The seventh episode of the eighth season of Rugrats (1991).
Daddy's Little Helpers
"I am the Goddess...Dodo?!"
The babies help their dads while the moms attend a Moon Goddess festival.This episode provides examples of:
- Accidental Misnaming: When the Moon Goddess festival ends, each of the moms gets a shirt that says "I AM THE GODDESS (Insert name here)". Didi's ends up saying "I AM THE GODDESS DODO", much to her ire.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Didi puts up with everything she dislikes at the Moon Goddess festival, but being given a shirt that says "I AM THE GODDESS DODO" causes her to snap and give the manager a "The Reason You Suck" Speech.
- Bat Signal: One of the bedtime stories that Stu reads to the babies is Captain Cavity, about a dental-hygiene-themed superhero who can be summoned with a special signal. When the dads accidentally lock themselves in the Mega Kiddie Cottage, the babies create one to summon the moms to save them. At first, this plan doesn't appear to work, but when Tommy finds the TV remote and points it at the front door, the moms return from the Moon Goddess festival.
- Correlation/Causation Gag: The babies think their moms showed up because they “singled” them, when really it was just because their day at the festival was over.
- A Day in Her Apron: In this episode, the dads (minus Drew) are tasked with looking after the kids while the moms go to the Moon Goddess Festival.
- The Diaper Change: After the babies' scarf down their lunch to make up for lost time after their attempts to bathe themselves only resulted in them and the backyard being even muddier, the babies poop their diapers, resulting in the dads having to change them.Stu: Okay, men. We've done it before, just not all at once. I'll get the wipes.
Chas: I'll get the diapers!
Howard: I'll get the rubber gloves! - Filthy Fun: The babies enjoy playing in the mud, and the dads are horrified when they see them covered in it. The babies reluctantly decide to clean themselves up to make the dads happy. Unfortunately, this only results in them (and the backyard) becoming even muddier.Howard: It's like baby Woodstock!
- Hoist by His Own Petard: Stu invents the Mega Kiddie Cottage, an escape-proof playpen for the babies, but Howard accidentally locks them and Chas inside it when his apron snags on the doorknob.
- Improvised Lockpick: Stu invented the Mega Kiddie Cottage specifically to keep the babies from escaping from it. Tommy is still able to unlock the door by sliding his screwdriver through the latch.
- Locked in a Room: The dads get locked in Stu’s “inescapable” playhouse after Howard’s apron gets caught on the doorknob and pulls the door closed.
- Manchild: Stu, Chas, and Howard have a child-like argument over what bedtime story they should read to the babies. The dads also end up falling asleep when they read the babies bedtime stories (and Howard even sucks his thumb).
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Didi gives one to the manager of the Moon Goddess Festival that she, Kira, Betty, and Charlotte go to when she is given a shirt that says, "I am the Goddess Dodo", having previously put up with everything she went through;Didi: First, I get sun bopped like a ragdoll and fluffed with an old feather duster, then I'm told to forget I'm a wife and mother? Because I'm the Goddess Dodo! Well, my name is Didi! Didi Pickles! Not a goddess, a woman! Who loves nothing more than being a wife and mother, and wants her money back!
Manager: (handing Didi her money back) Keep the shirt. - Schedule Fanatic: Chas is revealed to be this, wanting to do specific childcare activities at specific times, and making his own schedule to ensure he does so.
- Sensitive Guy and Manly Man: Stu and Chas are this compared to Howard. While the former two are hardly the manliest dads, when they see the babies covered in mud, Stu tells Howard "I'll get your apron" before deciding to clean them up.
- Still Sucks Thumb: Howard is seen sucking his thumb when the dads fall asleep after reading the babies a story before naptime.
- Tempting Fate: Stu tells Didi that the babies will never be able to break out of the Mega Kiddie Cottage, right before Tommy pulls out his trusty screwdriver and uses it to pick the lock.
- Title Drop: Didi tells Tommy and the rest of the babies to be “good daddy’s little helpers” before she leaves.
- Toilet Humor: After eating their lunch quickly, the babies all poop their diapers at once which is indicated by several loud, and apparently stinky, farts.
- Water Hose Rodeo: While trying to clean themselves up after playing in the dirt, the babies turn on the water hose but quickly lose control of it as it sprays all over the yard.
Hello Dilly
"All the baby action with none of the slop!"
When Angelica brings Dil to preschool, the babies think he turned into a doll.This Episode provides examples of:
- Alliterative Name: Cassie's baby doll is named Teething Teresa.
- Always Someone Better: Angelica sees Cassie's Teething Teresa doll as this to her "I Can't Believe It's Not a Baby!" baby doll, as Teething Teresa can grow hair and teeth, neither of which her own baby doll can do.
- Blatant Lies: When Angelica is chosen for show and tell after Cassie, who shows her Teething Teresa doll, she tells Miss Weemer that she accidentally left her baby doll at home but will bring it tomorrow. Her baby doll can clearly be seen in her backpack.
- Call-Back: This isn't the first time Angelica has taken one of her baby cousins to preschool and tried to pass him off as a doll.
- Correlation/Causation Gag: Angelica tells the babies that fairy godmothers turn bad babies into baby dolls. When Aunt Miriam comes to visit, they think she's a fairy godmother in disguise. Then, when Angelica swaps her baby doll out with Dil, the babies believe that what Angelica said is true and Dil has been turned into a doll. When Miriam comes to visit again and kisses Dil after Angelica switches him and her baby doll back, the babies think their plan to change Dil back worked.
- Diaper Check: Tommy has Chuckie, who has a stuffed-up nose, sniff Dil's dirty diaper to make sure that he's still a human baby and not a doll. Chuckie is naturally disgusted by this.
- "Eureka!" Moment: After their classmate, Cassie, shows off her Teething Teresa-doll, Susie claims to Angelica that the only thing that would be better than that would be a real baby, this gives Angelica the idea to bring her cousin, Dil, with her to their preschool and pass him off as a doll called "Drooling Billy."
- Green Is Gross: Harold brings a piece of moldy green cheese he found in his cubby for show and tell.
- Laser-Guided Karma:
- Angelica tries to one-up Cassie by taking Dil with her to preschool and passing him off as a doll named "Drooling Billy." Susie, having seen Dil before, is the only of Angelica's classmates not fooled by this—she encourages Angelica to show the class what "Drooling Billy" can do. Dil ends up throwing up on their classmates, tossing his rattle, and pooping his diaper, and Angelica is forced to deal with it all. Susie naturally watches with interest.
- Angelica tricks the babies into thinking fairy godmothers turn bad babies into dolls and switches her baby doll with Dil (while he's napping), leading the babies to believe that she was right. At the end of the episode, when Angelica switches Dil and her baby doll back, she finds it covered in the potion the babies made from fingerpaint, diaper rash cream, mud and spit to try to turn it back into Dil.
- Literal-Minded: When Aunt Miriam says "Gotta fly!" and calls Dil a doll, they start to believe that Aunt Miriam's really a disguised fairy godmother and that Angelica's story about fairy godmothers turning bad babies into dolls is true.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When the babies overhear what sounds like Dil saying "I'm a pretty baby!", they realize something's strange about Dil, then they rush up to his bedroom, thinking he turned into a doll since Angelica swapped him out with her baby doll.
- Percussive Maintenance: Stu hits the baby monitor with the bottom of a screwdriver to clear the static and make sure Dil is still sleeping soundly.
- Pop-Culture Pun Episode Title: This episode's title is a reference to the 1964 musical, Hello, Dolly!.
- Robot Me: Angelica's baby doll bears a strong resemblance to Dil, even to the point of being dressed in the same yellow pajamas and sleeping with the same green blanket.
- Show-and-Tell Antics: When Cassie takes her Teething Teresa doll to preschool for show and tell, it makes Angelica's baby doll look inferior. When Susie tells Angelica that the only thing better than Teething Teresa would be a real baby, this gives Angelica the idea to take Dil to preschool and attempt to pass him off as a doll called "Drooling Billy" the next day. This backfires on her immensely.
- Toilet Humor: When Angelica tries to pass Dil off as a doll at preschool, Dil poops his diaper and the class screams in horror.Miss Weemer: Too real! Too real!
- Trouser Space: Tommy keeps his screwdriver in his diaper, and Lil keeps a sandwich in hers, which is something that Angelica's baby doll can't do.
- We Want Our Jerk Back!: When the babies' attempts to turn Angelica's baby doll back into Dil fail, Lil tries to calm Tommy down by telling him that the doll won't drool on his toys, wake him up at night, or poop. Tommy tells Lil that he wants Dil to do all those things.
