Rocket Power was a popular Nickelodeon cartoon that ran from 1999 to 2004, produced by the same people who made Rugrats and As Told By Ginger. It focused on the (mis)adventures of a foursome of kids living in Ocean Shores, CA. The title refers to brother and sister duo Otto and Reggie Rocket, ostensibly the more "main" of the core cast of four. The other two included Otto's friend Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez, and new kid Sam "Squid" Dullard.The show's hook was that the four main characters were all into extreme sports, and nearly every episode featured some such activity at the center of the episode's events. Even if it wasn't the core of the plot, each episode would generally begin with the kids surfing, or hanging out at the local skate park, Madtown. Over the course of the series, everything from relatively tame sports such as roller hockey to extreme and obscure sports like zorb balling were featured in the show.Other than the main four, other regular characters included Otto and Reggie's dad, Ray, who owned a restaurant on the Ocean Shores pier; his partner Tito, a native Hawaiian who spoke with the requisite accent and was fond of spouting nonsensical proverbs, and Twister's older brother, Lars, who was often seen picking on the main characters. Also included were the Rockets' next-door neighbors, the Stimpletons; Madtown's owner, cool Jamaican dude Conroy; and various other kids the same age as the main characters.
Character Development: Mostly Sam, who begins as fairly clumsy and awkward but grows into a competent athlete, even if he doesn't quite approach Otto.
It also helps that other people become an even bigger nerd than he is and in contrast make him look even better; but you can still see the growth. Not to mention, Sam actually learns how to surf.
Convection Schmonvection: In the series finale the kids ride bikes over a lava stream and are unharmed.
There is also a part in which Tito says that in a flashback he "stepped on a piece of lava so hot" he lost a hopscotch championship to his cousin. How on earth was he still walking if he stepped on a piece of lava?!
Chances are, given that Ray admits that some of his flashbacks are actually exaggerated for the sake of getting his point across, Tito actually did the same too - or maybe he merely jumped on a hot rock and thought it was a piece of lava. The kids actually look at him rather oddly after he says that, and Tito quickly dodges further discussion by telling he has some dishes to do. Chances are, he stepped on rock that originally was lava (that had long-since cooled down)...and exaggerated for "coolness factor"
Disabled Means Helpless: In one episode, Reggie meets a snowboarder who has a metal leg. Feeling sorry for her, both Reggie and her dad decide to let her win. However, the snowboarder calls out Reggie on the way she treated her and wanted to be treated normally. Reggie does so by being serious and beating the snowboarder in a race which earns the latter's respect but freaks out her dad (thinking Reggie was being mean to her by winning.).
Possibly even worse than just feeling sorry for the girl, Reggie admits that she thought a disabled snowboarder winning a race would make a cool story for her magazine.
Also applicable to Reggie. NO ONE calls her by her real name, Regina, not even her father. In fact, aside from the chickification incident cited above, no one has ever spoken or heard of it before or since.
Flanderization: Twister. Watch him in the first couple of episodes where he's merely a bit slow. However later on, he's almost comedically stupid.
Otto as well, who increasingly became more self absorbed and obnoxious.
An in-universe example with the Super Squid game where Sam of course makes fun of his friends. However, he doesn't make as much fun of Reggie.
Fictional Counterpart: Ocean Shores is obviously Santa Monica, down to the iconic pier. Oddly, at one point in the series the main cast travels to Malibu for a surfing trip, and they use the real life place name.
Free-Range Children: The late elementary school cast wanders about Ocean Shores by themselves frequently. Although Ray is pretty laid back. Sam's mother is more fussy, but generally, Sam always tags along. (One episode actually does show Sam's mother forbidding him to go to a secret spot because she doesn't know where he is.)
However, it's implied they only seem to walk around certain parts of the town.
Funny Background Event: The episodes in which the story is told through interviews on camera or the media is shown. Throughout the episode of a documentary on Otto "Selling out", you can spot all sorts of weird events such as Ray emptying trash on the ground, a whale jumping out of the blader bowl, and an empty skateboard flying out. There was also another funny one where the news anchor stalled for time... and a UFO sucks up a whale and flies off.
And occasionally, you can see people falling in the background.
A very subtle yet funny background event happens in one episode. Ray is giving his kids a lecture and you see a fish trophy hanging on the wall behind Ray. Sometime in the middle of the scene, the fish blinks.
Gang Of Bullies: Twister's older brother, Lars, is usually seen with two (later three) lackies.
Goth: Eddie, the self styled "Prince of the Netherworld," walks around in a hooded black cloak and Halloween monster mask. Keep mind the cast lives in Santa Monica southern California.
Hilarious in Hindsight: One episode had Sam attempting to shed his token geek persona and become as "cool" as his friends, including trying to adopt their bizarre slang. This led to a joke where he called someone's skateboard trick "sick", with "sick" meaning, in-universe, gross or ugly. A few years later, the word has come to be used in exactly the way Sam was trying to use it.
Hyperventilation Bag: In one episode, Sam uses one of these when he imagines the thought of his ski lift ticket posted on the Wall of Shame.
Hypocritical Humor: When Twister loses his hat, Ray comments he's never seen anyone get worked up over losing a hat...and then says "WHOA!" as he almost drops his own hat he's almost never seen without.
Insult Backfire: Squid was used to identify the new kid on the block and originally belonged to Twister, who hated it. When Sam arrived they gave him the squid nickname and he was generally pleased to have a nickname at all.
Last-Second Word Swap: In one episode, Otto sponsored a rival snowboard company, Sam still cheered "Go, Otto!" When Reggie gave him a disapproving look, he added "'s competition! Go Otto's competition!"
Let me get this straight. Sam's not sick cause he's always sick and we're sick cause we're never sick?!? That's sick!(rim shot)
Meaningful Name: "Twister" and the last name "Rocket" refer to their love of extreme sports; Sam's last name, "Dullard," is initially used to identify him as a more intellectually inclined character.
Pet the Dog: Lars is a complete asshole, but he does care for his brother and doesn't want him to be seriously hurt. Likewise, the sandcastle episode has him laugh at Twister when he mentions that the tide is going to ruin their sandcastle. However, at the end of the episode, he and his squad arrive and help hold up the surfboard to block the water from washing away the sandcastle.
Merv Stimpleton is mostly shown as a crotchety old man. However, on two instances, he helps the kids out ("Violet's Violet") and in Reggie's Big Beach break, does warm up to the teens after he politely asks them to leave and they comply, and thank him for being a good host. (Heck, he warms up enough to throw a concluding party.)
Power Trio: Otto and Twister are often used as the same personality, as both are Ids, while Sam is Superego and Reggie is Ego.
Psycho Rangers: Episodes featuring Lars and his gang usually match them up with the kids. It's especially obvious when the two crews play hockey against one another.
Running Gag: Tito: "Like the ancient Hawaiian say..."
Shout Out: There's a secret stealth-shout out in the episode "After Shocked".
"Move along folks, you don't have to go home, but you can't stay here."
Sequential Symptom Syndrome: Reggie and Otto get the "Fiji flu" from Sam. The doctor describes a few of the symptoms being a high-pitched voice and irritability. As expected, they undergo both.
Small Name, Big Ego: The obnoxious pro surfer "The Rhino," aka Walter, whom Otto idolizes and Ray hates.
Ray: Easy on the big story, *Walter*. Got it?
Rhino: (embarrassed) Come on Ray, Rhino! Not Walter…
Otto himself can be this at times, as when he enters a professional surf contest just after his 11th birthday.
Special Guest: Tony Hawk and Amy MacDonald among others.
At least after a few seasons they stopped cutting away to a tie-dye screen with squiggly words repeating the 90's slang they shout. That is they stopped doing it as much.
And it wasn't just slang words that popped up on screen, it could often be anything shocking (like "PICKLED FEET?" in "Happy Luau to You-Au," "FIJI FLU!" in "Typhloid Sam," even "AAAAAAAH!" when Sam and Otto scream in "Snow Day.")
Unreliable Narrator: Ray in some of his flashbacks is actually exaggerating for the sake of getting his point across. Tito might have done the same, too, since he apparently stepped on a piece of lava and survived.
Unusual Euphemism: The main cast has an entire vocabulary of slang terms, including "shoobie" (refering to tourists who wear socks with their flip-flops, or shoes on the beach), "squid" (slang for new guy; Sam is called this almost universally in the first few episodes), and lots of generic skater slang.
Shoobie already existed as slang (at least in NJ). Back in the day, tourists used to carry their lunches in old shoe boxes at the beach, hence the term "shoobie".
Verbal Tic: Tito always begins his "proverbs" by saying, "As the ancient Hawaiians used to say," or some slight variation thereof.
Artistic License - Physics: Invoked. The one episode where Otto thought he could spin his skateboard in the air and go back to his original spot, as if he could do it in reverse. It only gets worse when a ball gets launched into the air by a lawn mower at the right time, which hits his board and actually causes this to happen—causing him to assume it will happen again. And discussed by Sam who mentions it's physically impossible to have done so.
To bring up Tito's "Hopscotch" incident again...also invoked. The kids clearly look at him skeptically since Tito would be lucky to be alive if he stepped on a piece of lava. (And even luckier still to have two legs.)
0 reviews 