Hey Dude – Season
3 + Hey Arnold: Season 2 – Part 2 + Rocko’s Modern Life: Season Three (Nickelodeon/Shout!
Factory DVD Sets)
Hey Dude: Season
3
Picture: C+ Sound: C+ Extras: D Episodes: B-
Rocko’s Modern
Life: Season Three
Picture: B Sound: B- Extras: B- Episodes: A-
Hey Arnold:
Season 2 – Part 2
Picture: B Sound: B- Extras: D Episodes: B
Hey Dude: Season
3
Now on its third season out of five on DVD, we rejoin the crew of Bar
None Dude Ranch in 13 episodes of slap stick comedy and teenage adventures.
Season 3 is not all too
different than Seasons One or Two but more of a continuation of the
65 episode run the series would have.
There are no big cliff hangers here.
This was a series intended for children to watch on Nickelodeon and in
turn focuses on the more benign side of life with the young staff of Bar None
getting into and out of trouble, along with on again off again relationships. This season is the beginning of the end for
Ted as he will soon depart for greater pastures (?) and is replaced by Ben
Ernst nephew Jake. Also this season
cowboy Kyle joins the staff, leading to many misadventures for Kyle and Jake;
especially in the episode ‘Inmates Run the Asylum’ where Ted goes mad with
power which is quite hilarious. Ted
finally wins over Brad, but is gone shortly thereafter; leaving the series.
The rumored ‘lost episode’ appears in this set entitled ‘Melody’s
Brother,’ which tackles the issue of underage drinking; ending up like a
serious episode of Full House or The Cosby Show. The episode is good enough, but feels awkward
ending up somewhere between comedy and drama.
The master tape of this episode was apparently lost (for real) so Shout
went to a bootleg source (YouTube much?) and that is what is delivered here on
DVD. The quality is a clear step down in
the picture/sound department, but at least it is here…most studios would just
drop it from the set.
Hey Dude
in its Third Season sadly remains a
major downgrade from many of the Shout! Factory animated series, with a blurry
image quality, weak colors, an element of grain throughout. Granted the episodes are lucky to have even
survived (refer to ‘lost episode’ above), but the master tapes surely need
remastering. Hey Dude in Dolby 2.0 Stereo continues to have a certain distant
quality that I find myself cranking the volume up for, but the dialogue is
clear enough to slide by as passable.
No extras are found here is Season Three.
Rocko’s Modern
Life: Season Three
The episodes included in this third season are some of the series
best. The episodes included are as
follows:
Bye Bye Birdy / Belch of Destiny
The Emperors New Joe / Schnitheads
Sugar Frosted Frights / Ed is Dead
Fish-n-Chumps / Camera Shy
Nothing to Sneeze At / Old Fogey Froggy
Manic Mechanic / Rocko's Happy Vermin
I See London, I See France / The Fatlands
Fortune Cookie / Dear John
Speaking Terms / Tooth and Nail
Wacky Delly
The Big Question / The Big Answer
An Elk for Heffer / Scrubbin' Down Under
Zanzibar (The Recycle Show) / Fatal Contraption
There were (sadly) only four seasons of the insanely
creative series and Season Three is
truly when the writers/cast/crew pinned down who they wanted be
as a series. The insanity goes through
the roof with almost nonsensical plots, but as soon as you think they are going
to far the creators pull back, reel it in and show how brilliant the series
really is.
Outside of featuring crazy good episodes like ‘Bye Bye
Birdy’ where Heffer kills Filbert’s bird Turdy while Rocko is bird-sitting
(Heffer literally Bird sits) and ‘Camera Shy’ where an innocent act of Rocko
filming a video for his parents turns into a misadventure for Filbert and
Heffer who (oddly) film Rocko nude through his window turns bad (how could
it?!); this Third Season also has
the best episode of the series ‘Wacky Deli’ and ‘Zanzibar.’ ‘Wacky Deli’ affords Filbert, Heffer, and
Rocko the opportunity to create their own animated series for BigHead studios
as Ralph Bighead attempts to run his studio into the ground. To Ralph’s dismay the boys peculiar, poorly
animated, idiotic series is a major hit and nearly drives Ralph to his breaking
point…well it does drive him, but you’ll have to see it. ‘Zanzibar’
is the famous musical episode that has memorable hits like ‘R-E-C-Y-C-L-E!
Recycle!’ that will flood any past viewer with a host of memories.
Season
Three is a must own for all long time fans and new viewers; no
one will be disappointed as more than a decade later Rocko feels as fresh and new as ever. Best part here? The series is at the height
of wackiness and NOTHING is edited out…all original and awesome!
Hey
Arnold: Season 2 – Part 2
I dearly love Mr. Hey
Arnold but he just doesn’t have the charm, charisma, or spunk(y) like Rocko or Angry Beavers. The episodes
are solid and classic at this point.
They mostly hold up (only a few oddball references) and are fun; though
they drag after a bit. Arnold’s standout moments are (like Rocko)
the weirder ones.
The episodes in this set are as follows:
Arnold's Halloween
Steely Phil / Quantity Time
Eating Contest / Rhonda's Glasses
Helga's Boyfriend / Crush on Teacher
Hall Monitor / Harold's Bar Mitzvah
Coach Wittenberg / Four-Eyed Jack
Eugene Goes Bad / What's Opera, Arnold?
Tour de Pond / Teachers Strike
Part-Time Friends / Bio Square
The Halloween episode, Teacher Strike, Harold’s Bar
Mitzvah, and Four Eyed Jack are the standouts this season (part of a season) as
they have odder moments that could make any age chuckle. Arnold is slowly being released on DVD by the
wonderful Shout! Factory, but with five seasons in total we have a while to go
until we see the whole Arnold.
HEY! Speed it up…
Technical
Features for Rocko’s
Modern Life: Season Three & Hey Arnold: Season 2 – Part 2
The technical features for these sets are all in line with previous
releases. The quality on Arnold’s and Rocko’s picture is a 1.33 X
1 Full Frame (Full Screen) that demonstrates bright colors, crisp edges, inky
blacks and little debris. Ending up
better than most ‘80s/’90s animated series.
I would even venture to say these are an upgrade from previous
releases. The sound again on the
animated series is a step up with a crisp clean dialogue in 2.0 Dolby Digital
Stereo.
Again, sadly no extras are found on any of these sets;
perhaps with the last Rocko set
arriving soon they will have saved the best for last.
- Michael P.
Dougherty II
