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Rugrats

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Rugrats
Rugrats
Rugrats
Created byArlene Klasky
Gabor Csupo
Paul Germain
StarringE.G. Daily
Christine Cavanaugh
Cheryl Chase
Kath Soucie
Nancy Cartwright
Tara Strong
Dionne Quan
Cree Summer
Joe Alaskey
Bruce Willis
Melanie Chartoff
Jack Riley
Tress MacNeille
Michael Bell
Julia Kato
Philip Proctor
Ron Glass
Hattie Winston
Debbie Reynolds
Amanda Bynes
Andrea Martin
Miriam Margolyes
Stacy Keach
Country of originUSA
No. of episodes173
Production
Running time22 minutes approx
Original release
NetworkNickelodeon
ReleaseAugust 11, 1991 –
September 9, 2005

Template:Infobox TV ratings Rugrats was an American animated television series produced by Klasky-Csupo, Inc. for Nickelodeon. It usually aired on Nickelodeon and YTV, but an Xmas and Kwanzaa episode aired on Treehouse TV. The series ran from 1991 to 1994, and again from 1996 to 2005. The show is about how babies and young children view life and perceive the events happening around them. The show was originally titled Rugbabies. [citation needed]

The toddlers in the show, Tommy Pickles, Chuckie Finster, and the twins Phillip (Phil) and Lillian (Lil) DeVille, are able to communicate to each other in baby speak that the adults are unable to understand. Oftentimes, they mispronounce words or use poor grammar (in one episode, Chuckie uses the phrase "as God as my witness", but instead says, "as Bob as my witness"). Despite the toddlers' inability to communicate with the adults, they can understand their parents' speaking, although often misunderstanding what they say, usually by taking metaphors literally. Angelica Pickles, at age three, is able to communicate and understand language from both the toddlers and the adults, which she often uses as an advantage when she wants to manipulate either party.

Characters

The children

  • Tommy Pickles (voiced by E.G. Daily, and Tami Holbrook in the unseen pilot): Tommy is the leader of the whole group. He is Angelica's cousin, and he is the bravest of them all.
  • Dil Pickles (voiced by Tara Strong): Tommy's younger brother, a true baby (i.e. not a toddler like the other children). Introduced in the first Rugrats movie.
  • Angelica Pickles (voiced by Cheryl Chase): Tommy and Dil's cousin who always bosses the "babies" around, being the oldest--about 3 years old. She enjoys lying to the toddlers and distorting their perception of reality. Angelica acts perfectly around the adults but is generally mean to the babies. Her parents spoil her all the time, and she always gets what she wants.
  • Chuckie Finster (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh up to 2002, Nancy Cartwright since): Tommy's loyal sidekick. He's afraid of everything, especially clowns and the guy on the Quaker Oatmeal box.
  • Phil and Lil DeVille (both voiced by Kath Soucie): fraternal twins (boy and girl) that have everything in common. Both enjoy playing in mud and like to eat worms and insects.
  • Kimi Finster (voiced by Dionne Quan): Chuckie's younger step-sister, introduced in the second Rugrats movie, Rugrats in Paris. Kimi is a very happy girl who is always smiling. She is younger than Chuckie, but she is usually the one looking after him.
  • Susie Carmichael (voiced by Cree Summer): A neighborhood friend who is about Angelica's age. When around, Susie often stands up to Angelica when she taunts the young toddlers. She also has two older brothers, Edwin and Buster and older sister Alisha. She is very nice to the babies, and babysits them in the Pilot Episode for All Grown Up.

The adults

  • Stuart "Stu" Pickles (voiced by Jack Riley of The Bob Newhart Show fame): Tommy and Dil's father and brother of Drew. Absent-minded toy inventor. Married to Didi.
  • Didi Pickles (nee Kerpackter) (voiced by Melanie Chartoff): Tommy and Dil's mother. A part-time schoolteacher and married to Stu.
  • Louis "Lou" Pickles (voiced by David Doyle from 1991, until his death in 1997, and Joe Alaskey; 1997-Series End): Tommy, Dil and Angelica's grandfather and Stu and Drew's father. Lived with Stu's family for the first few seasons and often babysat the children.
  • Lulu Pickles (voiced by Debbie Reynolds): Lou's second wife; he met her in the hospital where she works as a nurse. Also Tommy, Dil, and Angelica's step grandmother and Stu and Drew's stepmother.
  • Drew Pickles (voiced by Michael Bell): Angelica's father and Stu's brother. An investment banker married to Charlotte.
  • Charlotte Pickles (voiced by Tress MacNeille): Angelica's workaholic mother. CEO of her own company and married to Drew. She tries to be a good mother, but is usually sidetracked by business interests. Is often shown talking on her mobile phone to her assistant Jonathan, who was shown several times during early episodes of the series.
  • Betty DeVille (voiced by Kath Soucie): Phil and Lil's mother. Quite the jock and women's-libber. Married to Howard. Helps operate the Java Lava Coffee House with Chaz Finster.
  • Howard DeVille (voiced by Philip Proctor, formerly of The Firesign Theatre): Phil and Lil's mild mannered father. Often overpowered by and cringing towards his wife, Betty.
  • Charles "Chaz" Crandall Finster II (voiced by Michael Bell): Widower; Chuckie's father, from whom he inherited his adenoidal whine. Married Kira in the second Rugrats movie. Kimi's step-father. Runs the Java Lava Coffee House.
  • Melinda Finster (deceased): Chuckie's mother and Chaz's first wife. Chuckie doesn't remember her, for she died when he was a tiny baby.
  • Kira Finster (nee Watanabe) (voiced by Julia Kato): Kimi's mother and Chuckie's step-mother. Married Chaz in the second Rugrats movie. Operates the Java Lava Coffee House with her husband.
  • Hiro Watanabe: Kimi's father and Kira's ex-husband. Lives in Japan, never mentioned on Rugrats but Kimi mentions talking to him on occasion in the All Grown Up episode "Memoirs of a Finster".
  • Lucy Carmichael (voiced by: Cheryl Carter (1992, 1997-Series End), Lisa Dinkins (1993), Hattie Winston (The Rugrats Movie): Susie, Edwin, Buster, and Alisha's mother and Randy's wife. She is a Harvard-educated "wonder mom" and does a lot of cool things. She is also a Doctor. She delivered Dil.
  • Randall "Randy" Carmichael (voiced by: Ron Glass): Married to Lucy Carmichael & is Susie and her siblings' father. Randy is a writer for the famous Dummi Bears Show.
  • Boris and Minka Kerpackter (voiced by Michael Bell and Melanie Chartoff): Didi and her brother Ben's Jewish parents. Eastern European immigrants who are always complaining that it wasn't this way in the "Old Country".
  • Ben Kerpackter: Didi's brother, featured in a episode where he was getting married, but his bride runs off to hide because she's too nervous. He and his wife appear one more time in the series to babysit, hoping to get some experience with children, but decide to wait after dealing with Angelica.
  • Aunt Miriam (voiced by Andrea Martin): Lou's cousin and Angelica, Tommy, and Dil's great aunt once removed.
  • Shirley and Marvin Finster (voiced by Miriam Margolyes and Stacy Keach): Chaz's parents.
  • Dr. Lipschitz (voiced by Tony Jay): A self-professed expert child psychologist and physician whom Didi Pickles and Charles Finster are big fans of. He was also in the "Rugrats Movie" and is very popular in the First Season, but a little bit less popular in the Second Season.

The pets

  • Spike (not voiced in the TV show, but voiced by Bruce Willis only in Rugrats Go Wild!): The Pickles' brown hound dog. Tommy deeply admires him. (Spike was once voiced in a very old Rugrats episode in which Chuckie had a dream that he and the other babies went into Spike's doghouse. In the doghouse, Spike was drinking tea and spoke with an old English accent).
  • Fifi (Voiced by Grey DeLisle): Purple poodle, who was originally a Parisian stray which Spike fell in love with in the second Rugrats movie. Now, lives with the Finsters.
  • Spiffy and Sparky (not voiced): Purple and brown (respectively) puppies adopted by the Stu Pickles and Chaz Finster households. The offspring of a union between Spike and Fifi. (Note: In US showings of "Mutts in a Name", Sparky's identified as "Pepper", as a result of a viewer poll.)
  • Fluffy (not voiced): Angelica's cat whom she loves dearly, but who always causes trouble for the others, particularly Spike.

Fictional TV Characters

  • Reptar (not voiced): A big green dinosaur reminiscent of Godzilla. Tommy and the other Rugrats love him; Reptar products such as cars, clothes and candy are frequently seen on the show. Reptar was a main character in Rugrats in Paris and had his own theme park called Euro Reptarland (Which is obviously a parody of Disneyland Paris). There was a giant Reptar robot there too, which the babies piloted and fought against Jean Claude.
  • Robosnail (not voiced): Reptar's arch enemy. Robosnail is a mechanical snail with snapping pincers. He made a special guest appearance in Rugrats in Paris, controlled by Jean Claude. Robosnail and Reptar fought throughout Paris and he wound up falling into a river.
  • Dactar: a big Pterodactyl who fights Reptar on TV. He Resembles Rodan from Godzilla.
  • Captain Blasto (Adam West): From the early seasons of the show. A spaceman who hosts his namesake show, a low budget locally made kids program that is reminiscent to the Captain Video series of the 1950s. In "Super Hero Chuckie", Tommy, Chuckie, Angelica, Stu and Drew go to see the show made at the television studio, where they learn the secret about how Captain Blasto flies (a cable that attaches to his costume).
  • The Dummi Bears: A cartoon watched by the babies. It is a spoof of the Care Bears and Gummi Bears franchises. Suzy's father Randy Carmichael was a writer for the show, and in one episode, the babies are taken to a movie theater to see the Dummy Bears movie (they escape from their parents to go see the Reptar movie, and cause havoc in the movie theater).
  • Alan Quebec (Alex Trebek): hosted Super Stumpers, the fictitious game show on which Didi Pickles appears in the episode "Game Show Didi".
  • The Mega Hyper Heroes: A group of five Super-Heroes whose members have powers parodying the Wonder Twins, The Incredible Hulk, Wonder Woman, and The Fantastic Four. They played a large role in the episode "Mega Diaper Babies".

Recurring Themes

Toys

  • Cynthia: Angelica's favorite toy, a doll resembling Mattel's Barbie doll. Like Barbie, Cynthia comes with many accessories, including doll houses, hair brushes, vehicles, and furniture.
  • Wa-wa: Chuckie's teddy bear.
  • Red Screwdriver: Tommy keeps this handy in his playpen or his diaper, and will use it to unhook the lock to let him explore around the house. Although in the first series his screw-driver is red, it has been known to change colors.
  • Superthing: Kimi's cherished doll.

Setting

As the series is shown largely through a child's point of view, the area it is set in is never described precisely. It has been shown that the Rugrats, as it is probably assumed, live in the United States, although the name of a specific city or state is never mentioned.

The best guess as to which region of the country in which the series takes place is somewhere in the southwest, since the family has taken trips to both the Grand Canyon and Las Vegas, and Stu once mentioned "driving through the desert" while returning home from a one-day trip. Also Grandpa (while sleeping during an episode) mentions that he didn't want to move to California because of the Dust Bowl. There have also been several scenes of desert or arid land around the area where the Rugrats live, but there was an episode which featured a snowstorm.

It is also unclear what type of community the characters live in; it could be a small city or a suburb of a larger city. This ambiguity in the setting was probably done intentionally to help give the impression of seeing the world through the naive eyes of toddlers.

One episode does however show they live somewhere in California due to the license plate shown on Grandpa's station wagon. In the episode "Special Delivery", a post office has the state's bear flag in front of it. Also in the Nickelodeon edition of Trivial Pursuit for Children, California is the answer to a question asking where the Pickles live, which may be supposed proof as to what state they reside in.

Their whereabouts in California are probably in the locus of Oakland. In one episode, Larry and Steve (occasional teenage characters, working as painters in this episode) remark that black and silver, Raiders colors are awesome. Of course, the Los Angeles area is also possible, as the Raiders played there until 1994. In another episode, Stu, Lou, Drew, and Howard want to watch a football game between the Dallas Cowboys and the Houston Oilers. Drew and Howard wear Cowboys t-shirts, while Lou and Stu wear Oilers attire. This implies a possible Texas setting.

In another episode in the first season, Didi is shown teaching at a high school in Yucaipa, an actual town about 70 miles east of Los Angeles. It does seem to snow in the wintertime, as in the episode where the babies play in the snow and pretend to go to the north pole.

However, in The Rugrats Movie, it is implied that the family lives close to Interstate 99, so the setting could also be somewhere in central Pennsylvania. This could be a script or drawing goof, as California has a state California State Route 99 serving the east side of the San Joaquin Valley.

A clear setting is never mentioned, probably to have more freedom to do whatever they want in any episode, it leaves a lot of room.

Brief history

Rugrats was created by the then husband and wife duo of Gabor Csupo (pronounced Chew-poh) and Arlene Klasky in 1989 along with Paul Germain. They were inspired by the antics of their then infant children, which they found humorous, it was one of three pitches to popular children's cable channel Nickelodeon, which was planning on commissioning their own animated series, which would later be called "Nicktoons." They produced a pilot, "Tommy Pickles and the Great White Thing", which was directed by Peter Chung, later of Æon Flux fame. The production finished in early 1990, and was shown to an audience of children, of which the majority gave their approval. The pilot was only 6 1/2 minutes in length, and was not aired for that reason, according to Steve Mindykowski's Rugrats Online. However, this movie is available on the DVD Rugrats: Decade in Diapers, and Volume 1 of the VHS, as a special feature. The series debuted on August 11, 1991, along with Doug and Ren and Stimpy. It went out of production in 1994, but after increased ratings when shown in primetime, it was revived in 1996, subsequently leading to 3 movies: The Rugrats Movie (1998), which became the first non-Disney animated movie to earn $100 million in the US, Rugrats in Paris (2000), and Rugrats Go Wild! (2003), a crossover with The Wild Thornberrys.

In 2001, the show celebrated its 10th anniversary by making a special one-hour episode about what the Rugrats would be like 10 years older. After the special had aired, Klasky-Csupo said that they had no plans to make a series about it. The special became one of the highest rated episodes in Nick's history. Nick eventually commissioned a full series, All Grown Up!, which started its regular run in November 2003 (a sneak peek full episode named Coup DeVille had aired earlier in April). Many fans feel that AGU has taken a step in the right direction, while others feel that it takes away from the show's original premise, and reduces it to something that, at best, vaguely resembles the show that many people grew to love in the 1990s, and pales in comparison to the writing, acting, artwork, and even music of the original show. Still, it is considered the best cartoon Klasky-Csupo has made since 1998. Meanwhile, production on the Rugrats series (along with that of most of the other Klasky-Csupo shows) was eventually shut down, and the last new episode ("Hurricane Alice") aired on August 1, 2004.

In 2005, Klasky-Csupo announced that they were reviving the original Rugrats as a series of DVDs based on classic fairy tales. The first were based on Snow White and Jack and the Beanstalk, of which Snow White was released on DVD in September 2005 under the series title Tales From the Crib.

Episodes

Main article: List of Rugrats episodes

Popularity

The first three seasons of Rugrats were very popular. Despite the crude animation style, the early episodes boasted effective but subtle references to popular culture and occasionally but rarely then-current events (for example, in "Tommy And The Secret Club" Angelica worries about Saddam Hussein breaking into her club; there were also references to Clarence Thomas, Anita Hill and George H.W. Bush, these references were used to keep parents interested in the show while their children watched, at different points in the series).

Trivia

  • The Pickles are a mixed Jewish-Christian family. Many fans say the Pickles are somewhat based on Klasky's real family (for example, as in the show, she is from Southern California and in real life she is a Jew and married to a Christian). There are two episodes that reflect the Pickles' Jewish heritage, one episode deals with the Passover holiday and the other with Hanukkah (in addition to episodes about Christmas, Easter, etc.). These episodes have been well-received by Jewish groups and are re-run every year on Nick at the appropriate holiday times and can also be purchased on VHS or DVD.
  • This show has some video games.
  • There have been some references to pop culture in the show. For example, in The Stork, Tommy says the phrase, "He ain't ugly...he's my brother!" which is an obvious reference to The Hollies' 1960s hit "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother." Also, Tommy says "whatutalkinabout, Phil?" which is a reference to Diff'rent Strokes star Gary Coleman.
  • Susie Carmichael, the Pickles' neighbor, is based, at least by name on militant black civil rights leader Stokely Carmichael, who founded the Black Panthers in the late 1960s.
  • In the episode titled The Clan of the Duck, Albert Einstein is dancing the Hora. Also, at the end of the episode, the Scottish babies lift their kilts and scream "FREEDOM!!!" This is a spoof of Braveheart.
  • Pat Sajak guest starred in an episode.
  • Several episodes have been indirect parodies of several movies, including The Odd Couple, It's a Wonderful Life, and Charly.
  • According to some episodes, Chaz is a bureaucrat.
  • Almost at the beginning of every episode there is an extreme close-up on a random object.
  • Besides All Grown Up! there were plans for two other spinoffs that never made it to air:
    • The Carmichaels was planned to see Susie move away from California to Atlanta, where she apparently has relatives. There were plans to make The Carmichaels into a series as early as the 1999-2000 TV season, but plans involving the toddler Rugrats had put the new series' plans on ice. Subsequently, when plans for All Grown Up! and Angelica and Susie's School Daze (below) came up, concerns for continuity led to this idea being shelved for good. The "Kwanzaa" episode (2001) serves as the show's pilot.
    • Angelica and Susie's Pre-School Daze was planned to be about the titular characters going to pre-school. 13 episodes had originally been ordered, and slated to premiere late 2002, and was also intended to feature new looks for the two characters. The most recent official word on this series was in this press release for All Grown Up!, when it was announced that it was reduced to just 4 episodes. There were also complications involving the planned new animation designs for the characters. The Pre-School Daze ep (made for 2002, aired 2004) serves as the show's pilot, and used the regular Rugrats look (as did the other episodes involving the preschoolers that actually aired before that ep in the US). Klasky-Csupo finally completed the 4 episodes of the series [1].
  • However, the Rugrats as babies live on in the direct-to-DVD feature animation series, Rugrats: Tales From the Crib.

See also

Wikiquote has quotations related to Rugrats.
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