The sixth episode of the third season of Rugrats (1991).
The Baby Vanishes
When the adults get annoyed with Angelica and ignore her, she thinks she has become invisible.
Farewell, My Friend
Tommy and Chuckie decide to part ways due to their differing views.
"The Baby Vanishes" provides examples of:
- An Aesop: Your parents will always care for you and show their love for you no matter what you do good or bad.
- Call-Back: At the end of the episode, when Drew offers to buy Angelica an ice cream after he cleans her up, Angelica begins asking for A Rocco Mr. X Exploding Smash-up Doll and a Beverly Hills Cynthia Lunch Box, both of which she asked the Mall Santa for in "The Santa Experience".
- Censorship by Spelling: This exchange between Drew and Didi.Drew: There's something very W-E-I-R-D going on here.
Didi: Uh-uh, Drew. Everything's F-I-N-E. - Disproportionate Retribution: Angelica reveals to Drew that he didn't lose a set of important documents, as he had thought. Angelica threw them out of the car window on the freeway because he made her eat broccoli. While Angelica thinks her prank is hilarious, Drew is outraged.
- Everyone Has Standards: Zigzagged When Angelica is causing havoc while thinking she's invisible Drew becomes sorely tempted to step in admitting even he can't let her get away with this. By the end he's forgiven her though.
- Fictional Board Game: This episode's B-plot has the adults attempt to play a board game called Neurosis. The game is so difficult and confusing that they spend the entire game just trying to get through the rule book.
- Gone Horribly Right: Angelica believes her plan to make her invisible worked too well when Didi ignores her and gives Tommy and Chuckie cookies. She tries to wipe the blue mud she believed to be vanishing cream off with Tommy's shirt, but by this time, it has dried up and won't come off.
- Kids Hate Vegetables: Angelica is revealed to dislike broccoli in this episode, and she reveals to Drew that she threw a set of important documents out the car window on the freeway as retribution for making her eat broccoli.
- Literal-Minded: Angelica believes vanishing cream to make people invisible when Drew explains what it's really for to her. She then gets Tommy and Chuckie to cover her in blue mud, believing it to be the jar of vanishing cream, and thanks to the adults ignoring her whenever she misbehaves, she believes she really is invisible.
- My God, What Have I Done?: Angelica begins to regret covering herself in the blue mud she believed to be vanishing cream when Didi ignores her and gives Tommy and Chuckie cookies, and she can't wipe it off with Tommy's shirt, as it has dried up.
- Pushover Parents: After having answered "Yes" to forty-nine and a half of the fifty questions on the quiz determining whether or not your child is spoiled, Drew worries that he's become this, and cites examples of the times he's given into Angelica's demands to Stu, Didi, and Chas. Didi and Chas follow Dr. Lipschitz's advice on not reinforcing Angelica's negative behavior, as spoiled children crave attention, and convince Drew that if he ignores Angelica's behavior, she'll stop misbehaving.
- Spoiled Brat: Angelica's status as this is perhaps best exemplified in this episode. The parents take a quiz of fifty questions to determine whether or not their children are spoiled brats. Didi worries about pampering Tommy too much because she answered "Yes" to one of the questions. Chas, who answered four questions with "Yes," reassures her that answering up to ten with "Yes" is perfectly normal. Drew is revealed to have answered "Yes" to forty-nine and a half of them, and considers ceasing to spoil his daughter. However, given and hinted that Lipschitz is a "crackpot", Drew decides to not take his advice, and Angelica remains spoiled.
- Visible Invisibility: Angelica gets the babies to cover her in blue mud, having mistaken it for vanishing cream, so that she can be invisible. The adults can still see Angelica, but as part of Didi's plan to help Drew discipline her, they pretend she really is invisible.
"Farewell, My Friend" provides examples of:
- An Aesop: Everybody has different opinions, and while you may agree or disagree with your friends’ ideas, don’t let that ruin your friendship. Agree to disagree.
- The Complainer Is Always Wrong: Subverted - after Chuckie is berated into joining the others on an adventure into his dad's greenhouse, and actually abandoned and left to face the assumed "monster" they face, he finally snaps at Tommy, refusing to go back and claiming him to be a bad friend for forcing him to suffer all his schemes. Tommy goes without him and is "captured" inside, leaving Chuckie to rescue him after the twins bail out again. While Chuckie admits to over reacting, Tommy admits it was a bad idea and that he should be more considerate to Chuckie (for this episode anyway).Chuckie: I don't think this is a good idea...
Tommy: (bored) Oh come on, Chu-
Chuckie: (angrily) I'M NOT GOING! (Tommy jumps startled) Every time I go on one of these little adventures, I get my head stuck in a tree. Or get chased by some shadow guy or fall off a mountain.
Phil and Lil: Mountain? - Continuity Nod: While going into Chas' greenhouse to find and rescue Tommy, Chuckie repeats the Survival Mantra ("I'm a big brave dog") that Susie taught him in a previous episode, "The Slide".
- Creative Closing Credits: Tommy and Chuckie argue with each other over whether or not they should go into the basement during the closing credits.
- Feud Episode: In this episode, Tommy and Chuckie get into a feud when Chuckie blames Tommy for talking him into going on dangerous adventures. In fact, this episode's title was the former Trope Namer.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Chaz admits to Didi that his greenhouse plants might have been over-watered. The "snake" that Chuckie saves Tommy from turns out to be a hose left on at full blast.
- Here We Go Again!: At the end of the episode, Tommy and Chuckie come across the basement door. Tommy wants to go down and explore, but reconsiders when he realizes that Chuckie might be afraid. Chuckie is afraid, but feels that they should go down in the basement anyway if that's what Tommy really wants to do. They argue over whether or not they should go into the basement, which even happens during the closing credits.
- Nightmare Sequence: Chuckie has one where he, Tommy, Phil, and Lil climb up a snowy mountain. Tommy, Phil, and Lil all jump across a trench, but when Chuckie tries to jump across, he ends up falling into the trench.
- The So-Called Coward: Phil and Lil convince Chuckie to save Tommy from the greenhouse "snake", freely admitting they themselves are even more scared to go back than him.Lil: If a snake tried to eat me, would you help me?Phil: How big a snake?
