Rocket Power: Island of the Menehune
Encyclopedia
Rocket Power
Rocket Power is an American animated television series that aired on Nickelodeon.-Premise:Rocket Power involves the daily situations of a group of best friends named Oswald "Otto" Rocket, Regina "Reggie" Rocket, Maurice "Twister" Rodriguez, and Sam "Squid" Dullard, as they live in the fictional...
cartoon series. It aired on Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
on July 19, 2002 and was also released onto VHS and DVD in 2004, the year Rocket Power ended.
Plot
The Rocket Power gang (Otto Rocket, sister Reggie, and friends Sam Dullard and Twister Rodriguez) accompany paterfamilias Raymundo Rocket and his business partner Tito Makani to O'ahuOahu
Oahu or Oahu , known as "The Gathering Place", is the third largest of the Hawaiian Islands and most populous of the islands in the U.S. state of Hawaii. The state capital Honolulu is located on the southeast coast...
for a well-deserved vacation, the occasion being a reunion of Tito's extended family (Brookes Almy voices Tito's mom). Otto becomes fixated on the prospect of surfing the North Shore
North Shore (Oahu)
The North Shore, in the context of geography of the Island of Oahu, refers to the north-facing coastal area of Oahu between Kaena Point and Kahuku Point...
's Banzai Pipeline
Banzai Pipeline
The Banzai Pipeline, or simply "Pipeline" or "Pipe," is a surf reef break located in Hawaii, off Ehukai Beach Park in Pupukea on O'ahu's North Shore. A reef break is an area in the ocean where waves start to break once they reach the shallows of a reef...
. The kids hook up with young Makani cousins Keoni and Leilani (voiced by Matty Liu and Tinashe Kachingwe
Tinashe Kachingwe
Tinashe Jorgenson Kachingwe , known professionally as Tinashe, is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is known as the former lead singer of girl group, the Stunners.-Early life:...
, the latter of whom had an uncredited role in the movie Masked and Anonymous
Masked and Anonymous
Masked and Anonymous is a 2003 comedy-drama film directed by Larry Charles, who is better known for his writing on successful TV sitcoms, Seinfeld and Mad About You and for executive producing episodes of The Tick and Dilbert. The film was written by Larry Charles and Bob Dylan, the latter under...
) who take them on a cross-country bicycle race where they discover one of the menehune
Menehune
In Hawaiian mythology, the Menehune [pronounced meh-neh-HOO-neh] are said to be a people, sometimes described as dwarfs in size, who live in the deep forests and hidden valleys of the Hawaiian Islands, far from the eyes of normal humans. Their favorite food is the maia , but they also like...
s' heiau
Heiau
A heiau is a Hawaiian temple. Many types of heiau existed, including heiau to treat the sick , offer first fruits, offer first catch, start rain, stop rain, increase the population, ensure health of the nation, achieve success in distant voyaging, reach peace, and achieve success in war . Only the...
, from which Sam in a crucial shot greedily and covertly pilfers a small statue.
Once the gang has settled in, Ray is smitten by Tito's cousin Noelani (voiced by Kim Mai Guest
Kim Mai Guest
Kim Mai Angela Guest is a voice actress of European and Vietnamese descent. She is known to speak fluent French and Italian.- Anime/Animation roles :* .hack//Liminality - Narumi* .hack//SIGN - Subaru...
), who was best friends with his late wife Danielle (voiced in flashback by Shayna Fox
Shayna Fox
Shayna Bracha Fox is a former American voice actress, the voice of Reggie Rocket on Nickelodeon's animated series, Rocket Power. She is also credited as the voice of Savannah on All Grown Up!.-Biography:...
, the voice of Reggie) who died when Otto and Reggie were very little. Spending lots of quality time together, the two suddenly become over protective: a planned horseback riding outing becomes a pony ride; the kids already wearing helmets and gloves for an ATV
All-terrain vehicle
An all-terrain vehicle , also known as a quad, quad bike, three wheeler, or four wheeler, is defined by the American National Standards Institute as a vehicle that travels on low pressure tires, with a seat that is straddled by the operator, along with handlebars for steering control...
excursion are issued jackets and pads and told to go slow; a planned helicopter tour is foregone due to wind. It is revealed that Noelani some years ago had been tandem-surfing Pipe with her partner, who disappeared in the ocean after their surfboard broke in a bad wipeout; hence her cautious nature.
Bad luck?
In a canoe race, Ray elects to remain ashore with Noelani, leaving Tito and the "foursome" to crew a six-person boat. Complicating matters further, Sam is frightened by the appearance of a jellyfishJellyfish
Jellyfish are free-swimming members of the phylum Cnidaria. Medusa is another word for jellyfish, and refers to any free-swimming jellyfish stages in the phylum Cnidaria...
. Strangely, this results in the wooden (or plastic) boat eventually sinking out from under them. In other instances, Otto has two close calls. The first was in a surfing wipeout. Then he is dragged into deep water while hanging onto a turtle when free-diving but is rescued by Reggie. While at their treehouse accommodations at the Makani ranch, Twister's precious camcorder and favorite swim trunks go missing, forcing him to employ some humorous and drastic counter-measures. Sam begins to think, at first privately, that the menehune are responsible for what's going on, and that his taking the statue was the proximate cause of all these untoward occurrences.
Rough seas
The entourage eventually visits the Pipeline when it's in a particularly rough mood. Raymundo declares a well-informed no-go. Otto — and then Reggie — begin to act out, and on another day decide to surf the Pipeline on their own, the sibs getting washed into a shoreside cave in a scenario eerily reminiscent of a well-publicised January 1993 incident. Raymundo goes in after them, and the three are eventually rescued due to Twister's vigilance (Noelani plays a significant part as well).The film is notable in the Rocket Power canon for revealing (among other backstory) the appearance and given name of Otto and Reggie's late mother, which for a long time remained a subject of curiosity among the show's fans (although the episode seems to elaborates that the cause of death was a fatal wipeout). A character stating in the context of an episode that someone important had died also appears to have lifted a long-standing Nickelodeon taboo on the use of the word "death". The film ends as Raymundo reveals to Tito his plans to ask Noelani for her hand in marriage, leading into Rocket Power: The Big Day
Rocket Power: The Big Day
The Big Day is the hour-long series finale of the Rocket Power animated television series. The series' conclusion was sponsored by the Make-A-Wish Foundation and aired on Nickelodeon on August 2, 2004.-Plot:...
This is the only time where the mother whose name is never reveled, speaks directly to Otto (voiced by Rebecca Welsh) Their dog who name is daisy after Ottos grandmother also appeared to be talking(Daisy voiced by Julie Niederberger).
Trivia
- Steve GuttenbergSteve GuttenbergSteven Robert "Steve" Guttenberg is an American actor and comedian. He became well known during the 1980s, after a series of starring roles in major Hollywood films, including Cocoon, Three Men and a Baby, Police Academy, and Short Circuit.-Early life:Guttenberg was born in Brooklyn, New York, the...
, of Police Academy fame, is a voice in this telefilm. He had starred with Lombardo BoyarLombardo BoyarLombardo Boyar is an American character actor and has been active in television, animation, cinema, and video games since 1996. Some of Boyar's notable performances include a brief part as convenience-store robber Ramon Garcia on Fox's 24 and a starring role as burglar Eddie Tesoro in the movie P.S...
in the 2002 movie P.S. Your Cat Is DeadP.S. Your Cat Is DeadP.S. Your Cat Is Dead is a novel by James Kirkwood, Jr., original published in 1972, adapted from his play. The book and play were later adapted to film.-Synopsis:...
. - Sammy's confession that he "pulled a Bobby Brady" pulls Rocket Power into the Tommy WestphallTommy WestphallTommy Westphall, portrayed by Chad Allen, is a minor character from the drama television series St. Elsewhere, which ran on NBC from October 26, 1982, to May 25, 1988. Westphall, who is autistic, took on major significance in St. Elsewheres final episode, "The Last One," where the common...
continuum, as he could not have made this statement unless he was familiar with the Hawaii trip story arc on season 4 of The Brady BunchThe Brady BunchThe Brady Bunch is an American sitcom created by Sherwood Schwartz and starring Robert Reed, Florence Henderson, and Ann B. Davis. The series revolved around a large blended family...
, which series is accounted for therein. - This movie appears to suggest that Otto and Reggie may be part Hawaiian.
Sources
- Rocket Power: Island of the Menehune. Dirs.: M. D. Kenny, R. Noble, D. Fontana. Perfs.: J. Ashton, M. Liu, T. Kachingwe, K. M. Guest, J. Kassir et al. Los Angeles: Klasky Csupo (2003) (DVD: Paramount).