The ninth episode of the second season of Rocko's Modern Life.
Born to Spawn
On his 21st birthday, Filburt is torn between his instincts and his fears of growing up when he feels the urge to go back to his ancestral spawning grounds.
Uniform Behavior
Heffer damages his father's car and takes a job as a security guard to pay it off, but the position goes to his head and leads him to have a Shining-style mental breakdown.
"Born To Spawn" provides examples of:
- Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick: Filbert tells Spunky to do some tricks like rolling over, playing dead and bending a spoon with his thoughts.
- Bland-Name Product: The name of the pirate ship-shaped seafood restaurant that Filburt hijacks to go to Kerrplopitgoes Island is The Jolly Robert, a parody of the Long John Silver's seafood restaurant.
- Birthday Episode: Filburt's 21st birthday is celebrated in this episode.
- Coincidental Broadcast: Rocko and Heffer are at the Nifty Drug Store buying groceries when a nearby television broadcasts a news report about Filburt hijacking a Jolly Robert seafood restaurant to go to Kerrplopitgoes Island.
- Coming of Age: Filburt is angsting about becoming an adult as he is forced to go to his birthplace, Kerrplopitgoes Island, for a Rite of Passage, which turns out to be a theme party in honor of The '70s, where all the nerdy turtles become temporarily cool.
- Cordon Bleugh Chef: Heffer makes Filburt a pineapple cake... which he proceeds to smother in teriyaki sauce.
- Disco Dan: The Rite of Passage at Kerrplopitgoes Island has a 1970s theme to it, with all the turtles dancing to disco music and wearing 70s fashions, and all feel cool doing so.
- Gratuitous Spanish: Heffer tells Filburt "Feliz cumpleaños!"
- Growing Up Sucks: Filburt dreads having to become an adult, as he's heard horror stories of eating bran and wearing strange undergarments. Fortunately, he finds out that growing up isn't so bad after all when he has a party with the other turtles on Kerrplopitgoes Island.
- Here We Go Again!: At the end of the episode, a bunch of fast-food restaurants align with each other in the same way that the planets of the solar system did, causing Heffer to give into his steer instincts.
- No Matter How Much I Beg: Filburt tasks Rocko and Heffer with keeping him in Rocko's house no matter what he says or does. Sure enough, he tries to escape, but Rocko and Heffer keep him in Rocko's house, even going as far as putting him in a straitjacket. However, with help from Spunky, Filburt manages to escape.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: Filburt tries to get out of Rocko's house by disguising himself as Rocko, wearing one of Rocko's shirts, a bucket for a nose, socks for ears, and a toilet brush for a tail. He also does a poor imitation of Rocko, but Heffer still falls for it nonetheless mostly because he's staring at the television.
- Punny Name: The name of the island where Filburt was born is called Kerrplopitgoes Island.
- Removable Shell: Club Spawn has a shelless beach, which is a turtles' equivalent of a nudist beach. Here, the turtles can take off their shells and tan themselves. Sure enough, some shell-less turtles can seen tanning themselves, and their shells can be seen in a pile.
- Rise of Zitboy: When Filburt gets a blemish on his head shaped like Kerrplopitgoes Island, he hides it by wearing a beanie.
- Shock Party: Rocko and Heffer plan a surprise birthday party for Filburt by inviting him to give them a slideshow of one of his vacations. But once Filburt arrives and Rocko and Heffer call out "SURPRISE!" Filburt freaks out from the shock and drops his slides and projector and they all break.
- Shout-Out: The scene where Filburt molds a tall cake prepared by Heffer into the shape of Kerrplopitgoes Island spoofs the scene in Close Encounters of the Third Kind where Roy sculpts Devil's Tower out of mashed potatoes.
- That Man Is Dead: When Filburt arrives at Kerrplopitgoes Island, he goes by the name of Steve. He goes back to his normal self when the party ends.
- When the Planets Align: Filburt's breed of turtle has a mating season that occurs when all the planets are in alignment, and is hypnotically irresistible. In the end, Heffer has a similar problem starting when all the fast food restaurants go into alignment.
- Zombie Gait: When Filburt explains to Rocko and Heffer that on their twenty-first birthday, each turtle must migrate back to their birthplace of Kerrplopitgoes Island to become an adult, the turtles in the following cutaway walk like zombies. This episode's title card also depicts the turtles walking this way.
"Uniform Behavior" provides examples of:
- Biting-the-Hand Humor: While going through the want ads, Heffer finds one for a television executive producer which advertised "Huge salary, little work". Unfortunately for Heffer, it also said "No cows".
- Brilliant, but Lazy: In spite being such a slacker, Heffer manages to hold down his job as a security guard, even if he does go mad with power.
- Donut Mess with a Cop: This episode's title card has Heffer, dressed in his security guard uniform, shining a flashlight on a donut with the episode's title written on it.
- Downer Ending: This episode ends with Heffer being arrested and thrown in jail for being naked in public. When Rocko comes to visit him and tells him off for letting the power of his position go to his head, he is about to pay his bail, but when Heffer asks him if he can borrow some money to pay for the repairs to George's car, Rocko changes his mind and tells the guard to let Heffer stay in jail for a little while longer.
- Drunk with Power: Heffer as he works as a security guard. He asks Filburt for an ID and gives Rocko a ticket on his way to the Conglom-O building, despite them being his best friends, and among working he sees Ed Bighead taking a few Conglom-O light bulbs home and thinks it's an act of burglary, grabbing Ed and literally tossing him out the back of the building.
- Everyone Has Standards: Even Rocko can see that Heffer has yet to learn his lesson in the end and decides that Heffer is better off rotting in prison for a while until he does. Heffer thinks it's all a joke, until he sees that Rocko left for real.
- Hand-or-Object Underwear: After Heffer gets arrested and thrown in jail for being naked in public, he uses his hat to censor his groin.
- Impact Silhouette: Heffer's coworker who shows him his office leaves a hole shaped like his body in a glass door he runs through. Near the end of the episode, when Heffer has a freakout for letting the power go to his head, he does this as well.
- Jaywalking Will Ruin Your Life: When Rocko runs up to Heffer, Heffer gives him a ticket for jaywalking. This later comes back to bite Heffer when he sells his soul for a root beer float at Cafe Conglomo.
- Kevlard: The whole plot gets kickstarted when Heffer gets into an accident when he borrows his dad’s car. Too fat for the seatbelt, he ends up launched out of the vehicle, but also his fat seemingly protects him from any harm. The same could not be said for the car, however.
- Low Clearance: The Chokey Chicken mascot decoration falls off a Chokey Chicken truck when it drives under a low bridge.
- Police Code for Everything: The stress of Heffer's position as a security guard causes him to have a Shining-style mental breakdown and flee into the streets tearing off his clothes. He catches the attention of a police officer who notes a 10-41, "Naked cow in public".
- Shout-Out:
- This episode begins with a trailer for Robofrog IV.
- This episode has various nods to Stanley Kubrick's film adaptation of Stephen King's The Shining, including Heff riding a tricycle, the creepy twins, Lloyd the demon bartender, and "Heeeeeeeeere's Heffer!"
- Sold His Soul for a Donut: When Heffer arrives at Cafe Conglomo, he says he'd sell his soul for a soda. Lloyd the demon bartender appears and asks him, "What flavor, Heffer?", at which point Heffer orders a root beer float, only to regret it when he has visions of his friends telling him off for letting the power of his position go to his head.
- Tempting Fate: Heffer decides seatbelts "are for sissies". Immediately after, he ends up damaging his dad's car as a result of not wearing one.
- Work Off the Debt: Heffer accidentally damages George's car as a result of not wearing his seatbelt when he dodges a runaway decoration of the Chokey Chicken mascot. George insists that Heffer gets a job to pay for the repairs, much to Heffer's horror.
