…just happened to work out that way. Life’s funny like that.
Whether or not his story arcs were purely fictional or had inklings of truth to him, I’m not sure. But they sure as heck were entertaining.
I have no son!
The episode begins with Rocko and Filbert watching their favorite show- Meet the Fatheads. It features two ugly warty toads that constantly yell at each other, smack each other with parking meters… you know, your typical married couple.
But as they watch the credits, they notice something VERY interesting- the series was created by Ralph Bighead.
As it turns out, Rocko’s neighbors, the Bigheads had a son and have been estranged from him for a number of years. And the Fatheads were a caricature of them.
Rocko goes next door to ask if there’s any relation cuz of the show. Ed flat out denies it, screaming “I have no son!,” and slams the door on his face. Mrs. Bighead, meanwhile, tells Rocko the truth. Ralph is their son and they hasn’t seen or heard from him since a fateful day at Conglom-O. Ed wanted him to work there with him, but Ralph decides instead to move to Hollowood to become a cartoonist. Ed has since disowned him.
Mrs. Bighead kindly asks Rocko to find Ralph and invite him to their upcoming family reunion party. So he and Filbert take a road trip to Hollowood to do just that.
Of course it’s not an easy task, but there’s so many jokes along the way. (So many)
They arrive at the gate and are greeted by a smiley face on a stick, voiced by someone clearly doing their best Mickey Mouse impression. While there to see Ralph, they’re bullied into taking the studio tour.
All kinds of crazy things happen along the way. There’s one group of animators in a room with glass windows.
Rocko points out a sign- hey Filbert, don’t tap on the glass
Filbert- oh, ok Rocko (tap tap- glass shatters and everyone stares), oh boy…
The chameleon brothers happen to be in another studio with one using a camera while the other throws papers all over the place.
Rocko- oh so that’s how they do it
Rhino holding the smiley on a stick- (normal, none Mickey Mouse voice) no, those guys are just idiots
Truer words have never been spoken!!!
Finally they reach the best part.
In the eternal words of Yogurt from Spaceballs: merchandising, merchandising!
Filbert sees the stand, says “Toys” and goes into full nerd mode, wanting to buy everything in sight. The spree almost ends prematurely when he spots something expensive but decides “what the hay”… Rhino/smiley guy goes from sad face to cha-ching happy
Rocko then notices Ralph go by with his posse of yes men and pulls Filbert away. Rhino guy announces their total (some obscene number) but notices a little too late they’ve gone.
The two of them sneak into Ralph’s office with the yes men… who are promptly all fired on the spot.
Rocko essentially fails to get Ralph to agree to come and he goes on an epic rant of how he NEVER wants to see the two of them again. (Fun fact I just read: when Joe Murray had to actually audition to get this role, the other producers had him scream "Never!" multiple times because he usually wasn't the type of guy who screamed).
Part one ends with Filbert knocking on the door after they get thrown out.
Filbert- say cheese
Ralph- (one hand on the door) Cheese…
Photo only captures a closed door
Filbert- oh, fish sticks…
In part two, Rocko tries to tell Mrs. Bighead at the reunion he failed but isn’t able due to the fact he keeps getting thrown into crazy situations by some of the other Bigheads.
Ralph eventually shows up, telling an irate Ed Bighead “a little beaver guy came to Hollowood and said that you wanted me here.”
Ed tells him to get lost but before he leaves, he leaves half a donut on the table. This gets Ed’s attention immediately.
He calls him over, thrilled to pieces, “you kept it, you really do care about Conglom-O.”
“I didn’t keep it because I care about Conglom-O… because I care about you.”
Supposedly the donut is part of a sacred tradition in the Bighead family. When a father welcomes a son into the company, they break apart a donut as a way of dealing the deal.
Even all these years later, both of them kept their half of the donut.
Meanwhile, poor Rocko not only becomes a piñata but Ralph creates a character based on him in the Fatheads. An ugly looking beaver Mrs. Fathead calls “our disgusting neighbor Rollo.”
Filbert and the Bigheads are all at his house watching it with him but he’s the only one not laughing.
Cut to Heffer (who’d missed everything this entire episode) in the final scene- HEY!… I don’t get it.
He does get to leave his mark on Ralph Bighead’s follow up appearance and it’s not one to miss
Wacky Delly
Along with spring cleaning, probably the most well known episode of this series.
It begins with the finale of the Fatheads. This is something Ralph Bighead had wanted to see to completion for a LONG time. Making that cartoon has become soul crushing for him and he couldn’t wait to get started on his passion project.
Unfortunately he’s thrown into a pitfall a lot of people in the entertainment business have experienced. A little something called “fulfilling a contract.” The studio execs demand that he made one more cartoon series before he can move on.
He inevitably complains about this to his family with Rocko and his friends within earshot. Heffer’s like “how hard can that be?” And he does an impromptu puppet show with deli meats.
Slant-eyed, Filbert balks at how stupid that idea is. In fact, it’s so bad that it’ll get Ralph thrown out of his contract.
This, of course, is music to Ralph’s ears and he hires all three of them to make the cartoon for him. He gives them free range of his studio and a massive instruction manual “7,291 steps to making a cartoon.”
I won’t go through every step but there’s plenty of behind the scenes shenanigans as they’re finalizing characters and storyboards. Heffer and Filbert are constantly arguing over minute details and Rocko does his best to keep things moving on schedule.
The three characters are Sal-ami (heffer), Betty Bologna (Rocko) and Mr. Cheese (filbert).
One storyboard scene is super hilarious cuz all the tension gets to Rocko and we clearly see it on his face. They try to figure out if certain lines go to salami or cheese (or Cheese…) or if there’s a phone or doorbell before the “I hate bologna!” Line.
The best part of this scene.
Heffer- Hmm… I was thinking
Rocko- (irate, slowly turns around) Yes???!!
Heffer- (long pause). . . Do we really need the cheese at all?
Of course this leads to another fight, but that has to be the funniest dramatic pause ever.
The resulting cartoon is pure chaos. Just one unchanging background with the characters running all over the place almost on a loop.
Filbert has one line that’s completely deadpan… probably the only line that matters: “I am the cheese. I am the best character on this show. Better than the salami and bologna combined.”
To Ralph’s utter horror, the execs and the audience LOVE the show. (I mean, we all saw that coming, right?). So He spends the other half of the half hour doing everything he can to sabotage it… the only other cartoon character with more failed attempts at anything was Wile E. Coyote. Some of these include an entire segment focused on an idle jar of mayo and a black screen cuz he inadvertently exposed the film… and the audience can’t get enough. They love it so much he gets mobbed on his way to work and they literally steal the shirt off his back as well as parts from his car.
In the end, what ultimately kills the show is when he animated it himself and tries to make an artistic statement. Within seconds of his nutcracker segment, the series is cancelled.
Fast forward years later, he finally completes his still life masterpiece somewhere in the southwest.
Some random hillbilly dude comes up to him and says “hey, that’s not bad. But have you ever seen wacky delly? The first season, that is, before that new guy came in and ruined it.”
Ouch…
I think I read somewhere that that was a reference to the downfall of Ren and Stimpy. But a lot of hit shows have suffered similar fates.
One of those shows is SpongeBob… we lost its creator Stephen Hillenberg a while ago but after he walked away from it a few years before that, many people say it hasn’t been the same.
——
It’d be a natural segue, considering he took over for Joe Murray in Rocko’s final season and took a bunch of the voice actors with him to SpongeBob. But there’s at least one other series I want to call attention to first.
It’s short lived, under appreciated… and I remember so little of it that it’ll only take one post to cover the basics.
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