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.
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.