User reviews

I used to love "The Rugrats". Before they became unbearably popular. Before Dil came. Before David Doyle died. Before the movies. Before . .. you get the picture.

Why? Very simple. The initial Rugrats was a great show.

When the show premiered, in 1991, with "Tommy's First Birthday", nobody could've guess how far it would go. It had a simple premise: what life as a baby was like.

As the show began to climb, the jokes and the show itself began to become polished. The animation was horrid - but who cares? If the show's enjoyable, then I won't hate it for a single quality. Besides, the scribbles that made up the animation added to the whimisical feel of the show.

The show was, at first, intellegent, with jokes and plotlines that both kids and adults could relate to. Media references abounded. For example, in "Showdown at Teeter-Totter Gulch", a Stetson-wearing Tommy faces off against the "Junkfood Kid" (played by Nancy Cartwright), recalling "High Noon" and numerous Leone westerns. In "The Booster Shot", Chucky's doctor is named "Dr. Lecter", a reference to the flesh-eating psychiatrist from "The Silence of the Lambs". The episode with Dean (Angelica's love interest) spoofs James Dean in "Rebel Without A Cause". "The Dog Groomer" recalls "The Terminator", "The Mysterious Mr. Fiend" spoofs "Frankenstein", Dr. Lipschitz (Tony Jay) is a Sigmund Freud-esque child psychologist, and numerous others are similarly intellegent.

Also, the characters were well-developed and likeable. At this point, the dialogue was great. Not only the kids, but the adults. The adults were intellegent, had emotions, and were very realisitc. They made many of the jokes, and were interesting, rather than the no-dimensional shells they become.

The show's popularity began to grow in 1992, but it ended abruptly in 1994, when Paul Germaine left the show.

(Continued in Part Two.)

I used to love "The Rugrats". Before they became unbearably popular. Before Dil came. Before David Doyle died. Before the movies. Before . .. you get the picture.

Why? Very simple. The initial Rugrats was a great show.

When the show premiered, in 1991, with "Tommy's First Birthday", nobody could've guess how far it would go. It had a simple premise: what life as a baby was like.

As the show began to climb, the jokes and the show itself began to become polished. The animation was horrid - but who cares? If the show's enjoyable, then I won't hate it for a single quality. Besides, the scribbles that made up the animation added to the whimisical feel of the show.

The show was, at first, intelligent, with jokes and plot lines that both kids and adults could relate to. Media references abounded. For example, in "Showdown at Teeter-Totter Gulch", a Stetson-wearing Tommy faces off against the "Junkfood Kid" (played by Nancy Cartwright), recalling "High Noon" and numerous Leone westerns. In "The Booster Shot", Chucky's doctor is named "Dr. Lecter", a reference to the flesh-eating psychiatrist from "The Silence of the Lambs". The episode with Dean (Angelica's love interest) spoofs James Dean in "Rebel Without A Cause". "The Dog Groomer" recalls "The Terminator", "The Mysterious Mr. Fiend" spoofs "Frankenstein", Dr. Lipschitz (Tony Jay) is a Sigmund Freud-esque child psychologist, and numerous others are similarly intelligent.

Also, the characters were well-developed and likable. At this point, the dialogue was great. Not only the kids, but the adults. The adults were intelligent, had emotions, and were very realistic. They made many of the jokes, and were interesting, rather than the no-dimensional shells they become.

The show's popularity began to grow in 1992, but it was put on hiatus in 1994, when Paul Germaine left the show.

Rugrats was one of those cartoons I grew up watching as a kid. Before SpongeBob, Nickelodeon had this show which last for 14 years and it was successful. It was one of the original Nicktoons to be produced. The series follow a group of babies going on adventures by themselves without their parents knowing. As a show itself, its not perfect. I loved the earlier seasons the most especially before the 1998 movie. Come season 6, the quality did became lesser, but it was still good. Seasons 7-9, however, are really boring to watch, since there's recycled stories, and uninspiring writing. It can get repetitive in general, in which most of it have to involved the babies doing something, Angelica try to stop whatever they're doing, etc. Animation wise, it is trippy and art style is unique at the time that it was never on-model. Writing was at its peak during seasons 2-3. Early episodes have its bump, but still had its charm. Seasons 4-6 while weaker in writing still had its Rugrats feel for the most part., even if the latter does become to feel tired. Once you get to the post-Paris movie seasons, the writing fell apart and you'll be disinterested for 70% of the time. The characters are likable for the most part unless we're talking about Angelica and maybe her parents. Voice acting can be obnoxious at times, but they still pull it off during emotional moments. IMO, it's still one of Klasky Csupo's magnum opus. I only recommend seasons 1-6 though and the first movies are classic (avoid the crossover movie with The Wild Thornberrys).

"Rugrats" was one of my favorite shows when I was little. I watched it when it premiered back in 1991 when I was four with the other two original Nicktoons, "Doug" and "Ren and Stimpy". I watched all three shows but "Rugrats" was my favorite of the three.

The original 65 episodes where classics. They featured real adventures shown from a baby's point of view. My favorite characters were Phil and Lil, they were funny, and Angelica. My favorite episodes of the original 65 were "Together At Last", "Pickles vs. Pickles", "Passover", and "Slumber Party". Even though all of the original episodes were great.

After airing for three years "Rugrats" was canceled. It was during the three year hiatus where "Rugrats" hit its peak. After popular demand the creators decided to bring "Rugrats" back with new writers starting with holiday specials like "Chanukah" and "Mother's Day". The 97' episodes were good but not as good as the original. My favorites from these seasons were: "Baby Maybe", "Johnathon Babysits", and "Autumn Leaves".

Things soon changed in 98' with a feature movie bringing the arrival of Tommy's new baby brother Dil. The movie was good, however, the episodes that followed staring Dil were not. "Rugrats" turned from a show following the adventures of babies to a show about babies babysitting a younger baby. Every episode now followed Dil. If the babies tried to go on an adventure Dil would always ruin it. There were, however, a few good episodes here and there in the Dil season. (two of my favorites being "No Naps" and "Music"). The other episodes were basically about the babies getting abused by Dil.

And just when you think things couldn't get any worse they did in 2001 with the arrival of three new characters. The "Rugrats" second feature movie "Rugrats in Paris" debuted in theaters in the fall of 2000. I loved the movie and I thought it was better than the first. The episodes that followed however were really, really, really bad. The series went from a show evolving around the Pickles to evolving around the Finsters. Kimi, Chuckie's new step-sister, is a female Tommy.(Why do we need another Tommy?) Kira, Chuckie's new step-mother is just plain annoying. Lulu, Granpa's new wife is just pointless. Why did Grandpa have to move out? Didn't he already try to move out back in 1993 and moved back in because he realized that his grand kids needed him? All episodes featuring the new characters were dull. The babies no longer went on adventures. Instead they just followed Kimi's imagination. The only decent episodes in the Kimi seasons are "The Perfect Twins" and "Pre-school Daze". And that is because these episodes barely feature Kimi and her imagination at all.

In conclusion if you want to watch a good show, watch the original 65 episodes or at least the Pre-Dil episodes. You can still catch the original 65 episodes on Nick's new T.V. station Nicktoons.

*Ratings* Classics Rugrats(91-94) - 10/10, Pre-Dil(97-98) - 9.5/10, Dil Seasons- 3/10, Kimi Seasons- 1/10

This show started out good, fresh and funny - with a simple premise. What life looks like through the eyes of a baby.

It had good material and fine animation,, but completely lost the plot with it's 1997 return and the two feature films.

Once upon a time I liked Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil and Anjelica, but with the new voices, and characters, I couldn't care less.

Post-1994

. . .

In 1997, at fans' urgings, Klasky-Csupo, with a more complex soundtrack and somewhat better looking animation, brought back Rugrats after a three-year hiatus.

Though not as classic as the old show, it still managed to maintain some of the charm and energy of the original series. A few of the better episodes which somewhat harkened back to the older series, including "Radio Daze", a spoof of the old Dick Tracy radio shows, and such typically whimsical episodes as "Send in the Clouds" and "Dust Bunnies". All episodes were enjoyable; even "The Family Tree", the set-up for the first Rugrats movie, was decent. In 1998, however, two tragedies befell the rugrats, sending them into a void from which they would never emerge.

First, the brilliant voice of Grandpa Lou, David Doyle, died. For fans of the actor or of his character, his last episode on the show, "Lady Luck", while hardly classic, should be cherished as his magnum opus. This left a void in the show which could never be completely fufilled. The replacement, Joe Alasky, tries hard but sounds more like he's drunk and suffocating than the much older Doyle did. Even the relatively annoying Alasky nonetheless held the show together well enough. But even he couldn't save the show from the next catastrophie.

Personally, I felt Rugrats was FINE. Most fans found it FINE. Even kids did. The show's creators should've stopped while they had a modicum of respectablity and originality left, in 1998. But:

At the end of the two-part "Family Tree", Didi reveals to Stu that's she's pregnant. Oh boy. Well, this still isn't necessarily a bad thing; it can be saved. If they could make an at least interesting new character, than perhaps the show's existance could be prolonged for the better.

But, in the at-best mediocre "The Rugrats Movie", we're introduced to Dylan Prescot (Dill) Pickles. Hah hah, great joke. We get it, not funny, boo.

But what's even worse is that Dill is a screaming piece of crap. Literally. He's there simply to be cute (which he's not) and to make poop jokes (hah hah!). He abuses the other rugrats (especially brother Tommy), walks around in a surrealistic walker (the "Kangaroo", or something equally absurd), poops himself, and says stupid baby talk. Now the babies are forced to babysit Dill. Whoo, what fun!

But even worse is that the adult characters are dumbed down. In the 1991-1994 - and, to a lesser extent, from '97-98 - they were humans. They had real concerns. They acted realistically. Well, they were a bit negligent, but they weren't too contrived. They are instead reduced to spouting stupid one-liners and observations. Their previous portrayal provide the framework, but not the characters, of the adults. Their characterization in these later seasons simply plays upon the cliches established in the earlier episodes ('97-98 included).

In "Still Babies After All These Years", creator Gabor Csupo claimed that they invented Dill so that there would be someone even "less evolved than the other rugrats". Yeah, right. Those of us over the age of seven or who have IQs higher than -10 can see that you were just doing this for money. Make the show run on and on. Get dumber characters and plot lines. Milk that cow as much as you can.

By 1999, however, Klasky-Csupo had, shockingly, already gotten tired of Dill. So, they made "Rugrats In Paris".

Personally, I find nothing wrong with the film itself - it had a good plot, funny jokes (especially the "Godfather" references), and a great voice cast. Well, actually, yes, I do:

Grandpa Lou got married; Lulu (oh, match up similar names, whoohoo, funny!) is the wife's name. Now, Chaz gets married, too. Kira, the mother, and Kimi, the daughter, two typically PC Japanese characters, join the family. Oh, and there's a dumb dog. Spike, the dog, falls in love with Kira and Kimi's dumb dog and it's just stupid.

What little respectability the Rugrats had maintained following Dill's addition (not much at all, with "Submarine" being the only episode that was even tolerable - ruined, of course, by Dill) was gone. Now, the cash hogs at Nick are caving into to the stupid kids' demands. Why does the majority have to be stupid?

So, Rugrats just barrels on into oblivion. It is doomed to implode in on itself, like the dreams of Ms. Bitters. There may be more movies, and the series shows no signs of stopping. Rugrats was inducted onto the Hollywood Walk-Of-Fame - I don't know whether to be happy or sad.

And then, in July 2001, a last-ditch effort to save Rugrats occured. The grand redoubting of the tyrant Klasky-Csupo - which has destroyed such great shows as "Aah! Real Monsters!" (actually one of their own), "Rocko's Modern Life", and now, "Invader Zim"(!), brings us: teenage rugrats! Lame, lame, LAME! That's all I have to say. The only thing different is that the babies interact with the adults. Whoo-hoo.

So here Rugrats is: from great show to money-starved pig. Enough said.

When Rugrats hit the scene, I instantly loved it. I was 7 years old when the first episodes aired, and it was a great show. I couldn't get enough of Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil & Angelica. It was great and had lots of good episodes. Then something terrible happened. For no apparent reason whatsoever, the creators decided it would be a good idea to give Tommy a brother and make a movie. What a horrible decision. Dill added NOTHING to the plot of the show except being ridiculously annoying and ruining all of the flow of the main characters. Also around this time, the writers decided they needed to take the more adult-type themes out of the show entirely and make this show as if it should be shown on Nick Jr. instead of Nickelodeon. I will never understand why they changed the show so dramatically towards their extremely younger demographic group. Rugrats had plenty of older kids and even teenagers and some adults watching regularly. Why pander to your youngest viewers who would watch the TV no matter what show was on? They lost me when they added Dill. However, I did view the show after the 2nd movie because my mom had in-home daycare and they would be watching it. The character of Chuckie's step sister was even worse than Dill. That series of episodes was even more unwatchable than the ones with just Dill. I was just saddened watching that and seeing how downhill Rugrats had fallen. It's a shame that Nickelodeon and their creative writers, did this to basically every show that was good in the early 90's. Am I right? Look at what happened to their best shows, they were either canceled or changed so dramatically that they no longer resembled that great show you once loved. Doug was sold to Disney and turned into crap. Hey Dude was canceled in it's prime. Rocko's Modern Life was given the boot for no reason. Angry Beavers was given the axe because of a disagreement with the creators wanting to keep the show the funny. Nickelodeon from 1990-1995 was great, then it just fell apart and we got stuck with a bunch of garbage mostly after that that has never recovered into anything watchable. I DVR Rugrats every night at 5:00 and 5:30 AM. Sometimes they are the original episodes and I love watching them now. Other times they are the newer ones and those just suck and I immediately delete those.

This direct to video movie came before the Rugrats Movie and is better then both big screen movies. Its about the babies going to Vegas for a vaction.The action takes place at a magic show a casnio and breifly at an amusement park. Very good, they should have legthened it about 20 minutes and had be a big screen movie instead of the first movie they made

Rugrats is most likely a favorite show for children during the 90's. And who can blame them? This was one of the first "Nicktoons" made and one of the most creative and well-written ones too.

Debuting in 1991, this show had a bit of a slow start, featuring low quality animation, quiet voice acting, simple plots, and so on. Yet this show had quite a charm to get people an idea on how babies that talk to each other live in their lives. The characters were well made, with the cast featuring Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil, and Angelica as "the kids." Then we have their parents, which are also well made and humorous for both kids and adults. Some of the episodes have 2 story lines, one lead by the babies and one led by the adults, and they are created in such a great twist.

Due to the shows increasing audience, Rugrats was picked up for a few more seasons, featuring better animation and better jokes. Many of the episodes were so enjoyable with the mishaps and humorous references that appeared. But then Rugrats got canceled in 1994 by Nickelodeon. It was probably canceled in favor of AHH! Real Monsters that was released by the same production company that gave us Rugrats. However, re-runs stayed on the channel and gave the network high ratings. So the show was brought back to life in 1997.

But when it was brought back, disasters would follow...

The first disaster was when the show was brought back, some of the writers from the first series never returned for the revival. This made a huge difference on how the writing of the future episodes turned out. Now the episodes made featured more gross-out humor and lamer dialog then before.

The second disaster was when David Doyle, the voice of Grandpa Lou, died in 1997. So they hired a replacement, Joe Alaskey. While his voice is okay, it just was not the same, in terms of vocal tone and delivery, as what David brought to Grandpa.

The third disaster was what gave the Rugrats franchise a fatal wound. They released a movie in 1998, introducing one of the most annoying and stupid characters on the show, Dil, Tommy's new brother. While creating a new character is not a terrible idea, Dil ruined the future episodes of Rugrats. All he did is cry, wail, ABUSE the babies, and drool. What's worse is that the babies always take him on their mishaps and adventures, with Dil ruining them by ether getting lost or causing havoc for others. He also took the already gross humor the show was getting to a whole new level.

Then, with Nickelodeon not getting the message, they released another movie for 2000, introducing another character, Kimi, the daughter of Chuckie's new stepmother. The addition of this character is not bad, but not really good ether. She's basically a generic, one dimensional baby that doesn't add much personality for the babies' adventures, but at least she's not as horrible as Dil. Oh, and Spike, the dog that belongs to the Pickles, gets a random girlfriend dog too, Fifi, who also doesn't add much to the show.

After all this, the show basically got more lamer and more uncreative. The last disaster occurred in 2001, the 10 year anniversary of the show. We get a one-hour episode featuring the babies 10 years older, which would later spawn into a side-series in 2003 called "All Grown Up". It's not a terrible concept in of itself, but this episode changed everything about the Rugrats we didn't know before. All the babies now act like wanna-be teenagers. After this, the voice actress of Chuckie, Christine Cavanaugh, retires. I'll respect her for the retirement, but the replacement voice for Chuckie is inexcusable and not how he used to be. Then we saw more movies being made that didn't do much good ether.

Rugrats FINALLY ceased production in 2003, but a couple remaining episodes would air in a year or 2. Finally, no more of this nightmare of a show. But Nickelodeon was SUPPOSED to have left it alone after it was canceled the first time back in 1994. Bringing The Rugrats back has done anything positive for the show's legacy. Towards the end, many people considered it one of the worst shows airing on any children's network channel.

If you are looking for a great, entertaining children's show that adults could also enjoy with their kids, watch the first three seasons of Rugrats (made between 1991-1994). They were the best. If possible, avoid the seasons featuring Dil and Kimi. Nickelodeon cared about quality back in the early 90's when they started making their own shows. But today, they don't.

I will admit there was a time when I didn't like the Rugrats that much, but now along with Wild Thornberrys it is one of my favourite shows on Nicolodean. I initially thought it was childish and not my cup of tea. How wrong I was. It manages to be both cute and funny at the same time. It is one of the shows out there that I love more than I did in childhood.

The animation is crisp and colourful, with lovely backgrounds and the character animation isn't bad at all. The episode ideas are very unique, and the show is well written and has a number of genuinely funny moments. It also succeeds in conveying good messages and family and friendship values, without preaching.

The theme tune is I suppose like Marmite, you love it or hate it. Personally I love it. It is great, memorable and reasonably catchy. The characters, without being sickly sweet, are engaging. My favourite is Angelica, although bossy and obnoxious, she is also funny and you do kind of warm to her.

And what a great voice cast. Christine Cavanaugh is the standout as Chuckie, but Tara Strong(aka Charendoff), Elizabeth Daily and Kath Soucie also bring out solid supporting turns. It is true, the show did decline in quality in the later seasons, my only criticism here.

As for the movies, I enjoyed all of them, though I will say my favourite was Rugrats In Paris. I am really sorry I misjudged this show, and it took me so long to realise that. I give it a solid 8.5/10 Bethany Cox

Umm...I'm back again with another unpopular opinion. I'm not chump so I'm going to say it anyways.

Rugrats was a good show. It was just badly annoying.

Rugrats was about babies exploring the world and getting into mischief that could potentially result in them dying or going into an orphanage and developing serious mental issues due to parental neglect.

Rugrats does have good memorable episodes and characters.

* Tommy was the annoying leader who purposely got his baby friends into danger

* Chucky was the adorable, funny, fearful red head he can be annoying towards the other babies when it comes to doing dangerous tasks.

* The twins were annoying. DOUBLE the annoying. They were voiced by Bart Simpson actress.

* Angelica....jeeeeeeeeez she was a spoiled annoying brat. The first annoying cartoon character of all time.

* The worthless mutt was annoyingly ugly.

* The grandpa was a chilled, sleeper, enthused, Shriner who tends to fall asleep when babysitting.

* The only main child character that had sense was the ebony girl named Susie. She was loyal, nice and had manners.

* The parents were your typical grown ups who were oblivious to their babies behaviours and many were incompetent and reckless. The only parent with heart was Chucky's dad. His wife died. The show didn't talk about it much until he found an Asian lady to marry.

Rugrats is a Nickelodeon classic. If it were not for Rugrats Nickelodeon would be nothing. The baby voice work were sometimes adorable. Voice work in general were great and memorable. Stories were annoying because each story was about the babies getting in danger.. Many times the parents didn't know. Animation was the classic 2D Nickelodeon kind. The theme song is soothing and the theme intro is a classic.

Verdict: I prefer Rugatz grown up. Many don't like it because it ruins their childhood. how does a TV show reboot ruin someones childhood???? i have no idea.

Original Rugatz is a 5.5 at best. I don't hate the show. I just don't like it as much compared to Arnold or Yogi Bear..

I used to watch this show when I was growing up. When I think about it, I remember it very well. If you ask me, it was a good show. Two things I especially remember very well are the opening sequence and theme song. In addition to that, everyone was ideally cast. Also, the writing was very strong. The performances were top-grade, too. If you ask me, every main character was really cute. However, Angelica (voice of Cheryl Chase) was a pure bully and brat most of the time. I hope some network brings the show back so I can see every episode. Before I wrap this up, I'd like to say that I'll always remember this show in my memory forever, even though I'm not sure if I've seen every episode. Now, in conclusion, if some network ever brings it back, I hope that you catch it one day before it goes off the air for good.

OK. Rugrats WAS an awesome show. They had good plot lines but the show was on t.v. too long. They ruined the reputation they previously had by allowing Nick to take over. Rugrats "all growed up" was an okay movie and a cheap excuse for a television show. I remember as a child running through the door, and grabbing the remote so that i could turn on my favourite show. Then it started to get ridiculous. The simple plot lines where babies outsmart adults morphed into plot lines where they, forced their parents to get married (or not get married), grew up and started dating, and i can't say what else because i found it too pathetic to watch. Nick took a great show and decided that it needed a larger audience (which was totally wrong). They polled people and decided that teens like watching shows about other teens (which is true) and they decided to lose the audience they had and gain a very,very,very small audience. I give the old rug rats a 10 out of 10 and the new rug rats a 0 out of 10 i vote a happy medium with a five out of ten. Good luck to the rest of you forced to watch the pathetic new episodes.

Rugrats is about a group of babies named Tommy Pickles who is the fearless leader of the group, Chucky Finster, the scaredy cat of the bunch, and a group of bickering twins named Phil and Lil. No show is complete without a nemesis, in this case it's Tommy's older cousin, Angelica who is also a spoiled brat.

I used to enjoy watching this show all the time. It's very entertaining and the stories for the cartoons were creative.

I would like to emphasize on "was my #2 show on Nickelodeon". I say that because the show, for a time was very good and entertaining and then Nick started putting out the newer episodes. Then there was the addition of Tommy's new baby brother, Dil who is now the most annoying character on the show. A lot of the humor is gone now, too. I mean most of the humor now is just stupid toilet humor or worn-out humor from the old shows. The show has since then, lost a lot of it's impact. Now the new shows are just retarded. The stories and plots now have the babies making a lot stupid decisions and getting into some pretty idiotic situations.

I give Rugrats a 10/10 for the old episodes and 1/10 for the new episodes.

Though stating the obvious, I think it is safe to say the Rugrats was a giant among 90's children's television. Compared to the sickeningly sanitised animated programming of today (except for maybe Spongebob), Nickelodeon was at its ultimate creative peak from the early to mid 90's. Despite the slightly low-budget animation and sketchy production standards, the originality of the likes of Rugrats, Rocko's Modern Life, Doug, Real Monsters and Ren and Stimpy were simply unparallelled.

Rugrats was my absolute favourite cartoon, growing up as a child. The versatile characters, the witty dialogues, the simple but compelling story lines and the subtle cultural references made for a remarkable show. The world viewed in the eyes of babies and toddlers was a fascinating insight into early childhood. The babies represented universal character 'types' which a lot of young kids can identify with. Tommy, the brave leader; Chuckie, the chronically scared one; Angelica, the quintessential spoilt child; and Phil and Lil, the twins with their similarities and implicit differences.

Much of the original run of the early 90's brought out all these qualities. Episodes which can be viewed over and over again! The show was given a second birth in 1997. This time with considerably enhanced animation standards and a crisper musical score. The episodes, while lacking a bit of spark of the early 90's era, maintained my interest considerably. All was good.

By this time, Rugrats had become a major franchise with an international following. It always seemed like a natural progression to produce a Rugrats 'movie'. Such happened in late 1998. The results were stellar--an all star cast, top notch animation and a crazy, funny and emotional plot. Most notably was the introduction of Dil Pickles, Tommy's new baby brother.

The following new episodes, however, proved much different. The episodes were visibly watered down, relying on gross out, toilet humour and contrived plots. Dil served as nothing but a device for viewer annoyance and disgust. Nonetheless, the stupidity was largely watchable, as it didn't really require much thought.

A second movie was subsequently made, called Rugrats In Paris, in late-2000. Again, this was a triumph much like its predecessor. Tragically this next era marked the beginning of the end for the Rugrats. Yet more new faces were introduced--Kira and Kimi, step mother and step sister of Chuckie. While neither character was as horrible as Dil, they were about as interesting as cardboard cutouts, adding zero relevance to the show. What stuck out the most was the dramatic decline in the show's quality. Each episode became worse than the next, with one-dimensional and predictable plots and a drastic makeover of all major characters. They had been reduced to farcical caricatures of once vintage personalities. Basically, if you had seen one episode, you'd seen them all!! Along with this sad train wreck came new voice overs for Grandpa and Chuckie, the contemptible babysitter character Taffy and a couple of horrendous spin offs. The latter mainly focused on the lifeless All Grown Up as well as the short-lived Pre-School Daze which is up there with some of Nickelodeon's worst material.

It's sort of hard to sum up Rugrats. Its legacy is one that was tarnished towards the end, but the sheer strength of its early days more than compensates for it shortcomings. The cartoon is easily up there with the greatest, because of that.

Oh my gosh!! This show was sooo great and is still so great to this day!! I love this show so much! Not only because it was part of my childhood but because it is a very smart and sweet show! Tommy and Chuckie and Susie and all of the Rugrats are iconic characters because the characters on this show are so likable and sweet. You fall in love with Tommy and you love how good of a heart he has. I think that's why the show was so popular because the characters in this show have such heart and you fall in love with all of them. Even the enemy Angelica is such a great character because u really hate her and love her at the same time and u can see that she does have a heart deep down. I will always loove this show!!

I had first discovered "Rugrats" since the mid 1990s(during the show's production hiatus), in which I was only a mere Rugrat myself. I loved the characterization, I loved the humour and every aspect of every episode just left me hungry for more. Definitely a great experience of my childhood. However, the later episodes are often criticised, most notably the ones after the show had originally ended production/took a hiatus in 1994. But in my opinion, I find myself enjoying the later episodes as well, even if they are not up to standard with the much earlier episodes. I also loved the development of the characters and the story lines, as I had mentioned earlier. The show's first season mostly focused on Tommy(who in the first season, for the most part, actually acted like a proper baby), but eventually as the series progressed, it began to focus on Phil, Lil, Angelica and even Chuckie. Most notably later on, when we found out that his mother died. It also does well in tugging your heartstrings, as episodes like "I Remember Melville", "Moving Away", AND "Regarding Stuie" show, as well as the movie "Rugrats in Paris". In the early 2000s, it began to wane in popularity due to criticisms of Klasky/Csupo producing the majority of the Nicktoons(in spite of Nickelodeon asking Klasky/Csupo to produce Nicktoons for them, instead of Klasky/Csupo just randomly pitching Nicktoons for the network) and the show was eventually cancelled in 2004, due to "Rugrats Go Wild" flopping and "All Grown Up" (which was recently rumored to be retconned as of late) was becoming fairly popular. Not to mention that SpongeBob's popularity soared heavily during that time period and its movie did so well, that Nickelodeon decided that cancelling and ending that show was a mistake. To me, "SpongeBob" actually suffered a worse fate than "Rugrats". Because whilst "Rugrats" added new characters, at least it never made inconsistent changes to the previous-existing characters and didn't focus on sadistic and mean-spirited efforts to be funny. That is just my opinion on the matter. "Rugrats" is a cartoon, that to me, will never get old, has stood the test of time for me and paid high contributions to Nickelodeon's success(though we can't forget that it was Ren and Stimpy that put the Nicktoons on the map).

Some people say this show was good in it's early years! I disagree with all of 'em. The show is just plain stupid and pathetic. My mum hates it, I hate it, my dad hates it, I don't know about my sister but oh well. Here some reasons why:

1. THE CHARACTERS: Babies being used as grown up style characters are stupid. The babies are just precocious and annoying. The grown ups and adults are dumb and unappealing. The worst character is that Angelica Pickles (she really does it in for your ear drums when you had a long, hard and miserable day at the office) and also that Kimi Finster who appears later on; she is too over optimistic and a pain in the butt. She can't decided whither she is French or Japanese: it doesn't matter know; you are a American Citizen know and that's that! Oh, what am I talking about, all the characters from this show suck!

2. THE STORIES: The stories are unoriginal and dumb. The make it like the babies go off on a great adventure, yeah to the back yard shed. In one episode, that little goofy brat, Tommy Pickles the Leader broke in to a television's control room and literally almost destroyed it. Don't give kids any idea to smash up normal T.V Station's control rooms (they pay a awful lot of money for them in real life). I can imagine what the broadcasters must of felt like airing this episode, they will probably start staring at their machines throughout the day scared that a baby will brake in. Sad!

3. OVER RATED!: The show has been dragging on for years now and people are still making up stories and new series and spin-offs for this. Get off! The Simpsons have been going for nearly the same amount of time as this but they are much better and funnier than babies. The show is just plain over rated! People, where is your common sense!

Anyway, I surprised T.V Stations across the world want to air this series even off today. The show is utter junk and should have never been produced. The two movies for this cartoons sucked just the same! 2/10

Rugrats is one of my favourite cartoons. It has something for everyone. There are cute babies (Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Kimi & Dil), one terrible toddler (Angelica - She's the best!), one lovable & loyal hound (Spike), one kind hearted kid (Susie) and several entertaining adults. Stu & Drew's sibling rivalry is well depicted. The characters are diverse and have different backgrounds & life styles. I like spotting the film references and seeing the world as we know it turned on its head. The show contains plenty of wit and it has jokes for all age groups. (I'm 23.) It has a good theme tune and a quirky look that has developed over time. A classic. 8/10

I love the episode where Phil and Lil are in a diaper commercial. I also like the one where tommy gets lost at a college. I LOVE the one where Chickie moves into the garden shed. one of favorites is the first episode ever called tommy's first birthday and they are trying to eat dog food. i like the one where the babies and angelica are fighting over chocolate milk. that one was SO funny!!!! i love the movies too. i recommend everybody to see the movies. my favorite is probably the first movie called the rug rats movie. i wish tommy's first birthday would come on TV more often. it never comes on. i like the older episodes of rug rats better than the newer ones with Kimmi. this is just my favorite show EVER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!