Zanzibar is episode 39a of third season of Rocko's Modern Life.
Summary[]
This musical-style episode for Earth Day has Rocko pitting the town citizens against Conglom-O and its pollution.
Plot[]
During the spring, the citizens of O-Town are spring cleaning their city and dedicate a musical to it. When Rocko comes around, he asks Heffer about the musical. Heffer tells him that it was the song to the citizens' hearts and they rehearsed for the musical. Heffer rides with Rocko to drive to the city dump, only to find that the dump is too full to put any more garbage in it, much to the other citizens' dismay. Ed, who has a truckload of cans of goo, suggests that the garbage should go into the park, to which Rocko responds that garbage can't just be dumped in any territory. Ed refuses to heed Rocko's words and dedicates a song to his contempt of nature and the environment. When Rocko tries to convince Ed to think about what's good for the environment, Captain Compost Heap overhears and implements a recycle song that sends a message to the citizens of O-Town. After the song, Rocko (who dubs the song as "sappy") suggests that everyone should collaborate to clean up O-Town and they open up a recycle center.
Although they cleaned up the city, Mr. Heap tells Rocko that the Conglom-O company is not doing their act at cleaning and the citizens decide to rescind their recycling business since Conglom-O runs everything, even dedicating a song to it. But Rocko barely convinces them to fight back and march to the Conglom-O building to stand up to them. As they get to the Conglom-O building, the security guard refuses to let Rocko inside without an appointment. But when Rocko demands him to speak to the company, the security guard nonchalantly lets him in, and Rocko meets Mr. Dupette and the other employees to tell them about the recycling. Although he vacillates, he gets help from the other citizens, who sing the recycle song to tell the owner and his employees the point. When Rocko asks Mr. Dupette if they would clean up their act, Mr. Dupette nonchalantly agrees to. The citizens congratulate Rocko for fighting city hall and carry him out of the building. Mr. Dupette, particularly moved by the citizen's display of desiring environmental change for the better, soon reveals that Ed Bighead is responsible for its waste disposal division as its head, and immediately demands him to make a variety of extremely grueling but necessary environmentally helpful changes.
When Ed is back at his house, he hears a knock on his door. He answers the door to find the citizens of O-Town, who thanks him for helping keeping the city clean. However, Ed is little more than unappreciated and dedicates a song for his apathy for the ozone layer. He sprays the air, prompting the carbons to eat up the ozone layer, which causes the sun light to reflect on him, burning him to a crisp as he utters his catchphrase "I hate my life." Captain Compost Heap then states that "If you're not nice to mother nature, she'll kick our butts."
Characters Present[]
- Rocko
- Heffer
- Spunky
- Captain Compost Heap
- Filburt
- Dr. Hutchison
- Ed Bighead
- Bev Bighead
- The Fatheads
- Gladys Hippo
- Tammy the Pig
- Virginia Wolfe
- George Wolfe
- Peter Wolfe
- Grandpa Wolfe
- Mr. Dupette
- Conglom-O Lizards
- Chuck
- Leon
- Peaches
- Slippy the Slug
- Woman with Glasses
- Mr. Smitty
- Earl
- Big Biff Benderhaus
- Elves
- Fruitcake Man
- Dr. Bendova
- Dr. Katz
- Dr. Iris MacFropter
- Gib Hootsen
- Gordon
- Cindy Wolfe
- Buff and Dick
- Buddy Gecko
- Dan the Fly Man
Trivia[]
- This episode won an Environmental Media Award in 1996 for its promotion of anti-pollution and anti-littering.
- This episode was featured in an article of the Sun Herald. The headline was "Rocko and the Gang Take Down Pollution".
- The Tin Man from The Wizard of Oz makes a background appearance during one of the musical numbers. He previously had a cameo going through a metal detector in "Jet Scream".
- This episode marks the last appearance of Earl.
- Murky the Bear is an obvious parody of Smokey the Bear, an popular mascot created by the US government to teach people the dangers of wild fires.
- Both "Spring Cleaning" and the "Spelling Song" were featured on the 1998 compilation album Best of Nicktoons, which was later rereleased on vinyl in early 2010.
- The songs were written by Dan Povenmire and Swampy Marsh, with the exception of "Ed's Song", which had lyrics by Martin Olson and uses the music of the APM track "Busy Bachelor".
- It was later found that fluorocarbons do not appear in aerosol sprays. When Dan Povenmire and Jeff "Swampy" Marsh used this as a plot point for an episode of Phineas and Ferb, the makers of several aerosol sprays threatened to sue them, so a line at the end was dubbed over to say that aerosol sprays were harmless.
- The title of the episode is a pun off of Xanadu (1980).
- It is also a reference to the Tanzanian archipelago of the same name.
- The old goat who finds a dead rat in his trunk uses Mr. Bighead's trunk from "Gutter Balls".
- Also in the same room, look for a mouse skeleton in a mouse trap wearing red shorts, white gloves and yellow shoes.
- This is the last episode to be animated by Sunwoo Animation.
- This episode shared it's same end music from "The Emperor's New Joe".
- Goof: Mr. Bighead is seen singing "Spring Cleaning" with the other citizens of O-Town, despite his anti-environmental stance.
Quotes[]
- Heffer: (singing) Spring cleaning! Spring cleaning!
- Rocko: Heff?
- Heffer: Hi, Rocko!
- Rocko: Why was everyone singing?
- Heffer: We just had a song in our hearts.
- Rocko: How is it you all know the words? Did you rehearse?
- Heffer: Yeah, every Thursday. Didn't you see the flyers?
- (after the spelling song)
- Rocko: What a sappy song.
- Rocko: Wait! Where are you going? You aren't gonna let them get away with this, are ya?
- Farmer: Well, yeah. That's Conglom-O.
- Old lady: They own everything.
- Weasel: They even own City Hall. And you know what they say!
- Rocko: It's going to be a song, isn't if, Heff?
- Rocko: My name is Rocko, and, well I represent a group of consumers who... Well, uh, we just noticed lately that your company has been polluting the rivers and destroying the forests, and, we'd like you to... maybe you could... R-E-C... Y-C-L-E... recycle?
- Board member: Why is he spelling?
- Rocko: Well, there's a catchy tune that goes with it, but I missed the rehearsals.
- All: Hi, Ed!
- Rocko: The whole town wanted to express their thanks for cleaning up!
- Heffer: We've made you this plaque.
- Mr. Bighead: Plaque, schmaque. If it hadn't been for you lousy do-gooders, I wouldn't have had to do anything! You and your lousy song! "R-E-C-Y-C-L-E recycle". HA! You want a song? Try this one!
- Captain Compost Heap: So you see, boys and girls, if you're not nice to Mother Nature, she'll kick our butts!
Songs[]
- "Spring Cleaning"
- "Ed's Song"
- "Spelling Song"
- "You Can't Fight City Hall"
- "Spelling Song (reprise)"
- "Rocko Fought City Hall"
- "Spelling Song (Ed's reprise)"