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
- Arlene Klasky
- Married to Gabor Csupo
- Tommy Pickles is based on younger son Brandon
- The Wild Thornberrys
- Gábor Csupó
- Paul Germain
- Co creator of Recess, and Lloyd in Space.
- Angelica was based on a bully in Germain’s childhood, who was a girl. In addition to that, it was Germain who decided that Angelica would be a spoiled brat. Klasky initially did not like Angelica Pickles and also protested the character’s actions in episodes like “Barbecue Story”, where she throws Tommy’s ball over the fence.
Executive Produced by
- Arlene Klasky
- Gábor Csupó
- Vanessa Coffey
Voice Cast
-
- Tommy Pickles
- Leader of the babies and is the most adventurous and brave. Bald head, diaper, and blue shirt
- (voiced by E.G. Daily):
- Buttercup in The Powerpuff Girls
- Private Isabel “Dizzy” Flores in Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles (august of 99-2000)
- Holy shit do you remember this show?!
- Leader of the babies and is the most adventurous and brave. Bald head, diaper, and blue shirt
- Charles “Chuckie” Finster, Jr.
- Oldest baby at 2 years old. Best friend of Tommy. Messy orange hair and large purple glasses
- Afraid of everything and is an only child (mother died at a few months old)
- (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh up to 2002; Nancy Cartwright to series’ end):died at only 51 of “natural causes”
- Gosalyn Mallard in Darkwing Duck
- Dexter from Dexter’s Laboratory
- Phillip “Phil” and Lillian “Lil” DeVille
- Twin brother and sister who do everything together who tend to like to do messy stuff like play with bugs etc
- When they argue they call each other by their full first names
- (Both voiced by Kath Soucie):
- We previously mentioned her of course because of her role as Janine in The Real Ghostbusters
- Dexter’s Mom in Dexter’s Laboratory
- Linka in Captain Planet and the Planeteers,
- Angelica Pickles
- Tommy’s Cousin/parents are Drew and Charlotte
- Usually quite mean to the babies, and very spoiled
- Can speak with both adults and babies
- (voiced by Cheryl Chase):
- Mostly known for her role as Angelica, but has done some random voice over work over the years like the baby sounds for Pubert in Addams Family Values
- Susie Carmichael
- Usually is Angelica’s rival but are close friends.
- Trusting and kind
- Added during the 2nd season and appears less frequently than the other characters
- Can also speak to both adults and babies
- (voiced by Cree Summer, with E.G. Daily filling in for a couple of episodes):
- Winifred “Freddie” Brooks on A Different World (87-93)
- original voice of Penny in the 1983 cartoon Inspector Gadget
- voiced Elmyra Duff in Tiny Toon Adventures and Pinky, Elmyra & the Brain
- Princess Kida in the franchise of Atlantis: The Lost Empire
- Chilly Cooper on Slimer! and the Real Ghostbusters ( neighborhood ice-cream woman and innocent love interest of Slimer.)
- Tommy Pickles
- Young Tidus and additional voice-overs in Final Fantasy X
- 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”
- (voiced by Michael Bell in a dream sequence in the episode “In the Dreamtime”; Bruce Willis in Rugrats Go Wild):
- Stuart “Stu” Pickles
- Tommy’s dad and brother of Drew
- Easy going, absent minded Toy inventor
- Best friend is Chuckie’s dad “Chas” Finster
-
- (voiced by Jack Riley):
- Elliot Carlin on The Bob Newhart Show
-
- 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
- (voiced by Melanie Chartoff):
- ABC series Fridays (1980–82) which was a short lived SNL ripoff
- 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
- (voiced by Michael Bell):
- One of the most prominent Voice actors of the 80s
- Grouchy Smurf, Lazy Smurf, Handy Smurf and Johan in The Smurfs
- Duke, Xamot, Blowtorch on G.I Joe
- Lance & Sven on the OG 82’ Voltron
- Quackerjack from Darkwing Duck
- 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
- (voiced by Tress MacNeille):
- Agnes Skinner from the Simpsons and MoM from Futurama
- And we of course discussed her before for her role as Dot Warner from Animaniacs when we covered Wacko’s Wish last December
- Pookie/Grandma Gertie (Hey Arnold!)
- Charles Norbert “Chas” Finster
- Widower; Chuckie’s father
- (also voiced by Michael Bell):
- Widower; Chuckie’s father
- 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”
- (voiced by Michael Bell and Melanie Chartoff):
- Both of them we already mentioned
- Didi’s Yiddish parents who immigrated from Russia…constantly complain that “it wasnt like this in the Old Country”
- Dr. Werner Lipschitz
- A child psychologist whom Stu, Didi and Chas commonly refer to for help in raising the babies.
- (voiced by Tony Jay):
- Judge Claude Frollo in Disney‘s The Hunchback of Notre Dame (1996)
- Megabyte in ReBoot (1994-2001)
- A child psychologist whom Stu, Didi and Chas commonly refer to for help in raising the babies.
- 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).
- (voiced by 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, 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
- Paul Germain
- Rick Gitelson
- Cella Nichols Duffy
- Geraldine Clarke
- David Blum
- Kate Boutilier
Production Companies
- Klasky Csupo Productions
- Produced the 1 minute mini series featuring The Simpsons on The Tracy Ullman Show (all 34 episodes)
- Produced every episode for the 1st 3 seasons
- On of the animators for Klasky Csupo came up with the idea to animate the Simpsons with yellow skin, and to give Marge her signature Blue hair
- Also produced Aaahh!!! Real Monsters
- Produced The Wild Thornberrys
- Duckman & Rocket Power
- Currently in Talks with Nickelodeon to possibly revive Rugrats
- Produced the 1 minute mini series featuring The Simpsons on The Tracy Ullman Show (all 34 episodes)
- Nickelodeon Animation Studio
- Wang Film Productions
- DId the Pilot and 1st season of Rugrats, Produced numerous cartoon shows and movies from The Brave Little Toaster & DuckTales, to FernGully: The Last Rainforest & The Pagemaster
- produced effects for the 1982 film Tron
- Anivision
- Korean animation studio
- Duckman, The Simpsons (from 91-99), The Wild Thornberrys, Aaahh!! Real Monsters, and the pilot for Hey Arnold!
Theme Music
- Mark Mothersbaugh
- Co-founder, lead singer and keyboardist of the new wave band Devo, which released a Top 20 hit in 1980 with the single “Whip It“.
- Did the score for Bottle Rocket, Rushmore, The Royal Tenenbaums and The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (all Wes Anderson films)
- Composed for The Lego Movie
- Also did the movie for Beakman’s World
- Composed the theme music for Eureka, broadcast on the Syfy
Show Composer(s)
- Mark Mothersbaugh
- Denis M. Hannigan
- Bob Mothersbaugh
- 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.