The second episode of the second season of Rocko's Modern Life.
Pipe Dreams
Rocko and Heffer try to fix the plumbing in Rocko's house.
Tickled Pinky
While facing an appendectomy operation with Dr. Hutchison, Rocko has a crazy dream where he makes friends with Pinky, his appendix.
"Pipe Dreams" provides examples of:
- Anthropomorphic Food: When Heffer squeezes a bottle of Tropical Plumber drain cleaner, out pop an anthropomorphic lemon, banana, and pineapple who start singing and dancing before getting into a canoe and unclogging the toilet. They are promptly eaten by Spunky.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Rocko and Heffer act this way before they use the Tropical Plumber drain cleaner, looking straight at the camera with wide eyes as if they were in a commercial.Rocko: Hey, Heffer. How can we unclog our toilet quickly and inexpensively?
Heffer: Good question, Rocko. Maybe we should try... new Tropical Plumber! - Black Comedy: At one point, Rocko and Heffer use a drain cleaner known as Tropical Plumber. Heffer squeezes the bottle, and a lemon, a banana, and a pineapple start singing and dancing (Tropical Plumber, hey! Unclog your pipes today!). They get into a canoe and are about to go down into the toilet to do their thing, when they are eaten by Spunky, screaming in horror.
- Fun with Flushing: Lolita, Rocko's pet goldfish is accidentally flushed down the toilet (as he was sleeping at the time and Rocko thought he was dead), and gets stuck in the drain pipe for three and a half years, clogging it up.
- Gender-Blender Name: Rocko's pet goldfish is male, but has the rather feminine-sounding Lolita as his name.
- Grappling-Hook Pistol: Dr. Phil uses one that fires a plunger so that he can get to Lolita.
- Motor Mouth: Lolita rants for hours about his life before he got flushed down Rocko's toilet, which not only keeps Rocko up all night, but also annoys Rocko's neighbors.
- Not Quite Dead: Three and a half years before this episode's events, Rocko thought Lolita was dead when the latter was actually just sleeping and flushed him down the toilet, spending the next three and a half years living in the drain pipe and growing in size.
- Pig Man: Dr. Phil is an anthropomorphic pig.
- Plumber's Crack: Being a plumber himself, Dr. Phil has one of these.
- Shamed by a Mob: Rocko's neighbors come to Rocko's house and throw what they have at Lolita as retribution for his ranting keeping them up all night. When Rocko tells them to stop and that Lolita is his goldfish, they throw things at him instead.
- Shockingly Expensive Bill: Dr. Phil charges Rocko and Heffer $300.00 for his services. Since they don't have that kind of money, they try unsuccessfully to unclog the toilet by themselves.
- Sticky Shoes: As a crater surrounds Rocko's house as the result of an explosion from one of Rocko and Heffer's previous unclogging attempts, Dr. Phil wears toilet plungers on his feet and uses them to walk on the bottom of Rocko's house so that he can talk to Lolita.
"Tickled Pinky" provides examples of:
- Acrofatic: When Rocko collapses from the pain of his appendicitis and the medics take Rocko's jackhammer to the hospital instead of Rocko himself, Heffer decides to run Rocko as fast as he can to the hospital without stopping for anything. As Heffer takes Rocko to the hospital, he wins a marathon without even trying to.
- Bathroom Control: Rocko's sentient organs are shown attending a school. A living bladder says he has to use the bathroom, but Ms. Pancreas tells him to wait until she's done taking attendance.
- Bowdlerization: The UK version of this cartoon censored a lot:
- Heffer laughing while riding a jackhammer was cut.
- Bladder asking Miss Pancreas if he can go to the bathroom (and Miss Pancreas telling him to wait until after roll call) was cut.
- Rocko moaning that he doesn't feel well before passing out was cut.
- Heffer freaking out over Rocko passing out from appendix pain (and the beaver paramedics carting a jackhammer off in a stretcher instead of Rocko) was cut.
- Heffer running through traffic to get Rocko to the hospital (including line-cutting through a race followed by getting green water from a waiter) was cut.
- Heffer muttering, "I'm too fat" after finally getting Rocko to the hospital was cut, as was the receptionist calling for the beaver paramedics to pick Heffer up because he's "too fat", the beaver paramedics struggling to get Heffer to the emergency room, and the nurse's line, "Dear Lord! Get me that sucker, stat!" With all of this cut, there's now a Plot Hole, as to why Heffer looks hideously thin and has a surly, floating blob of fat heading off to Heaven at the end of the cartoon (even if Heffer does explain it in the dialogue)note . It should also be noted that New Zealand also censored the same parts the UK did.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Heffer is shocked when Rocko collapses from the pain of his appendicitis at the beginning of the episode. First he calls for a medic... only for said medics to take Rocko's jackhammer instead. After expressing (appropriate) annoyance with this, Hefer proceeds to cry out "I'll save you, buddy!", grab Rocko and run him as fast as he can to the hospital, not stopping for anything as he does so. Heff can be tactless, dim and a little selfish sometimes, but this episode proves that he truly cares about his best friend.
- Literal-Minded:
- When the receptionist makes Rocko fill out a large number of forms before the appendectomy, Rocko writes on the last one "Help me! The pain is excrutiating!". When the receptionist reads over the form, she refers to Rocko as "Mr. Excrutiating".
- When Dr. Hutchison diagnoses Rocko's condition, she says that he's in pain, and needs relief, which is indicated by blue wavy lines. She then decides to check the supply room for said lines.
- New Job as the Plot Demands: Dr. Hutchison gets a job as a surgeon in this episode. When Rocko sees her, he asks her if she used to be a dentist, and Dr. Hutchison tells him she was, until she got tired of always looking down in the mouth.
- Organ Autonomy: Inside Rocko's body is a school for organs. Pinky has to stay home because he's sick.
- Potty Emergency: In Organ School, Rocko's bladder asks Ms. Pancreas if he can go to the bathroom. Ms. Pancreas tells him he'll just have to hold it until after roll call. Subverted, in that Rocko felt the pain of his appendix hurting instead of a full bladder, so this episode has no "potty emergency" situation where Rocko desperately searches for a bathroom (similar to the Animaniacs episode of the same name).
- Ruptured Appendix: When Rocko gets appendicitis in this episode, Heffer rushes him to the hospital for an appendectomy. Before the procedure, Rocko has a dream in which his appendix is a little kid whom he consoles with a trip to the fair (and other, increasingly silly last requests) before he's taken out.
- Temporary Bulk Change: After Heffer gets an emergency liposuction, he shrinks down to wire-thin size, but is back to his normal weight in the next episode.
- Winged Soul Flies Off at Death: When Rocko wakes up to find out that his appendix has been removed, he tearfully takes it home in a jar and buries it in his backyard. Fortunately, Angel!Pinky, along with all his baby teeth and tonsils, visits just before ascending to Heaven and gives Rocko a proper goodbye. Same thing with Heffer's fat, though Heffer's fat isn't too happy that it has to leave without having a day at the carnival.
- X-Ray Sparks: This happens to Dr. Hutchison when she touches one of Rocko's pain-indicating lightning bolts.Dr. Hutchison: Oop! Good conductor.
- Your Television Hates You: Rocko is in a hospital bed where he is going to get his appendix cut out. He turns on the TV to take his mind off of it and sees an ad for a kitchen device called the Cut-O-Matic that looks like a mini guillotine, a chainsaw competition, and a detective show with a seedy man taking out scissors to "cut [someone] out".
