Original air date: 11/14/1993
The seventh episode of the first season of Rocko's Modern Life.
No Pain, No Gain
Tired of being out of shape (Rocko gets tired watching an aerobics show on TV while Heffer has become so fat, he can't get through Rocko's door and ends up falling through the floor), Rocko and Heffer join Flambé Le Flab, a gym run by the snooty Chameleon Brothers who take off membership points for every infraction Rocko and Heffer commit.
Who Gives a Buck
Miserable over being broke, Rocko (at Heffer's insistence) takes to buying on credit — and finds himself living in fear of the debt collectors who call for their payment.
"No Pain, No Gain" provides examples of:
- Be the Ball: The Richard Simmons pig shapes Rocko into a basketball and tosses him into a hoop.
- Get Out!: The Chameleon Brothers kick Heffer out of Flambé Le Flab after he causes Mrs. Bighead to flee in embarrassment.
- High-Dive Hijinks: When Rocko challenges Heffer to a swimming race, Heffer dives into the pool from the high dive, and his weight causes all the water to escape the pool and flood Flambé Le Flab. The Chameleon Brothers are not happy when they find out about this.
- Modesty Towel: Mrs. Bighead wears one in the juice bar and sauna. When Heffer causes Rocko to spill his drink, he grabs Mrs. Bighead's towel, causing Mrs. Bighead to flee, using a piano to cover herself.
- Naked Freak-Out: Mrs. Bighead freaks out after being inadvertently disrobed by Heffer (see above).
- Stuck in the Doorway: Heffer gets stuck in Rocko's front door at the beginning of this episode. He later gets stuck in a doorway at Flambé Le Flab.
- True Companions: Near the end of the episode, the Chameleon Brothers kick Heffer out of of Flambé Le Flab for his constant eating and destruction of the gym. When Rocko is about to leave with Heffer, the Chameleon Brothers tell Rocko that he can stay. Rocko tells them that he will only stay in the club if Heffer can stay as well, and refuses to stay when they try to convince him not to hang out with him.
- X-Ray Sparks: Happens to Rocko when he tries to lift weights on an electric weight bench.
- You Are Fat: This exchange between Rocko and Heffer when the latter visits the former's house:Rocko: You know, Heffer, we're both horribly out of shape. I'm huffing up stairs and you're getting... well...
Heffer: Fatter?
Rocko: Well...
"Who Gives a Buck" provides examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: The salesman at Just Dog Bowls calls Spunky "Stinky".
- Bill... Bill... Junk... Bill...: Rocko says this as he goes through his mail before finding the application for a credit card.
- Chekhov's Gag: Early in this episode, Rocko and Heffer watch the All-Scottish Show, since it's the only show the lava lamp on Rocko's TV will broadcast. Near the end of the episode, it is revealed that Heffer joined the show's organ exchange program so he could sell his second stomach for cash to pay for Spunky's new dog dish.
- Credit Card Plot: Rocko gets a credit card and goes out shopping for a new dog bowl for Spunky. He ends up getting more than a bit carried away, and in the end, everything gets repossessed (including many things Rocko owned before).
- Cue the Falling Object: Heffer comments that Rocko could use some new stuff, which Rocko agrees with as behind him, the wallpaper peels away and the TV comes apart.
- Dirty Coward: When Rocko worries how he's going to pay his credit card bills, Heffer tells Rocko that the debt collectors don't scare him and he'll stick by him. When one of the debt collectors tosses a note that says, "PAY UP BY 8:00 A.M. OR ELSE!", Heffer runs away.
- Dude, Where's Our Car?: The parking lot at the O-Town Mall is so large, some people have been wandering it for years looking for their cars. One of them is a grown man dressed like a little boy and still looking for "mommy's car," and a few scenes later, Rocko and Heffer pass a senile old woman going "Son? Have you found the car yet?"
- Easy Come, Easy Go: Rocko buys a lot of fancy stuff with his credit card, but when he is unable to pay the bill, it all gets repossessed by the end of the episode. Heffer makes things right for Spunky by buying him a new dog dish with the money he earned selling his second stomach to the All Scottish Show's organ exchange program.
- Eye Motifs: The mall directory has an eye icon. Activating the directory requires that you actually push the icon.
- Eye Poke: Invoked and Played for Laughs: this is the way you are supposed to activate the mall's directory.
- Directory: Please poke my eye.
Rocko: (presses the eye icon, which lights up with a ding)
Directory: (deadpan) Ouch.
- Gilligan Cut: When Rocko sees a painting of a sad, crying clown in an iron lung, Heffer convinces him to use his credit card to pay for it. Rocko says, "Absolutely not!", then the next scene has him pay for the painting with his credit card.
- Major Injury Underreaction: Played for Laughs: when Rocko activates an electronic directory by pressing an eye icon on the directory, the directory responds with a deadpan "ouch". After all, machines do not normally feel pain.
- Niche Network: Rocko's TV has a 24-hour bagpipe station featuring the "All Scottish Show".
- Nosebleed: Heffer suffers one when Rocko goes higher and higher up the parking garage of the O-Town Mall, eventually finding a space in outer space.
- Ridiculous Repossession: Heffer convinces Rocko to buy new stuff with a credit card Rocko receives in the mail. At first, Rocko buys a few modest things, like a new dog dish for Spunky, but then he soon gets carried away and buys a lot of expensive, fancy things. When he is unable to pay the bill the next morning, the Repo Men take it all away, along with many things Rocko owned before he applied for the credit card, such as his couch and television set.
- Severely Specialized Store: The O-Town Mall has stores that consist entirely of this, one of which is "Just Dog Bowls", where Rocko buys Spunky a new dog bowl.
- Shout-Out: After Rocko chops up his credit card, he has a dream in which the pieces of the credit card come to life a la the brooms in Fantasia's "The Sorcerer's Apprentice" segment.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Played for Laughs: the way you are supposed to activate the directory was by poking an eye icon. When Rocke presses the icon, the directory says "Ouch"... in a very straightforward way. Even better, the directory outright said "Please poke my eye."
- Toilet-Drinking Dog Gag: One of the bowls at Just Dog Bowls is "His Master's Bowl", which resembles a toilet. Spunky drinks out of it, and upon seeing this, the salesman says, "I hope somebody remembered to flush."
- Wingding Eyes:
- The eyes of the salesman at Just Dog Bowls turn into dollar signs when Rocko is about to pay for Spunky's new dog bowl.
- When Heffer buys Spunky a new dog bowl, Spunky's eyes form the word, MINE.
