"Rorg: Hero of a Past" is the twenty-ninth episode of the second season (and eighty-first episode overall) of Randy Cunningham: 9th Grade Ninja. It premiered on April 13, 2015.
Synopsis[]
Viceroy has been ripping off a cheesy '80s cartoon for all of his bot designs, Randy have to fight the robot version from the '80s cartoon characters.
Plot[]
Trivia[]
- The series Rorg: Hero of a Past is a parody of various action cartoons of the 1980s, particularly targeting those made by the then popular but now much-derided Filmation Associates, such as He-Man and the Masters of the Universe, and by Rankin/Bass Productions, such as ThunderCats. Filmation in particular was known for its extremely limited animation, its constant re-use of stock footage, for the random moral messages incongruously foisted into its stories, and for the characters, monsters and objects designed mostly to push sales of toys and accessories (to the point that these cartoons were described as "half-hour-long commercials").
- Rorg's sword strongly resembles that of He-Man, and his battle-cry, "By the power of my right arm, I'm holding my sword up!" echoes He-Man's cry, uttered during his frequently-repeated transformation scene (in which he similarly raised his sword), "By the Power of Grayskull!".
- Rorg's skull-headed villain, Commander Boneface, with his horn-headed staff of power, references He-Man's antagonist Skeletor, who had those characteristics as well as the flat, high-pitched voice that Rorg's opponent does.
- Socko may be a parody of "ethnic" sidekicks in Eighties cartoons who were often introduced as object lessons in inter-racial harmony. Such characters were as likely to be animals, aliens, or supernatural creatures as humans of non-European ethnicity, but their vocal patterns often reflected their status as ethnic tokens. (It is indeed true, as Howard suggests, that such sidekicks sometimes outshone the rather boring heroes of their series, as for example Thun the Lion-Man in Filmation's 1979 series Flash Gordon).
- Rorg and Socko's toasting each other with milk reflects the morals that were often crammed into Eighties cartoons, often in an epilogue tacked onto the end; these lessons many times had little or nothing to do with the stories. (It may also reflect an actual scene in Filmation's 1980 cartoon Blackstar in which the hero John Blackstar and his alien sidekick Klone toast each other in "cool, clear spring-water").
- Rorg's character design seems strongly influenced by that of Lion-O in Rankin/Bass's ThunderCats, particularly in its coloring and in Rorg's flowing, mane-like hair.
- Rob Riggle and Kenan Thompson guest starred in this episode as Rorg and Socko.
- About a year after this episode of Randy Cunningham, another Disney XD series, Wander Over Yonder, covered very similar territory in the episode "The Cartoon," which also features a parody of Filmation's low-budget animation, especially He-Man (naturally enough, as this series, like He-Man, featured a skull-headed evil overlord as its main villain).
- A poster for "Grave Puncher: 6D" can be seen in Howard's room.
- Later in the episode when Randy goes into Ninja Rage, his eyes don't glow red as they've done in the past; this could be an error or a redesign.
Gallery[]
External links[]
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