Floundering Fathers is the second segment of the thirteenth and final episode of the fourth season of Rocko's Modern Life, as well as the final episode to air.
Summary[]
After Ed Bighead, Grand Marshall of the O-Town Founder's Day Parade, rejects Rocko's parade float entry, Mr. Bighead, Filburt and Heffer tell their versions of the founding of O-Town.
Plot[]
Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt are about to send the entry form for their float, a hamburger made of hot dogs, to the O-Town Founder's Day Parade. But as they make it to the parade, Ed rejects their float, saying that the parade is not for foreigners. Rocko argues that O-Town was founded by foreigners. But Ed shows Rocko and his friends the O-Town rock, informing that his ancestor John Quincy Bighead purchased the rock and the land for $2.98 and breath mints, thus founding O-Town. Filburt, however, shows a video of turtle eggs being laid underground beneath the rock. The turtles have left and could no longer locate their nest due to poor eyesight, leaving the eggs to hatch on their own, thus validating the fact that Filburt's ancestors technically founded O-Town. Heffer tells how his ancestor Abraham Heffer gave the iceberg address to delineate the sinking of the ship, terminating the war completely. Also, Lewis and Clark were attacked by Redcoats while crossing the underwear, but were saved by an upcoming fruit plane, which they climbed up on. Later, they won the eating contest at the OK Corral in the western town and won the rock in the contest to push it to the exact spot. They then find a knife impaled to the rock and pull it out, thus becoming the founders of O-Town. Soon, Ed, Heffer, and Filburt begin arguing and Heffer attempts to push the rock, with Ed and Filburt trying to hold him back.
The rock tips over, and Rocko reads a sign at the bottom of the rock that says "First Place Eat Out at the OK Corral." This reveals Heffer's story was true. The four also find Filburt's forefathers' nest on the ground, confirming his story too and the nest moves being part of a hat of a wallaby who emerges from the hole and is revealed to be Rocko's Ancestor. Rocko's Ancestor tells Ed, Heffer, and Filburt that he has been down there for two hundred years and reveals they are all wrong, to their shock. He tells them that wallabies were in O-Town before any one of their families until they went to Australia. He also explains that he would have gone too but Heffer's ancestors pushed a rock over his front door, trapping him inside, embarrassing the latter. He tells Ed that his ancestor shortened the Native Americans by 29 cents, meaning that Ed owes the Native Americans $37,000 and two tons of breath mints, and he is given the bill, which he has to pay by thirty days, much to his dismay.
In the end, Rocko is the new Grand Marshall of the parade, and it is revealed that Spunky's ancestor has been in O-Town before the wallabies since Rocko's ancestor says that wallabies were only in the city before the steers, turtles, and toads. One of Spunky's ancestors is shown living in the hole under the rock the whole time, and he crawls back inside and closes it with the rock, closing the episode and the series.
Characters Featured[]
- Rocko
- Heffer
- Filburt
- Ed Bighead
- John Quincy Bighead
- Rocko's Ancestor
- Spunky's Ancestor
- Filburt's Ancestors
- Lewis and Clark Heffer
- Bev Bighead (no lines)
- Chuck Chameleon (no lines)
- Leon Chameleon (no lines)
Trivia[]
- In the title card, Rocko, Heffer, Filburt and Mr. Bighead place their heads in the famous John Trumbull painting of the Declaration of Independence.
- If you look closely in the crowd during the parade marching sequence both near the beginning and the end of the episode, you can see prototypes of two characters from Joe Murray's next cartoon show, Camp Lazlo. The character prototypes are an older version of Raj the Elephant, and a female version of Lazlo the Monkey.
- This episode was not intended as the finale since the crew wanted to make "Future Schlock" the finale at least in production.
- This is the 100th (and final) episode segment of the series.
- "Floundering Fathers" is coincidentally also the name of a Time Squad episode.
- If you want to count the airing order, then this is the official series finale of Rocko's Modern Life.
- If you want to count the production order, then "Future Schlock" was originally the official series finale.
- The song "Give It All You Got," which would later be featured in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Jellyfish Hunter", is heard when Heffer talks about the disco revolution.
- Heffer claims he has an imaginary friend named "Ferb", who has some slight similarity to a main character of Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh's eventual series Phineas and Ferb.
- This episode may be an allegory for the long-standing debates over whether Christopher Columbus or Leif Erikson discovered America. Leif Erikson would also get a mention in the SpongeBob SquarePants episode "Bubble Buddy".
- John Quincy Bighead is a parody of John Quincy Adams, the sixth President of the United States.
- Heffer's story contains references to Davy Crockett, Minutemen, Abraham Lincoln, the Gettysburg Address, the sinking of the Titanic (a favorite punchline for Rocko), the Lewis and Clark Expedition, Redcoats, the song "America the Beautiful", Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, the Arthurian legend of Excalibur, and the First Thanksgiving.