Rocket Power

The only thing better than not working out, is watching other people workout. The Nick show Rocket Power always made me feel accomplished even though I had been sitting on the couch for half an hour. It’s a program about a group of friends that live in California who enjoy surfing, skateboarding, rollerblading, and tons of other sports that terrify me.

Brother and sister Otto and Reggie Rocket love sports. They get along pretty well mostly because they have the same interests. They’re both fairly tan (orange) which makes me think they’ll have skin cancer by the time they’re 40. But it’ll probably be totally gnarly to them anyway.

Reggie is a tomboy in the sense that she’s better at X-games type sports than most guys. She has purple hair which I assume she was born with since they never show her dying it. She’s an accomplished gal and even starts her own “Zine” or magazine for those of us who don’t speak surf language. The one downfall to Reggie is that she can’t dress to save her life. Although, she’s growing up without a mom so who can really blame her?

Otto just wants to have fun. He can sometimes be a complainer and usually does what he wants even if it’s not good for anyone else. He’s often threatened by new people and prides himself by being the coolest in his gang. He wears his hair in dreds or braids or something. Definitely not cornrows though. Probably dreds since he doesn’t have a mom so he doesn’t know how to wash his hair. Nice logic on my part.

Otto’s best friend is Maurice “Twister” Rodriguez. Twister is pretty down to earth. He’s nice but he’s a little dumb. Twist will occasionally film the gang when they practice their tricks on the half pipe.

The new kid in town in Sam Dullard. He’s originally from Kansas and has no idea how do anything sporty. Being the new kid, they dubbed him with the name Squid. If I remember correctly, Twister was Squid before Sam moved into town and Twister was obviously relieved that he wouldn’t have such an awful nickname anymore. Squid actually fit Sam pretty well. He eventually learned how to surf even though he had to use a long board because he had no balance. He also learned how to blade and was a pretty decent goalie. He could kind of board and bike ride. He fit in quite well. And gave me hope that maybe I could be sporty like the Rockets.

Reggie and Otto’s dad is Ray Rocket. He owns a food stand down by the beach called The Shore Shack. He used to be interested in all of the activities that Reggie and Otto like now, and tries to prove how cool he was back in the day. Raymundo, as his kids call him, is kind of a sad character. He’s a widower and he barely has a career. The only thing that makes me not feel sorry for him is that he has a normal size house in Southern California on the salary of a babysitter. He’s also guilty of using all of the slang that the kids use which is totally lame. You can catch all of them saying things like, “rad”, “sweet”, “savage”, “agro”, “Wanna get some grub on?” I had a new vocabulary after watching this show. I still don’t know what “agro” means.

Tito Makani is Ray’s long time best friend who works at “The Shack” with him. Tito is of Hawaiian descent and always has some old saying to tell the kids. He’s very wise and philosophical. But also kind of silly. I don’t like describing people as silly, but that’s just how Tito is.

I just read that in later episodes Ray gets remarried to Tito’s cousin Noelani who was apparently Ray’s wife, Danni’s, best friend. Like, what is all this new info they think they can address after I stopped watching? Rude. Also, it’s said that Danni died in a surfing accident. SHE WOULD.

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