Joshua Reviews Rocko’s Modern Life Season One DVD [Shout! Factory DVD Review]

There are various cornerstones of a person’s childhood.   Be it singular moments such as the first day of school, or much broader entities like your first favorite album or the first time you see a movie in theaters, nothing quite impacts a child quite like the things that they do during their free time.

Some may spend it playing sports or practicing an instrument; others may be studying or reading.   One thing that everyone has in common are their favorite childhood cartoons.   And now, thanks to Shout! Factory, one of the ‘˜90s most interesting cult cartoon classics has just made its way onto DVD.

Shout has released the first season of the classic cartoon, Rocko’s Modern Life, and while the supplements may be nonexistent; the quality is more than there.

Rocko’s Modern Life began its run in 1993, and followed the story of a wallaby named Rocko, as he spends his time dealing with horrible carnivals, insane neighbors and the occasional evil vacuum cleaner, all with the help of his dog Spunky and best bud Heffer.   Voiced by a cast including Carlos Alazraqui, Tom Kenny, Mr. Lawrence, Linda Wallem and Charlie Adler, Rocko’s Modern Life is both one of the most singular pieces of animation that the ‘˜90s had to offer, while also being one of its most darkly satirical.

When discussing Rocko’s Modern Life, the first and last thing one must discuss is the show’s almost Woody Allen-like look into the hold that the strains of everyday life has over a person.   Rocko is your average neurotic figure, and be it a simple trip to a fair or your routine house cleaning, each event of this anthropomorphized wallaby’s life is a life or death situation.   Toss in genuinely terrifying entities like the genuinely maniacal Ed Bighead; who to any four or five year old is your animated manifestation of evil, and you have a show that may be frightening to some children, but really quite off putting for any person who has had a few life experiences. Toss in a cavalcade of film references, and this is a show that only grows as one ages.

The show is most often compared to shows like Ren & Stimpy, but while that show may be a bit more antagonistic towards the general public and far more surreal, Rocko’s Modern Life is no less interesting thematically and visually.

Seemingly inspired by films like The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari, Rocko’s Modern Life is a surrealistic piece of visual art.   With architecture and an overall art style ripped right out of the pages of a Salvidor Dali coffee table book, Joe Murray’s drawings are some of the most interesting from television during the ‘˜90s with a great sense of world and an even better sense of character design.   Each member of this world has a great sense of singularity and their own esoteric traits both thanks to their voice acting performances, but also their visual aesthetic.

Speaking of voice acting, there are a lot of top notch, but insanely bizarre performances given here.   Alazraqui is great here as Rocko, and the pair of Tom Kenny and Mr. Lawrence (best known for his character Plankton on Spongebob Squarepants) are great as Heffer and the deeply neurotic Filbert Shellbach.   Overall, the show may be best known for its animation and dark comedy satire, but these are voices that you’ll be hard pressed to get out of your head.

That all said, this release is sadly small in scale.   Featuring the show’s first 13 episodes, the DVD may be only priced at $20, but it doesn’t necessarily make it the deepest way to use that cash.   No commentaries, no documentaries, not even a retrospective or EPK-style behind the scenes featurette to give diehards a reason to keep this DVD in the player.   With the show being the cult classic that it is, there is really room for something, even something small, to really beef up this release.

Overall, for fans of the show, this is an absolute must own.   Great audio and visual quality (but no Blu-ray, sadly), and the show’s entire first season, all for $20? This may not be the deepest release ever, but this is one that any ‘˜90s kid or any person with nostalgia for this subversive and hilarious piece of animation needs to add to their DVD collection.