The third episode of the fourth season of Rocko's Modern Life.
Pranksters
Heffer suspects that a visit from Rocko's granny is just another April Fools' Day prank.
From Here to Maternity
Filburt and Dr. Hutchinson have an egg, and Filburt enlists Heffer's help in making it hatch.
"Pranksters" provides examples of:
- April Fools' Plot: Heffer is obsessed with pulling practical jokes on April Fools' Day, including doing one on Filburt at the start (whom loathes the holiday due to always falling for such pranks), and when he ends up being Rocko's only option to pick up Rocko's Grandmother from the airport, Heffer then suspects she's really Rocko out for revenge. She turns out to be Filburt in a Full-Body Disguise, seeking revenge for the earlier practical joke.
- Bad Boss: Mr. Smitty. He gives Rocko a letter from his grandmother a month after it was sent, and refuses to give him the afternoon off to pick her up from the airport.
- Blatant Lies: "I knew it was him the whole time!"
- Cast as a Mask: Rocko's Grandmother is voiced by Carlos Alazraqui, just like Rocko himself. In this end, she is revealed to be a disguised Filburt.
- Crying Wolf: A variation. When Rocko tries to call someone to pick up his granny from the airport, everyone he talks to thinks it's a prank. Though it's not that Rocko has lied many times in the past, but more because of the holiday the episode is set in.
- Digging to China: Inverted; the trap Heffer sets off has a rocket that takes him to China, then digs through the Earth, sending him back to O-Town.
- Dramatic Unmask: Near the end, as Rocko attempts to untie Heffer from the rocket, he asks his Granny for help. But Granny Rocko starts cackling dementedly for a while, accompanied by the sound of a Screaming Woman. Then "she" grabs the sides of her face and begins ripping off her skin in a disturbing manner, revealing she is actually Filburt in a Full-Body Disguise.
- Idea Bulb: A variant; Heffer thinks up a candle that gets lit when he comes to the conclusion that Rocko's grandmother is really a disguised Rocko, and decides to prank him as revenge for having to put up with him.
- Irony: Filburt, the butt of the April Fools pranks earlier and one of the characters Rocko called to pick up his grandmother and refused because the former thought it was another April Fools prank on him, turns out to be the one disguised as Rocko's grandmother at the end as payback for the pranks played on him earlier in the episode.
- Like A Broken Record: A weary Heffer says "Yes, Granny Rocko…" over and over amidst Granny Rocko's Note constant commands. But once he suspects her of really being Rocko in drag, he puts more emphasis on the word "Rocko," so it sounds more like "Yes, Granny rrrROCKO!"
- Oh, Crap!: When Heffer comes to the conclusion that Rocko's grandmother is really a disguised Rocko, he decides to get back at Rocko as revenge. When he asks her to come into the living room, he hears Rocko saying he'll help him. When Heffer sees that Rocko came home to visit his grandmother, he realizes that Rocko couldn't be his own grandmother, and that his trap is about to go off on her.
- Pie in the Face: This episode's title card depicts Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt with pies thrown in their faces.
- Shout-Out: Filburt disguising himself as Granny Rocko is reminiscent of Mrs. Doubtfire, where Robin Williams's character dons a convincing Full-Body Disguise of an old woman. The difference is that "Mrs. Doubtfire" was working as a housekeeper so he could see his kids again, while "Granny Rocko" was just out for revenge for Heffer's earlier prank.
- Snail Mail: When Rocko arrives at Kind-Of-A-Lot-O Comics, Mr. Smitty gives him a letter from his grandmother. Rocko finds out that the letter is dated a month ago, and Mr. Smitty tells him that he's not a mailman, and his store is a place for business, not Rocko's pen pal games.
- Split-Screen Phone Call: This trope occurs when Rocko calls Filburt, Mr. Bighead, the Chameleon Brothers, and Dad Elf to ask if any of them can pick his grandmother up from the airport.
- Subverted Catchphrase: After Filburt passes out from the maniacal excitement of revealing his prank overwhelming his system, he lies on the ground saying "I got 'em... I got 'em... I got 'em..." in a manner similar to his signature "I'm nauseous... I'm nauseous... I'm nauseous..."
- Taking the Bullet: When Heffer thinks that Rocko's Grandmother is really Rocko in disguise, he sets a trap for her. However, when the real Rocko comes home to visit her, he realizes he was wrong, and willingly lets the trap go off on him to save her.
"From Here to Maternity" provides examples of:
- Babies Ever After: This episode ends with Filburt's egg hatching, resulting in Filburt being blessed with four children; two turtles named Gilbert and Shellbert, a cat named Missy, and a steer named Norbert (due to Heffer incubating the egg).
- Borrowed Catchphrase: Hutch uses Filburt's "oh, fishsticks" catchphrase when she's called to one of the patient's rooms.
- Censorship by Spelling: Fiburt and Heffer argue with each other when Filburt expects his baby to be a boy, while Heffer expects it to be a girl (in the end, the egg hatches into three sons and one daughter). At one point, Heffer tells Filburt, "Not in front of the G-U-R-L." Filburt then says, "It's a B-O-Y, you wig-wearing rhesus monkey!"
- Chekhov's Gag: The Bo-Bo actor stealing Rocko's wallet seems like a funny gag, but when the police bust the Easter bunny's egg theft operation, the boys are sent to jail because Rocko cannot provide any ID.
- Easter Bunny: The gang signs up for Lamaze classes, run by a bunch of rabbits. The class is just a scam to steal eggs.
- Egg MacGuffin: Rocko, Heffer and Filburt have to care for Filburt and Dr. Hutchison's egg while Dr. Hutchison goes off to work.
- Egg Sitting: Since Filburt has a hard time sitting on his egg to incubate it (since turtles usually bury their eggs in the sand), he gets Heffer, a steer, to sit on it. At the end of the episode, the egg hatches, and as a result, Norbert, one of the four children that Filburt and Dr. Hutchison are blessed with, comes out a steer.
- Follow the Bouncing Ball: When Rocko plays a record by Bo-Bo the Friendly Bison, a ball appears onscreen as it bounces across the song's lyrics.
- Gender Equals Breed: Filburt is a male turtle, Dr. Hutchison is a female cat, and Heffer, who incubates their egg, is a steer. When their egg hatches, the four children inside it consist of two male turtles (Gilbert and Shellbert), one female cat (Missy), and one steer (Norbert).
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Rocko gets his feet stuck in the bars of a crib he plays in, and as a result, he gets mistaken for a baby by Gladys.
- Iris Out: This episode ends with one on Dr. Hutchinson as she kisses Filburt.
- Ironic Echo: When Rocko, Heffer, and Filburt go to the Born to Shop baby furniture store to by a crib for Filburt's babies, Rocko says, "Hey fellas, look! I'm in jail! Heh heh! Let me out!" as he sits in a crib. Near the end of the episode, Rocko exposes the rabbits' lamaze class scam, but gets mistaken for a rabbit by a police officer, resulting in him, Heffer, and Filburt being arrested. While in jail, Filburt says, "Hey look, fellas, I'm in jail! Heh heh!"
- Kids' Show Mascot Parody: Bo-Bo the Friendly Bison is an obvious parody of Barney the Dinosaur. Rocko claims Bo-Bo is loved by everyone, unlike most examples of this trope. Bo-Bo is also depicted as a criminal when he steals Rocko's wallet.
- Lamaze Class: The trio take the egg to one of these. Rocko discovers that it's actually a scam for Easter Bunnies to steal the eggs to paint.
- Miscarriage of Justice: When Rocko exposes the rabbits' lamaze class scam, he gets mistaken for a rabbit by a police officer. Due to Bo-Bo having stolen his wallet, Rocko is unable to show his ID to the officer, resulting in him, Heffer and Filburt getting arrested.
- Misspelling Out Loud: When Filburt and Heffer get into yet another spat, Heffer says "Not in front of the G-U-R-L!"
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The rabbit who teaches Lamaze has a voice and mustache like John Waters.
- Parodies of Fire: As Filburt attempts to beat a stork to the O-Town Hospital, when running to the main entrance, everything then goes into slow-motion as a sound-alike of the Chariots of Fire theme plays, as Filburt manages to run ahead of the stork. But then the music stops (with Record Needle Scratch) and the speed returns to normal when the stork catches up and swipes Filburt's glasses so he can't see where he's going.
- Paper-Thin Disguise: When the rabbits take the eggs away into a room where only rabbits are allowed, Rocko stretches his ears and pretends to be a rabbit so the rabbit will let him in. Unfortunately, this works too well; when he exposes the rabbits' lamaze class scam, he gets mistaken for a rabbit by a police officer and arrested.
- Platonic Declaration of Love: This:Filburt: Oh, swizzlestick! I love you so much!
Dr. Hutchison: I love you, turtle soup.
Heffer: ...I love you, Rocko. - Random Species Offspring: Dr. Hutchison, a female cat married to a male turtle, lays an egg. Heffer, a steer, sits on the egg for Filburt, and when the egg hatches, the children born from it are two male turtles, one female cat, and one steer.
- Shout-Out: When Filburt's egg hatches, Norbert comes out a steer due to Heffer incubating the egg. This is a reference to the ending of Horton Hatches the Egg, where an elephant bird hatches from the egg as a result of Horton incubating it.
- Whale Egg: An Interspecies Romance example: Dr. Hutchinson, a cat married to a turtle, lays an egg. Apparently justified as turtles lay eggs and not only is she married to a turtle but her father is a turtle. Even weirder though, four kids come out of it, and since Heffer was the primary "egg-sitter", one of them is a steer already wearing glasses.
