Rugrats

The early years were a funny and perceptive look at child-rearing in the 1990s, but after the first movie it just got repetitive.

It was a bit after my time, but Cynthia was my favorite, because it'sso ridiculous. My brother had classmates who weren't allowed to watch this show, because their parents thought it portrayed the adults as stupid/idiotic.

I grew up on this show and I watched some episodes again and I have to say, it's definitely a great time capsule of the early 90s. A lot of the jokes especially in the early seasons were filled with political and pop culture references. As a kid you focus more on the babies and their adventures. But as an adult, you noticed the parents have their own subplots that are relatable to young first-time parents. All of the mothers on the show have different parenting styles. Charlotte is a busy CEO who spoils her daughter but also wants to teach her to be assertive in a male-dominated society. Didi is a liberal mother who relies on reading books by parenting "experts" who just speak mumbo-jumbo pseudoscience. Betty is a butch feminist who relies on common sense and intuition when it comes to raising her kids. Also, it was one of the first children's shows that actually had explicitly Jewish characters and even a Hanukkah and Passover special.

Exactly, R3. It started as a satire on Boomers overparenting their children. The voice casting was excellent, too: Melanie Chartoff, Jack Riley, and David Doyle were all part of the original cast.

Rugratsh! Shinthia Picklesh!

OP is an antisemitic racist stalker.

R6 Fuck off, Matt

an old friend was an animator on the show

Shut up, racist R7.

[quote] Also, it was one of the first children's shows that actually had explicitly Jewish characters and even a Hanukkah and Passover special.

Yes, I also grew up on that show R3 and I'm Jewish and that was a huge deal, though I did not realize it at the time as I grew up in a very Jewish area (UWS of Manhattan) and was not aware at age seven that Jews were a minority.

I have not watched Rugrats as an adult but it was a kids show, once of Nick's shows designed so that parents could watch and not be bored but kids would be into the kids story lines.

We had a VHS of the Passover and Chanukkah specials which I am sure my mother has not thrown out but we would watch it all the time around the holidays and even watched it in Hebrew school.

I imagine most of it still tracks though, especially for new parents.

Angelica is the role model for the current generation of Karens.

I'm tired of seeing cartoons used to promote the same gentile propaganda that has helped send homosexuals to early graves. That's why this show was a literal Godsend to Jewish children back then.

If you want the same old propaganda from the cult of Jesus, then you can go watch Charlie Brown, Frosty, Rudolph, and the Grinch.

I distinctly remember the Passover episode being my first real encounter with Jewish holidays, so in that respect it really was educational to non-Jews. Pretty cool that a kids’ show explored that actually.

[italic]An American Tail[/italic] had Jewish mice, but this was arguably more groundbreaking because the Jewish characters here weren't anthropomorphic animals.

R14 It didn't register to me that the family in [italic]An American Tail[/italic] was Jewish until I rewatched it as I was a bit older. Yes, it was far more obvious when I was a teenager. But as a little kid, I just saw talking mice, assumed they were celebrating Christmas (since I was Christian) in the beginning and that they sang about there being no cats in America. It didn't help that the sequel movies (which Don Bluth had no involvement, mind you) never explored or mentioned they were Jewish again. Anyway, on my rewatch I realized their family name was Mousekewitz, Mama and Papa are stereotypical Jewish parents and even work as garment makers, they were originally from Russia and their home got destroyed by the Czarist cats on a pogrom, they had to flee to America to avoid antisemitism, so it was an "American Dream" story and I never realized it as a kid.

Rugrats on the other hand, explicitly mentioned the word Judaism, its holidays and customs and told stories from The Bible using the babies. Didi's parents are also Russian Jews and it's hinted they never approved of her marrying a gentile like Stu.

[quote]OP is an antisemitic racist stalker.

How are you even still on Datalounge? You're the guy who spams threads with all caps rants calling people BORIS and LING-LING. Anyone you don't like is a Nazi, Hitler, or Hitler the Nazi, and you're always complaining about "white het privilege." The only reason I'm not 100% sure you're matt is that you don't start screaming racist epithets after not getting your way, but it's possible that you have and I've simply missed it.

The fact that you're still able to post with more than one sockpuppet says it all about DL's shitty moderation.

Now go whine about how "ignoredar is stalkdar" again, you little bitch troll. Beg the moderators to take the ignore function away so you don't get outed all the time. Go ahead, see where it gets you.

Ehh the early seasons were really smart imo.

Everything after however...

R16 is also a racist and a stalker. Typical white gentile behavior. Yet another reason we need as many more shows like this one in order to challenge the hegemony of white Gentiles and the insidious propaganda they brainwash children with.

OP is still an antisemite attacking a show about Jews because it is a show about Jews. The time is coming when all opposition to Judaism of any kind will be a fucking hate crime.

Bump

They call R20 Lady Bump

Lady Bump

It's no lie

You stupid babies!

This:

A lot of 90s cartoons had adult humor to them and they weren't nearly as dumbed down, commercialized and moralistic as 80s cartoons were nor were cheap, repetitive and dull like 70s cartoons were.

Stuff like Ren & Stimpy, Rugrats, Rocko's Modern Life, Dexter's Laboratory, Gargoyles, Pepper Ann, The Powerpuff Girls and Cow and Chicken had jokes that adults and children alike could enjoy. I think cable television allowed for more creator-driven TV animation and freedom from the FCC.

In the Rugrats reboot. Betty, the mom of Phil and Lil is now an out lesbian. She always was a butch dyke stereotype honestly right down to her design. Her husband Howard was a fem gay. Typical 80s lavender marriage. She was a good mom and loved her kids and gay husband. The network in the 90s wasn't going to let that fly. Ren and Stimpy were also a gay couple but that wasn't made explicit for the same reasons.

The issue with the reboot is Howard isn't present. I feel they could have explained his absence and have him present.

The Ren & Stimpy guy is a straight up creep and once you know that it's impossible to enjoy the show

It started a trend of kids butchering words and parents encouraging it as "cute"

It's unfortunate that the spinoff wasn't as successful, tho.

I think we could do with more television that grows up rather than just gets rebooted or stays the same season to season.

The musical episode of Rocko's Modern Life was extremely formative for me.

Rugrats Hanukkah and Passover specials made Jewish Millennials feel very included.

The spinoff lasted a few seasons. The issue was it was basically a tween animated sitcom like As Told By Ginger or Lizzie McGuire. It didn't really stand out and barely felt like Rugrats. Maybe if they focused on them going on adventures but as tweens. It could have been interesting.

[quote] The spinoff lasted a few seasons. The issue was it was basically a tween animated sitcom like As Told By Ginger or Lizzie McGuire. It didn't really stand out and barely felt like Rugrats.

Know I'm in a minority, but I really liked the tween/teen spinoff (ALL GROWN UP). It was somehow sort of cool to me, seeing the characters I knew from my young childhood grow and change and try to mature alongside me. Then again, I was the target age demo for it--having just looked it up, technically I'm the same age as Dil Pickles is said to be in canon.

Felt it was kind of a missed opportunity that in ALL GROWN UP they didn't have Angelica & Chuckie couple up, say when they entered high-school. They were the oldest pair of the kid cast of characters, their personalities were a good contrast, and Angelica seemed more invested in and tolerant of him and his weirdness than the other 'dumb babies'. And the older Angelica herself was way more level-headed and likeable than her toddler counterpart--she was kind of a Boss-bitch, actually.

It was also unique to see that AGU presented teen girls as moody and unpredictable and sometimes mean, without totally villainising them for it. It normalised hormonal behaviour.

R32 I enjoyed it too as a kid but I think the genre shift is what turned many people who were older fans of the original off.

Nowadays All Grown Up has it's fanbase that grew up with it. There's redeeming factors to All Grown Up. And that was character development. A natural occurrence due to the aging of the characters.

Angelica had by far the best character arc, she went from selfish and bratty like her toddler self to being more self-aware and humbled because of all the moments she embarrassed herself. She wasn't the most popular girl at school either, she tried to follow the resident queen bee who bullied her and turned on her all the time. Angelica and Susie grew closer as friends and Angelica got over her jealousy of Susie.

Then Angelica's mom Charlotte also had her redemption arc. In Rugrats, Charlotte was a typical narcissistic Boomer mom who spoiled Angelica and emotionally neglected her. In AGU, Charlotte got her karma by getting fired from her job as CEO and her punching bag Jonathan taking her place. Ironically, Charlotte would praise and promote Jonathan when he acted sneaky and cutthroat. So that backfired. Charlotte being forced to retire early made her realize how little she interacted with her daughter and throughout AGU, Charlotte becomes more involved in Angelica's life and even starts to put her foot down.

Susie herself had some character depth explored. In Rugrats, she was sorta flat as a character simply her family existing to be positive black characters with little flaws and nothing else (progressive in the early 90s but dated by the early 2000s). So AGU, gave Susie flaws like her insecurity and perfectionism. Her parents push her too hard and aren't supportive of her dreams to be a singer. Also Susie is sheltered and makes a lot of mistakes and has a whole episode proving she can be a bad girl. Also Susie's relationships with Angelica and Kimi are positive female friendships, they are always supportive of each other and have contrasting personalities with Susie being the overachiever, Angelica the diva and Kimi the tomboyish rebel.

Garbage-y crap like this was for young millennials like my idiot siblings.

The humor was aimed at Boomer parents though. Little kids aren't going to understand all the social commentary on suburban yuppie life and celebrity parodies.

Loved Rugrats in Paris: The Movie. DL villainess Susan Sarandon made a great villainess.

The reboot should have been like The Proud Family one. Maybe have it when they're older than AGU and incorporate a lot of flashbacks. The issue with these reboots is that they try to reintroduce to younger audiences but it doesn't always work. Plus it's not like kids can't watch the original. Reboots that appeal to the audience that grew up with it seem more successful. Like the Samurai Jack one.

R37 Rugrats in Paris was definitely the best Rugrats movie. I recently watched Rugrats Go Wild with my niece. I had the original on VHS as a kid. And it didn't age well. It felt like one long extended TV special crossover with The Wild Thornberrys. The characters all were flanderized here too.