The time has come, '90s kids: A sneak peek for the Rocko's Modern Life reboot has arrived, and it will bring you right back to your childhood...sort of. As reported by Entertainment Weekly, the footage debuted during the show's San Diego Comic-Con panel on Thursday, reintroducing audiences to the old favorite — but with a modern twist.
The project, officially titled Rocko’s Modern Life: Static Cling, will reunite original creator Joe Murray, director Cosmo Segurson, and the entire principal voice cast for a film-length TV special set to premiere on Nickelodeon in 2018. But rather than simply revive the show's old charm, it's time-warping its characters to the 21st century, and it's not exactly a smooth transition.
In the video, Rocko struggles to adjust to the modern world, where newfangled things like "o-phones," food trucks, 3D glasses, and radioactive energy drinks have infiltrated his once familiar society. "Uh, fellas? I don't think we're in the '90s anymore," he says. Then, later: "This is a phone? But where are all the buttons?" Or otherwise known as "things your parents say to embarrass you."
The end of the clip is an homage to the original theme song, but this time around, Rocko isn't being chased by a scrappy dog, he's running away from a brain-chomping laptop, Facebook dislikes, invasive surveillance, and a smart phone that looks like it's about to quite literally burn his world down.
The movie is just one in a string of revivals Nick has been rolling out in recent years: Game show Legends of the Hidden Temple premiered as a live-action flick last fall, while Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie is set for release this November, picking up right after the events of the original series.
But while we may be embracing plenty of '90s nostalgia IRL, Rocko will have to learn to let it go if he wants to really put the modern back in his life.
