History NightmareFuel / Rugrats

* The original pilot. The [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness animation is much more detailed]] [[UncannyValley and makes the characters look ugly or downright monstrous]], especially their bizarre, undulating necks, and the whole episode has a cold, alien, feel compared to later episodes. The girlish voice of Tommy and the fact it is mostly at night do not help. The worst part are ''the two characters who don't appear in the series proper'', possibly being early versions of Betty and Howard, but [[YouDontLookLikeYou much different-looking]]. Chuckie and Angelica don't appear either.

[[caption-width-right:330:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/chuckiesmonster.png [-[[SurvivalMantra "There's no such things as monsters, there's no such things as monsters, there's no such things as monsters..."]] [[note]]Don't worry, it's just Chaz's sweater[[/note]].]]-]

*** Bur even worse? Is what lead to Chuckie dreaming this fantasy world. After he mistakenly believes his friends lost his dad’s favorite CD (really Angelica stole it) and gets mad at them, Angelica basically tells him this to shatter any confidence he has in himself. Doubles as a TearJerker:

* "Party Animals", in which the babies walk in on a costume party and become convinced that the world has changed. Throughout the episode, a man dressed as a baby (Didi's cousin Bucky) is chasing the babies and yelling at them to pull his finger. Worse, he continues to do this, even when it is plainly obvious that the babies are dead terrified. Eventually the babies manage to trap him and lock him in the bathroom. A while after the party has ended, Angelica wakes up and has to go to the bathroom, but Tommy and the gang try and stop her, thinking that the world is still "topsy-turvy". Angelica leads them near the stairs and shows them that the world is completely normal (the adults are just vacuuming and relaxing) and that it was probably all in their heads. She then goes to where the bathroom is, opens the door... [[JumpScare and Giant Man-Baby jumps right out]], shouting at her, '''"HEY, PULL MY FINGER!"'''
** For some NightmareRetardant, the man in question was established earlier to be one of Didi's relatives and was mostly just trying to be a CoolUncle. It backfired a ''lot'' though.

** The end of the episode had Chaz walk out of Chuckie's room after tucking him in and noticing Stu turned away from him. He says, "Stu, I didn't know you were coming over..." only to be confronted with Stu having a similar clown face that dream-Tommy had and saying, "I'm not Stu!" before also laughing creepily as the episode ends with Chaz screaming in terror.

** The second dream, while not nearly as memorable as the above sequences, still is rather unsettling at some points. It starts off normally, the house gets full of AlienGeometries, at which point the background music becomes distorted, and the babies enter a large hall filled with strange pictures of Tommy on the wall. Some of them are just goofy looking (such as a picture of Tommy with a stretched out neck), others are just...bizarrely creepy (among others, there are such things as a bunch of Tommy heads stacked on each other, a Tommy whose body is his head, a Tommy with ''six eyes'', etc.), to say nothing of poor Chuckie falling screaming into a void...

* From the [=PS1=] game ''Rugrats: Search for Reptar'', there is a level called "Let There Be Light" in which there's a powercut, and you need to control Tommy to find the light (i.e., the fridge). Little Tommy is only armed with a flashlight and there's freaking ''ghosts'' around the entire house. Strangely, he isn't afraid of the ghosts.
** In the mini golf level, there is a hidden entrance in the pyramid on the eighth hole. Inside the pyramid there is a maze of seemingly empty corridors filled with nothing but Reptar bars. You go around exploring and gathering the bars...until you hear a strange mechanical noise and follow it to find a mummified version of Mr. Friend which immediately starts coming towards you, by which time, you're running out of there (luckily he is harmless in this encounter, but you won't know that when you first see him and could likely experience quite a JumpScare from the sudden encounter). The pyramid is dimly lit, just like one in a horror game would be, and you encounter him in a tiny room after turning a very narrow corner, putting him right in your face. This should not have been in a kids game.
*** With the Mr Fiend/Friend, once you realize that he is harmless, if you can handle the creepiness and move slowly enough, he will follow you out of the pyramid. Then he reaches sunlight and [[BodyHorror breaks apart]], which actually [[AlasPoorVillain makes you feel sorry for him]] since he is harmless here. JumpScare and BodyHorror aside, it can take up to 3 minutes to get him outside (if you don't get lost), which is a long time in that place...
** Then there's the actual Mr. Friend level, where you have to fight an army of Mr. Friend dolls. The clincher is the first Mr. Friend coming to life: Tommy is on the ground looking up at the machine, but can't make anything out...until Mr. Friend ''[[JumpScare springs to his feet]]''. If it doesn't freak you the hell out, you're dead inside.
--> '''Mr Friend:''' Oh boy, a brand new friend to meet! Let's wash our hands before we eat! You can call me Mr Friend! You'll never, ever be bored again!
** The Toy Palace level is full on creepy in it's dark, closed store feel and with monsters chasing after you, though the original episode was as well. The worst part of the first section is that you can encounter more Mr. Friend dolls at one point that will attack you, and there is no warning either. Oh, and you have to deal with them to get the Reptar bars they are guarding.
*** The last part of the level has you playing as Tommy collecting boxes to get high enough to press the button to activate Reptar so that he can fight Thorg. Trouble is, Thorg is waiting for you everytime you go to get a box and you'll always hear his loud, metallic footsteps getting closer before you see him.
** The level in which you play as Angelica and you have to fly, slowly, in an anti-gravity space area is very creepy.
** The level based on "Grandpa's Teeth" was rather scary, set in a large maze with bizarre-looking geese popping out every now and then.
** Just getting a game over was terrifying if you were young enough. If you're playing as a baby they would fall into a sitting position and with a completely pitch black background start crying. They would always say something, but listening to Tommy was scary and depressing, because he always said something like, "I'm sorry, Reptar..."
* ''Studio Tour'' has the Outside Space levels, one of which features [[SarcasmMode everyone's favorite toy clown]] Mr. Friend! The atmosphere of the levels don't help either. At least the director's voice was nice to listen to.

* A Rugrats HalloweenEpisode storybook called ''Curse of the Werewuff'' revolves around Chuckie's fear that if he puts on a werewolf costume, he'll turn into a real werewolf. At one point, he has a nightmare about being hunted down by an angry mob wielding torches and pitchforks.
** And said mob includes his ''parents''. Although his dad ''does'' [[ApologeticAttacker apologize]] during the confrontation at the end of the dream. Still disturbing though.
** Honestly, the fact that Chaz apologizes is even scarier. [[AdultFear Imagine having to face the fact that your toddler son has become a bloodthirsty hybrid of human and canine]], and you can't do anything to help but contain him at the very best.

** How about the fact that [[EnfantTerrible Angelica WANTED the watermelon inside Chuckie to grow so he can explode...]] one could wonder what was in her mind when she thought up that wicked idea... now this is why some fans consider her a "sociopath"... then again she did realize what went wrong with her plan only [[DidNotThinkThisThrough when Tommy pointed out she will be in Chuckie's stomach when it explodes]]. Again, it was a dream...

-->'''Susie:''' No, Tommy. Not like a dog.
(more like a hyena)

** Not to mention that the Santa here was voiced by ''[[Creator/TonyJay fucking]]'' '''''[[Disney/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame Frollo]]'''''. And [[WesternAnimation/ReBoot Megabyte]]! To be fair, he's also Dr. Lipschitz, but without the goofy accent he puts on like with that character, he just sounds terrifying.

** In the mini golf level, there is a hidden entrance in the pyramid on the eighth hole. Inside the pyramid there is a maze of seemingly empty corridors...until you see the army of mummified Mr. Friends coming towards you, by which time, you're running out of there (luckily they don't follow you out of there). The pyramid is dimly lit, just like one in a horror game would be. This should not have been in a kids game.
*** With the Mr Fiend/Friend, if you can handle the creepiness and move slowly enough, he will follow you out of the pyramid. Then he reaches sunlight and breaks apart. It can take up to 3 minutes to get him outside (if you don't get lost), which is a long time in that place...

** The Toy Palace level is full on creepy in it's dark, closed store feel and with monsters chasing after you, though the original episode was as well.

---> '''Tommy''': ([[SarcasmMode Evidently]] [[YouLookLikeYouveSeenAGhost not]])

---> '''Didi''': Good morning, Tommy. [[AdultsAreUseless Sleep well?]]

** Also the tarantula in the same episode. Extreme closeups of spiders' faces are scary enough, but you don't have to be a hobbyist to see the DudeNotFunny aspect of a joke about ''SMASHING TO DEATH'' an animal people keep as pets.

*** Also in this episode, Chuckie finds that his father's [[SanitySlippage sanity has been shattered]] by loneliness, and he lives in a trash-filled dump where rotting food becomes furniture, and his best friend is his schizophrenic outlet: [[CompanionCube a sock puppet.]]

** Worse, it has some FridgeHorror to it. Think about it: Tommy goes through an obstacle course of mail sorting machines, getting weighed, sliding down chutes, trapped on conveyor belts, marked as junk mail and almost ends up stuck in the dead letter office if he didn't pull the right switch. It's no wonder Tommy says "You'll like it at home. It's a lot nicer than here!"

** Here's some FridgeHorror for you. When Stu and Didi leave the basement after Stu has deactivated all the Mr. Friend dolls, one Mr. Friend doll comes out from behind the boiler and activates them again. Now, why did that one Mr. Friend wait until Stu and Didi leave, and how did it manage to stay quiet for that long?

** A more subtle one happens early on: Buster goes into the basement, then runs out, saying that something was down there. We briefly get a POV from something coming after him, just before the door is closed. While it's later revealed that the so-called monster was actually Buster's friend, it's pointed out that a monster couldn't get out of the basement without being noticed. If that's so, then ''[[FridgeHorror what was in the basement chasing Buster in the first place?]]''

** The robot Angelica's face exploding. [[FridgeHorror We also never see what was happening to Angelica in reality]].
* The episode "Baseball", where the baseball catcher saves Tommy by catching him in his glove. Consider the height that Tommy fell from and remove NotTheFallThatKillsYou from the picture for some FridgeHorror...

* When Spike runs away, Stu goes to the pet store for a replacement. It's full of a few {{Freeze Frame Bonus}}es such as an elephant stuffed in a cage, as well as a [[BigCreepyCrawlies praying mantis the size of the adults]]! Borders on FridgeHorror as well.

* The whole show can be considered NightmareFuel if you [[FridgeHorror think about it]], it's young children being placed in situations where they could be killed or kidnapped on a regular basis.

** The only reason the adults never realized Tommy was missing is because they ''never got to read the ransom note.'' And that's not even the worst part. The Pickles were ''not'' the crooks' actual target (due to confusion over the sixes and nines in the street address). If the adults ''did'' read the note, it would've brought ''several'' unthinkable cases of FridgeHorror.

** The only reason the adults never realized he was gone was because they ''never got to read the ransom note.'' And that's not even the worst part. The Pickles were ''not'' the crooks' actual target (due to confusion over the sixes and nines in the street address). If the adults ''did'' read the note, it would've brought ''several'' unthinkable cases of FridgeHorror.

** There’s also Tommy being mishandled by the mailing devices, notably being gagged, after which he makes cries that sound disturbingly like an actual infant.

* Whenever [[EatTheCamera you can see the inside of a character's mouth]] is really nightmare fuel!

* Whenever one of the babies cries and [[EatTheCamera you can see the inside of their mouth]] is really nightmare fuel!

** There’s also [[ https://vignette.wikia.nocookie.net/rugrats/images/6/63/ChuckieVsThePotty-DiaperWearingPrisoners.JPG the group of snarling adult men]] [[FanDisservice wearing only diapers]] leering from their cell at Chuckie.