YMMV / Rocko's Modern Life: Static Cling

• Angst? What Angst?: None of the main characters seem even the least bit fazed from being stuck in space for 20 years, and everyone of the supporting cast, save for Mr. Bighead, take their return in stride. They treat it as if they’ve been gone for a few days or so.
• Awesome Art: From the first preview alone, the special was lauded for its massive improvements to the original series' designs, updating it just enough for the digital age while remaining faithful to the appearance fans know and love. Best of all, nearly everything is still hand-drawn, with little to no 3D effects or tweening for the animation itself; Rocko's house barreling end over end while returning to his property is still drawn frame-by-frame and looks incredible.
• Awesome Music: Courtesy of Pat Irwin, who, somehow, managed to reunite the original musicians from the show, including trombonist Art Baron.
• Fanfic Fuel:
  • The viewers never find out anything about Rachel's soul-searching journey and what led to her discovering that she was transgender, leaving a lot of doors open for fan theories.
  • What exactly were Filburt’s kids doing while their dad was stuck in space? And what prevented them from rescuing him?
• Franchise Original Sin: The first trailer received a bit of backlash due to the presence of topical humor, making fun of things like smartphones, 3D printers, and hipster food trucks. However, the original show also had its fair share of 1990s references, with episodes about roller rinks and then-modern entertainment systems. The show is called "Rocko's Modern Life" for a reason — it's always been a satire of modern suburban life. The special did receive less backlash when it premiered properly and it became clearer that the humor wasn't much different from that of the original show.
• Genius Bonus: Rachel was revealed to be a trans woman. It was partially based off of the fact that frogs can change their sex. After all, it wouldn’t be Rocko without a Furry Reminder.
• Hilarious in Hindsight: Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt search for Rachel Bighead and end up asking aliens in Roswell, New Mexico. So if you had the three of them in the "Gets in" tier of the Area 51 meme inspired by the "Storm Area 51, They Can't Stop All of Us" event, you were right!
• It Was His Sled: Rocko and his friends finding out that Ralph Bighead is a trans woman now named Rachel is probably the most well-known part of the movie.
• LGBT Fanbase: Rachel Bighead was warmly accepted by transgender fans upon the special's release. Not only is she considered a great character in her own right, having already been established in the series proper, but Rachel having accepted herself as transgender is not only depicted as completely normal, but a good thing as she's finally found herself and is now living her best life. Even Mr. Bighead doesn't really seem to be transphobic, as he appears to take issue with the fact that his child has changed at all and not because of this specific change.
• Signature Scene: The most well-known and circulated scene of the special is Rachel coming out to Rocko and his friends. This is partly due to it being released as a preview shortly before the special was released, and partly because the casual transgender representation attracted so many people.
• Tainted by the Preview: Some fans were put off by the teaser, which crammed in as many nods to modern trends as possible (despite the show having "Modern" in the title). Many of the references, such as the prevalence of Starbucks and the resurgence of 3D movies, were already dated long before the film began production or was released. Luckily, these are actually just from a montage after the characters first get back to Earth and the plot begins from there.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Despite the glut of new media being a point of satire, nobody mentions to Rocko that he could watch The Fatheads through an online streaming service (especially ironic since the special aired on a streaming service). Even if his chagrin was directed towards not having new content, he acts as though he'll never be able to see it again at all just because it isn't on TV. He could also track down the old VHS tapes to replace the one that got destroyed earlier in the special, mostly near thrift stores, buy the series on DVD if it's been re-released, or simply pirate it. There's no reason for him to watch it live. Though by the time it gets into it, the town is on the verge of chaos and Rocko wasn't able to think straight.
• Unintentional Period Piece: Due to the movie being stuck on The Shelf of Movie Languishment from 2017 to 2019, some of the references to "modern" trends were outdated by the time the film was finally released:
  • Selfie sticks had died out, and were mainly considered a nuisance and are even banned at Disney Theme Parks.
  • Hoverboards (self-balancing scooters), which are featured in one part of the film, quickly lost popularity once they started exploding without warning.
• Watched It for the Representation: While the special was already hyped, it attracted even more attention — including from those who didn't watch the original show — when it was revealed that Rachel Bighead was a trans woman and that the special had a subplot about trans acceptance.
• Win Back the Crowd:
  • The special brings back the dirty jokes that were downplayed in the final season. One example is changing Chewey Chicken's name back to "Chokey".
  • After being inexplicably absent in the show's finale, Dr. Hutchinson returns for the film, still in good touch with Filburt.
• Woolseyism: The Latin-American dub managed to add a couple.
  • When Rocko begs Rachel to bring back the Fatheads, instead of asking for "at least a special", he asks if he could bring them back with their original voices, which was a very common request for the special itself.
  • A sad one appears almost at the end. When Rocko traps Ed in a bag to bring him to the premiere, he demands him to let him go, and he says "Íñigo never treated me like this", making reference to Carlos Íñigo, Rocko's original voice in Spanish, who passed away in 2017.

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