Rugrats - just the facts

Rugrats- just the facts (A article written in 2007)

Rugrats is an American animated series, produced by Klasky-Csupo, Inc. for Nickelodeon. It was the network's second Nicktoon. The series was in production from 1991 to 1994, & again from 1996 to 2003. It is the longest lasting Nicktoon to date at over fourteen years longevity.

The show revolves around four toddlers, Tommy Pickles, Chuckie Finster & the twins Phillip (Phil) & Lillian (Lil) DeVille, who are able to communicate to each other in baby speak (although viewers can understand them, because it is supposedly 'translated'). Often, they mispronounce words or use poor grammar. Despite the toddlers' inability & lack of desire to communicate with adults, they can understand their parents' speaking, although they often misunderstand what they hear, usually by taking metaphors literally & speaking in malapropisms. Angelica Pickles, at age three, is able to communicate & understand language from both the toddlers & the adults, which she often uses as an advantage when she wants to manipulate either party.

The original series was eventually ended to make way for its spin off show, All Grown Up!; however, it was never a major hit & was eventually cancelled in 2006. Re-runs of Rugrats can currently be seen on Nickelodeon at 6:00a E/P & Nicktoons Network at 9:00a ET.

The show airs in the UK on CITV & Nickelodeon UK as well as in Canada on YTV. In Australia, it can be seen on Nickelodeon Australia (and, for a period, ABC).

Setting
As the series is shown small through a child's point of view, the area it is set in is never described precisely. It has been shown that the Rugrats live in the United States, although 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, due to several hints.

It is also unclear what type of community the characters live in; it could be a small city or a suburb of a small city. This ambiguity in the setting was probably done intentionally to help give the impression of seeing the world through the naïve eyes of toddlers.

Brief history
Rugrats was created by the then husband & wife duo of Gabor Csupo (pronounced Chew-poh) & Arlene Klasky, along with Paul Germain in 1989. K-C had a successful animation firm at the time which also provided services for commercials & music videos, Klasky, Csupo, & Germain were also animating The Simpsons at the time, which they would continue to do until 1992. The three decided to create their own series in response to an announcement by the children's cable network Nickelodeon that they were to launch their own line of animated shows, later to be called Nicktoons. With the comedic inspiration coming from the antics of Klasky & Csupo's infant children, the 6 1/2 minute, never to be seen on television, pilot episode, "Tommy Pickles & the Great White Thing", went into production. After production on the pilot was completed in 1990, they submitted it to Nick, who tested it with an audience of children, the majority of which approved. The series debuted on August 11, 1991, along with Doug & Ren & Stimpy. It went out of production in 1994, but after increased ratings when shown in primetime, it was revived in 1997, subsequently leading to 3 movies: The Rugrats Movie (1998), which became the first non-Disney animated movie to earn $100 million in the US, Rugrats in Paris (2000), & Rugrats Go Wild! (2003), a crossover with The Wild Thornberrys.

In 2001, the show celebrated its 10th anniversary by creating a special hour-long episode entitled "All Growed Up," focusing on what the Rugrats would be like in 10 years. After the special had aired, Klasky-Csupo said that they had no plans to make a series about it. The special became one of the highest rated episodes in Nickelodeon's history. Consequently, 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 All Grown Up took a step in the right direction, while others feel that it takes away from the show's original premise, & reduces it to something that, at best, vaguely resembles the show that many people grew to love in the 1990s. In 2003, it aired on Nick on CBS, then ended in July that year. The spinoff ended in November 2006 & was removed from Nick's line up in early 2007. The show will join Nicktoons Network on an unknown date.

Meanwhile, production on the Rugrats series (along with that of most of the other Klasky-Csupo shows) was eventually shut down, & the last new episode ("Hurricane Alice") aired on August 1, 2004.

In 2005, Klasky-Csupo revived the original Rugrats as a series of rugrats DVDs based on classic fairy tales. The first were based on Snow White & Jack & the Beanstalk.

Movie Trilogy
Rugrats has had a trilogy full of adventure. They are:

The Rugrats Movie - When the Rugrats( Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil & Dil) accidentally get lost in the mail & end up getting lost in the jungle, they must find their way home. This film introduces Dil & he's the main reason they get lost. Meanwhile, Angelica, ( angelica rugrats, elder villain, usually ) searches for the babies as a detective because Dil got hold of Cynthia. After an exciting adventure they are found & return home.

Rugrats in Paris - When Chaz is searching for a wife so Chuckie can have a mom, luck stumples upon him when Stu is sent to Reptar Land to repair the giant Reptar that's broken down. However, Coco LaBouche has to marry a man & have a child so she can control Reptar Land & sets out to marry Chaz. The babies learn from Angelica (who spied on them but was caught & promised whatever she wanted but was not given them in the end) tells them about this, they must ride the Reptar to the church (the Notre Dame de Paris) to stop her & do after battling the Robo snail controlled by Jean Claude. This movie also introduces toddler Kimi Wantanbe (who becomes the newest Rugrat) & her mother Kira, who Chaz eventually ends up marrying instead of Coco. In this movie Chuckie speaks his first real word when he bursts into the church screaming "Nooooo!!!".

Rugrats Go Wild - When Stu takes the parents & Rugrats on a rental boat instead of on a relaxing cruise as they think, they are bent on catching it. However, when they run into a deadly storm, their boat is flipped over yet they make it out safely on an inflatable life boat. All the parents blame Stu for this while the babies, except Tommy, are oblivious to this. When they end up on a deserted island, their life boat deflates. Now, the babies set out to find the Thornberries, who happen to be not to far from their location on the island. The characters end up with one another from the different group & eventually all meet & get off the island. During this, Spike ends up with with Eliza & his voice is introduced to the world.

NOTE: This is the only Rugrats movie so far not to introduce a new Rugrat.

Episodes
Main article: List of Rugrats episodes
As stated above, there are 170 aired episodes, however most episodes have 2 (or 3 in later seasons) stories. When you add them all together, include the Pilot, the 2 "Tales From the Crib" movies, & the 3 Feature Films, the number of episodes is approximately 330 (or 170 half-hour episodes).

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, where she apparently has relatives. There were plans to make The Carmichaels into a series as early as the TV season, but plans involving the toddler Rugrats had put the new series' plans on ice. Subsequently, when plans for All Grown Up! & Angelica & Susie's School Daze (below) came up, concerns for continuity led to this idea being shelved for good. The "Kwanzaa" episode (2001) serves as the show's pilot.
Angelica & Susie's Pre-School Daze was planned to be about the two characters going to pre-school. 13 episodes had originally been ordered, & slated to premiere late 2002, & was also intended to feature new looks for the two characters. The most recent official word on this series was in this press release for All Grown Up!, when it was announced that it was reduced to just 4 episodes. There were also complications involving the planned new animation designs for the characters. The Pre-School Daze ep (made for 2002, aired 2004) serves as the show's pilot, & used the regular Rugrats look (as did the other episodes involving the preschoolers that actually aired before that ep in the US). Klasky-Csupo finally completed the 4 episodes of the series. They had their television premiere on Nickelodeon UK. However, the Rugrats as babies live on in the direct-to-DVD feature animation series, Rugrats: Tales From the Crib. It also shown in Ireland on RTÉ Two

Music Videos:
Mickey- By Toni Basil & friends (1997)

Rugrats Rap- By WXXI

Rugrats Rock- Bruce Springsteen

Trivia
This article contains a trivia section.
Content in this section should be integrated into the body of the article or removed.

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 & costume shop
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 Klasky's real family (for example, as in the show, she is from Southern California & in real life she is a Jew & married to a Christian). There are two episodes that reflect the Pickles' Jewish heritage, one episode deals with the Passover holiday & the other with Hanukkah (in addition to episodes about Christmas, Easter, etc.). These episodes have been praised by Jewish groups & are re-run every year on Nick at the appropriate holiday times & can also be purchased on VHS or DVD.
A spoof of the Rugrats is featured in an episode of PBS's hit Arthur.
Rugrats was also parodied in the Fairly OddParents TV movie, "Channel Chasers" as "Carpet Critters". The show was also parodied by this name in a Free Willy parody sketch printed in Nickelodeon Magazine in summer 1998.
Rugrats parodied the film Regarding Henry with an early season episode "Regarding Stuie".
Rugrats, along with Rocket Power, has a storyline in which a mother, in this case, Chuckie's, is not a main/minor character because of some reason (car accident, sudden death, etc.). This could be another reference to Klasky's life, in which her mother died when she was only one year old.[citation needed]
The 4th season episode "Heatwave" is a parody of the film Lawrence of Arabia (the Nefud Desert, or "Sun's Anvil", for the "Black Tar Playground", & Tommy's rescue of Chuckie is a spoof of Lawrence's rescue of the Arab Gassim).
For the first 3 seasons, the Pickles family owned a purple-and-white Citroën DS 21 & an older-model green Volvo station wagon. The Volvo was replaced by a yellow van that combined elements of Toyota Previa, Ford Aerostar & VW EuroVan. As a promotion for The Rugrats Movie, ads for the Mercury Villager featured The Pickles.
In the beginning of Rugrats in Paris they made a parody of The Godfather Part I,as Angelica as Don Vito Corleone

Airing history
USA
Nickelodeon (1991-present)
Nicktoons Network (2002-present)
UK
Children's BBC (Including Live & Kicking)
Nickelodeon (1994-Present)
Nicktoons (2002-Present)
CITV)
Australia
Nickelodeon (1995-Present)
ABC TV
Network Ten
Ireland
RTÉ Two
Canada
Treehouse
YTV
Malaysia
Nickelodeon
TV3 (199?-2006)
Netherlands
Nickelodeon