The tenth episode of the sixth season of Rugrats (1991).
Opposites Attract
When Tommy and Chuckie go their separate ways, they befriend a brave girl named Sam and a timid boy named Freddie, respectively, but Sam may be too reckless for Tommy, and Freddie may be too fearful for Chuckie.
The Art Museum
Chuckie tries to understand art during a trip to an art museum.
"Opposites Attract" provides examples of:
- Absurd Phobia: Freddie manages to outdo Chuckie in this department, with such fears including being eaten by oatmeal, sand lizards, ants growing in size after getting wet, and mud people.
- An Aesop: Tommy learns at the end of this episode that even best friends don't always have to like the same things, and it's perfectly fine for them to just be themselves.
- Continuity Cavalcade: Chuckie and Freddie talk to each other about their fears, which include monsters living under their beds, dentists, barbers, being sucked down the drain, clowns, and the guy on the oatmeal box.
- Cowardice Callout: What causes Chuckie to call Freddie out is when Freddie tells him about sand lizards, prompting Chuckie to say Freddie can't let himself stay afraid of everything.Chuckie: Wait a minute! First you tell me my oatmeal's gonna eat me, and I believed you because, you know, well, that could happen. But sand lizards? I've been in a bazillion sandboxes, except well, for that one time at Angelica's when Fluffy thought it was a big poop box. I never been a'scared of a sandbox in my whole life! I mean, you can't be afraid of everything, Fred! I mean, you gotta do somethin', sometime!
- Cowardly Lion: Near the end of this episode, Freddie gets his foot caught in a rope ladder, and Sam tries to pull him out by his hair, which only frightens him even more. Tommy gets Phil and Lil to sit on one end of a seesaw to weigh it down so he can use the other end to climb up the jungle gym. However, Tommy and the twins need Chuckie to sit on Phil and Lil's end. Chuckie is reluctant to when he sees the twins covered in ants, but does so anyway when he sees Sam frightening Freddie.
- Feud Episode: Tommy and Chuckie get into a feud when the former wants to climb rocks, the latter wants to pick dandelions, and neither one wants to do the other's activity. The two decide to go their separate ways and meet Sam and Freddie, who have personalities similar to their respective ones.
- Instant Mass: Just Add Water!: Discussed; when Phil and Lil show Chuckie and Freddie their bucket full of wet ants, this frightens Freddie, who believes that putting water on ants makes them grow enormous.
- Junior Counterpart: Sam and Freddie are ones to Betty and Howard Deville, due to having similar personalities, and Freddie even having a similar hairstyle to Howard.
- Malaproper: Chuckie mispronounces dandelion as "dampylion".
- Masculine Girl, Feminine Boy: Sam and Freddie, respectively. Sam isn't afraid of anything and doesn't really care if she gets hurt doing anything dangerous, whereas Freddie is afraid of just about everything.
- Noodle Incident:
- Chuckie mentions to Tommy that the day before this episode's events, he got him to play rollercoaster by hanging onto Spike's tail as he ran through the yard.
- Sam is shown to be covered in bandages, which she got as the result of disobeying her parents, doing such things as pulling on lampshades and climbing on tables against their wishes.
- When Chuckie gives an angry speech to Freddie for trying to give him new things to worry about, he mentions that one time when he was at Angelica's house, Fluffy mistook Angelica's sandbox for a giant litter box and pooped in it.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Chuckie gives one to Freddie for being too cowardly after the latter tells him about sand lizards.Chuckie: Wait a minute! First you tell me my oatmeal's gonna eat me, and I believed you because, you know, well, that could happen. But sand lizards? I've been in a bazillion sandboxes, except well, for that one time at Angelica's when Fluffy thought it was a big poop box. I never been a'scared of a sandbox in my whole life! I mean, you can't be afraid of everything, Fred! I mean, you gotta do somethin', sometime!
- Rebound Best Friend: Tommy and Chuckie worry that they're too dissimilar and so Tommy hangs out with a girl as brave as him (Samantha) and Chuckie with a boy as nervy as him (Freddie). Trouble is, Samantha doesn't look before she leaps (while Tommy's just as brave as her, he always thinks before taking action) and Freddie has a vivid imagination which makes him fear things so outlandish that even Chuckie thinks he's going too far (Chuckie, though famous for his cowardice, is also somewhat sensible and not afraid of everything under the sun), so Tommy and Chuckie become friends again, while Samantha makes friends with Freddie.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Chuckie and Tommy's respective statuses as these are perhaps best exemplified in this episode. Chuckie wants to do safe things like pick dandelions and talk to bugs, but Tommy wants to do adventurous things like climb on rocks and explore the park.
- Stealth Pun: Freddie is shown to have a cat on his overalls, and given his cowardly personality, this makes him a "fraidy-cat".
- Take a Third Option: After they argue with each other, Tommy and Chuckie ask Phil and Lil whether they want to climb on rocks or pick dandelions. The twins choose to spit on the dirt so they can play with the ants when they come out to get a drink.
- Victory Is Boring: Tommy decides to climb rocks by himself, and at first he enjoys it, but he soon gets tired of it when he has no one to share it with.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Sam tries to save Freddie by pulling him out by his hair, but all this does is frighten him. Tommy climbs up the jungle gym and calls her out on this.Tommy: Sam, let go!
Sam: I'm saving him!
Tommy: No, you're not, Sam! You're just making everything scarier! - Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?:
- Freddie is shown to be afraid of ants, especially when Phil and Lil show him their bucket of wet ants, believing water to make ants grow enormous. When he gets his foot caught in a rope ladder, and Sam tries to pull him out by his hair, he visualizes her as a giant ant.
- Chuckie is also shown to be afraid of ants, especially when he sees Phil and Lil covered in them, but he gets on the end of the seesaw that Phil and Lil are on despite his fear of ants to hold it down so Tommy can use it to climb onto the jungle gym and rescue Freddie from Sam.
"The Art Museum" provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: Didi asks Stu to look after the babies while she calms Dil down. Stu crashes into an exhibit and gets mistaken for an art connoisseur by an art enthusiast, causing him to forget about the babies and allowing them to roam the museum unsupervised. He only starts to notice they're gone when Didi meets up with him again.
- Baby See, Baby Do: When Tommy and Chuckie look at a painting upside down, some other babies see them and do the same.
- Camera Abuse: This episode ends with Angelica splashing a puddle of paint onto the camera.
- Chekhov's Gag: Early in this episode, Dil drools on a museum program and tosses it on the floor. Near the end of the episode, Stu slips on the program when he meets up with Didi again, causing him to slip into the exhibit with the mobile.
- Continuity Nod:
- When the babies come across a statue of The Thinker, Lil brings up the time Chuckie got potty-trained.
- When Chuckie comes across a painting of The Scream, he compares it to the times he got his head caught in a sock, he saw a mean bluebird on the way to Tommy's house, and he got attacked by a giant dust bunny.
- No Name Given: The three minor baby characters in this episode aren't given names, and the one that talks to Angelica is listed as "Timid Baby" in this episode's closing credits.
- Noodle Incident:
- On their way to the art museum, Phil tells Tommy about the time he thought he saw himself in a mirror, but then thought it was Lil. Lil tells him it was him, and he asks her why he was wearing her ribbon. Lil tells him that he wanted to look pretty that day.
- When the babies see an abstract painting, Phil tells Tommy, Chuckie, and Lil that he saw a bug that looked like it after he fell on it.
- Oh, Crap!: Angelica comes across the parents of the unnamed babies that she led on a tour of the museum as her tour ends. When she sees them, she knows she's going to be in a lot of trouble and tries to sneak away from them, but she bumps into Didi, who reprimands her for leading the babies away from their parents.
- Senior Sleep-Cycle: Lou falls asleep during an audio tour. This leads to Angelica taking his headphones and pretending to be a tour guide.
- Shy Bladder: When the babies come across a statue of The Thinker and compare it to Chuckie being potty-trained, Chuckie tells them that he doesn't like sitting on the potty naked and where everyone can see him.
- Toilet Humor: After seeing a sphinx on an Egyptian vase, Phil says that he wants to be part Reptar, and Lil says that she does, too. Phil tells her "You can be Reptar's butt", which Lil is fine with.
- Tour Guide Gag: Lou takes an audio tour of the museum, but falls asleep after one exhibit. Angelica then takes his headphones and pretends to be a tour guide, having Tommy, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, and three minor baby characters follow her.
- Wedgie: After slipping on the drool-covered program, Stu gets his pants caught in the giant mobile exhibit and hangs from it by them.
