The fourth episode of the second season of Rocko's Modern Life.
Down the Hatch
Bloaty and Squirmy think a Fatheads vitamin in Spunky's stomach is a treasure.
Road Rash
Rocko and Heffer go on a road trip to see Flemm Rock before it's paved over.
"Down the Hatch" provides examples of:
- Companion Food: At the Pet Hospital, Filburt has a steer vet examine Margaret, a loaf of moldy bread he keeps as a pet. The vet convinces Filburt to trade it to him for a jar of sauce. Rocko accidentally breaks the jar on his way into the pet hospital, much to Filburt's dismay, but Rocko promises Filburt that he'll replace it.
- Flea Episode: This is the second episode to focus on Bloaty and Squirmy, a pair of parasites who live on (and, in this case, inside) Spunky's body.
- Green-Eyed Monster: Parodied at the end; after the tablet kills off all the other bugs in Spunky's body, it leaves Bloaty and Squirmy as the lone survivors. This exchange then occurs between them:Bloaty: Well, Squirmy. Looks like we're the only ones left. It was cursed!
Squirmy: No, we were cursed! Cursed with greed!
(Upbeat ragtime music plays)
Bloaty and Squirmy: Oh well!
(Bloaty and Squirmy skip away) - Honorary Uncle: Rocko suggests that Spunky watch TV with "Uncle" Heffer.
- Hypocritical Humor: Heffer tells Rocko he's been watching him sleep (a very creepy and weird thing to do) and then calls him weird.
- It Came from the Fridge: Filburt's "pet" Margaret is a loaf of very moldy bread that he claimed "moved yesterday" when the vet tries to take "her" away from him.
- Remember the New Guy?: Rocko's flashback has a pink bunny inexplicably hanging out around Heffer and Rocko. Heffer doesn't know who the rabbit is and asks about it.
- Shamed by a Mob: Bloaty and Squirmy attract the other bugs to the tablet by claiming it to hold the secret of eternal youth. After making money off the bugs, the bugs form a mob so they can take what's rightfully theirs.
- Shout-Out: The Fatheads brand chewable vitamin cheese tablets are a nod the to the Real Life Flinstones chewable vitamins
. - Sole Survivor: Bloaty and Squirmy are the only remaining parasites that survive the toxic Fathead vitamin. Whether it was the vitamin or themselves that were cursed, they shrug it off and frolic away.
- Stock Footage: At the beginning of this episode, clips of the Fatheads from their titular Show Within a Show from "I Have No Son!" are used in a commercial for Fatheads brand chewable vitamin cheese tablets.
- Stuff Blowing Up: It is revealed in this episode that giving a pet a Fatheads brand chewable vitamin cheese tablet to a pet will cause the pet to explode in nineteen minutes. Rocko reminds Heffer of the time they were at his grandmother's house and he gave a tablet to the cat, causing her to explode. Rocko then finds out that Heffer gave Spunky a tablet, and now they have to get it out of Spunky before he explodes in nineteen minutes. Also, inside Spunky's stomach, the tablet causes any parasite who eats it to explode almost instantly.
- Vocal Evolution: At the start of the episode, Tom Kenny's Heffer voice sounds as it did in the first season, but then by the halfway point Heffer sounds more like he usually does for the remainder of the series.
- What the Hell, Hero?: When Rocko reminded Heffer the time he fed a vitamin to his grandmother's cat which caused it to explode, he asks him how could he forgot about it. He repeat the question screaming when he learns Heffer fed a vitamin to Spunky.
- Your Tomcat Is Pregnant: Parodied when the vet finds the tablet in Spunky's ear:Vet: Here's the problem. That vitamin we were looking for was in his ear all the time!
Rocko: Great! Uh, what does that mean?
Vet: It means good ol' Spunky here is gonna be a mommy.
Rocko: But Spunky's a boy dog.
Vet: Oh. Then, uh... I guess it means Spunky's fine.
"Road Rash" provides examples of:
- All Bikers are Hells Angels: Subverted; this episode features a biker gang that has a serious image problem (and only one Hells Angel, and the leader reprimands him when he suggests they tie the boys to the back of their bikes and drag them, arguing that it's talk like that that gives biker trash a bad name). They turn out to be helpful, and fix up Rocko and Heffer's truck when it breaks down...with a complimentary road map and air freshener.
- Alliterative Title: Road Rash.
- Bait-and-Switch: Heffer's Rousing Speech to convince Rocko to join him on a road trip to see Flemm Rock one last time ends with an American Flag appearing behind him. It is then revealed that that flag was a decoration on a truck, whose driver asks him how to get to the O-Town Flag Emporium.
- Big Eater: Heffer wins a hot dog-shaped truck for eating an entire plate of a certain meal thought impossible to finish, while casually talking with Rocko. The kicker is that he only ordered one plate of the meal instead of his originally intended two plates because there weren't enough pigs in the North American continent for two plates.
- Bland-Name Product: Upon finishing the Knockwurst Nightmare platter, one of the prizes Heffer wins is a box of Rice-a-Rooni, the San Fernando treat.
- Bowdlerize: Modern reruns and home video releases cut out the scene where Rocko and Heffer spend the night at the No-Tell Motel, with only the motel's exterior shown.
- The Cameo: While trying to find a shortcut to Flemm Rock, Rocko and Heffer wind up in Heck, where Peaches appears as a hitchhiker, holding up a sign that says "Purgatory or Bust".
- The Dinnermobile: The "Weeniemobile" Heffer wins at the diner for finishing the Knockwurst Nightmare Platter, a direct reference to the Oscar-Mayer Weinermobiles.
- Everything's Louder with Bagpipes: Heffer's idea of road trip music is a tape of all-bagpipe versions of disco music. Unfortunately, it gets stuck in the player and Heffer accidentally breaks the off switch. The music eventually drives Rocko up the wall, and he accidentally trashes their motorcycle in a fit of rage trying to get the tape out of the player.
- Face of a Thug: The bikers that Rocko and Heffer meet look extremely intimidating, but they're a genuinely nice group of people who help the boys fix up their wiener car.
- Here We Go Again!: After Flemm Rock is destroyed and replaced with a Chokey Chicken restaurant, Rocko talks to Heffer about how he enjoyed the road trip and that they should do it again sometime. Heffer then tries to talk Rocko into going into the other landmarks he showed him at the beginning of the episode, much to Rocko's horror.
- Mega Meal Challenge: Heffer stops at a diner while Rocko tries to fix the tape player on their motorbike (and accidentally trashes it in the process). Heffer asks for the biggest thing on the menu, which happens to be the Knockwurst Nightmare, a dish consisting of 570 pounds of pig parts in two miles of intestines, which no one has ever finished. Heffer asks for two, only to be told that "there aren't enough pigs in the country" for two plates, so he orders "one and a side of fries" (the latter never being shown). Heffer eventually finishes it, and wins a hot-dog-shaped truck for him and Rocko to finish their trip.
- Motor Mouth: When Rocko and Heffer ask a farmer for directions on how to get to Flemm Rock, the farmer goes on a ramble about his friend Ferb, which goes on for hours. He continues his ramble long after Rocko and Heffer leave.
- Musical Pastiche: As Rocko starts up Heffer's motorcycle to begin their road trip, a sound-alike of Steppenwolf's "Born to Be Wild" plays. This music plays again when Rocko drives the hot dog-shaped truck Heffer wins, and Heffer even sings, "Born to eat fried food!".
- No-Tell Motel: A scene from this episode that was cut from modern reruns and home video releases has a motel named as such, where Rocko and Heffer spend the night. When Rocko requests a room for the night, the clerk asks "The whole night?" then whistles in amazement. The next shot shows the outside of the hotel, with Heffer dreaming about Sheila, and the sounds of bed springs rocking. Rocko angrily calls his name in annoyance.
- Ridiculously Fast Construction: Featured in the most absurd manner; after Flemm Rock is demolished after its final eruption, a crane drives onto the now-empty lot with a fully-constructed Chokey Chicken restaurant on the hook, and drops the restaurant right onto the lot with no damage whatsoever.
- Road Trip Plot: This episode involves Rocko and Heffer going to see Flemm Rock one last time before it's paved over. Hijinks ensue, ranging from the struggle to find a decent motel, to having to ask for directions from easily-distracted locals, to Rocko trashing their motorcycle trying to stop the tape player and having to complete their trip in a hot dog-shaped truck Heffer wins in a contest, to an encounter with some surprisingly-friendly bikers.
- Rousing Speech: Heffer gives one to Rocko to convince him to join him in going on a road trip to see Flemm Rock one last time."Listen, Rocko, this country's heart is fading away. Soon the roadside cafe and the tacky tourist trap will be relics of the past, like drive-in movies and mood rings. This could be our last chance to experience this country's cheesy attractions while we're still naive enough to be awed by them! So let's hit the road like the greatest road trippers of all time! Guys like Jack Carawack, the Greasy Riders, Peter Fondue... and that other guy! It's not just a fun idea, Rock, it's our patriotic duty!"
- Shout-Out:
- The farmer Rocko and Heffer ask for directions on how to get to Flemm Rock brings up two purple sheds, one with "Rufus" painted on its side, and the other with "Chaka Khan" on its other, as a reference to the American funk band Rufus that kicked off lead singer Chaka Khan's musical career.
- This episode features one to Psycho, when Rocko and Heffer attempt to spend a night at Bait's Motel:Motel Owner: Oh yesss. We have a vacancy. And we have showers in all the rooms. What's that?
[sees the light on in a nearby house on the hill]
Motel Owner: Excuse me. [changes into a wig and dress] Coming, Mother! [runs off] - When Heffer is the first to finish the Knockwurst Nightmare Platter at the diner, he's awarded a hot dog-shaped truck called the "Weeniemobile," a clear parody of the famous Oscar-Mayer Weinermobiles.
- Trashy Tourist Trap: Rocko and Heffer go on a road trip to see Flemm Rock, a supposed natural wonder that's about to get paved over. The rock turns out to be incredibly small.
- Visual Pun:
- Flemm Rock is shaped like a nose and flows green algae-rich waters, creating the illusion of a nose spewing phlegm.
- When the hot dog-shaped truck Heffer wins breaks down, he tells Rocko, "I think the battery's dead", and the battery shown is a giant D battery.
- Wingding Eyes: Heffer's eyes become stars when he convinces Rocko to go on the road trip with him.
