On this, the 25th anniversary of the debut of Nickelodeon‘s Nicktoons block (which began in 1991 with Doug, Rugrats, and Ren & Stimpy), we get another nostalgia blast via the news that the fourth Nicktoon from back in the day, Rocko’s Modern Life, will be returning to Nickelodeon for a TV movie in the near future, according to Entertainment Weekly. The special will see Rocko, the wallaby in the big city, and his cadre of weird and disturbing friends and neighbors, reacting to the 21st century problems that now exist in the fictional O-Town. And probably there’ll be scary surreal stuff too.
Rocko was the twisted creation of Joe Murray, who reflected on the various foibles of the ’90s during the show’s four-year run (1993-1996) and added in way more double entendres and terrifying absurdism than most kids at the time (myself included) probably could understand. Legitimately, I watched this show through it’s entire run and was actively afraid for the bulk of its run. But it was still part of our cultural lexicon–I still say “laundry day is a very dangerous day” in a meek Australian accent every single time I go to wash my clothes–and permeated the minds of young people everywhere.
“I’m very happy to be rejoining Rocko and my friends from O-Town again,” Murray said in a statement to EW. “What I have found by bringing these characters back is that it’s not so much about nostalgia, but a sense that they still feel relevant and fresh to me, and after 20 years, they can’t wait to comment on modern life in the 21st century. They still have a lot to say.”
No word on when the movie will be airing–this is a very early report of the project being greenlit–but we’re super excited to see Rocko, Spunky, Heffer, Filbert, and Mr. and Mrs. Bighead again.
Are you excited too? Do you remember that impossible to play Rocko’s Modern Life video game for SNES? Remember the grim reaper had udders on his head? Gah! Share some wallaby love in the comments below!
Speaking of Nickelodeon, our own Kyle Hill competed in Double Dare!
Image: Nickelodeon
Kyle Anderson is the Associate Editor for Nerdist. You can find his film and TV reviews here. Follow him on Twitter!
