The eleventh episode of the fourth season of Rugrats (1991).
Potty Training Spike
Since Chuckie is getting further in his potty training, the babies decide to potty train Spike so he'll set a good example.
Tropes:
- Call-Back: The clown potty from "Chuckie vs. the Potty" is seen again.
- Chekhov's Gag: At the beginning of the episode, Stu unsuccessfully attempts to fix a leaky faucet. Near the end of the episode, the dripping of the faucet triggers Chuckie's urge to pee, causing him to run for the tree.
- The Diaper Change: After believing that peeing outside is not acceptable, the babies try to put a diaper on Spike. Unfortunately for them, as soon as they get it on, Spike tears it off.
- Nature Tinkling: Chuckie doesn't want to use the proper toilet because the grown-ups will watch him, so he tries to pee on a tree, but Didi tells him it's not allowed. This makes the babies think it's also not allowed for Spike so they try unsuccessfully to potty train him. At the end, Spike pees on the tree but Didi says nothing of it so they think they changed the rules again, and then the babies all pee on the tree.
- "No Peeking!" Request: Chuckie has to use the bathroom really bad, so he asks his friends to look away so he can pee on a tree. They oblige and stare at a flower, but Didi stops Chuckie before he can actually relieve himself. Later on, however, Chuckie's too desperate to even ask them not to look at him, so they all pee on the tree together.
- Pet Dress-Up: The babies try to put a diaper on Spike when they believe that he's not allowed to pee on trees anymore. When they finally get the diaper on Spike, he tears it off (and to pieces).
- Platonic Co-Parenting: The babies, who are all platonic friends with Phil and Lil being twins, all decide to temporarily become Spike's adoptive family while they try to toilet train him (the reason they think he needs to be toilet trained is because Didi said that peeing outside was not allowed, and they assumed it applied to dogs too). Tommy and Chuckie decide to be Spike's dads, while the twins take on the role of his "Uncle Bill and Aunt Harriet".
- Powder Gag: After believing that Spike is not allowed to pee on trees anymore, the babies try to put a diaper on him. Chuckie reminds Tommy to apply the baby powder first so Spike doesn't get a rash. However, because Spike does not want to be put in a diaper, he runs all over Tommy's bedroom while Tommy chases after him with the baby powder, resulting in a huge cloud of baby powder filling up the screen and everyone and everything being covered in baby powder.
- Potty Emergency: Chuckie first has one near the beginning of the episode, but it goes away shortly after he's unable to use the toilet due to the grown-ups watching him. It comes back again near the end of the episode, when he tries to show Spike how to use the toilet, and he eventually relieves himself on the tree.
- Shy Bladder: The reason why Chuckie is afraid to use the adult toilet is because the grown-ups always stay and watch him. He eventually is able to go on the tree when the other babies accompany him and then turn their backs.
- Toilet Humor: It should come as no surprise, considering the episode's subject. Special mention goes to early in the episode, when Stu hears the doorbell ring, he tries to answer it, but stumbles back and accidentally steps in Chuckie's potty.
- Toilet Training Plot: Chuckie moves from the potty to the adult toilet in this episode. Also in this episode, the babies try unsuccessfully to potty-train Spike after believing that peeing outside is not acceptable.
The Art Fair
Angelica gets entered into an art contest after accidentally redecorating a room.
Tropes:
- An Aesop: Don’t take credit for something someone else did or made.
- Accidental Art: Angelica is mistaken to be an artist by the mess the babies make in her room and ends up being tasked to paint Chas' den and entered in an art contest by her mother, requiring her to get the babies to go crazy with the paint again.
- Camera Abuse: The episode ends with Tommy throwing green paint at the camera, which forms the words, THE END.
- Chekhov's Gag: At the Art Fair, Angelica finds a scary-looking mask. When the babies refuse to help her with her entry for the art contest, she uses the mask to scare the babies so they will run away and splatter paint everywhere.
- Food as Bribe: When Angelica tries to convince the babies help her with her entry for the art contest, they all refuse. Angelica tries to bribe them with a Reptar Bar, but Tommy, Chuckie, and Lil still refuse. Phil is about to give in, but Tommy scolds him.
- Hated Item Makeover: Angelica is instructed to paint the Finster household's den. She orders Chuckie to help her, but he runs from her, and when she chases him, she knocks over the cans of paint, resulting in very colorful walls. Charlotte's impressed by this, but Chas clearly doesn't share the same opinion, as the scene cuts to the outside of the house as he screams in horror. Charlotte later tells Angelica not to take it too personally because he doesn't know what real art looks like.
- Tempting Fate: When Angelica needs one of the babies to help her with painting Chas' den, she asks, "Where are those dumb babies when you need them?" As if on cue, Chuckie appears, and tries unsuccessfully to run away when Angelica sees him.
- That Poor Cat: At the beginning when the babies are playing outside, they bounce a ball off of Chuckie’s head which then flies offscreen and presumably hits a cat judging from the screech heard.
- Visual Pun: When Angelica returns to her painting, only to find the babies messed it up, she thinks that Chuckie did it, since she caught him "red-handed". Although Chuckie didn't actually participate in messing up Angelica's painting, the babies did squirt red paint on his hands.
