Rugrats
My favourite childhood cartoon was Rugrats. I didn't have a great attention span as a kid, yet I could sit in front of the TV for hours totally transfixed by Rugrats. I watched the first 5 seasons the most, and didn't watch it much once Dill and Kimi were introduced.
Every 5 or so years now, I have a phase where I go back and watch a bunch of Rugrats episodes, and as I write this in October 2024, I'm back in this phase. As an adult, there's a bunch of suggestive jokes I get now, that felt over my head as a kid, which adds a new layer of entertainment to it. I really like how crude the characters look in the first few seasons. They look kooky and hand-drawn, and the animation isn't that smooth, which adds charm.
I have always adored the music and sound affects by Mark Mothersbaugh. It creates a really liminal and dreamy sort of atmosphere, which compliments the visuals; like the purple skies, the low angles wlooking up at the adults where they appear to be gigantic. We really do get to see what life looks like through the eyes of a baby, and it captures how life felt like for me as a kid. Everything seemed to look and feel just a bit more vibrant.
I remember enjoying Rugrats: All Grown Up when I was in high school. I just got to watch it whenever it aired on Nickelodeon, which wasn't all the time. I didn't get to see every episode back then, and my memory of it isn't as good as the original Rugrats... but it still scratched an itch, and was super cool seeing how the babies looked and sounded "all grown up"!
A few old Rugrats fansite links:
Krazy's Rugrats PageSarah's Rugrats Network
Rugrats World
The Unofficial Rugrats Online
Rugrats Great Adventures
Elise's Rugrats Page
Back to the homepage!