The thirteenth and final episode of the third season of Rocko's Modern Life.
Zanzibar
This musical episode about recycling sees Rocko trying to get the Conglom-O Corporation to clean up their act (and the environment).
Fatal Contraption
This no-dialogue episode tells of Rocko's attempts to return a mischievous, malfunctioning food processor.
"Zanzibar" provides examples of:
- Angry Mob Song: Parodied with a bit of Lyrical Dissonance; Rocko rallies the other citizens of O-Town against Conglom-O due to the latter's polluting practices, but they're cheery the entire time.Rocko: We demand to see the board of directors!
Security Guard: And you would be?
Heffer: We're a big unruly mob!
Other Citizens: (singing happily) We're a big unruly mob! - Ash Face: Mr. Bighead's entire body gets covered in ash after he gets torched by the sun for his shabby treatment of the Ozone layer.
- Asshole Victim: Mr. Bighead spends the whole episode complaining about the environment and boasting about how he can dump his garbage anywhere he pleases. At the end of the episode, he gets roasted by the sun.
- Bait-and-Switch: When Heffer overhears someone saying "Only you can protect the planet.", he says "Look, it's Murky the Bear!". It is then revealed that it was really Captain Compost Heap who was talking earlier.
- Big "SHUT UP!": This exchange after Rocko admits to the security guard that he doesn't know the words to the song everyone else is singing:Citizens of O-Town (singing): He doesn't know the wooooooooooords!
Rocko: SHAAADDDUUUUUUUUP! - Black Comedy: At the beginning of this episode, as a goat sings, "Fall is for raking all the leaves off the ground", an arm pokes out from the pile of leaves, much to his shock.
- Continuity Porn: Throughout the episode, characters that have appeared in prior episodes, even minor characters only appearing in one episode, appear during the song numbers and as part of Rocko's mob to Conglom-O to protest the pollution.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive:
- Subverted with Mr. Dupette when Rocko and the mob invades his conference room; Unlike most depictions of a corporate executive in Green Aesop episodes, he's ultimately more negligent than genuinely malevolent.
- Played straight with Mr. Bighead; he doesn't care about recycling and prefers to dump his garbage wherever he pleases. He is even put in charge of handling Conglom-O's waste and does so very carelessly.
- Demoted to Extra: In this episode, Filburt is just part of the chorus of numerous O-Town citizens instead of being one of Rocko's close friends, the way Heffer is here.
- Diegetic Musical: Parodied; the whole town sings a song about recycling, and when Rocko asks how they came up with the song on the spot, the townspeople say that they didn't; they practice this song every week.
- Earth Song: The episode ends with "The Recycle Song", a Spelling Song about recycling sung by Captain Compost Heap, which inspires the citizens of O-Town to recycle their garbage to keep the Earth clean.
- Ecocidal Antagonist: Mr. Bighead hates the environment and is content with dumping his garbage wherever he pleases, even to the point of singing a song about it. Captain Compost Heap encourages the citizens of O-Town to recycle through The Recycle Song, then gets Rocko to lead them to get the Conglom-O corporation to clean up their act. Mr. Dupette, the CEO of Conglom-O is more negligent than genuinely malevolent and is happy to comply. He gets Mr. Bighead, who has been put in charge of handling Conglom-O's waste and did so very carelessly, to clean up his act. The citizens of O-Town thank Mr. Bighead, who unfortunately hasn't learned his lesson. He tells them off for making him clean up when he could have just relaxed and continued to dump his garbage wherever he pleases. He ends up getting roasted by the Sun for this.
- Green Aesop: Unlike numerous other examples of this trope, the polluting company (Conglom-O) is more negligent than malicious or evil, and voluntarily cleans up their act when Rocko and friends bring the pollution issue to their attention.note
- The Grim Reaper: The Grim Recycler makes a brief appearance in this episode.
- Honest Corporate Executive: Mr. Dupette immediately agrees to clean up Conglom-O's waste distribution after Rocko and the townspeople meet with him, and then orders Ed Bighead to start doing just that. Which actually makes sense since it seems Ed was in charge of handling the company's waste, yet was doing so by carelessly dumping it wherever he pleased.
- Hypocrisy Nod: Ed was among those participating in the spring cleaning effort, only to later demand he be allowed to dump company waste in a nearby river. As he says, he's not using it, so he doesn't care.
- Iris Out: This episode ends with one on Captain Compost Heap after he provides its moral.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Ed carelessly dumped the waste wherever he could, openly not caring about the damage he was causing. In the end, he is put in charge of cleaning everything up and made to do every last bit of manual labor. During his second Villain Song, he demonstrates he hasn't learned a thing and even does some damage to the Ozone layer, which leads to him getting fried.
- Moment Killer: At the end of the big musical number "Spring Cleaning", somebody lets out a great big fart.
- Musical Chores: This episode's first song is "Spring Cleaning", where the citizens of O-Town sing about how they're going to clean up their town.
- Musical Episode: Most of the dialogue in this episode is sung, with Rocko being the noted exception. When Rocko asks Heffer how everyone knows all the words, Heffer tells them that they rehearse every Thursday. Rocko never saw the flyers, which is why he's the only character in the episode who doesn't sing.
- Spelling Song: The Recycle Song:"R-E-C-Y-C-L-E, recycle!
C-O-N-S-E-R-V-E, conserve!
Don't you P-O-L-L-U-T-E
Pollute the river, sky or sea,
Or else you're gonna get what you deserve!" - Spoof Aesop: "So you see, boys and girls, if you're not nice to Mother Nature, she'll kick our butts!"
- Take That!: In the scene where the old goat asks, "Where'd I get this dead rat?", inside a nearby mousetrap is a mouse skeleton wearing white gloves, red pants, and yellow shoes.
- Trash of the Titans: When the Citizens of O-Town arrive at the O-Town Garbage Dump, they find it so overcrowded with garbage that they're unable to dump theirs. While Mr. Bighead prefers to dump his garbage wherever he pleases (even to the point of singing a song about it), Captain Compost Heap sings The Recycle Song to encourage the citizens of O-Town to recycle their garbage.
- Triumphant Reprise: The citizens of O-Town crash Conglom-O's meeting with a rousing reprise of "RECYCLE". After the successful meeting, they sing "Rocko Fought City Hall" which is the reprise of "You Can't Fight City Hall".
- Ungrateful Bastard: When all of O-Town thanks Mr. Bighead for cleaning up his act and that of the Conglom-O corporation, Mr. Bighead tells them off for making him do it when he could have just relaxed and continued to dump his garbage wherever he pleases.
- Villain Song: Mr. Bighead has two in this episode.
- He sings the first one, set to the tune of "Busy Bachelor" when Rocko protests against him dumping his garbage wherever he pleases.
- He sings the Dark Reprise of "RECYCLE" near the end, after all of O-Town thanks him for cleaning up his act and that of Conglom-O."I don't have the patience to recycle,
I don't care about the Ozone layer,
I don't buy a single thing that's biodegradable,
and I just dump my garbage anywhere!"
"Fatal Contraption" provides examples of:
- Anvil on Head: To get rid of Spunky, the Food-O-Matic drops a number of heavy objects, including an anvil, a safe, a piano, an anchor, and an elephant. They miss Spunky every single time.
- The Cat Came Back: Whenever Rocko tries to get rid of the Food-O-Matic, it always comes back.
- Circling Vultures: When Rocko drops the Food-O-Matic off in the desert, a hungry vulture eyes him. In the Food-O-Matic's next scene, the Food-O-Matic is sitting around pieces of the vulture's skeleton.
- Fun with Flushing: when Rocko catches the Food-O-Matic hurting Spunky, he flushes him down the toilet as punishment.
- Hollywood Mirage: When the Food-O-Matic is walking alone in the desert, he comes across an oaisis where other Food-O-Matics are lounging. He jumps into it, only to reveal it to be a mirage and him to have jumped into a field of cacti.
- I Choose to Stay: At the end of the episode, Rocko comes back for the Food-O-Matic to take it back home, but the Food-O-Matic reveals that he has made a lot of money selling cactus juice to the thirsty desert wanderers and building his own cactus juice bar and casino.
- Iris Out: This episode ends with one on Rocko after he finds out that the Food-O-Matic has chose to stay in the desert.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Rocko drops the Food-O-Matic off in the desert after it destroys his house, then feels guilty and goes back for it. Rocko begins to overheat and dehydrate, but is saved when the Food-O-Matic gives him a glass of cactus juice.
- No-Dialogue Episode: This episode features no dialogue except for an announcer saying "Buy this! Food-O-Matic 2000!"
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: Rocko's shenanigans with the food processor eventually lead to him being left homeless after his house gets blown up.
- Shout-Out:
- This episode's title is a reference to the 1987 film, Fatal Attraction.
- When the Food-O-Matic is walking alone in the desert, a bird runs past him three times, and just later he's getting roasted by a wolf.
- Squashed Flat: When the Food-O-Matic leaves a trail of dog biscuits for Spunky to eat, Spunky is led into the road, where a truck approaches him. The truck swerves out of the way and flattens the Food-O-Matic instead, then a cement truck runs over him.
- Stuff Blowing Up: The Food-O-Matic's shenanigans eventually lead to Rocko's house being blown up.
- Toilet Humor: Feh-Mart, the hardware store that Rocko buys the Food-O-Matic from is treated like a pet store. At one point, a toaster puts two pieces of bread in its slots, then poops out two pieces of burnt toast.
- Trail of Bread Crumbs: The Food-O-Matic attempts to get rid of Spunky by laying a trail of dog biscuits for him to eat, eventually leading him into the road.
- Trash the Set: The show's third season concludes with Rocko's house blowing up, leaving nothing but a few scorched pieces of framework.
- What Happened to the Mouse?: Spunky pretty much disappears from the rest of the episode after Rocko's house blows up, seeming to imply that Spunky was injured in the explosion (but obviously not killed, as Spunky appears in subsequent episodes.)
