Rugrats
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Rugrats is a cartoon television show on Nickelodeon, a children's television network. Produced at Klasky Csupo Inc. of Los Angeles, the show is about how babies view life and perceive the events happening around them. Each character is personified with his or her own individual charm.
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Characters
The Children
- Tommy Pickles (voiced by E.G. Daily): The most adventurous baby, always getting the group into trouble. Generally considered the babies' leader.
- Dil Pickles (voiced by Tara Strong): Tommy's younger brother, a true baby (i.e. not a toddler like the other children). Introduced in the first Rugrats movie.
- Chuckie Finster (voiced by Christine Cavanaugh up to 2002, Nancy Cartwright since): Tommy's loyal sidekick. Afraid of everything.
- Phil & Lil DeVille (voiced by Kath Soucie): Twins (boy and girl) that have everything in common. Both enjoy playing in mud and like to eat worms and insects.
- Angelica Pickles: (voiced by Cheryl Chase): Tommy and Dil's cousin who always bosses the "babies" around, being the oldest. Enjoys lying to the toddlers, distorting their perception of reality. Acts perfect towards the adults but is generally mean to the babies.
- Kimi Finster: (voiced by Dionne Quan): Chuckie's younger step-sister, introduced in the second Rugrats movie, Rugrats in Paris. Kimi is a very happy baby who always is smiling.
- Susie Carmichael (voiced by Cree Summer): A neighborhood friend who is about Angelica's age. When around, Susie often stands up to Angelica when she taunts the young toddlers.
The Adults
- Stu Pickles (voiced by Jack Riley of Bob Newhart Show fame): Tommy and Dil's father and brother of Drew. Absent-minded inventor. Married to Didi.
- Didi Pickles (voiced by Melanie Chartoff): Tommy and Dil's mother. A part-time schoolteacher and married to Stu.
- Lou Pickles (voiced by David Doyle (1991-1997), and Joe Alaskey (1997-2004): Tommy, Dil and Angelica's grandfather and Stu and Drew's father. Lived with Stu's family for the first few seasons and often babysat the children.
- Lulu Pickles (voiced by Debbie Reynolds): Lou's second wife; he met her in the hospital where she works as a nurse. Also Tommy, Dil, and Angelica's grandmother and Stu and Drew's stepmother.
- Drew Pickles (voiced by Michael Bell): Angelica's father and Stu's brother. An investment banker; married to Charlotte.
- Charlotte Pickles (voiced by Tress MacNeille): Angelica's workaholic mother. CEO of her own company and married to Drew. She tries to be a good mother, but is usually sidetracked by business interests.
- Betty DeVille (voiced by Kath Soucie): Phil and Lil's mother. Quite the jock and women's-libber. Married to Howard.
- Howard DeVille (voiced by Phil Proctor, formerly of Firesign Theatre): Phil and Lil's father. Often overpowered by and cringing towards his wife, Betty.
- Chas Finster (voiced by Michael Bell): Widower; Chuckie's father, from whom he inherited his adenoidal whine. Married Kira in the second Rugrats movie. Kimi's step-father. Runs the Java Lava Coffee House.
- Kira Finster (voiced by Julia Kato): Kimi's mother and Chuckies step-mother. Married Chas in the second Rugrats movie. Operates the Java Lava Coffee House with her husband.
The Pets
- Spike (not voiced, but voiced by Bruce Willis only in Rugrats Go Wild): The Pickles' brown hound dog. Tommy deeply admires him.
- Fifi (not voiced): Purple poodle which Spike fell in love with in the second Rugrats movie.
- Puppy and Peppy (not voiced): Purple and brown (respectively) puppies adopted by the Drew Pickles and Chas Finster households. Probable (one is led to believe) offspring of a union between Spike and Fifi.
- Fluffy (not voiced): Angelica's cat who Angelica loves dearly, but who always causes trouble for the others, particularly Spike.
Setting
The series has a very vague setting. It has been shown that the Rugrats, 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, 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 Rugrats 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 toddlers.
One episode does however show they live somewhere in California due to the license plate shown on Grandpa's station wagon.
Brief History
The series debuted on August 11, 1991 (with "Tommy's First Birthday") as part of Nickelodeon's latest move: commissioning its own animated series (known as Nicktoons). It went out of production in 1994, but after increased ratings when shown in primetime it was revived in 1997, subsequently leading to 3 films: The Rugrats Movie (1998), which became the first non-Disney animated film to earn $100 million in the US, Rugrats in Paris (2000), and Rugrats Go Wild (2003), a crossover with The Wild Thornberrys that was hated by many fans. Despite the fact that The Rugrats Movie did very well at the box office, many fans felt that Rugrats started to go downhill at this point.
In 2001, the show celebrated its 10th anniversary by making a special one-hour episode about what the Rugrats would be like 10 years older. After the special had aired, Klasky-Csupo said that they had no plans to make a series about it. It became one of the most highest rated episodes in Nick's history. Nickelodeon eventually commissioned a full series, All Grown Up!, which started its regular run in November 2003 (a sneak peek full episode named Coup DeVille had aired earlier in April). Many fans feel that AGU has taken a step in the right direction. It's also considered the best cartoon Klasky-Csupo has made since 1998. Meanwhile, production on the Rugrats series (along with that of most of the other Klasky Csupo shows) was eventually shut down, and the last new episode ("Hurricane Alice") aired on August 1, 2004.
Misc Info
The Rugrats received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in a ceremony on June 28, 2001. It was placed at 6600 W. Hollywood Bl., near Cherokee Ave. outside a toy and costume shop. (Klasky-Csupo press release)
See also
External Link
- Nickelodeon's Rugrats site
- Klasky-Csupo's Rugrats area on cooltoons.com (Studio site)
- Rugrats at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- Unofficial Rugrats homepage by Steve
