Rugrats was the first Nickelodeon cartoon co-produced by the animation studio Klasky Csupo. Of the eight Nicktoons produced in their partnership, Rugrats achieved the most success. It ran for nine seasons and had three movies, two spin-offs, and even a reboot.
The different characterizations and dynamics of the baby and adult characters are endearing. They are the core that holds the show up even after over 30 years. Nonetheless, with Rugrats being such a long-running show, there is no shortage of things to pick apart. While the show overall has rampant charm, no show or its characters are without problems.
11 Chuckie's Father Was On The Brink Of Cracking
A recurring theme is that Chuckie Finster's dad, Chas, is very fearful, much like his son. However, it does not keep him from being a loving father to Chuckie and later his stepdaughter, Kimi.
Season 4 adds more layers to Chas by revealing his wife passed away shortly after Chuckie's birth. As a result, Chuckie is essentially all Chas has left. The episode "Chuckie's Wonderful Life" showcases that had Chuckie never been born, he would have been a hoarder and had a sock puppet for a friend. Fortunately, the second movie, Rugrats In Paris, saw Chas with a new loving wife and Chuckie with a just as loving mother.
10 Tommy's Parents Are None The Wiser To His Trouble
Rugrats generally have the parents preoccupied with their matters while the children wander off into danger, and the adults are none the wiser about it. However, Tommy's parents (and by extension his grandfather), Stu and Didi, go to absurd levels of not noticing their son is missing.
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In the first season alone, the baby Tommy nearly finds himself in the dead letter office at a post office and abducted by crooks who mistake him for a billionaire's son. Tommy manages to escape these life-threatening situations, but his family rarely knows what happened. These occurrences set the bar high, and there would be plenty more in the show and movies.
8 Angelica's Villainy Is Quite Diabolical For Her Age
As the show's primary antagonist, Tommy's cousin and Stu and Didi's niece, Angelica, takes delight in tormenting Tommy and his friends. The torment goes from always calling them stupid to scaring them and feeding them with lies to get them in trouble.
However, there are times when Angelica's actions go a tad too far, even for her. In the episode Angelica Breaks A Leg, Angelica pretends to break her leg and force her aunt and uncle to pamper her. She goes so far as to make Stu go out to get chocolate pudding in the early hours of dawn, leading him to crack, and Angelica refuses the pudding anyway. Angelica always gets her comeuppance, but she never learns from it.
7 Dil Pickles Has Little Character
The first Rugrats movie saw the birth of Tommy's baby brother, Dil. Although Tommy and his friends had issues with him, they eventually accepted him.
Most episodes involving Dil after the first movie involved Tommy and his friends trying to teach Dil about the world. Unfortunately, they weren't the most engaging as compared to the other Rugrats Dil didn't have much character to him. Most of his jokes were lowbrow humor and throwing tantrums, which didn't represent the best of the show. One of the better things the spin-off, All Grown Up, did was give him a more bizarre nature that no one could figure out. It was creative for the show's down-to-earth atmosphere.
6 Angelica's Behavior Is A Byproduct Of Her Parents' Inaction
Part of Angelica's character is that she is very bossy. This behavior largely stems from her parents and their general inattention to it. Occasionally her parents discipline her, but those moments are few and far between.
Both of Angelica's parents are downright work-obsessed. Her mother, Charlotte, is the CEO of a giant company and often bosses around her assistant, Jonathan, which makes it easy to see where Angelica's bossy attitude stems. She's always on her phone and has no time to listen to Angelica's qualms. Angelica's father, Drew, tries to take a more active role in his daughter's life but is ultimately a pushover when handling her.
5 Stu's Inventions Work A Little Too Well
A large part of Stu's character is that he loves to invent toys. Although ridiculed by other adults who are skeptical of his work, he is undeterred. Despite his work being for kids, they are a tad unsafe for the demographic.
There are several examples of the dangers of his inventions. In the episode "Angelica Orders Out," Stu creates a voice modulator that Angelica uses to impersonate her mom, force everyone to buy her presents, and squander her aunt and uncle's account to buy sweets. Rugrats In Paris saw him creating a giant animatronic usable by anyone, and the babies later used to rampage through Paris.
4 Didi Listens Too Much To Lipschitz
Didi tends to quote child psychologist Dr. Lipschitz when it comes to handling Tommy and Dil. She reads all his books and turns to his hotline in times of difficulty. While there are characters who see right through him, he has many followers.
However, it's shown in his debut appearance that he doesn't know as much as he lets on as he tends to overanalyze children. When left alone with Chuckie and Tommy, none of his techniques to calm them down work. While he occasionally makes valid points, his advice ranges from human error to it being potentially harmful in the long run.
3 The Babies Have Some Disturbing Imaginations
Imagination is a big part of Rugrats. The babies have a naive outlook on the world, and their fantasies reflect their differing personalities. There are, however, times when their mind can be disturbing due to them being so young.
Audiences see this in the season 2 episode, Chuckie vs. The Potty. After Chuckie fears using the bathroom, he has a nightmare about it. In the dream, Chuckie imagines using the toilet as part of death row and getting sentenced to the chair. Tommy being an eerily soothing priest adds more layers to the creepiness and leaves viewers wondering about the inner machinations of Chuckie's infant mind.
2 Tommy Wasn't Always The Best Friend
Tommy has always been the head of the Rugrats gang. Whenever the babies go on their adventures, Tommy is always the one to step up and guide them fearlessly. However, in the second and third seasons of the show, he tended to take his qualities of leadership and bravery a tad too far.
Sometimes he forces Chuckie into doing things the latter doesn't consider a good idea. When Chuckie protests, Tommy dismisses it as being scared for nothing. Other times he doesn't respect Chuckie's ways of doing things. Thankfully these negative aspects were mellowed over time, and Tommy became a more likable leader.
1 The Series Had No Definitive Ending
Throughout its nine-season run, Rugrats went through a few changes. For example, Tommy had a baby brother, Chuckie got a new mother and stepsister in Kira and Kimi, respectively, and Angelica received a rival in Susie Carmichael.
Regardless, these changes are moderate, and nothing significant happens at the end of the series. The final episode has the characters celebrating Kimi's birthday. It plays out like a typical Rugrats episode, which is fun, but there's no sign of what the future might hold or anyone having a new beginning. With over a decade's worth of captivating adventures, the show deserved a better send-off.