God Rocks! is a Canadian Christian animated series about a literal Christian rock band - they don't just play rock, they're made of rock. Their names are Chip, Gem, Splinter and Carb. The songs they sing are all based on Bible verses.
The original four episodes were released direct-to-DVD from 2002 to 2004, and were animated in CGI. Later, in 2005, 2D-animated episodes entitled God Rocks! BibleToons were released. Finally, in 2013, a TV series called RocKidsTV aired on TBN.
There was a real-life band by the name of God Rocks! that was created to promote the series. They performed every song featured in the series, voiced the characters, and released multiple CDs.
This show provides examples of:
- Ambiguous Syntax: In the BibleToons episode "Lava-Java Rescue", when the God Rocks are talking about how hard it is to babysit the Lava-Java, one of them mentions the Lava-Java he was taking care of had crashed his computer. One could assume that they overworked his computer, but he immediately follows it up by saying they crashed his computer "all over the floor", changing it to a different meaning entirely.
- Anthropomorphic Food: The bad guys in the TV show the rocks watch in "A Blast from the Past (Anybody Got Change for a Buck?)" are mutant alien vegetables, a spoof on how VeggieTales, which God Rocks! is a competitor to, stars vegetables.
- Banana Peel: In the BibleToons episode "Lava-Java Rescue", Chip slips on a banana peel trying to stop a Lava-Java from playing with the grocery store food.
- Band Toon: It's about anthropomorphic rocks who sing tunes with lessons from the Bible.
- Be Yourself: After she has been teased for being different, the band encourage a young God Rock to be true to herself because that's just how God made her.
- Cat Up a Tree: In the BibleToons episode "Put on Love", Chip is going to a movie with his friends when he sees a cat in a tree and, feeling compassionate due to the Fruits of the Spirit coat he is wearing, saves it.
- Cephalothorax: Carb is a short rock with floating limbs.
- Chromatic Arrangement: With four colors instead of three; Chip is blue, Gem is pink (which would fill in the red spot), Splinter is green, and Carb is yellow.
- Color-Coded for Your Convenience: Chip, Gem, Splinter, and Carb are blue, pink, green, and yellow respectively and have their live-action counterparts wearing a shirt with their color on it.
- "Double, Double" Title: The BibleToons song "Faith, Faith, Faith" has the triple variety.
- Dreadful Musician: In the BibleToons episode "Kitney vs. Mini-Bot", Kitney demonstrates such bad singing skills that she causes Splinter to faint.
- Either/Or Title: The four original episodes have an alternate title that begins with "or..." on the cover.
- "Ten Rockin' Rules (or... Wakin' Up is Hard to Do)"
- "A Blast From the Past" (or... Anybody Got Change for a Buck?)"
- "Splatball Square-Off (or... Nose to Knee With a Defiant Giant)"
- "Flip-Flop and Rock (or... It's Ruff to be Puff)"
- Evil Cannot Comprehend Good: A robot keeps on trying to ruin the God Rocks concert to raise money for a good cause, and he doesn't understand that even after he steals their instruments they still desire to play.
- Floating Limbs: Multiple characters have them. Carb in particular has floating hands, and neither are his feet connected to his body.
- Gag Lips: Butter Blossom has exaggeratedly large pink lips and tends to use her mouth to kiss Carb.
- Gonky Femme: Butter Blossom, one of the Lava-Java, has large lips and noticeable problems with her teeth that make her less than what you would call attractive, yet she doesn't have a problem kissing Carb.
- Heel Realization: The BibleToons episode "Put on Love" ends with Carb putting on Chip's Fruits of the Spirit coat and, realizing how impatient he was while going to the movie, tells Chip to forgive him.
- Movie-Theater Episode: "Put on Love" has Chip going to a David and Goliath movie with the rest of the God Rocks, only for him to do nice things on the way there that make Carb a bit uneasy due to them being distractions (he likes to watch the previews before the film). Chip is wearing a coat that his dad wore in a play about the Fruits of the Holy Spirit, which is what makes him do nice things.
- Once per Episode: Each episode has at least one song in it, usually taking up a segment.
- Pun-Based Title: God Rocks!, because it's trying to tell you that God rocks, but it's about actual rocks. It's also a pun on the term "rock god".
- Punny Name: As well as the show's title, each of the main characters has a rock pun for their name. 'Chip' works because rocks can be chipped, 'Gem' speaks for itself, 'Splinter' works because you can get a splinter from a sharp rock, and 'Carb' could be short for 'carbon'. Plus, Chip's last name is Livingstone.
- The Smurfette Principle: Gem is the only female of the God Rocks band.
- Space Episode: God Rocks! Starlight Rescue!, the series finale of God Rocks! BibleToons, has the characters going into space to stop an evil star named Evil Darkon from taking the other stars' light for himself.
- Take That!: "A Blast from the Past (Anybody Got Change for a Buck?)" makes fun of VeggieTales. In the TV show that the rocks watch, the bad guys are mutant alien vegetables. They also show a cucumber (Larry) and a tomato (Bob) being crushed in a "veggie masher."
- Tempting Fate: In the BibleToons episode "The Great Carboo", Carb builds a sand castle and declares that the Kingdom of Carb "will stand forever!" A boat arrives at that moment and causes a wave to hit the castle, destroying it.
- Theme Tune Roll Call: The theme song names, in order, Chip, Gem, Splinter, and Carb.
- Tooth Strip: The art style gives most of the characters undivided strips of teeth.
- Visual Pun:
- The show's premise is a pun on Luke 19:40 - "If the people fall silent, the stones will cry out." The rocks in God Rocks! play music, just in case the people fall asleep.
- The God Rocks! band consists of rocks. They're quite literally a rock band.
- The BibleToons episode "Put on Love" is a literal interpretation of verses from Colossians naming the Fruits of the Spirit and encouraging the reader to "put on love", which "binds together everything in perfect harmony". Chip wears an actual jacket that represents the Fruits of the Spirit, and it causes him to do nice things when he otherwise wouldn't.
- You Do NOT Want To Know: In a RocKidsTV "Parable Playhouse" segment, after the God Rocks group sings a jaunty sea shanty about fishermen, Gem tells everyone that the kingdom of Heaven is like the fish they catch - like how the fishers keep the fish, God will keep anyone who follows the statutes of Christianity forever. When Chip asks what happens to everybody else, Gem's only response is "You don't wanna know." and to keep him from guessing.
