“Rugrats” Created by Arlene Klasky, Gabor Csupo, and Paul Germain; Starring Elizabeth Daily, Kath Soucie, Melanie Charoff, Cheryl Chase, Jack Riley, Michael Bell, Christine Cavanaugh, David Doyle, Tara Strong, and Tress MacNeille; Originally aired August 11, 1991; Run time 23 minutes.
“Rugrats” was the second Nicktoon to air, following “Doug” and immediately followed by “The Ren & Stimpy Show.” The series was created for Nickelodeon by husband and wife team Arlene Klasky and Gabor Csupo with help from Paul Germain and followed the adventures of a group of toddlers through ordinary daily activities that were enhanced by visuals from the kid’s imaginations, similar to “The Muppet Babies.”
Klasky and Csupo were animating for “The Simpsons” at the time and decided to develop their own series when they heard that Nickelodeon was planning on creating their own line up of animation. The series events were loosely based on the antics of their own children who were toddlers at the time.
They enlisted the help of Peter Chung with character design. Chung directed the title sequence as well as the pilot which was never aired. Chung later went on to do “Aeon Flux” with an animation style that feels like it exists in the same family but as a distant cousin whom no one invites to family gatherings.
“Rugrats” held the title for longest running Nicktoon for years until 2012 when it was usurped by “Spongebob Squarepants” though the series remains one of Nickelodeon’s most successful creations. It ran for a total of 172 episodes, spawned two movies including a crossover with “The Wild Thornberries,” a spin-off series entitled “All Grown Up” which showcases the characters ten years later, comic books, video games, and merchandizing.
In each episode the babies get into some sort of adventure, usually aided by the fact that their parents are sort of inept and distracted. These adventures were sometimes aided by inventions created by Tommy’s father Stu who was a struggling inventor. The series also gave us the nested creation of “Reptar,” essentially a children’s version of “Godzilla.”
As recently as September of this year Nickelodeon has floated the idea of resurrecting some of its classic Nicktoons including “Rugrats.” Russell Hicks, president of content and development for Nickelodeon, told Variety “We are looking at our library to bring back ideas, shows that were loved, n a fresh new way.”
Hicks declined to mention specific series but it was implied that “Rugrats” and “Hey Arnold!” are under consideration, though it’s unclear if they would return as full series or as specials or one-offs, if they return at all.
In the meantime you can get your fix right here. See you next week.