Original air date: 1/2/1994 (produced in 1993)
The thirteenth and final episode of the first season of Rocko's Modern Life.
Cabin Fever
The Bigheads, Heffer and Rocko end up having to rent the same cabin after Ed mistakes the date, only to get snowed in.
Rinse and Spit
Filburt uses Rocko as a test patient for his dental school exam, the teacher being Dr. Paula Hutchison. However, the tooth ends up ravaging O-Town.
"Cabin Fever" provides examples of:
- Ash Face: Happens to Ed after his makeshift ham radio explodes.
- Bamboo Technology: Ed uses various items inside the cabin to create a ham radio to contact a rescue service (he ends up calling a fast-food restaurant) and a rocket to escape from the cabin (he ends up stranded on a deserted island).
- Bears Are Bad News: While shooting at Rocko and Heffer with a snowball bazooka, Ed accidentally shoots a bear, who punches him in the face in retaliation.
- Bigfoot, Sasquatch, and Yeti: The "Abdominal Snow Monkey" from Heffer's scary story is obviously a Yeti.
- Big Honking Traffic Jam: One appears at the beginning of the episode following behind the Bigheads as they slowly travel to the cabin they rented.
- Big "NO!": Said by Ed during his nightmare as Rocko, Bev, and Heffer ask him if he's alright.
- Bread, Eggs, Breaded Eggs: Ed does some Impossible Shadow Puppets of a running deer and the Eiffel Tower, but no one else is able to guess them. One of Heffer's guesses before Ed gives up in frustration is "It's either a hose or a radiator, or a piece of radiator hose."
- Cabin Fever: Both the title and premise of this episode. Rocko, Heffer, and the Bigheads are forced to share a cabin in the mountains, and an avalanche of snow buries it. While Rocko, Heffer, and Mrs. Bighead pass the time by playing various games, Mr. Bighead goes crazy with trying to find a way to escape.
- Deserted Island: This episode ends with Ed stuck on one after flying out of the cabin on a makeshift rocket.
- Eat the Camera: When the unconcious Ed is asked if he's all right by Rocko, Heffer, and Bev, he has a nightmare where the camera zooms in on his mouth as he screams and his uvula turns into Heffer's head.
- Explain, Explain... Oh, Crap!: When Rocko and Heffer arrive at the cabin at the same time as the Bigheads, Ed shows Rocko their receipt to prove that he and Bev rented the cabin for July 4. Ed then gets an Oh, Crap! face just before Rocko explains that it's January.
- Failed a Spot Check: Ed didn't notice his cabin reservation said July 4th until he read it out loud in front of Rocko, Heffer and Bev, leaving him sputtering in disbelief as Rocko points out it's January.
- Hair-Trigger Avalanche: One happens when Ed causes an avalanche by shouting "PINHEADS!" at the top of his lungs.
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Ed tries to get rid of Rocko and Heffer by trapping them in a giant snowball. The snowball rolls past them, up a mountain, and flies into the air, landing on Ed.
- Human Snowman: After Ed gets hit by his own giant snowball he tried to trap Rocko and Heffer in, a small snowball rolls down the mountain, which Rocko uses for the head of the snowman he and Heffer made. After they leave, Ed's head pops out from the snowball.
- I Can't Hear You: Ed makes a homemade ham radio to contact a rescue service. He contacts somebody, and tells them that he is Ed Bighead and that he is trapped in a cabin in the mountains with his wife and two guys. He is then revealed to have contacted a fast-food restaurant, whose worker says, "All right, okay. You want a large burger and two fries."
- Impossible Shadow Puppets: Ed does shadow puppets of the Thinker, a running deer and the Eiffel Tower. Much to his frustration, nobody can guess what they are.
- Match Cut: As Ed says, "Just you and me, Bev, just you and me." while holding up a key to the cabin he rented, the screen transitions to Rocko also holding up a key and saying, "Just you and me, Heff."
- Malaproper: While telling the story of the Abominable Snow Monkey to Rocko and Bev, Heffer mispronounces abominable as "abdominal".
- Rapid-Fire "But!": Ed is annoyed to find Rocko and Heffer at the same cabin that he and Bev were renting, only to stare in shock at the paper showing his vacation date while repeatedly going "but" when he realizes that he arrived on the wrong month.
- Shooting Gallery: When Ed partakes in a Snowball Fight with Rocko and Heffer, he arms himself with a bazooka, and fires at targets resembling them. This gag ends when he shoots at a target resembling a bear.
- Shout-Out: At the end of the episode, Ed ends up on a Deserted Island with two castaway pelicans playing charades. One of them makes guesses as Lord of the Flies and Harold and the Purple Crayon.
- Snowball Fight: Rocko and Heffer engage in one with Ed, who fires back at them with a bazooka.
- Snowed-In: Rocko, Heffer and the Bigheads end up snowed in their cabin after Ed's shouting causes an avalanche that buries it. While the others make the best of the situation by entertaining themselves through games of charades and the like, Ed is desperate to get out, even at one point trying in vain to claw himself out of the impacted snow.
- Strip Poker: To pass the time in the cabin, Bev plays a few rounds of this game, and manages to get Rocko and Heffer naked.
- Stuff Blowing Up: Ed attempts to use a makeshift ham radio to call for help while he and Bev are snowed in with Rocko and Heffer. After the person on the other end misinterprets him, it explodes, leaving him charred.
- Tempting Fate: On his way to the cabin, Ed says, "Cool, clean air, and no idiot neighbors." Guess who he ends up having to share the cabin with.
- Ungrateful Bastard: Ed screwed up by not realizing he reserved the cabin for July and not January, and even when Rocko and Heffer allow the Bigheads to stay with them Ed does nothing but moan and try to ruin everyone's good time.
- You Wouldn't Hit a Guy with Glasses: Ed, while wearing goggles, uses a snow launcher to pelt Rocko and Heffer with snowballs, only to accidentally nail a bear, who removes Ed's goggles right before giving him a Megaton Punch to the face.
"Rinse and Spit" provides examples of:
- And Knowing Is Half the Battle: This episode ends with a segment where Gordon, a disembodied talking leg tells the viewers that Rocko's teeth are now in perfect condition because he saw a professional dentist. He advises the viewers to take good care of their teeth and they'll be as perfect as Rocko's.
- Attack Its Weak Point: To defeat the giant tooth, Rocko instructs Filburt to toss Dr. Hutchison's hook into the cavity.
- Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: When Filburt discovers a cavity in one of Rocko's teeth, he attempts to take an X-ray of Rocko's mouth by attaching electrodes from the X-ray machine to Rocko's tooth with a cavity in it. Rocko's tooth then escapes from Rocko's mouth and uses the rays from the X-ray machine to make him grow to an enormous size.
- Character Tic: Dr. Hutchison tilts her head when saying her Catchphrase, "Kay?"
- Cowardly Lion: In a flashback, when a young Filburt sees a young Rocko about to be attacked by a gang of poodle bullies, he pulls Rocko into his shell to protect him until his mother picks them up. He then manages to distract the poodle bullies by telling them, "Look out behind you, a wild pig!"
- The Dentist Episode: In this episode, Filburt has Rocko be his patient for an examination so that he can pass his final dental exam.
- Disney Villain Death: When Filburt tosses Dr. Hutchison's hook into the cavity, the giant tooth falls over.
- Hook Hand: Dr. Hutchison has one which is extremely prominent, and she uses it to scratch something to announce herself, but she is generally a friendly warm person.
- I Owe You My Life: In a flashback, a young Filburt saves a young Rocko and Spunky from a gang of poodle bullies, and Rocko tells him "I owe you one." In the present day, when Filburt reminds Rocko that he owes him a favor, Rocko decides to be Filburt's patient for his final dental exam.
- Look Behind You: In a flashback, a young Filburt tells the poodle bullies trying to beat him and Rocko up, "Look out behind you, a wild pig!". It is then revealed that there really was a wild pig, whom the bullies chase away.
- "King Kong" Climb: After Rocko's tooth grows to an enormous size and grabs Rocko, he climbs to the top of the Conglom-O building, grabbing Dr. Hutchison along the way. After Filburt tosses Hutchison's hook into the tooth's cavity and sends the tooth falling to the ground, he even comments, "It wasn't the hook (that killed him)... t'was tartar killed the beast."
- Perpetual Smiler: Dr. Hutchison is generally seen with a big grin on her face.
- Psycho Poodle: In a flashback, a young Filburt saves a young Rocko from a gang of poodle bullies who want to trap Spunky in a jar and keep him in their collection of puppies.
- Shout-Out: At the end of the episode, Filburt is distraught after he fails his dental exam. When Rocko tries to cheer him up, Filburt says that he never wanted to be a dentist anyway, and that he always wanted to be a chimney sweep. The speech he delivers paraphrases that of the Homicidal Barber's regarding his desire to become a lumberjack. However, before Filburt can sing, Rocko tells him that there's no time for a song.
- The poodle bullies from the flashback scene call Rocko "Roo" in a bit of Malicious Misnaming.
- Visual Pun:
According to series creator Joe Murray, the decision to give Dr. Hutchison a hook for a hand is because the network executives wanted the show to have a female character with a good hook. The writers decided to take that advice a bit more literally than intended. - Wild Take: Heffer does one where his eyes pop out of his head when he sees Rocko with a face that looks like his made out of toothpaste foam.
- X-Ray Sparks: Happens to Rocko when Filburt takes an X-ray of his mouth.
- You Owe Me: When Rocko isn't sure he wants to be Filburt's patient for his final dental exam, Filburt reminds Rocko that he owes him a favor from the time he saved him from a gang of poodle bullies.
