The fifth episode of the second season of Rocko's Modern Life.
Boob Tubed
Heffer literally loses his mind thanks to Rocko's new entertainment system.
Commuted Sentence
Rocko has his car impounded, and has to resort to public transport. Trouble is, he will lose his job if he gets late again, and he doesn't have enough money to retrieve the car.
"Boob Tubed" provides examples of:
- Bilingual Bonus: Rocko, Filburt and Heffer watch a Spanish Soap Opera and burst into tears at the delivery of the line: "Maria, este libro esta tarde! Voy a la biblioteca.", which translates to "Maria, the book is late [overdue], I'm going to the library!"note
- Brain Theft: Rocko's new television sucks out Heffer's brains. It's done this to multiple others who sat too close to the television, judging by the pile of brains Rocko and Filburt sort through.
- Butt-Monkey: Rocko. When he tries to order a Mr. Sensible TV, the computer he orders it on causes him to buy a big-screen TV instead, and when he tries to cancel the order, the computer keeps piling on add-ons instead.Rocko: I wanted Mr. Sensible! Mr. Seeeeennnnnssssiiiibbbbbuuuuulllll!!!
- Diegetic Soundtrack Usage: As Heffer channel surfs, the Season 2 theme song for Rocko's Modern Life briefly plays.
- Embarrassingly Painful Sunburn: At the end of the episode, Heffer manages to get one on his butt.
- Everybody Cries: During the montage of Rocko, Heffer and Filburt watching different movies together on Rocko's new TV, one scene involves the trio being reduced to floods of tears by a Spanish-language melodrama. Even Spunky joins in with them!
- Fictional Video Game: At one point, Rocko and Filburt play a video game about boxing clowns. Filburt gets way too into it.
- Naked People Are Funny: After Heffer literally loses his brain, Rocko, Filburt, and Spunky travel into the TV itself to retrieve it. While Heffer is alone, he takes off his clothes, climbs onto the roof of Rocko's house, and acts like a chicken.
- Needle in a Stack of Needles: When Heffer literally loses his brain, Rocko, Filburt, and Spunky travel into the TV itself to retrieve it. When they reach the TV Central Headquarters, they find a pile of similar-looking brains, none of which are Heffer's. Spunky eventually finds a brain shaped like a fruitcake, which Rocko and Filburt identify as Heffer's brain.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: When Rocko and Filburt arrive at the TV Central Headquarters, the operator not only figures they're not only there to get their friend's brain back, but is willing to let them have it, saying he'd wish kids would stop sitting so close to their sets.
- Shockingly Expensive Bill: According to Heffer, the TV (and the stuff that came with it) that Rocko bought against his will is going to cost him a dollar a month for the next 632 years. If you do the math, that's about $7,584 altogether.
- Shout-Out: When Heffer plays with a video camera, he does an impression of Mister Ed, saying, "Wilbur! Wilbur!" in his voice.
- Sleep Cute: In the morning, Rocko is curled up on the couch next to Spunky. He isn't too pleased to wake up and find Filburt lying close to him and drooling, however.
- Spraying Drink from Nose: During the montage of Rocko, Heffer and Filburt watching different movies together on Rocko's new TV, the trio laugh, and as Filburt drinks milk, he squirts it out of his nose.
- Stealth Pun: The TV that Rocko and Filburt travel into is a snowy wasteland. A slang term for television static is "TV snow".
- Tempting Fate: Rocko wonders if they shouldn't have left Heffer all by himself, to which Filburt responds "where could he possibly go?" Cut to Heffer's naked and brainless body ramming its head into Rocko's door.
"Commuted Sentence" provides examples of:
- Always Late: As a result of his car getting impounded and having to resort to public transportation to get to Kind-of-A-Lot-O-Comics, Rocko keeps showing up late, eventually getting fired.
- Applied Mathematics: When Rocko shows up one minute late for work, Mr. Smitty gives him a lecture on how Time is Money, as you need money to buy a clock, which tells time.
- Angrish: This is Mr. Smitty's response to the second time Rocko shows up late for work, smashing a clock over his head in the process.
- Bad Boss: Early in this episode, Mr. Smitty parks in the space Rocko was about to park in, despite the fact that he lives right next door to Kind-of-A-Lot-O-Comics. He then makes Rocko park in a crime-infested alley and derides Rocko when he justifiably shows up late.
- Bait-and-Switch Comment: When Rocko barely makes it to work on time, he asks Mr. Smitty if he's on time. Mr. Smitty tells him, "Actually, you are on time. On time to be... FIRED!"
- Big Honking Traffic Jam: The beginning of this episode has Rocko get stuck in one due to a reflecting bump coming unglued.
- Black Comedy: When Rocko's car gets impounded, the car calls Rocko on the phone to bail him out. Meanwhile, a big truck is laughing behind him, then glares at him. Rocko's car gets even more scared, and tells Rocko to hurry. Then we cut to Rocko, who hears car creaking and scraping noises over the phone. Later, Rocko goes to bail his car out, and his car is behind the gate trembling and shaking. The guard tells Rocko that his car got the name "Fancy Fenders", as a term of endearment.
- Brick Joke:
- At the beginning of the episode, an eagle named Ferb is doing a traffic report, only for his copter to crash when he realizes he wasn't at the controls. At the end of the episode, he returns (after weeks of recuperative therapy).
- At the beginning of the episode, Mr. Smitty uses an Applied Mathematics chart to deride Rocko for being late, saying that Time is Money. At the end of the episode, when Mr. Smitty is demanding his car back from the impound lot, the officer in charge pulls down a chart of his own to explain how it'll cost him money to get it back.
- Bully Bulldog: Earl, as usual. On the sixth day, when Rocko rides his bicycle to work, Earl chases him past the store, off a dock, and into the water.
- Butt-Monkey: Rocko, as usual. He constantly shows up late to work due to being unable to find a good parking space, his car gets impounded, he suffers a series of Amusing Injuries due to the public transport he takes (and the cannon Heffer shoots him out of), and eventually gets fired. Fortunately, things get better for him when he gets a new job as a tow truck driver.
- The Dog Bites Back: After Rocko gets fired from Kind-of-A-Lot-O-Comics, a police officer overhears his plight and gives him a job as a tow truck driver. It turns out everyone in O-Town parks illegally, but guess whose car he comes across first.Rocko: (politely) Hi, Mr. Smitty! I got a new job!
- Drives Like Crazy: On the fourth day, the driver of the taxi Rocko rides in drives very fast and crashes into a lot of things.
- E = MC Hammer: When Rocko gets berated for being late by his boss, there's a flipchart in the background that contains, amongst other things, a clipart of a clock followed by a plus-minus sign and a square root containing "MC" and a clipart of a hammer.
- "Eureka!" Moment: At the end of the sixth day, Rocko tells Heffer that if he's late one last time, Mr. Smitty will fire him. He then says that public transportation is so dangerous, that sometimes it would be safer to get shot out of a cannon. This gives Heffer the idea to shoot Rocko out of a cannon.
- Going Postal: When Rocko takes the bus, a mailman riding rants about being laid off and feeling... disgruntled. The other passengers quickly vacate the car... only for him to swing around, as he wanted space.
- Human Cannonball: On the seventh day, Heffer shoots Rocko out of a cannon to get him to work on time, the idea given to him by Rocko. Heffer's aim is off, and it results in Rocko landing in the Museum of Sharp Pointy Things.
- Lack of Empathy: Mr. Smitty won't accept any reason why Rocko is late, and ends up firing him despite the poor employee's circumstances.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Mr. Smitty makes Rocko late for work at the beginning of this episode and fires him the minute Rocko actually arrives to work on time. This gets Rocko a chance to take a job at the tow truck company and have Smitty's car impounded for parking it close to a red line.
- Pet the Dog: Moments after losing his job, a female police officer on parking meter duty not only consoles Rocko but helps him get a job towing cars so that he can earn enough to get his car out of the impound lot.
- Road Trip Across the Street: Rocko was about to park in a spot in front of the comic book store he worked at, only for it to be taken by none other than Mr. Smitty, who happened to live next door to the store, forcing Rocko to park further away in a bad neighborhood where his car is stripped. Then Mr. Smitty has the gall to deride him for being late.
- Shockingly Expensive Bill: Rocko needs $4,700.00 to bail his car out after it gets impounded. In order to raise the money, Rocko needs to keep his job, if he shows up late, Mr. Smitty will fire him, and without his car, he has to resort to public transportation.
- Subways Suck: On his fifth day, Rocko tries taking the subway to work, but is trampled by dozens of lizard workers entering the station, leading the train and then boarding it, leading to the subway car Rocko boards being very crowded. In the middle of the ride, the train stops due to police activity... arts and crafts! And then a postman on the train mentions he was laid-off and feeling disgruntled, which manages to scare Rocko and the other passengers away from his vicinity... but he really just wanted room to swing around on one of the subway straps.
- Unwitting Instigator of Doom: On the third day, Rocko parks next to a sign that says DO NOT PARK IN RED, though the zone he parks in his white. As Heffer passes by Rocko's car, he drops a bottle of ketchup and spreads it with a hamburger, resulting in the zone looking like a red zone, and a tow truck driver mistaking it for such and taking Rocko's car away.
- Visual Pun:
- On the second day, Rocko parks next to a sign that says DON'T EVEN THINK ABOUT PARKING HERE. When Rocko thinks, the officer standing next to the sign tickets him.
- On the fifth day, Rocko takes the subway train to work, but it stops in the middle of its journey due to police activity. Rocko then finds out that the police's activity is arts and crafts, and the police are shown painting and sculpting on the tracks.
- Who Is Driving?: This episode begins with an eagle named Ferb reporting on the traffic on the O-Town freeway. When Dale the newscaster stops to ask him who's flying the helicopter at the moment, Ferb stutters, then his helicopter falls out of the sky.
- Wingding Eyes: On the fourth day, when Rocko takes the bus to work, the pig sleeping next to him drools. Rocko's pupils turn into the drool as it falls on him.
- Writers Cannot Do Math: The beaver policeman at the impound lot calculates the bail cost for Rocko's car saying, "5 times 42, carry the four... that'll be $4,700." 5 times 42 actually equals 210, far less than what the final amount for Rocko's bill was.
