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Road Rash


Road Rash is episode 17b of Rocko's Modern Life. In this episode Flem Rock is about to be bulldozed, so Rocko and Heffer go on a road trip to see it one last time.

Plot[]

Heffer looks through his video clip and sees attractions such as the world's largest slice of processed cheese, the toe jam towers of Detroit, Purvis the world's fattest rattlesnake, and Flem Rock. When Rocko realizes what Heffer has just said, they watch it on television and find out that the place is about to be demolished on Friday, so Heffer suggests that he and Rocko should go on a road trip to see Flem Rock. Rocko is initially skeptical, but then agrees after Heffer makes an impassioned speech. The two ride a motorcycle sidecar and Heffer puts on bagpipe disco music.

As they approach a desert, they find that they are 500 miles away from Flem Rock and make a left turn. When they go around various of places, Heffer finally concedes the fact that he doesn't know where they are going. So, the two decide to ask for directions and come across a farmer, who gives them comprehensive directions. He spends all day keeping the two waiting by telling them his story and Rocko and Heffer, no longer patient, decide to ride away, leaving the garrulous farmer standing alone during the night.

When the two friends continue riding, they approach Bait's Motel and decide to go somewhere else. As a result, they go to No Tell Motel and when they wake up the next morning, they are back on the road with the disco bagpipe music still playing due to the tape being stuck inside the radio player and the volume knob coming off. When the music gets into Rocko's head, he finally becomes irritated of it and stops the car to pull off a parking meter and whacks at the radio player. As Rocko tries to destroy the radio player, Heffer then goes to Sausage Shanty, a diner, to eat. By the time, Rocko finally stops the incessant music (in which the tape comes out of the radio player without a scratch), he has also destroyed the entire motorcycle sidecar in the process as well. Rocko joins Heffer at the diner and tells him the bad news. Suddenly, Heffer becomes the first customer to ever devour the Knockwurst Nightmare Platter (which are pig intestines) and win a box of Rice-O-Roony, a copy of the home game, and a weenie mobile.

Rocko and Heffer are back on the road riding the weenie mobile, but the vehicle runs out of gas and some intimidating bikers (led by a horse with Stinkweed, Spike, Lefty, and a goat) come around to fix it. Rocko and Heffer hop back inside the weenie mobile and Rocko presses the nitro button to speed the vehicle up. They make it to Flem Rock to find that it's smaller than it was shown on TV and they meet Yukon Sheldon (the only person to have climbed the rock). After the final eruption, the rock is leveled by a steamroller and a Chokey Chicken restaurant is dropped on the parking lot via a crane.

As the two friends eats at the restaurant, Rocko tells Heffer that it's good discovering America on the back roads and they should do it again. Heffer suggests that the two should go to other exhibits, which causes Rocko to become overwhelmed.

Characters present[]

Censorship[]

Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, a storyboard writer, says that the "biker horse" who fixed the Wienermobile was originally supposed to say "Retorqued your johnson rods." The censors forced the creators to alter the lines to "...retorqued your curtain rods..." due to the sexual innuendo in the original statement (both "johnson" and "rod" are slang for male genitalia). Marsh and the other crew disagreed, believing that children would not comprehend the meaning of "johnson." Marsh describes the particular "biker horse" as a caricature of himself and the other motorcyclists as caricatures of Dan Povenmire, Marsh's wife, Doug Lawrence, and Robert Skull. The original airing of "Road Rash" featured a scene in which Rocko and Heffer stop at what is suggested to be a love hotel (the "No-Tell Motel") advertising "hourly rates" and ask the horse desk clerk for a room, who infers the two will be engaging in intercourse: "All night? [whistles] Wheeeooo! Okay." The scene was never shown again after its first airing, but a low quality clip was made available online as early as late December 1997, and two higher quality clips have been available as late as 2021. In all subsequent US reruns on NickRewind, Nickelodeon, and Nicktoons, all DVD releases, international TV airings, and all digital and streaming releases, a still image of the hotel is briefly shown as the disco bagpipe music plays underneath before fading out to the next scene.

Rocko’s_Modern_Life_-_Road_Rash_Scene_No_Tell_Motel_(HIGHEST_QUALITY)

Rocko’s Modern Life - Road Rash Scene No Tell Motel (HIGHEST QUALITY)

Banned Scene

Trivia[]

  • The song played during the episodes title card and while Rocko and Heffer start their biking journey resembles the Steppenwolf song "Born to be Wild." This is also a reference to the biker film Easy Rider.
    • When Rocko and Heffer first ride in the weenie mobile, Hef sings, "Born to eat friiiiied fooooood..."
    • One of those Heffer mentions is "Peter Fondue", referring to actor Peter Fonda who appeared in Easy Rider.
  • To convince Rocko for the road trip Heffer mentions beatnik writer Jack Kerouac.
  • In the "shortcut" sequence, Rocko and Heffer end up passing these landmarks:
  • The weenie mobile is a spoof of the famous Oscar Mayer Wienermobiles.
  • At one point, Rocko and Heffer attempt to get a room at the Bait's Motel, a clear parody of the Bates Motel from the film Psycho. They meet a parody of Norman Bates, who tells them that they have plenty of spare rooms with showers, a reference to that film's iconic shower scene. When he runs to his "mother" at the end of the scene, he's got a wig and dress referring to the twist of the movie where Norman plays his mother when committing murders.
  • The first of two appearances of the Walter Cronkite-esque owl newscaster. He would appear again in "Floundering Fathers".
  • Heffer briefly sings "Stayin' Alive" by the Bee Gees when listening to the bagpipe tape.
  • The farmer's speech mentions there's a barn painted with soul band Rufus on it, and another barn painted with Rufus's former lead singer, Chaka Khan.
  • The truck driver in the O-Town Flag truck who asks for directions to the O-Town Flag Emporium uses a voice that Charlie Adler would use as the basis for Chicken in the Cartoon Network series Cow and Chicken.
  • When the Weenie Mobile is first seen, the waitress cat woman’s colors might be a reference to the signature colors of Usagi Tsukino (Named Serena in the DiC English dub) from the anime Sailor Moon consisting of red, blue, yellow, and white. Coincidentally, Sailor Moon premiered on Japanese tv in 1992, while Rocko’s Modern Life premiered one year afterwards In the US, but the DiC American dub was in 1995, while this episode premiered in 1994, so this might as well just be a coincidence.
  • One of the prizes Heffer wins is "Rice-O-Roony, the San Bernardino Treat", a parody of "Rice-A-Roni, the San Francisco Treat", which was often given out as a consolation prize on game shows.
  • The farmer mentions a friend of his named "Ferb". "Ferb" would become a name used for different characters in the series. Writers Dan Povenmire and Jeff 'Swampy' Marsh had a friend named Frank who preferred to be called "Ferb". Of course, "Ferb" would later become a name for one of the protagonists of Povenmire and Marsh's Disney Channel series Phineas and Ferb.

Quotes[]

Norman: Yes. We have vacancies. And we have showers in every room. What? What's that? Just one second. Coming, mother!
Concierge: Sorry, we full up. Won't have room for... another 20 minutes. You wait? (light buzzes) Oh, we have premature departure. You can have room now. How long you want?
Rocko: just 'til tomorrow.
Concierge: All night? (whistles) Okay.
Heffer: Sheila?
Rocko: HEFFER!
Cashier: There aren't enough pigs in the country, sir.
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Season 1 A Sucker for the Suck-O-MaticCannedCarnival KnowledgeSand in Your NavelNo Pain, No GainWho Gives a BuckLeap FrogsBedfellowsJet ScreamDirty DogKeeping Up With the BigheadsSkid MarksPower TripTo Heck and BackThe Good, The Bad, and The WallabyTrash-O-MadnessSpitballsPopcorn PandemoniumCabin FeverRinse & SpitRocko's Happy SackFlu-In-U-EnzaWho's For Dinner?Love SpankedClean Lovin'Unbalanced Load
Season 2 I Have No Son!Pipe DreamsTickled PinkyThe Lounge SingerShe's the ToadDown the HatchRoad RashBoob TubedCommuted SentenceRocko's Modern ChristmasHut Sut RawKiss Me I'm ForeignCruisinBorn to SpawnUniform BehaviorHair LickedGutter BallsJunk JunkiesDay of the FleckoSnowballsFrog's Best FriendShort StoryEyes Capades
Season 3 Bye, Bye BirdieBelch of DestinyThe Emperor's New JoeSchnit-headsSugar Frosted FrightsEd is Dead: A Thriller!Fish-N-ChumpsCamera ShyNothing To Sneeze AtOld Fogey FroggyManic MechanicRocko's Happy VerminI See London, I See FranceThe FatlandsFortune CookieDear JohnSpeaking TermsTooth and NailWacky DellyThe Big QuestionThe Big AnswerAn Elk for HefferScrubbin' Down UnderZanzibar!Fatal Contraption
Season 4 With Friends Like TheseSailing the 7 Zzz'sPrankstersFrom Here to MaternityEd Good, Rocko BadTeed OffWimp on the BarbyYarnbendersMama's BoyFeisty GeistS.W.A.K.Magic MeatballCloset ClownSeat to StardomThe High Five of DoomFly BurgersHeff in a HandbasketWallaby on WheelsDumbellsRug BirdsHypno-Puppy LuvDriving Mrs. WolfePut to PastureFuture SchlockTurkey TimeFloundering Fathers
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