History WesternAnimation / RugRats

* NightmareSequence: ''[[UncannyValley I'm]]'' [[UncannyValley not Tommy, hyuck hyuck!]]

** In "A Very [=McNulty=] Birthday", Phil is right when he says that going to the doctor made him better when he got sick. However, he thinks it's because of the PostTreatmentLollipop.

* DidntWantAnAdventure: All Chuckie ever wants is to do something nice and quiet.
** Grandpa Lou, not thrilled at the idea of having to see the [[TastesLikeDiabetes Dummi Bears movie]].

* MovieTheaterEpisode: In "At the Movies", the parents take the kids to see ''The Dummi Bears in the Land Without Smiles''. While the adults are engaged in the movie (save for Grandpa, [[invoked]][[PeripheryHatedom who hates the movie's]] [[TastesLikeDiabetes saccharine tone]]), the babies wander off to see a ''Reptar'' movie, making a mess of the snack bar and the projection room along the way.

Premiering alongside ''WesternAnimation/{{Doug}}'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheRenAndStimpyShow'', it was put on hiatus after three seasons in 1995. Later, with strong rerun ratings, the show was put back into production and became one of Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}'s [[FlagshipFranchise biggest mainstays]]. Running from 1991 to 2004, it is Nick's third-longest running animated series, next to ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents''.

** This disconcerting quote from "Showdown at Teeter-Totter Gulch": "Something happened to him in his first 8 days. I don't know what is is, but after that he changed and doesn't like to see nobody get pushed around."

** "Curse of the Werewuff" is established as being the babies' first Halloween even though there was already an earlier Halloween episode called "Candy Bar Creep Show". It's likely it could be most of the babies' second Halloween (except for Dil, obviously) and they simply forgot what it is due to their very young age.

* AbsenteeActor:
** The show revolves the cast around depending on the Rugrat the episode focuses on. Tommy doesn't appear in Main/ADayInTheLimelight episodes for Angelica such as "Pickles vs. Pickles", and Chuckie doesn't appear in a lot of episodes in the first season due to that season mainly focusing on Tommy. Phil, Lil, and Angelica are frequently absent though.
** One pair of episodes had Phil and Lil absent from the A-story and Chuckie and Kimi absent from the B-story.
** It’s worth noting Tommy has only ever been absent from 4 episodes of the series[[note]]Cuffed, The Unfair Pair, and Pickles Vs Pickles in season 3 and Tell-Tale Cellphone in season 7. All of which focus on Angelica.[[/note]]
** In total Chuckie has been absent from 36 episodes while Phil and Lil have been absent from 66 episodes. Though Angelica has been absent from 122 episodes, Dil has been absent from 27 episodes, and Kimi has been absent from 6 episodes.

** The episode "Junior Prom" has the babies stage a school dance in the back garden. When the boys ask the girls out, Phil immediately takes Lil. Notable in that Tommy ''doesn't'' ask Angelica as she is his cousin.

The successor series, ''WesternAnimation/AllGrownUp'', showed Tommy and his friends, ten years later as JuniorHigh schoolers. Also had another ([[ShortRunners and significantly short-lived]]) spin-off, ''[[WesternAnimation/RugratsPreSchoolDaze Angelica and Susie's Preschool Daze]]'': [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin the name says it all]]. Several {{Licensed Game}}s were made, including ''VideoGame/RugratsCastleCapers'' in 2001 and ''VideoGame/RugratsRoyalRansom'' in 2002. The series can be found digitally and on DVD, and also frequently airs on Creator/NickRewind. Also, be sure to check out [[http://rugratonline.free.fr/ The UNOFFICIAL Rugrats Online]], a high-quality fansite.

* DefeatingTheCheatingOpponent: Grandpa Lou Pickles faces off against a bowling rival whom he's never been able to beat, all the way back to an incident when they were young men ([[NoodleIncident which the audience is teased about, but doesn't get to see]]). The rival was cheating with things like bowling pins designed to stay up and using blow dryers to knock pins down. Once the cheating gets exposed, Lou still wins fairly by bowling the game of his life.

* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: Tommy in ''All Grown Up'' about the joke "Can it, Pickles! Or should I say, 'jar it'?"

** In "Naked Tommy," when Didi attempts to justify t he kids' behavior by citing Dr. Lipschitz, Betty scolds her and points out that [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar the 60's are over... AND WE LOST!!!]]

* ParentalBonus: Many in the movies.

* {{Meganekko}}: Didi Pickles and Kira Finster.

* AdultFear: Some of the movies have this. Often times, the babies wander off and the parents are scared that something terrible will happen to them. Nothing like an instant fear factor than that, right? Possibly the best example is "Ruthless Tommy", wherein Tommy gets kidnapped by two men who mistook him for the son of a billionaire, and nobody is even aware that Tommy is gone in the first place. Of course, even the more mundane episodes hit a bit harder watching them as adults than as a child.

* PerfumeCommercial: "Angelica's Beauty Juice."

* ThePigPen: Phil and Lil.