News &
Other Little-Known Facts -- Part 4
News &
Other Little-Known Facts -- Part 4
Changing the Course of Continuity: The "Chuckie's Mom" Case Continues
Those who watched the Mothers' Day episode know that Melinda, Chuckie's mother, died shortly after his birth. But what about a couple of episodes from the first season (1991), when she taught Chuckie about babies and weaning? "Indy" ponders the question (from the alt.tv.nickelodeon newsgroup (5/199/1997)):
Well, while I feel that The "Mothers' Day" special was good, I have never been
so depressed at the end of a childrens show in my life. I think they
dealt with it well; however, I was expecting Chuckie's mom and dad to be
divorced.
In earlier episodes of "Rugrats" Chazz doesn't appear to be griving the loss
of a wife, and in fact even hinted at (in one episode)("My Friend Barney" -- SM)
that he was divorced: "You know what Chuckie? You mother never did like this much,
now I can put back up." about the mounted fish.
Also Chuckie himself had said his mom told him he came from a hospital
("Special Delivery" -- SM), and he even said that it was his Mom that took away his
bottle ("Weaning Tommy" -- SM), but in the "new" episode Chuckie was far to young to be
weaned or even have his mom tell him where babies come from, and he said that he only
dreamed of having a mom, not that he remembered her.
Now while I did like the way it was handleed and all I still wonder where
the consistancy is (but thats just me).
(Thanks to "Indy")
Another Continuity Quandary
There's another continuity conflict, this one is between Moving Away and Showdown At Teeter-Totter Gulch. Ivonne Rovira explains:
I've found another inconsistency in Moving Away. In that episode, Didi and Stu move there from Akron. But Drew, annoyed that Chaz calls him "Mr. Pickles," reminds Chaz that they went to high school together. Hmmm. It could be that Stu moved away from, uh, wherever it is that they're living now to Akron and then returned. But that theory's blown in the episode in which Grampa takes Chuckie and Tommy to the playground (Showdown At Teeter- Totter Gulch -- SM), which they imagine as a Wild West town. When Tommy goes to stand up to the bully Prudence, Chuckie tells the little blonde girl that he met Tommy when the latter was 8 days old. If that's the case, how could they meet in Moving Away for the first time?
(Special thanks to Ivonne Rovira)
How To Locate The "Old Country"
In many episodes, Boris and Minka refer to the "Old Country". Those who watched Tommy's First Birthday with closed captions know that they speak Polish, but those who watched Chanukah know that Boris came from Russia. But do these 2 episodes contradict each other? Not necessarily, as Paul Melville found out:
Anyway on to the reason for my E-mail: an attempt by me to delve into Boris's origins.
As you know in one of the Season One episodes Boris is said by the captioning to be
speaking Polish yet in the "Chanukah" episode, he is said to be from Russia. How can
these two facts be reconciled? Well, by a little detective work they can. In one of the "classic 65" (I forget the episode title) Boris says he is from Vilnius
(now the capital of Lithuania). Vilnius was part of Poland from 1921 (ceded by Russia
to Poland under the Treaty of Riga) until Russia and Germany invaded the country in 1939.
As Boris appears to be in his late sixties or early seventies this would mean he was born
in the period when Vilnius was part of Poland which makes him Polish by birth. Boris saying
he is from Russia could simply refer to the fact that when he left the area it was under
Russian rule.
What do you think of this?
(Special thanks to Paul Melville)
How To Watch The Rugrats Opening
The opening to Rugrats, played at the start of every show, is more fun when watched in this manner. (Note: Items marked "CC" is what the closed-captioning says when it happens.)
1. The "flying diaper", plopping back, somehow, on Tommy.
2. Tommy walks, and falls.
3. (CC: [Gasp])Cut to the mechanical cat, then the wide view of the living room .PAY ATTENTION to Phil & Lil, and Chuckie, going towards each other.
4. Phil, Lil, and Chuckie meet.
5. (CC: [Kids Laughing] (some episodes)) When the mechanical cat is in the foreground, keep an eye on Phil & Lil in the background; Phil climbs on the desk and knocks over the phone (Lil also runs and pulls the cord). Then, the cat gets a squirt of milk from Tommy's bottle.
6. Cut to Angelica and Spike with grown-up clothes, then Chuckie riding the vacuum cleaner.
7. The vacuum snags on the door, opening up the bag and getting dirt all over Angelica.
8. Chuckie loses control of the vacuum, colliding with a wall, and ending up wearing a wastebasket on his head.
9. Stu and Didi walk in; Didi picks up Tommy.
10. (CC: "Captioning Sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education" (Chanukah episode has "Nickelodeon" instead of the D.O.E.)) A shot of all the Rugrats; keep an eye on Angelica as she gets the last of the dust off herself.
11. Tommy squirts his bottle at the "audience", forming the Rugrats logo.
When the intro is viewed in this manner, you experience some kind of flow in the action, from start to finish.
The Rugrats Secret Formula
Anyone who watches Rugrats repeatedly may began to notice that even though the story is different, the plot line is basically the same. From the alt.tv.nickelodeon newsgroup, Richard Bunnell (a.k.a. "Metal Man") explains:
> >Has anyone noticed that many Rugrats episodes follow this plotline, >summed up by the five babies on the show? > >Tommy: Let's go on an adventure to a place 5 feet from here! >Chuckie: Uh, I don't think that's a good idea. >Phil & Lil: Cool! Can we eat some worms? >Angelica: Adventure, huh? I'm gonna RUIN it! > >and occasionally, this sixth character > >Susie: You leave them alone, Angelica! > > Hopefully they'll be able to get rid of the repetitiveness when >they make new episodes next year. Sorry if I'm so annoyed at the show, >but my brother watches it every night, the same annoying shows over >and over again, thinking that "tonight's is gonna be a new one!"
The Secret of the Rugrats' Success?
In alt.tv.nickelodeon on 1/30/1998 (?), Ha'fael Lattimore gives a possible reason why Rugrats is so popular:
I think Rugrats is a good cartoon and all, don't care much for the animation style, but I believe Rugrats is Nickelodeon's top rated show, EVEN WHEN THEY SHOW REPEATS(source:CNN Showbiz Today)only because it always has had a VERY favorable time schedule EVEN BEFORE IT CAUGHT ON. Let's get serious. If they showed Rocko's Modern Life repeats or Doug repeats at 8:00PM on SNICK and shows Rugrats, repeats or not, at say 6:00PM on Sundays, despite the quality of the shows, it would be a whole different story. I recall back in '92 or '93, YO! MTV Raps was the highest rated show on MTV and nobody knew why. YO! at the time was on at 8:00PM weekdays. Then when they changed the time slot to 10:00PM weekdays, the ratings suddenly plummeted. Turns out YO! was the beneficiary of a very favorable time slot, as is the same case with Rugrats. Now there is a Rugrats movie coming out. That's great but if you move Rugrats in to a bum time slot, watch the ratings, and the MANUFACTURED popularity fall. Does anybody think my theory has any grain of truth?
Rugrats began daily repeats on Nick in the fall of 1994 at 6:30PM ET, then at 7:30PM in the fall of 1996; new shows started in August 1997 at 8PM ET. Even before the new episodes began, Rugrats reruns at 7:30PM remain one of the most watched shows on cable (in some cases, it's the #1 show on cable on some weeks, depending on what sporting events are being seen on the other channels). The new episodes at 8PM ET, plus morning repeats at 8:30AM ET weekdays and 10AM ET weekends, are also proven to be very popular. As a matter of fact, even the original version of Doug is still watched by a lot of people, according to ratings. Do the people actually like Rugrats? Or do they watch whatever comes on Nick at 8PM ET (or whenever)? You be the judge.
The AsCERTtion Of "Rugrats"
Rugrats is like the famous breath mint, Certs (a breath mint and a candy mint); some people say Rugrats is a kids show, while others say Rugrats is an adult show, when in fact it's both. Rugrats is actually a kid's program, but it features a lot of material that only adults would understand. The main proof comes from these articles of fans who watch mainly adult programs, but also watch Rugrats.
In the "rec.arts.books" newsgroup (dated 12/2/1996), "The Diva" gave her list on what she thinks book lovers like to watch on TV:
The Simpsons Roseanne Seinfeld Friends Chicago Hope Dateline NBC 60 Minutes and of course... Rugrats
In the alt.books.stephen-king newsgroup (2/15/1997), Kim Greenfield wrote:
> Well, guys, while we are anxiously waiting on THE SHINING this May, what
do you guys watch?
Okay, here are my must watch at all cost shows.
ER
3rd Rock From The Sun ("God bless television!")
Babylon 5
DS9
Voyager
X-Files
Millennium
Law & Order
Homicide
Profiler
Nova
Rugrats, especially the episode in which they go to the moon. Uses just
about every space cliche in the book, from "Make it so, Number One" to
"This is Major Tom to Ground Control."
My all-time favorite show is The Twilight Zone, the original not the
remake (I did watch one episode, "Gramma" of course).
In that same newsgroup, (2/16/1997) Denise Panter commented on the above, but relating to Tiny Toon Adventures, and its ability to pander to adults:
This just renews my theory that cartoons are written for adults....the kids are secondary! I happened to catch a Tiny Toons cartoon the other day which was a spoof of SNL (Saturday Night Live -- SM). Let's see -- for Coneheads they had Cornheads, they had a news segment -- Elmira did the old "Gilda Radner off on the wrong tangent" portion of the news segment, the host was Bart Simpson -- who got "all the grungy parts" and of course, the take off on the Blue's Brothers. You could never convince me that this was written to entertain small children -- or even older children! It was lifted off an SNL format in its late 70s! Mine had absolutely no idea why I laughed through the whole thing -- because it was waaaaaaaay over their heads! I've just wanted to rant on this for a long time -- glad I got an opportunity!
In the "alt.home.repair" newsgroup, someone gives advice on how to de-scent a dog after it was sprayed as a skunk:
>>About 4:30 a.m. our dog was in her face sprayed by a skunk. Before we >>knew it the dog was in the house and now....... THE SMELL IN THIS HOUSE IS >>INTENSE. >>We would much appreciate suggestions on how to get rid of that odor. >> >> - Neal - & family I saw a show about using borscht to get rid of skunk smell. No... wait a minute... that was a Rugrats episode ;-}
(Source on all articles: Deja News)
Enquiring Minds Want To Know!
Recently, The National Enquirer, a supermarket tabloid filled with tactless Hollywood gossip and light-hearted stories, featured an article on Rugrats. Angelica and Bart Simpson in a grudge match? Phil & Lil in an animated version of Full House? Rugrats to replace King Of The Hill Sunday nights on Fox? Nothing of the sort for any of them. Instead, they printed a favorable review of Rugrats. Here's that review:
(Review is © 1998 by The National Enquirer. Source: alt.celebrities.gossip newsgroup, via Deja News)
Children's TV is loaded with garbage, but there's also a real gem amidst all that junk -- "Rugrats." The animated Nickelodeon series is the most watched program on cable TV and is about to appear as a cartoon strip in newspapers across the country. The Emmy-winning rib-tickler features diaper-aged characters struggling to understand the world around them -- and it teaches kids lots of valuable lessons, says an expert. "The Rugrats provide an antidote to a steady diet of violent superhero programs," declared Peggy Charren, founder of Action for Children's Television, an advocacy group. "It helps young children make sense of things. The Rugrats are constantly trying to figure out the often-confusing world around them. "And their experiences are designed to reflect the experiences of most kids. "The show helps young viewers understand big issues like religion. I don't believe any other cartoon show ever addressed inter-faith marriage." A Mother's Day episode tackled the difficult topic of death -- explaining the loss of one character's mother shortly after giving birth. And by seeing how the Rugrats handle the character of Angelica -- a spoiled brat -- children learn how to deal with such kids in real life. "The Rugrats ring true," concluded Charren. "The show has nice stories that help youngsters cope and they do it all in an amusing way."
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