The original main characters, from left to right: Chuckie, Tommy, Lil, Phil, and Angelica.
Rugrats is an animated series on Nickelodeon, also aired on the defunct Nick Jr. block in 1995. It aired from August 11, 1991 to June 8, 2004. Produced at Klasky Csupo, Inc. of Los Angeles, the show is about the little babies talk and view life and perceive the events happening around them. Each character is personified with his or her own individual charm. Universal Pictures was considered to release The Rugrats Movie as the first Rugrats film in 1995, but passed on the script when transferred their distributor duties for Paramount Studios and the release date delayed to 20 November 1998.
Characters
- Main article: List of Rugrats characters
Episodes
- Main article: List of Rugrats episodes
Other logos
Setting
The series has a very vague setting. It has been shown that the little babies, as it is probably assumed, live in the United States, but 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 (Nevada), and Stu once mentioned "driving through the desert" while returning home from a one-day trip. There have also been several scenes of desert or arid land around the area where the little babies live.
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 the little babies.
One episode does however show they live somewhere in California due to the license plate shown on Grandpa's station wagon. Also in the episode Special Delivery, a post office has the state flag in front of it.
In another episode in the first season, Didi is shown teaching at a high school in Yucaipa (California), an actual town about 70 miles east of Los Angeles (California). 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.
History
The show originally revolved around a group of the little babies. The little babies are able to communicate with each other through baby speak, although viewers can understand them, because it is 'translated'. Often, they mispronounce words or use poor grammar and their speaking is full of . An example of this is using the word "poopetrator" instead of "perpetrator." The group is often reluctantly joined by Tommy's cousin, Angelica, the older woman she's three, Angelica is able to communicate and understand language from the little babies, which she often uses as an advantage when she wants to manipulate either party. She is usually very mean to the little babies. Susie, who lives across the street from the Pickles, is also able to communicate on the same level as Angelica, though she isn't manipulative. As a result, Angelica and Susie often clash.
Other spinoff plans
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 (Georgia), 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 prompted this idea to be shelved for good. The "Kwanzaa" ep (2001) serves as the show's pilot.
Trivia
- The Rugrats received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a ceremony on 28 June 2001. It was placed at 6600 W. Hollywood Bl., near Cherokee Ave. outside a toy and costume shop.(Klasky-Csupo press release)
- The Rugrats had a daily comic strip that ran from 1998 to 2003.
- The Pickles are a mixed Jewish-Christian family. Many fans say the Pickles are somewhat based on Arlene Klasky's real family. There are two episodes that reflect the Pickles' Jewish heritage, one episode deals with the Passover holiday and the other with Chanukah, in addition to episodes about the Christian holidays such as Christmas, Easter, etc.. These episodes have been praised by Jewish groups and are re-run every year on Nickelodeon at the appropriate holiday times and can also be purchased on VHS or DVD. They were even adapted into storybooks.
Home video releases
- Main article: List of Rugrats video releases
See also
External links
- Nickelodeon's Rugrats site
- Klasky-Csupo's Rugrats area on cooltoons.com (Studio site)
- Rugrats daily comic strip at Creators Syndicate
- Rugrats at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Unofficial Rugrats homepage by Steve
- Rugrats at the Internet Movie Database