Show Notes – Rugrats

Rugrats

  • Rugrats is an American animated show centered around the lives of toddlers and their day-to-day lives. The toddlers generally experience some sort of adventure in each episode that in reality is a common life experience that is embellished by the imaginations of the cast of characters. There are adults, but they are completely oblivious to what the kids are up to.
  • The Series Premiered on August 11, 1991 on a Sunday. It aired after  Doug and before The Ren & Stimpy Show.
  • It Aired 65 episodes ending in 1994, with production of 2 more episodes that aired between 1995 and 1996 that in particular received critical acclaim and were centered around Passover and Chanukah.
  • As the show ran in syndicated reruns, it’s ratings actually went up, thereby greenlighting more episodes and 3 films.
  • In total, there were 172 episodes over 9 seasons airing over the course of 13 years.
  • There was a TV special that ended up being more or less a pilot episode for the Rugrats spin-off series All Grown Up! That aired as part of the 10th anniversary of Rugrats.
  • The show won numerous awards, and was Nickelodeon’s highest rated show from 1995-2000 and is Nickelodeon’s 2nd longest running show right behind SpongeBob SquarePants
  • Rugrats the series has it’s own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame

Created by

Executive Produced by

Voice Cast

 

 

  • Spike
    • The family dog/ appears in 75% of all Rugrats episodes
    • His breed is the fictional “Siberian Tiger Hound”
    • Very protective of the babies, and Tommy considers him to be his “best animal friend”
  • Stuart “Stu” Pickles
  • Tommy’s dad and brother of Drew
  • Easy going, absent minded Toy inventor
  • Best friend is Chuckie’s dad “Chas” Finster
  • Diane “Didi” Kropotkin Kerpackter-Pickles
    • Tommy’s Mom and Part time school teacher
    • Is coulrophobic (fear of Clowns)
    • Russian-Jewish American and possibly born in Russia (although this is never fully fleshed out)
    • Co-creator Arlene Klasky claims the character is based on herself
  • Louis Kalhern “Grandpa Lou” Pickles II
    • Tommy’s Grandfather and father of Stu & Drew
    • Lives with the family for most of the show until he later moves into a retirement home
      • (voiced by David Doyle from 1991 until his death in 1997, and Joe Alaskey from 1997 to series’ end):
      • Doyle was John Bosley on the television series Charlie’s Angels
      • Alaskey was a major voice actor for Warner- voicing major characters for them from Bugs and Daffy to Tweety and Yosemite Sam. Also did the voice of Plucky Duck on tiny Toon Adventures
  • Andrew “Drew” Pickles
    • Angelica’s Dad
    • A well paid investment Banker who later is an accountant
    • Often refers to Angelica as “Princess” (which I hate)
    • The 2 brothers dont always get along, and they bicker and fight over petty issues often
  • Charlotte Pickles
    • Angelica’s mom
    • Workaholic and CEO of her own company
    • “Tries to be a good mother, but is usually sidetracked by business interests” (I dont buy that BS)
    • Most of the time she is on her cellphone talking to an employee named Jonathan
  • Elizabeth “Betty” DeVille
    • Phil & Lil’s Mom
    • Very Athletic and a strong feminist
    • She works with Chas Finster at the Java Lava Coffee House
      • (voiced by Kath Soucie):
      • We just mentioned her because She’s the voice of Phil & Lil
  • Howard “Howie” DeVille
    • Phil & Lil’s Dad
    • Often overpowered by and cringing in fear of his wife
      • (voiced by Philip Proctor):
      • Did additional voice work for tons of Disney movies like Toy Story, Tarzan, The Lion King, Aladdin, & Rescuers Down Under, & Zootopia
      • Dr. Warren Vidic in the Assassin’s Creed games
  • Boris Kropotkin and Minka Kerpackter
    • Didi’s Yiddish parents who immigrated from Russia…constantly complain that “it wasnt like this in the Old Country”
  • Dr. Werner Lipschitz
  • Captain Blasto
    • 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, 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).
  • REPTAR (voiced by Busta Rhymes in The Rugrats Movie only): 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. There was a giant Reptar robot there too, which the babies piloted and fought against Jean Claude. He has also had his own ice show, which Lou believes is “sheer brilliance”. The babies interrupted it looking for a lizard which they believed was “Baby Reptar”.

Producers

Production Companies

Theme Music

Show Composer(s)

  • Mark Mothersbaugh
  • Denis M. Hannigan
  • Bob Mothersbaugh
    • lead guitarist and occasional lead singer of the new wave band Devo
    • Younger brother of Mark^^
  • Rusty Andrews

Trivia

  • After the episode “The Trial”, Klasky complained that the Rugrats were starting to act too old for their age. Csupó often acted as a mediator in arguments between Klasky and the writers, with the writers often winning. Some of the offscreen tensions ultimately found their way into the scripts and, naturally, into the show. In 1994, before Nick premiered the last of the original 65, production of new episodes went on hiatus, and most of the Rugrats writing team left Klasky-Csupo.
  • The location of The Pickles residence is shown on an invoice in the episode “Tommy’s first birthday” as 1258 N. Highland, the original address of Klasky Csupo in Los Angeles.[11] However, a specific city or state is never mentioned in the show.
  • Rugrats was noteworthy among contemporary children’s television for depicting observant, identifiable Jewish families.[39] Jewish and Christian religion groups gave the show high praises for their special holiday episodes. Nonetheless, at one point the Anti-Defamation League and The Washington Post editorial page castigated the series for its depiction of Tommy Pickles’ maternal grandparents, accusing their character designs of resembling Nazi-era depictions of Jews

Fan Theories

episodes to cover

  • s1 e1, s1 e2, s1 e3, s3 e7 (seans), s2 e10 (chris’)

 

Wikipedia: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rugrats

IMDB: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0101188/

Creepypasta: http://creepypasta.wikia.com/wiki/The_Rugrats_Theory

 

Check out our podcast episode on Rugrats here.

 

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