/Various males
• Mr. Lawrence as Filburt Shellbach/Peter Wolf
• Linda Wallem as Dr. Hutchison/Mrs. Virginia Wolf/Grandma Wolf/Cindy Wolf/Tammy the Pig/Various females
• Charlie Adler as Ed Bighead/Gladys/Mr. George Wolf/Grandpa Wolf/Bev Bighead/Mr. Dupette/Mr. and Mrs. Fathead/Various males
• Joe Murray as Ralph Bighead
• Kevin Meaney as Mother Hutchison (appeared in two episodes)

• Some of the voice actors in Rocko's Modern Life currently perform voices for other popular Nickelodeon shows. On Spongebob Squarepants, Tom Kenny (voice of Heffer on Rocko's Modern Life) does the voices of SpongeBob, Gary the Snail, Patchy the Pirate, and others, while Doug "Mr." Lawrence (voice of Filburt) does the voices of Plankton, Larry the Lobster and others. On Fairly OddParents, Carlos Alazraqui (voice of Rocko) does the voice of Mr. Denzel Crocker and Juandissimo Magnifico. Carlos Alazraqui also voices Granpapi Rivera/Puma Loco in El Tigre: The Adventures of Manny Rivera
• In 2005, voice actors Carlos Alazraqui, Tom Kenny, and Mr. Lawrence, and writers Mark O'Hare and Martin Olson, reunited with creator Joe Murray for the Cartoon Network show, Camp Lazlo.
• Crew

• Joe Murray: Creator, Executive Producer
• Andy Houts: Project Coordinator
• Stephen Hillenburg: Producer, Storyboard Director, Writer
• Derek Drymon: Storyboard Artist, Writer
• Mr. Lawrence: Storyboard Director, Writer
• Dan Povenmire: Storyboard Director, Writer
• Jeff "Swampy" Marsh: Storyboard Director, Writer
• Timothy Berglund (aka Timothy Björklund): Storyboard Director, Writer
• Martin Olson: Writer
• George Maestri: Writer
• Vince Calandra: Writer
• Tim Hill: Story Editor (Last Season)
• Mark O'Hare: Storyboard Artist
• Robert Hughes: Animation Director
• Antoine Guilbaud: Storyboard Artist
• Sherm Cohen: Storyboard Artist, Storyboard Director
• Tom Yasumi: Animation Timer
• Danny Antonucci: Storyboard artist

Murray's Joey 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. The production moved to a different office building on Vineland Avenue in the San Fernando Valley area of Los Angeles. Executives did not share space with the creative team. ^[4]

As Rocko's Modern Life was Murray's first television series, he did not know about the atmosphere of typical animation studios. Murray opted to operate his studio in a similar manner to the operation of his Saratoga, California studio, which he describes as "Very relaxed." Murray's cadre included many veterans who, according to him, described the experience as "the most fun they had ever had!" Murray, adding that the atmosphere was "not my doing," credited his team members for collectively contributing to the atmosphere. ^[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. Murray stated that one visitor compared the environment of the production studio to "preschool without supervision." ^[4] 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; Murray animated half of the episode, and the production occurred entirely in the United States, with animation in Saratoga and processing in San Francisco. ^[5]

Marvel Comics produced a seven-issue comic book series based on the television series. Marvel published the series from June 1994 to December 1994 with monthly releases.

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; the second story of Issue #4 was written by Joey Cavalieri.

Tom DeFalco served as Editor-in-Chief for the project.

Fans have requested that Nickelodeon produce a DVD collection of the series for years. Nickelodeon has not produced any DVD collection of Rocko's Modern Life, even though they have released DVDs of their other series such as SpongeBob SquarePants ^[6] and Invader Zim. According to TVShowsOnDVD.com, it is in the top 40 most requested unreleased shows.^[7] The show remains without an official DVD release.

Murray states 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 comments, "But at least someone is trying to give Rocko fans what they want. Because Nickelodeon sure isn't doing it." ^[8]

The official home video release of the series in the United States was in the mid-1990s, when selected episodes were released on VHS by Sony Wonder, then later re-released by Paramount Home Entertainment.

One game based on the show, Rocko's Modern Life: Spunky's Dangerous Day, was released 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.

• Rocko at Nickelodeon Australia website
• Rocko at Nicktoons UK
• Rocko's Modern Life at the Big Cartoon DataBase
• Rocko's Modern Life FAQ - Includes interviews with "Rocko" creator, and production staff

v • d • e Rocko's Modern Life
Main characters	Rocko • Heffer Wolfe • Filburt • Spunky • Ed Bighead • Bev Bighead
Media	Episodes • Rocko's Modern Life: Spunky's Dangerous Day
Cast and Crew of the television show	Joe Murray • Carlos Alazraqui • Tom Kenny • Doug Lawrence • Charles Adler • Linda Wallem • Martin Olson
Crew of the comic book series	Tom DeFalco • Joey Cavalieri

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