Part two on why I hated talking toys. Angelica was always the bossy little 4 year old on Rugrats. So it was only natural that she was bossy at a karaoke doll.
“Come on, SING!” Let me just remind you that that was an order she gave you. Not a suggestion. When I got this for Christmas the year Rugrats in Paris came out, I was excited. It had been a long time since I had a talking toy so I was beyond excited to see what this baby could do. After four months of playing with her, she decided to turn herself on. She would randomly sing in the night and talk to me when I would clean my room. I cried one night when I heard her demanding me to sing when I was changing clothes. My Dad took her batteries out but her face still haunted me. I soon hid her away some where in my room. It wasn’t until I was in the 7th grade redecorating my room did I find her again. And the scariest part about it? She had batteries in her…
You sit down on your bed after a long day at school to see that it is nearly 6:30 PM. Doug is finishing up with the main character, Doug Funny, learning that liver and onions is actually not all that bad. You start to bounce up and down on your bed when the credits for Doug roll, excited that your favorite show is about to come on. You quickly grab the remote control that you accidentally dropped on the floor from jumping around on your bed to turn the volume up because you can’t contain your excitement. Then you hear a voice from the TV say, “Up next is your favorite band of babies. The Rugrats are next! Then is Ka-Blam! Right here on NICK!” the screen fades to a diaper floating in mid air and dropping on the the butt of one a boy boy who looks no more than 1. This is your main character Tommy Pickles. Tommy lives in California with his Dad Stu Pickles, who is a toy maker/inventor; Didi Pickles, a high school Home-EC teacher and homemaker; Grandpa Lou Pickles, a storyteller and babysitter who usually falls a sleep within 10 seconds of watching the babies; Spike, the trusty dog; and later on in around 1999 or 2000 Dill Pickles, the younger brother who is only a few months old (We meet Dill during Rugrats: The Movie).
The Whole Rugrats Gang including Susie Carmichael and Kimi Finster, Chuckie's adopted Asian sister when his dad remarried.
The intro to the show shows all of our other main characters and you sit, with your eyes glued to the TV screen just so you can catch your favorite. Phil and Lil DeVille, the twins who live next door and eat worms, are currently running around in the background, breaking a lap in the processes; Angelica Pickles, older cousin to Tommy and the resident 4 year old bratty girl, is dragging Spike out of the closet and playing dress-up; and Chuckie Finster, who is two years old, wears glasses, wild red hair, and lives with his dad down the block, is hanging on tightly with his dear life to a vacuum cleaner. Soon the door opens and Tommy’s parents are there smiling down at their adorable son. Didi picks Tommy up where he looks at his mommy and then at the camera holding his bottle of milk. The other babies are behind him smiling innocently and he then squirts the milk at the camera which reviles the title of the show.
You love this animated show, you sit there excited to see if your favorite episode will come on. When the title of the episode flashes on the screen, you see that it’s the “First Movie” episode, which is your favorite. It is also your dad’s favorite episode because he always wonders how those babies can get into so much trouble without one single adult realizing they are gone. You shrug you shoulders and go back to watching the show. This is truly a classic episode with Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, and Lil crawling away from the parents and getting into trouble. Tommy is watching a commercial at home about Ruptar’s movie that is playing. Ruptar, as you already know from having a few items yourself, is the dinosaur that has a TV show in the Rugrat’s world. He is big, mean, and also green and he is somehow from either outer space or frozen from time. That part you are not sure about. But it’s not important where Reptar is from, what is important is the fact that his movie is what Tommy wants to see in this episode. But his parents decide, along with Mr. Finster and the DeVille’s, that seeing the Dummy Bears Movie will be the perfect first movie for the babies. Grandpa doesn’t think so and thinks that the Dummy Bears will be boring and that they should see Reptar instead. But of course, Reptar is way to scary for babies.
You watch as the gang arrives at the movie theatre and once the lights go dark and the movie begins, Tommy declares that this movie is boring and that they should go find Reptar. Chuckie, Phil, and Lil agree and they all crawl away to find where Reptar is. They find themselves at the candy counter and the two teenage boys walk away to look for something and that’s when the curious little tikes play around in the candy area. they end up making a complete mess and you laugh shaking you head, at how no one caught them. They then make their way to the room with all the projectors are and try to look for the screen with Reptar on it. When they finally find Reptar, Chuckie falls on a film roll that is lying flat and circling around, carrying him like he is riding a carousal. the babies start to mess around with the film, making the different rolls get tangled together, ultimately ending all the movies early. Tommy and the gang rush back to where their parents were and they all leave for home, with Tommy pleased that he got a chance to see some of Reptar.
"Sometimes a baby's gotta do, what a baby's gotta do!" Tommy Pickles
The first episode ends and a commerical comes on promising you more Rugrats in a few minutes. The show was only 30 minutes long so another 10 minutes or so to go. You are excited about this show and how funny it is as well. The Rugrats is the type of show that makes you wonder if you actually did these kind of things when you were a baby or thought like the these babies did. They are relatable and funny. They have jokes for both you and your parents. They would soon have three movies by 2004, 6 different seasons under their belt, and a spin-off TV movie and series about what happens when they become teenagers. The show comes back on and you watch it until 7 o’clock. Your mom calls you down for dinner and you turn your TV off to go down. The Rugrats will stay in your heart until you get older. You will be keeping certain lessons from the show to heart. And when no one else is able to help you, you will catch yourself saying Tommy’s famous line, “A baby’s gotta do, what a baby’s gotta do.
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