The
Rugrats were shown on
August 1991 as one of the first three cartoons produced by the
kids network,
Nickelodeon.
Surprisingly the show is the last man standing of the original three Nicktoons. After 10 years the show has only changed slightly. There have been two movies. The Rugrats movie came out on November 20th, 1998, telling the story of one addition to the cast, Dil Pickles. On November 17th, 2000, Rugrats in Paris, was released. Rugrats in Paris added three new characters to the cast, Kira, Kimi and Lulu.
The first episode of Rugrats was called "Tommy's First Birthday". Tommy, becoming one year old and is given a "flying saucer" by his father. When the Rugrats sneak away from the party they cause all sorts of trouble with the new toy as they try to get dog food to be like Spike the dog.
The TV show is normally 2 episodes sandwiched in a 30-minute spot. They tend to take a childish perspective of the world including mispronunciations and misunderstandings. Each of the characters is unique and identifiable. None have actually changed ages other then the first birthday party for Tommy Pickles as the original show and a special episode.
The show is a normally wonderful playful view of the world through the eyes of a child. The babies tend to mispronounce words and misunderstand meanings. Also they can have problems with ideas and concepts of objects. One of the examples is the episode where they thought the mirror is a portal to "mirror world" where everything is opposite.
There is also two forms of communication on the show. The adults can communicate with anoyne when ever they want. When the children are alone they finally are about to talk to each other but no human can understand him. Whn Tommy was calling out the name Reptar they thought he was saying "Rifraff" since then the babies have remained silent to the adults.
The main characters of the show are the "babies" or the Rugrats led by Tommy Pickles. Tommy Pickles is the classic hero, strong, courageous, and smart. He was the youngest member of the group but holds an inner strength that makes him seem older. He is a pure leader, leading by example and some democratic voting rather then force. He does not yet have hair and always appears to have a single tooth. He has broken out of many playpens and exerts an adventurous sense as well as a helpful nature. His explorations usually create many of the shows plots and always is able to escape from babysitters.
Charles "Chucky" Finster is Tommy's best friend in their group. Perhaps fated to be a nerd he already wears glasses at the age of two. Chucky is the voice of reason or fear depending on the situation. The voice that is often saying "I don't know about this, guys." or "I don't think that is a good idea you guys". He is quite smart but has no adventure sense. Chucky is often right about what is happening except when he looses his head. Chucky normally does what Tommy wants because Tommy will explain a plan and defend it until Chucky finally gives in to the idea.
Philip "Phil" and Lillian "Lil" DeVille are also friends of Tommy and Chucky. They are fraternal twins, so identical that the only difference between them is the pink bow that Lil wears. They can and have posed as each other with no work. Phil and Lil like to get messy. They tend to eat and play with bugs or just play in garbage, dirt or other various messes. They have certain ambivalence to the battles of good and evil. They tend to side with Tommy Pickles but will help out other people especially when candy is involved.
For every show there is normally an antagonist and Rugrats has one of the youngest, Angelica Pickles. Angelica is the cousin of Tommy Pickles. She is normally a self-centered child of two business moguls. The child will steal everything she can and terrorize the younger children. The age difference normally plays an effect as she is sometimes the one who the children go to for information. She also is the only main cast member who can talk to the grownups. She tends to create most of the problems for the children but can sometimes help the "babies" as she calls them.
Suzy Carmichael is the other elder child in the show. She lives across the street and when she is shown she is usually solving a problem that Angelica caused or fighting with Angelica. She is the only main star of the show that is African American. The show has only a few instances of Suzy but she can be the savior of the day. There is often a rivalry between Angelica and Suzy.
Then there are the parents of the children. The parents of the Rugrats should not be blamed for the trouble the kids get into as they try. The kids break through all the adults’ security precautions usually with ease.
Tommy Pickles' father is Stu Pickles. Stu is an inventor and owner of Pickles Toys. Him and his wife are often in every episode of the show. Quite often Stu is in the middle of an invention but can't figure out how to get around a problem. It is not know how many toys he has built but he is often looking to "put Pickles Toys on the Map". Some of his toys are given up due to their power, or just the fact that they don't work. Others toys have been retired because Tommy and the gang either destroy or hate them. His toys tend to be extremely high technology though. There is a Hoverama, a Reptarwagon, and dolls with heat sensor and horrible speech are some of his many designs.
Married to Stu Pickles is Didi Pickles. She is the adoring housewife who tries to help relax and comfort Stu after his failures. Didi is a loving and devoted mother, often carrying more then her load of kids.. She often cares for all five kids at a time more often then not. She is quite a spectacular mother considering her charges. She also tends to put more stock in Doctor Lipschitz, her version of Doctor Spock then should be healthy.
Drew Pickles is the father of Angelica. He is also the brother of Stu Pickles. His business as a business executive. Drew always seems to be hustling, dropping his kid of at his brothers before work. Stu and Drew are fighting brothers. There fights are usually about the fact that Stu's invention business. They tend to fight over basically any fact that they can disagree on. Drew is the older of the two brothers.
Charlotte Pickles is Angelica's mother. She is the owner of a successful company. Her company only business appears to be acquiring other companies to increase its growth. She and Drew tend to spoil Angelica in negative reinforcement. She is a cutthroat businesswoman who orders her assistant, Jonathan around much like her child with the children. She is almost always on the phone with Jonathan and sometimes may neglect the children.
Betty and Howard Deville are the parents of Lil and Phil. Howard is normally not seen on the show except when all the other characters are at a friendly occasion. He tends to appear to be a wimp, usually seen saying "Yes dear". Betty is Didi's best friend. While never mentioned, Betty could be called a feminist. She is handy around the house, and wears the pants of the family. Betty and Didi appears to go back a long way. They are quite friendly to the whole group. Betty has an almost constant craving for coffee, or java as she calls it. Betty tends to drop Phil and Lil off and then drag Didi away from the children to talk over topics over a cup of coffee.
Charles Finster is the father of Chucky. Charles is usually called Chazz by his friends. He appears to be a nerdy type who gets pushed around a lot but is good friends with Stu and Didi Pickles. He is quite like his son and also is unsure of himself often. Chazz appears to be of English descent.
Randy Carmichael is the neighbor of Stu and Didi's across the street. Randy Carmichaels is a writer for the show "Dummi Bears" which is popular by the adults but especially Stu Pickles. The children don't find the show as interesting as their parents.
Lucy Carmichaels is the wife of Randy. She has a bit of an unbelievable life. She flies commercial jets as well as being a doctor. She also went to Harvard. Though none of these facts make her rivals with any other characters. She is often not seen on the show as her daughter, Alisa is old enough to baby-sit her and her two brothers.
Lou Pickles is the grandfather of Tommy and Angelica Pickles, he is also the father of Stu and Drew Pickles. He is referred just as Grandpa. He is often happy to baby-sit his grandkids and often a few extras. His role usually is to watch TV while babysitting and falls asleep allowing Tommy and the gang to have a free reign in the house. He is also the voice of experience and tends to put various ideas in the minds of the kids.
There are a variety of animals and minor characters on the show.
Spike is the dog of the Pickles family. Spike is Tommy's best friend. He is always available to help out Tommy when he calls for him. Tommy relies on Spike often to escape from the playpen. Spike also had a litter of puppies with the Finster's dog named Fifi.
Reptar is the dinosaur hero of the group of children. He is often shown in episodes through dolls or imagination. Reptar is similar to Godzilla and has many of the same type of movies. The character has also had an ice show and multiple toys, including the Reptarwagon for the kids to ride in.
There is also a group of Teddy Bears called "Dummi Bears". The Dummi Bears are cute and cuddly creatures that remind viewers of Care Bears. They are cute beyond comparison and always talk about being good and nice. The Dummi Bears started off having motion pictures, then home videos and such and have expanded to the point of having rock operas and a french type of circus.
During the sixth season the release of "The Rugrats Movie" spawn an addition to the family, a new boy named Dil Pickles, son to Didi. Dil was born during the two hour movie, just after the first episode of the sixth season. Dil is the youngest member of the group. While Tommy was not friendly at first, they are now good friends as well as brothers. He looks up to Tommy as a hero and Tommy and the rest of group watches out for him as one of their own. Dil is unable to talk to the other children even in baby talk.
After the eight season the second Rugrats motion picture was released. The movie was named "Rugrats in Paris". The families went underwent some major changes during the movie. The first change was that Grandpa Lou married a woman named Lulu. Also when the family is in France, Chazz marries a woman named Kira with a daughter Kimi. Finally Chucky spoke his first word, "No".
Grandpa Lou's new wife Lulu is rarely seen even now but they are happily married and she cares for the kids as much as Grandpa. Lulu is more adventurous then Grandpa but they mesh together.
Kira is Charles Finster's wife. She is of Asian descent and appears to be from Japan though most of her cultural references are from all over the orient such as Feng Shui. She is a loving mother like Didi but has an interesting flair for it. She is as sweet to Chucky as her natural born daughter.
Kimi is the newest member to the group of kids. She is a mix between Tommy and the twins where she has proactive tendencies. She searches for adventure but she tends to act with out deciding on moral issues. She thinks "Angelica is fun" even though Angelica was rude to the kids. She looks up to her brother. Idolizing him to the point where she doesn't recognize his flaws.
Taffy is the newest member of the cast. In the 2002 season, Amanda Bynes voiced the character named Taffy. Taffy is a babysitter who sings and plays the guitar. She is the granddaughter of Lulu. She gets so into her music that the children can escape easily.
There have been quite a few special episodes. The most memorable episode was an hour long episode where the babies went into the future about ten years. They were just becoming teenagers and they went to their first concert. What is important about the episode was that it was the only episode that showed the only signs of aging. In addition the episode has paved the way to the new spin-off show called "All Grown Up".
Over the ten seasons the show has contained a consistent level of excellence, and has no appearance of a peak or a plateau. The show is enjoyable by all ages and can be watched over and over. Obviously the show is aimed at children but has quite a few jokes such as when referring to home movies that the children were drawing themselves, Tommy Pickles quips "It won't be pretty I don't have all my motor skills".
The Rugrats have had all the marks of a great cartoon. They still prove to be a force to be reckoned with after ten years. There are many conflicting reports on if the series will end after the 2002 season. After the 2002 season there will be two series to follow in the footsteps. There will be a series that deals with Angelica and Suzy's time in preschool named "Preschool Daze". There will also be a series based on the children when they are ten years in the future called "All Grown Up". Both shows are based on episodes already aired on Nickelodeon, both of the same name as the series. There are already plans for a third movie involving a crossover between the Rugrats and “The Wild Thornberries”.
Most of the facts can be found at www.rugratonline.com