Rugrats (1991, Seasons 7-9)

Rugrats is an American animated television series created by Arlene Klasky, Gabor Csupo, and Paul Germain for Nickelodeon. The show focuses on a group of toddlers; most prominently Tommy, Chuckie, twins Phil and Lil, and Angelica, and their day-to-day lives, usually involving common life experiences that become adventures in the babies' imaginations. Adults in the series are almost always unaware of what the children are up to.

The series premiered on Sunday, August 11, 1991, as the second Nicktoon after Doug and preceding The Ren and Stimpy Show. The final episode aired on August 1, 2004, bringing the series to a total of 172 episodes and 9 seasons during a 13-year run.

As of 2021, it spawned a reboot series on Paramount+.

Although the first five seasons (and season 6, to a lesser extent) were very well-received, seasons 7-9 received mixed reviews from fans and critics.

"You Dumb Babies!" Qualities

 * 1) The plot, which is babies going on adventures in the real world, went from goofy and fun to just plain boring during these seasons.
 * 2) Some of the characters got flanderized:
 * 3) *Tommy, Chuckie, Phil and Lil, while still likeable for the most part, became more idiotic as proven in Hold the Pickles where they and Kimi thought that their babysitter said she hated Tommy's brother Dil even though she meant the food and they kept torturing poor Dil because of that.
 * 4) *Angelica is at her worst in these seasons, as she becomes bossier and more annoying to the main cast.
 * 5) *Dil was originally a cute newborn from the first movie, but sadly became an annoying character in Season 6, but didn’'t damage the season too much. These seasons, however, made him more annoying, depending on your view.
 * 6) *Kimi sadly suffered the same fate as Dil, going from a cute and sweet girl from the second movie, into another annoying baby, who can be considered even more annoying than Dil, depending on your view. Her baby antics also tend to cause trouble for her friends.
 * 7) *The parents of the kids became even more incompetent, seeing as during bigger adventures where they are somewhere else, they end up losing their children and they wander off into potential damage, such as Kimi climbing up a tree.
 * 8) Some scenes are disturbing, such as Chuckie not having a dream, and only seeing static as he sleeps, which is very sad.
 * 9) *There is also a scene in "Hold the Pickles" where Phil eats the paper wrap while eating his cheeseburger, which is disturbing.
 * 10) There is still a lot of toilet humor in the show.
 * 11) *The most notable example is in the episode "Daddy's Little Helpers", where the babies poop their diapers after Chaz and Stu feed them.
 * 12) *Also, there is an entire episode centered around the babies looking for toilets.
 * 13) The writing is downgraded from being clever and funny to being lazy and unoriginal.
 * 14) *Speaking of which, they overused Kimi and Dil during these seasons, as previous episode plots are being recycled to shoehorn them in (i.e. "Curse of the Werewuff").
 * 15) There are continuity errors in these seasons, like with how the babies first met and Angelica's first walk.
 * 16) The third and final movie from the show, mh:awfulmovies:Rugrats Go Wild, which is a crossover with mh:besttvshows:The Wild Thornberrys, was not well-received.
 * 17) The obscure, short-lived spin-off series Rugrats Pre-School Daze wasn't well-received due to it starring Angelica Pickles, who is considered the worst Rugrats character.
 * 18) Taffy was an unnecessary character. She also often prevented the babies from being able to venture out on their own and let us see some adventures through their eyes because she was with them nonstop.
 * 19) Smedley and Hedley—the Perfect Twins—are a Gary Stu and a Mary Sue, respectively.
 * 20) Many bad/average episodes (including the shorts from Season 7), like:
 * 21) *"Dil's Binkie" (which started the downfall of the whole series)
 * 22) *"Dil Saver"
 * 23) *"Sister Act"
 * 24) *"The Big Sneeze"
 * 25) *"Daddy's Little Helpers"
 * 26) *"Bad Shoes"
 * 27) *"Dayscare"
 * 28) *"Trading Phil"
 * 29) *"Happy Taffy"
 * 30) *"Sweet Dreams"
 * 31) *"Hold the Pickles"
 * 32) Chuckie's original voice actress, Christine Cavanaugh, retired after the first two episodes of Season 8 in production order ("Curse of the Werewuff" and "Bow Wow Wedding Vows") and was replaced by Nancy Cartwright (the voice of Bart Simpson from The Simpsons) for the remainder of the series' run. Cartwright was not that great at voicing Chuckie, as she sounded more stuffy.
 * 33) Angelica's teeth are still always showing whenever she moves her mouth, which can still contrast heavily with her cute appearance and become uncanny to watch.

Good Qualities

 * 1) The new intro and new music credits are both amazing, and one of the best intros and theme songs Nickelodeon has ever had.
 * 2) The animation has massively improved, and it looks awesome, even for 2000s standards.
 * 3) *One good thing to point out is that the new intro also has better animation by Anvision, as opposed to Wang Film Productions who animated the intro for seasons 1-6, which was quite poor.
 * 4) The voice acting is still great.
 * 5) Many of the characters are still likable, such as the parents and grandparents (like Lulu Pickles from Season 6, and Kira Finster from Rugrats in Paris), the kids, like Tommy, Chuckie, the twins Phil and Lil, and Susie, and the pets, Spike and Fifi (also from Rugrats in Paris).
 * 6) These seasons also introduced some new likable characters, such as Angelica and Susie's new friend from preschool, Harold, and Spike and Fifi's puppies, specifically Spiffy and Pepper, who live with their parents and their families, the Pickles and Finsters.
 * 7) There are still some good morals, such as being a good big brother to your sister, as that is what Chuckie does for Kimi.
 * 8) There are still some funny moments here and there.
 * 9) These seasons still have a lot of good episodes, such as:
 * 10) *"Big Brother Chuckie"
 * 11) *"Finsterella"; (which started these seasons on a high note)
 * 12) *"Changes for Chuckie"
 * 13) *"My Fair Babies"
 * 14) *"A Rugrats Kwanzaa"
 * 15) *"Pre-School Daze"
 * 16) *"All Growed Up"
 * 17) *"Bow Wow Wedding Vows"
 * 18) *"Murmur on the Ornery Express"
 * 19) *"A Tale of Two Puppies"
 * 20) *"Okey-Dokey Jones and the Ring of the Sunbeams"
 * 21) *"Babies in Toyland"
 * 22) *"Club Fred"
 * 23) *"Mutts in a Name"
 * 24) *"Hurricane Alice": (which ended these seasons on a high note)
 * 25) *"Bestest of Show"
 * 26) *"The Bravliest Baby"
 * 27) *"Gimme an 'A'"
 * 28) *"Kimi Takes the Cake" (the last episode in production order, and also ended these seasons and the original show on a good note)
 * 29) **The episode, "All Growed Up", in particular, was a great way to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the series.
 * 30) The Rugrats Tales from the Crib specials: "Snow White" and "Three Jacks and a Beanstalk" were both good.
 * 31) The franchise recovered strongly with the spin-off, mh:besttvshows:All Grown Up!, and a CG-animated revival.