Talk:Rocko's Modern Life/GA2
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GA review
The following discussion is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.
Article (edit | visual edit | history) · Article talk (edit | history) · Watch
Nominator: RTSthestardust (talk · contribs) 19:54, 6 June 2025 (UTC)
Reviewer: It is a wonderful world (talk · contribs) 15:47, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
Note: @DaniloDaysOfOurLives and I are working very hard to review every single GA nomination in the television section. Consider joining us to clear the backlog!
Hi @RTSthestardust, I'll review this. I was fully hooked by watching the scenes in the premise section! IAWW (talk) 15:47, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
- @RTSthestardust I reviewed the reliability of the sources and performed the spot check below. Unfortunately almost all the citations I checked have issues, so it's clear this article needs a full source-text integrity check before we can have confidence it accurately reflects the sources. This will take longer than the typical timeframe of a GA review, so I'm going to fail this now. I have left many comments on the reliability of sources and TSI integrity issues below. Just one more note: I haven't reviewed the prose of this article, but it seems to rely a lot on non-independent sources which could be a big issue – especially if there is independent secondary sourcing available. I would recommend you try to minimise the non-independent sourcing and perform a full source-text integrity check before nominating again. Feel free to ping me on the talk page if you have any questions! IAWW (talk) 12:24, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
Prose (Criteria 1a, 1b, 4) 
Lead
Characters
Episodes
Development
Writing
Animation
Music
Censorship
Broadcast
Home media
Ratings
Critical reception
Awards and nominations
Legacy and impact
TV special
Merchandise
Comics
Sources
Health/formatting (Criterion 2a)
[9]: I can't access this source. I can't find the archive of the podcast. IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
I can't get [15] to work either IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
Reliability (Criterion 2b)
[2]: I'm not sure what the consensus is on whether we trust fan websites like this to accurately report supposed interviews. Theoretically this could just be an entirely fictitious interview, but then again, why would anyone do that? @Rollinginhisgrave do you have any thoughts or opinions on this, or do you know the outcome of any previous situations similar to this? IAWW (talk) 16:26, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
- Sites will definitely fake interviews. Like everything in RS, we're asking if we trust our gut on whether it is reliable. With this case, I don't know. What I have done in the past to make me more confident is look if people being interviewed by a publisher are linking to it (e.g. on a blog, tweet etc). That probably means the conversation a) happened and b) is being accurately reported. Rollinginhisgrave (talk | contributions) 02:00, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[42]: The press release itself would be a more reliable citation than a blog on it. Could this be done? IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[48] is a blog. I can't find any evidence of its reliability, so I don't think this source can be used. IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[51 and 52]: Not reliable, and they are used to support what is actually OR IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[55]: Used to support OR and not reliable IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[56]: I don't see any evidence for this self-published blog's reliability IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[58]: Not reliable and doesn't support the content IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[74]: Doesn't support the content IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[96]: IMDb is not reliable IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
Spot check (Criteria 2b, 2c, 2d)
[1a]: 
[2a]: Doesn't support "and most likely based on Chicago, Illinois" which needs a citation not to be OR IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
Most the "Episodes" section is uncited IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[8]: Needs a timestamp. It's unreasonable to expect the reader to watch the whole video. IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[2d]: Doesn't support "executives decided that Heffer Wolfe, one of the characters, would be "a little too weird for test audiences." It says Murray made that judgement, not the executives IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
"Multiple versions of the Rocko's Modern Life theme song were made throughout the series. The original version plays throughout every episode in the first season, excluding episode 8, which is a slightly remixed version of the first, involving high-pitched, distorted voices in the chorus. The second season replaced it with a theme song performed by Kate Pierson and Fred Schneider from the B-52s, which remained intact for the rest of the series." is uncited IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
"Similar to SpongeBob SquarePants and The Ren & Stimpy Show, Irwin uses selections from the APM Music into his score." is uncited IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
"The series returned to the block when it was rebranded as The Splat (later known as NickSplat and NickRewind) from 2015 to 2021." is uncited IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[50a]: Doesn't support "In a deleted scene from the season one episode "The Good, the Bad and the Wallaby," or "Due to the strong sexual innuendos behind it, it was removed before the episode was set to air". IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[109]: Doesn't support "Viacom New Media released one game based on the show, Rocko's Modern Life: Spunky's Dangerous Day, in the United States in April 1994, for the Super Nintendo Entertainment System." IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[110]: Doesn't support "Rocko appeared as a playable character in the game Nicktoons: Attack of the Toybots. Rocko and Heffer make cameo appearances in Nicktoons MLB, and are both playable in Nickelodeon Kart Racers 2: Grand Prix, also featuring two racetracks based on the show" IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[111, 112]: Almost but doesn't support "and Nickelodeon Kart Racers 3: Slime Speedway" IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[113]: Doesn't support "The Nickelodeon exclusive edition was released a week later", though to be honest I'm a bit confused how this is separate from the edition previously mentioned in the sentence before IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[114]: Doesn't support keychains and wristbands IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
I have my doubts whether [116] supports "Marvel published the series from June 1994 to December 1994 with monthly releases. Nickelodeon approached Marvel, asking the company to produce comic book series for Rocko's Modern Life and Ren and Stimpy. Marvel purchased the license for Rocko from Nickelodeon" because I can't access the source. This sort of information also needs secondary sourcing to be considered notable enough for inclusion in my opinion. IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
[121]:
[122]: Doesn't support "After a few comic book issues, it returned for a short time in the spring of 2019" IAWW (talk) 12:14, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
Copyvio (Criterion 2d)
fans of outrageous comedy, both animated: Too close paraphrasing IAWW (talk) 16:14, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
Done: Rewrote the whole sentence - "The crew of Rocko's Modern Life were fans of surreal humour in both animated and live-action form." RTSthestardust (talk) 02:49, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
went on to be responsible for the tone and visual looks of a lot of very successful animated series that came later: Exact copy of the source IAWW (talk) 16:14, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
- Done: Rewrote sentences - "Derek Drymon and Nick Jennings, both crew members, drew on its influence for future animated series they worked on." RTSthestardust (talk) 02:56, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
According to writer/director Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, the scene was originally supposed to have hearts appearing in Heffer's eyes at the climactic moment. Although it wasn't going to be included, they described the scene to the Nickelodeon censors anyway: Too close paraphrasing IAWW (talk) 16:14, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
- Done: Revised the sentence - "According to Jeff "Swampy" Marsh, writer and director of the series, the scene initially had hearts appear in Heffer's eyes during its climax. Despite being cut, the crew explained the scene to Nickelodeon censors." RTSthestardust (talk) 03:04, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
At the time, Nickelodeon was selling itself as a network based on children's entertainment while aiming to appeal to college students and parents as much as: Too close IAWW (talk) 16:14, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
- Done: Revised the sentence - "During that time, Nickelodeon, despite being a children's entertainment network, appealed to teens and college students with The Ren & Stimpy Show." RTSthestardust (talk) 03:08, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
the instructions on the wall behind him helpfully remind all employees: Too close IAWW (talk) 16:14, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
- Done: Revised the sentence to "where an instruction sheet notes employees" RTSthestardust (talk) 03:13, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
joined forces with CreateSpace, part of the Amazon.com Inc. group of companies, to make several animated and live-action shows available on DVD, many for the first time. The DVDs were published via CreateSpace DVD on Demand, a service that manufactures discs as soon as customers order them on Amazon.com: Close IAWW (talk) 16:14, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
- Done: Shortened and revised the sentence - "In August 2008, Nickelodeon collaborated with CreateSpace, an Amazon-owned company, to release its older shows on DVD for the first time, being sold exclusively online." RTSthestardust (talk) 03:20, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
I recommend running the copyvio detector (aka. Earwig) on articles you nominate in the future to pre-emptively fix these issues. It can always be found in the GA toolbox on the top right of this page. IAWW (talk) 16:14, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
- I have just used the copyvio detector an hour ago to revise some non-quoted sentences that felt too close to the original source. Thanks for that! RTSthestardust (talk) 05:05, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
Scope (Criteria 3a, 3b)
On a quick look through this seems to cover everything major. It follows a similar structure to other GA TV shows. Any further minor scope comments I'll make in the prose review.
Stable (Criterion 5)
Media
It's so good that we get to have some of the scenes as a video because Nickelodeon uploaded them under CC license!
Tags (Criterion 6a)
I see no issues with the tagging
Captions (Criterion 6b)
An assortment of scenes from the first season's episodes, highlighting typical series situations where Rocko attempts to perform mundane tasks but turns into absurd and backfired situations.: Grammatically this reads as Rocko turning into absurd situations, but that makes no sense, so some rewording is needed. IAWW (talk) 16:26, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
- Done: Revised the sentence - "A selection of scenes from the first season's episodes highlights typical situations in the series where Rocko tries to complete mundane tasks, only for them to spiral into absurd outcomes. RTSthestardust (talk) 03:25, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
Early concept art of Rocko done by Murray, a proposal sent to Linda Simensky in 1991.: Should not have a full stop, as this isn't a full sentence. IAWW (talk) 16:26, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
- Done: Revised the sentence and removed the period - "Murray’s early concept art of Rocko, submitted to Linda Simensky in 1991" RTSthestardust (talk) 03:28, 30 June 2025 (UTC)
Suggestions (not needed for GA promotion)
Some work needs to be done at List of Rocko's Modern Life characters, which might be up your alley since you are familiar with the sourcing. IAWW (talk) 15:47, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
Some of the non-dead URLs could do with archive links to prevent link rot in the future. IAWW (talk) 16:14, 29 June 2025 (UTC)
- Done: Completed archive links and dates with website references except for YouTube videos (there are two recent ones without such and need to archive via Ghostarchive) RTSthestardust (talk) 04:46, 30 June 2025 (UTC)