Rugrats - "Wash/Dry Story"

From the people who brought you the episode, "Music," comes another musical episode for "Rugrats," called "Wash/Dry Story," inspired from the ever popular musical "West Side Story." Let's start the review, shall we?

When Stu inadvertently turns off the neighborhood water supply, the gang goes to the laundromat to do the laundry, but the problem is, The McNultys are there too, and Teddy McNulty sees Cynthia, and he wants to play with the Cynthia doll. The thing is Jonathan had taken Cynthia alongside with Charlotte's laundry because apparently, Charlotte doesn't do laundry, Jonathan does it for her. That seems kind of lazy. Kimi wants to return Cynthia to Angelica, but Teddy wants to keep her all to himself. That said, two groups of kids get into a standoff. Will they never cease? Stay tuned to find out!

The reason I like this episode is because it's a good satire on a classic musical. I mean you have Timmy McNulty as Riff Lorton, Kimi being Rita Moreno, Teddy being of course Richard Beymer as Tony Wyzek, and of course the music has a lot of good spoofs like for example, "Stray Cat Strut" by the Stray Cats, "Maria," and "There's a Place For Us." Clever parodies, clever plot. Too bad there's no parody of "I Feel Pretty." Come on, guys, Leonard Bernstein and Stephen Sondheim would be proud. Also, I should point out that this is the last appearance of the McNultys, good riddance if you ask me.

The only other parody of West Side Story was perhaps the Animatiacs episode with the Goodfeathers, and that episode featured the voice of Ivy Austin from Sesame Street.

Just remember, the moral of the story is always keep your eyes on your prized possessions, if not, they end up in a laundry basket on the way to the laundromat.

Just remember, someplace, there's always a place for all of us to play, it's just not at the laundromat, and that's the moral, folks. Hope you enjoyed my first review on February.

Rugrats - "Music"

Bring up the orchestra, put on your singing voice, and get ready to sing-along with the Rugrats gang in the ever popular episode, "Music."

While listening to the radio, Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil and Angelica perform music videos in order to teach Dil about music. Musical numbers include "Tricycle Not for You," "Pack Up Your Troubles," "Toyland," "You Make Me Love You," and "Beautiful Dreamer."

They try so desperately to get Dil to imagine the visuals like how the other kids would. Can they get Dil to imagine the visuals, or will they just follow Angelica's advice that he's not ready to learn yet?

Just watch and find out.

What I admire about this story is that it's a musical episode, kind of like SpongeBob's Jellyfish Jam, and I like Phil and Lil's "Tricycle Not for You" musical number, it has a sort of rock and roll feel to it, and Tommy's "You Made Me Love You," has a lounge feel to it, George Burns, eat your heart out. And even Didi is pretty good at singing Dil to sleep. At the end of the episode, one can realize that Dil really loves Tommy, because he dreams of him (Tommy) as he falls asleep. I think I like the "Beautiful Dreamer" rendition as much as Garfield's Garbage Can and Tin Pan Alley Revue version that was performed by Odie.

In conclusion, even though PIEGUYRULZ has says that the Tales From the Crib movies that got a lot mixed reviews because it breaks the rule that a Rugrat should never sing. I'm afraid I have to disagree. I don't mind the characters singing that much.

And since this aired before "Jellyfish Jam" did, I can safely say this is a pre-"Jellyfish Jam" episode. By the way fans, you make me love you! Really, I do.

Rugrats - "All's Well That Pretends Well"

Yep, another Season Six episode review for Rugrats. This time, let's take a look at  "All's Well That Pretends Well"

The Cirque du Dummi Bear is in town, and everyone's getting ready to go see the live show. Angelica however, has a pretty bad cold and goes through extreme lengths to make sure that she does go despite her illness. Can she hide this fact from her parents and the rest of the grown-ups by making them think one of the other babies is sick? Or will she just admit what's going on and just face the consequences?

Well I'm not telling! PBBT! Because you've got watch and see for yourself. Okay? All right. Onto the review.

This is another one of those Angelica Karma Trips episodes. Remember, the reason I call these episodes that is because it's all justified because Angelica was acting like a jerk, and it was satisfying to see her get her comeuppance for her sour attitude. This is a much better episode than "The Big Sneeze," and I'll explain why, this one is focused on Angelica being the one who's sneezing, not Chuckie. I don't know what Cirque du Dummi Bear translates out to, but I think it's French for the Dummi Bear circus. At least, when Angelica got really sick after Spike shook the feather duster onto her, at least her parents didn't punish her, instead, they just care for her like actual parents would.

This episode was really funny. It had joke after joke, and even some of Stu Pickles' lines were funny. I would say that it was a shame that Angelica never went to that Cirque Du Dummi Bear thing, but I won't , mainly due to the fact she got what was getting to her, and the fact that Stu actually bought the entire thing on videotape, not to mention Laserdisc, DVD, HDTV, CD-ROM, Betamax and 8-track, according to Chaz, I must say, Stu Pickles really knows how to solve Angelica's problems. Also, this is one if not the only episode where Tommy tries not to give in to Angelica's antics, like the ice cream for example.

If you're an Angelica fan, or just a regular Rugrats fan and don't know which one is your favorite, go ahead and give it a watch.

Rugrats - "Runaway Angelica"

Okay, now I've completely calmed down and needed a CatDog review before this, I decided now is the right time to review "Runaway Angelica."

After getting into trouble in Drew's office and being sent into her room, Angelica decides to run away. Yeah, we know, she's a troublemaker; it’s part of the territory...but in this episode, it finally starts to add up. Drew as a legitimate scolding to Angelica almost as much as kids who wouldn't behave and get scolded by their parents as well. It turns into your typical Angelica tortures babies as slaves for no good reason episode until it starts to rain, and Angelica decides to go into the dog house, literally. So what, she gives in to her on instincts and her parents get worried and Drew regrets everything he said and everything's okay, right? Actually no, Drew and Charlotte never knew that Angelica ran away, mostly because they were to distracted by the world around them. There’s suddenly something at risk, and something Angelica values is now truly on the line. But in the end, despite her hopes of her parents being worried about her, reality takes its toll.

She hears Drew talking to Didi and Stu and he says "Oh, boy." It is so nice to get away from the responsibilities of parenthood.

And in my opinion, this is the saddest thing I've ever seen on this show.

I identify a lot with this episode. I sometimes got into trouble growing up myself, either, and I can tell you, all the talks, all the pressure, all the fears of not being loved by your parents anymore are properly represented here. In my opinion, this is the most dramatic episode they’ve ever put out. There’s no villain, there’s no one element to play, it’s just a tough slice of life and it still shows that your parents will still always love you even if you do those bad things, which is a hard lesson for anyone to learn, so hard that they don’t even really teach it that much in TV or movies. It’s tough to deal with, and this episode doesn’t sugarcoat it.  Sugarcoating meaning sentimental. It shows just what an impact it has on her and how much it can really hurt. Now, true, there is still a happy ending, but to be fair, I think it kinda works. Her valuable lesson some payoff, and she uses what she learned to her advantage.  But this is the first, and in my opinion, only time “Rugrats” had a perfect mix of good comedy, good storytelling, and surprisingly good drama. I’ve never seen an episode that balanced all three of those so well. You get sucked into Angelica’s dilemma, you feel bad for what she’s going through, and you want to see her come out okay. On top of that, there’s still some good laughs, a lot of heart, and a satisfactory resolution. Although I will say, if her big concern is not doing those bad things ever again, then how come in every single episode, SHE STILL DOES THOSE HORRIBLE THINGS?!

I don’t know, but what I do know is that this is a truly unique episode, and in my opinion, the absolute best of them all. It’s touching, it’s funny, it was near the end of the second season, it's just a gem.

Rugrats - "The Big Sneeze" Review

Season 7, sometime around 2002, Angelica Pickles is my least favorite character in all of Rugrats. And I'll tel you why. All she does is trick the babies into thing something terrible is happening, and obviously making the babies her slaves. Why would God even create somebody like her. Sure, there are episodes I like that feature her like, "The Word of the Day," Hiccups," and "Angelica Breaks a Leg" She may have done all those things, but she still had a heart. "The Big Sneeze" exists to say "Forget all that" and downgrades into the most flanderized character, I've ever seen.

"The Big Sneeze" was the breaking point for me, and I won't cover this up. Don't get me wrong, I'm not angry, I'm not upset, I'm just..........sad. Yeah. It's honestly the best word I can use to describe here.

The episode starts off with Kira giving Chaz an anniversary present since it's been one year since they've been married. Kimi is amazed by this news and tries to get something for Chuckie for being a sister for over one year. Meanwhile, Chuckie sneezes constantly whenever Kimi walks passed him, when Angelica overhears this, Angelica decides to trick the babies into thinking that Chuckie is allergic to Kimi because now is clearly the best time to do it and she couldn't have waited an extra 15 seconds. It's all downhill from here and I wish that was an exaggeration. It doesn't help, that whenever Tommy and their friends try to cure Chuckie, Chuckie decides to move away from Kimi as much as possible. This is mind-boggling!

I can sum this episode up in four words;. "IT'S ALL ANGELICA'S FAULT!" I mean, this has just gone too far even for her character, and the worst part is that Chuckie believes this the entire time, he doesn't stand up to Angelica and tell her she's being ridiculous, he just falls through with this plan because the plot wants him to. And not at one moment does Angelica question what has she done! And the worst part is that Angelica never receives any karma for her actions, she doesn't get punished, Chaz nor Kira call Drew about what's going on, she just disappears from the episode after Chuckie accidentally sneezes on her.

Here's how you fix this story. Have Tommy become suspicious and become mad at Angelica for making Chuckie believe he's allergic to Kimi. Oh, and how about a better allergy, have Chuckie be allergic to Angelica, that way, the babies could beat her up in the same way that Glenn Quagmire did to Brian from Family Guy just because he hates him. Unless, you were to argue that Chuckie is allergic to Angelica in this episode but didn't say, but I'll again return to my previous argument that there's no reason for him to think Kimi would be better off without him around. This isn't a mid-life crisis, so why is he going through this now? Or how about this one. Somebody would put Angelica into a box with air holes in it, and it would be shipped back to her house and Drew reads it saying "Return to sender. P.S. We'd raver have Susie Carmichael/" and Drew would say. "Gee, that's the tenth time this month. Some things you just can't give away."

That was atrocious. I hate to say it but this is the first review I've done on an episode of a cartoon I like that I hate. This episode needed some more proof reading before giving the go ahead to be made. Angelica never gets her comeuppance, Chuckie being allergic to dandelions contradicts "Opposites Attract," and on top of it all, Nancy Cartwright does not do a pretty good Chuckie voice. I have nothing against her, but I just want to address it nonetheless. Just take it from me and skip it. You're more likely to get laughs from an episode of CatDog.

But don't worry guys, there's a much netter episode that features Angelica that I'll review coming up real soon.

Rugrats - "Pickles vs. Pickles"

And now, for my Mom out there, I'm going to review one of here favorite episodes during the third season, "Pickles vs. Pickles." Another Angelica related episode. Let's see if I can give her a positive review on this.

After having some dinner problems with her parents, Angelica decides to "sue" her parents With hiring F. Lee Barnum, voiced by Neil Ross, and even recording everything Charlotte, even mocking her line "We've tried to reason what you, but you wouldn't listen." This goes so far that Charlotte and Drew go visit their lawyer, Mr. Hershowitz, voiced by Dan Castellaneta. He highly suggests to settle the matter out of court. After hearing a ridiculously long list of demands from Angelica that her lawyer faxed to Mr. Hershowitz, they decide to just go for court.

This episode is pretty dark and funny at the same time. One minute it goes serious, and then one minute later, it gets so dramatic you can't even ignore it. I especially like Charlotte's funny quotes towards Mr. Barnum, and even Angelica using Cynthia and a toy Zebra as her witnesses, and even goes to the point of being a copycat in front of Mr. Hershowitz. The funny thing about this episode is that Tommy is not in this episode, but, on the other hand, while I do kind of speculate on what Tommy would've done in that particular episode, I'll just have to say, yeah, he really wasn't needed.

So, have we reached the verdict? Guilty or not guilty? NOT GUILTY! I here by sentence this episode to be recommended to anyone who ever loves episodes that show us court scenes. Plus, I like the ending where Angelica tells the audience, works every time.

Did I mention that Paul Germain and Jonathan Greenberg wrote this? It kind of reminds me of the Garfield and Friends episode, "The Kitten and the Council." And yes, I will review that episode at one point, but not right away.

Rugrats - "Angelica Breaks a Leg"

Yeah, I needed to make a review on an Angelica sooner or later. This one, where going to review Angelica Breaks a Leg, my favorite episode of the third season of Rugrats, and this was WAY before those Squidward Torture episodes came into fruition. It was written by the late Steve Viksten, the same guy who wrote "Monkey Business" on Hey Arnold! and as usual, it was directed by Jim Duffy.

The episode starts with Drew and Charlotte dropping off Angelica at Tommy's residence, with a reason this time. Drew and Charlotte decided to go power rafting with their cell phones. Drew says that it's great for networking. As Angelica's parents leave, Angelica wants to go to the zoo, but Stu and Didi are quite too busy just minding their own business. Even Grandpa Lou Pickles has been declared busy at the moment, but he does invite Angelica to watch his fishing programs. When she wants to play with Tommy, Tommy decides to just take a nap because he always takes a nap after watching Captain Blasto, much to Angelica's disappointment.

As Grandpa Lou falls asleep, Angelica beings channel surfing to find something good on while complaining about how everybody's too busy and tired doing what she wants to do. She comes across a soap opera that has a man's fiance in a cast, obviously with a broken leg. At first, Angelica complains about how the soap actor is doing everything the woman tells him to do, after a little thinking, she figured that would be a terrific opportunity to get attention. Meanwhile, Stu has trouble getting his Hippo Copter to work, when all of a sudden, he and Didi hear Angelica screaming "Ow!" falling down the stairs with a bowling ball hitting  the vase of a plant and Angelica holding on for dear life on her left leg, telling Stu and Didi that she thinks she broke her leg. Without a break, they take Angelica tot he hospital.

Stu and Didi come across Hoagie Doozer, voiced by Scott Menville, he's obviously a take on Neil Patrick Harris' Doogie Howser, MD, and yes apparently Doozer, that phrase Fraggle Rock is a thing in the Rugrats universe. Meanwhile in the operating room, Bob, voiced by Jim Turner, takes pictures of Angelica, or in this case, X-ray pictures. A few minutes later, Dr. Doozer states that Angelica has sustained a massive fracture of the left fibula, and suggests that they put her in a leg cast. While Didi is unsure about this, Dr. Doozer may be young, but he knows a broken leg when he seeks one and he's a highly trained professional, that, and he also does have a decree. And the nurse brings him his chocolate milk.

That night, they put Angelica in the guest bedroom, and Stu rigged up a call buzzer for her just in case if she needs anything, and then says "What a trooper." Tommy, confused wonders if Angelica's leg is really broken, and Angelica tells him no, and she shows Tommy using the call buzzer into action, where Didi comes in and Angelica requests that Tommy leaves, it was past Tommy's bedtime anyway. By the way, that was the last we see of Tommy in this episode. Too bad. Anyways, Angelica devilishly says "This is gonna great."

Day 1: Angelica requests the easiest request she could think of from Didi. A cold drink, maybe it was grape juice? Next, she calls for Stu, and she requests she wants to watch TV, the problem is, there's only one TV in the house, I guess this was back when there would be enough money to buy multiple television sets. What follows is a montage of Angelica making request after request from Stu or Didi, mostly Stu, like fluffing pillows, opening and closing the window, asking for a tissue, hour in and hour out, they keep giving in to her ridiculous requests, exhausting the two quite greatly.

Day 2: Stu and Didi are exhausted and getting a bit agitated. Stu tries desperately to go upstairs and disconnect the buzzer, but Didi stops him because they need to follow Dr. Doozer's orders. Stu eventually gives in, Didi tried to call Charlotte, but she's too busy. It cuts to a brief scene where Charlotte and Drew are power rafting and they come across a rapid! The buzzer goes off and it was Didi's turn. Angelica requests Didi to make-up story about an angel simply known as Angelica. For some reason, the skipped Day 3, I don't know why the heck they did that. They don't even show the time code for the following scene.

That night, Stu gets ready for bed, when all of a sudden, in the middle of the night, Angelica requests chocolate pudding, at 3:00 in the morning! AT 3:00 IN THE MORNING FOR CRYING OUT LOUD! Stu refuses at first because I think he was starting to suspect that Angelica's leg isn't broken at all, ultimately, he does give in, and he buys pudding mix from a late night grocery store, since they've run out of the already made stuff. Then it cuts to the infamous chocolate pudding scene which has become a meme. Didi asks why Stu is making pudding at 4:00 in the morning, and the reason is because he's lost control of his life. I wonder if it was his deadpan response that caused this to become a meme. We then cut to Angelica watching late night cop shows when Stu brings her her chocolate pudding, until Angelica declares she's not hungry anymore. Stu gets so fed up and so exhausted that he does his over-he-top scream!

Day 4: Stu tries desperately to drink his coffee, but he says to himself, "If I hear that buzzer one more time, I'm about to crack!" Then the phone rings, making Stu jump! Didi reassures that it's just the telephone. Didi answers it, it was Dr. Doozer, calling that they had a mix-up with the x-rays, they've just discovered Angelica's leg isn't broken at all, and that they can bring her down to remove the cast, and says she's sorry for the mistake. He also apologizes to Antonio Peaches, who was the one with the broken leg, you see, I knew it was a mistake all along, I just didn't want to spoil it for everybody. Suddenly, the doorbell rings, and Drew came back to town so early, and there's a good reason, Charlotte had a run-in with a kayak, meaning broken leg.'

See, that's irony for you. Charlotte calls desperately for Drew and Angelica for some help while still talking to Jonathan on the phone. While Angelica would rather do something fun, Drew tells her as punishment for faking a broken leg, they are having her see what it's like, and anything Charlotte wants she gets. Drew then asks Angelica if she has any chocolate pudding, and the episode ends. I can only assume Angelica might've fainted from all the pressure.





Final thoughts: This episode was really funny. The characters reacted accordingly, Angelica never feels out of character, and it was satisfying to see her get comeuppance for her sour attitude, that and I felt pretty bad for Stu in this episode after going through all that torture. At least he can rest fine now.

By the way, there was an episode of the Garfield Show that parodied this in "King Nermal" except not in a good way.

I not only recommend this episode, but I would also like to dedicate this review to the late Jack Riley who voiced Stu Pickles.