Rugrats: Making New Friends

Making new friends can be a difficult thing sometimes. But for Tommy, it’s something that comes very easily for him no matter where he goes.
That’ll the topic for this post-: episodes where Tommy has adventures with other babies outside of his typical circle of friends. Although they will sometimes be along for the ride.

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The Big House


There was one occasion where Didi dropped Tommy off at a daycare while she went out to do errands. This particular faculty prides itself on being very efficient, providing healthy food, but more importantly, nobody has ever escaped.

His first new friend, Wiseguy, shows him around to the others and their notable talents. Crybaby can sustain a tantrum longer than anyone. Builder can do anything from blocks. Doughboy can make anything from play dough and Big Justin is kind of a bully and taller than all of the others.
So you can kinda guess what the premise is gonna be... the others are skeptical at first, especially Wiseguy, whose previous best friend was transferred to another faculty when he tried his escape. But after he survives a LONG 5 minute timeout, he earns admiration from some of the other babies and they help put his plan into action.
All goes according to plan except the key made of playdough not working like a key should, but by this time, Didi and the other parents arrive to pick up their kids.


Family Reunion


These gatherings can be scary sometimes, especially when you’re a kid meeting their relatives for the first time.

Tommy and Angelica, along with their parents, go to the Pickles family reunion. During the trip, she tells him that this function is where another relative takes you home and “you’ll never see your mom or your dad or your dumb old dog ever again.” Grandpa is busy telling stories to other passengers, but by the time their stop comes along, he accepts his fate a little too happily. Stu even voices an opinion that it might have been his plan the whole time... after what follows, it's hard to blame him :P 

We find out that Stu and Drew’s relatives... hicks is a good way to describe them. (The Wiki says it takes place in Willoughby, Iowa... deep in corn country). When the kids are placed with their cousins, Angelica does her typical thing and demands to be in charge. Then she meets her match with Emmett. After he accuses her of wanting to hurt his other cousins, he suggests, “wanna wrestle? I bet I can make you squeal like a pig.”
She quickly asks Drew to let her out because they were mean to her and he takes her back with him. Emmett probably didn’t mean any real harm, but... yeah, having a “Deliverance” reference in a kids' show raises a few eyebrows. For the rest of the episode, I think his only other comment is “I’m hun...gry.”

Other than Stu, who’s happily munching away on sunflower seeds, the other adults have a horrible time. Didi has a blueberry pie spilled on her by accident and one of the other Pickles keeps calling her other names like “Dolly”. And Drew gets jumped by a dog covered in mud and has to leave to change, leaving Angelica alone with another of the relatives. She dotes on her, talks about taking her home and redoing her hair... so she’s worried her tall tale might actually be true.

Thanks to Emmett being tall, the babies are able to escape and look for their relatives who’d gone on a tractor ride around the farm. Thanks to the sunflower husks Stu was spitting out, they have a trail. Along the way, they find Angelica who’d run off and was about to be attacked by a goat. Despite her prior actions, Tommy convinces them to help her. She’s extremely grateful to everyone for saving her and admits she made up that story. By the end, everyone is reunited with their families and Grandpa shows up, decked out from going to a Chicago Cubs baseball game. 
The show ends on a funny note because Stu accidentally calls his wife the wrong name and she screams at him, “it’s Didi!!”



Showdown at Teeter-Totter Gulch


Chuckie is along for the ride this time.

This playground scene has a lot of Wild West cliches, including a juice box saloon and a noontime showdown. The two of them immediately befriend Belinda at the juice bar, but when they leave, the “streets” are deserted. She tells them about the “junk food kid, the meanest toddler around” and how she comes by during No Shadow Time “when sun is high and the shadows go away.”

Tommy insists he’s not afraid despite his friends’ reservations. But in the scuffle, Belinda becomes her victim. The kid loves bubblegum and deliberately throws a large bubble into her hair.

The next time they meet, Belinda’s hair is almost completely gone due to her parents’ efforts to remove the gum. They confront the bully once again, but when she sets up another massive bubble, Tommy arms himself with a nearby object (a candy cane the bully recently dropped) and blows it up in her face. Her mom comes by and scolds her. “I could just kick myself for giving you that gum, Prudence!”

Yeah, I get why she became a bully. It may have been the namesake of a Beatles song, but Prudence is one of those names that makes me think: “man, that poor kid probably got bullied a lot.” Kids can be really relentless if you have a name that sounds silly or unconventional.

The third day, they meet Prudence again. All of her bravado is gone and she offers them carrot sticks- apparently the only snack food she’s allowed to have anymore. Belinda then asks her to join them, she happily agrees, and all is right with the world.

...of all the morals this show tries to teach kids, this is definitely one of the best examples. It’s not easy to forgive someone that hurt you, but once you get to know them, you just might find all they wanted was a friend.


(I found this out just the other day on the Rugrats wiki- apparently Prudence and Belinda remained friends because they were both party guests at Angelica’s birthday- neither had any dialogue)


Meet the Carmichaels


The final episode for this post not only gives Tommy a new friend, it introduces another major character to the series.

For me personally, the Carmichaels were the first black family I saw on TV. Their culture isn’t given a lot of extra attention outside of the Kwanzaa holiday special (equally as good as the other holiday specials!), but at the time, I’m sure they were groundbreaking. Both parents have good jobs and are very successful at them. Lucy is a pediatrician (and part-time artist) and Randy is a writer for the Dummi Bears... so you know Stu is going to be very interested in meeting him.Through the series, we also learn that their kids are also talented in their own rights. 

It’s also really cool how the neighborhood is quick to embrace their new neighbors. Every household gave them a different Jell-O mold. When the Pickles bring theirs over, the wives hang out with each other as do the husbands. Tommy meets the youngest of the kids, 3 year old Susie. They become fast friends and find themselves on a mission: to find Susie’s room.

It makes me sad to watch how upset she is about not being able to find it and that her parents are too busy to help her. But as an adult, I have to admire their parenting style... compared to Angelica’s in particular. When she throws tantrums, her demands are met immediately. When Susie is in tears when we first meet her, her mom says ,“screaming like that isn’t the way you get what you want.” 
After a lot of misses, they finally find Susie’s room. Only after they climb into a box in the moving truck and that’s where the movers happened to take it.

Several of Susie’s subsequent appearances involve her butting heads with Angelica and the two of them competing, but they remain friends despite these disagreements.

There’s also one episode (The Last Babysitter) where her older sister babysits Tommy and Susie and they spend a lot of time looking for the monster they think caused a blackout. All of the Carmichael siblings are featured at various degrees- Edwin being the ultra smart one and Buster being the troublemaker.
I don’t remember every detail of this episode in particular, but recollecting what I can of it, it’s one of the best suspenseful episodes. I’d like to see it again if I could find it.


Also- a special shoutout to Cree Summer. Before Susie came around, I first heard her voice in the second Care Bears movie (the main protagonist- Christie) and after Rugrats, she went on to play Miranda in As Told by Ginger (who couldn’t be more different than Susie) and Valerie in Danny Phantom... just a few of many voices she went on to provide in her career.