Rocko Episode Discussion: "Jet Scream"

[Dr. Daedalus]

Hey gang, as you may know, I've been making episode discussion threads for many Tiny Toons episodes for a while now. Since it was repeatedly requested that I make Rocko talkbacks, I thought I'd give it a go!
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream1.jpg
And what better place to start than one of my favorite season 1 episodes (and favorite Rocko episodes, period): "Jet Scream"?

The plot is that Rocko has tickets to a comic convention in Vegas. Heffer doesn't want to fly, even though Rocko assures him it's one of the safest forms of travel.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream2.jpg
However, in an ironic twist, it's ROCKO who has all the problems with air travel. To start with he keeps setting off the metal detector, eventually stripping himself to the underwear. Then he finds out it's his gold teeth that are setting it off.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream3.jpg
Well, those have GOT to come out. Love the cut to black and Rocko's scream. Makes it seem all the more painful than if they had shown it.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream4.jpg
Eventually, after a ridiculously long hallway, Rocko and Heffer make it to their plane. First class is an overly extravagant affair...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream5.jpg
...and coach is a third world country. Granted, coach never looks this bad for the rest of the short, but it works for the purposes of this gag.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream6.jpg
As anyone who's flown will know, delays are inevitable. But the ones here are just absurd. Good luck getting out of that mess in a WEEK.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream7.jpg
Numerous flying annoyances are parodied, from the really tight seatbelt...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream8.jpg
...to Rocko's eyeballs shrinking due to the heat from the air circulation nozzle...
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream9.jpg
...to a poor man's dinner. This particular gag is even more timely now than it was in 1993.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream10.jpg
I also love the gag of the boy in front of Rocko pushing and pulling his seat. I'm sure we've all been in that situation of a rambunctious kid who can't sit still, albeit not to this extent.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream11.jpg
But perhaps my favorite gag is right here. See, Rocko wants to get up and go to the bathroom, but the flight attendants keep hitting him with their food trays as they walk by. Rocko tries to avoid the two of them, and it switches to an overhead view, as the two DELIBERATELY try to hit him, even going so far as to chase him inbetween rows. Classic stuff.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream12.jpg
Oh, and I'm sure we've all been here: Some guy taking a dump and stinking up the place.

Did I mention Heffer's absent for most of this? He makes a break for first class, but Rocko isn't as lucky and gets electrocuted by the barrier between first class and coach. Eventually, Heffer returns to coach, where he announces that first class has cable, chocolates, and a bowling tournament (which we also won). However, during the course of flight, the plane loses both wings in accidents and takes a nosedive.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream13.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream14.jpghttp://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream15.jpg
I love the various visual representations of queasiness, especially the last one. That image has stuck in my mind all these years, it's so random. :p
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream16.jpg
The plane crashes, but Heffer wants to keep sliding down the emergency exit ramp. Classic.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream17.jpg
Once they are at baggage pick-up, Rocko announces that he can't find their bags. It turns out they're on Mars.

Fed up, Rocko says they're going to take the bus the rest of the way to Vegas.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v98/speedyboris/jetscream18.jpg
Unfortunately for the two, the bus driver is the same terrible pilot from before. The bus swerves wildly around a corner as the cartoon ends.

This was Rocko at the top of its form. Lots of satire, a rapid pace with one gag after another (much like classic cartoons), some great cartoony moments, and a good score to go along with it. I still remember the music played during the "escape the food cart" sequence.

Your thoughts on this one?

[DarthGonzo]

Terrific, Speedy. Well worth the wait.

Wasn't this one banned for a while after 9/11?

[Darklordavaitor]

Wasn't this one banned for a while after 9/11?
Yes, and I think it still is to this day. Even "Dirty Dog", it's accompaning short, is off rotation, too.

I gotta hand it to you, I was cracking up just looking at the pictures alone. Keep up the grade-A work.:D

[J. B. Warner]

YES! One of my all-time favorite "Rocko" episodes (Season 1 is still my favorite season to this very day). The sequence of Heffer and Rocko shape-shifting as the plane nosedives is one of the funniest things Nickelodeon has ever broadcast, and it doesn't even have any dialogue - it's all in the animation.

In regards to this episode's banishment, I think it's back in rotation on Nicktoons TV - I remember seeing it as recently as 2005.

[Blackstar]

Wasn't this one banned for a while after 9/11?

Was and still is, at least in the U.S.. This episode (as well as the short "Leap Frogs") has never aired on Nicktoons Network (to my knowledge, although the latter did air on the commercial free Nicktoons TV). Shame too, as "Jet Scream" was always one of my favorite Rocko shorts. This episode also marked the 1st appearances of Bloaty & Squirmy in the B-short "Dirty Dog".

[DarthGonzo]

It's probably gonna come up a lot in these threads but I'll be the first to say it: I really wish Rocko was on DVD.

[Starbro]

It's probably gonna come up a lot in these threads but I'll be the first to say it: I really wish Rocko was on DVD.

Allow me to be the second, then. :)

A complete series DVD set of Rocko's Modern Life is LONG overdue., especially if it featured the "lost" shorts ("Jet Scream", "Dirty Dog", "Leap Frogs").

[Darklordavaitor]

I think everyone who enjoys cartoons wants a Rocko set.

[Dudley]

Wow. I kinda wish this show was on DVD. I haven't seen this episode in years. I forgot how fun it was.

[TheVofSteel]

This episode was aired on Nicktoons Network. The pictures even have a Nicktoons Network (as Nicktoons TV) logo in the bottom-right corner. Plus, Nicktoons Network (once again, as Nicktoons TV) was created in May 2002 (after 9/11). So, I don't know why this episode would be banned from rotation.

[Lavenderpaw]

I remember this episode from some years back.Since it has a plane crash,I don't doubt why they would stop airing the episode for a while.

[Kitschensyngk]

Wow. I kinda wish this show was on DVD. I haven't seen this episode in years. I forgot how fun it was.

You and everyone else.

Myself included.

[Galaxy 9000]

i just now watched the episode and it was pretty good.

[Frank]

Speaking of the music on Rocko, I noticed that they used stock music in S3 and S4. I really liked the soundtrack on Rocko, I wonder why they used less of it later on.

[Blackstar]

Speaking of the music on Rocko, I noticed that they used stock music in S3 and S4. I really liked the soundtrack on Rocko, I wonder why they used less of it later on.

My guess is because obtaining public domain music is easier and less expensive than writing your own.

[Dr. Daedalus]

That, or it was the Ren & Stimpy influence.

IMO SpongeBob did the whole "stock music cue" strategy much better. It created its own identity from a vast array of production music rather than Rocko, where the music in season 3 and 4 episodes felt like Ren & Stimpy, no doubt because it was using many of the same tracks.