Recap / Rugrats S 9 E 5 Diapies And Dragons Baby Power

The fifth episode of the ninth season of Rugrats (1991).

Diapies and Dragons

When Taffy and the babies go to an arcade, the babies imagine themselves saving Taffy from the dragons in a medieval-themed arcade game.

Baby Power

The babies want Dil to become more powerful so he can beat Spiffy at tug-of-war, so they mishear baby powder as "baby power" and put some on Dil to make him stronger. When a (relatively minor) earthquake hits, they think Dil caused it because he has too much power.

---

"Diapies and Dragons" provides examples of:

• Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: This line from Tommy after he defeats Dragon's children:
  Tommy: Giant Tommy's comin' to save you, Taffy!
  (Tommy shrinks back to his normal size.)
  Tommy: Uh, regular-sized Tommy's still comin' to save you!
  (Dragon drops an egg on Tommy that shrinks him down to the size of a mouse.)
  Tommy: Uh, really really small Tommy thinks he should probably run by now.
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Tommy pops a blue bubble that temporarily makes him gigantic. He uses his giant size to defeat the baby dragons, but shrinks before he can save the princess.
• Continuity Nod: The Dummi Bears are once again shown to have a hypnotic effect on anyone paying too close attention to them.
• Contrived Coincidence: The princess in the game the babies play just happens to look and sound exactly like Taffy.
• Correlation/Causation Gag: When Dil knocks the plug for the game out of the wall right before Taffy comes back, the babies think they successfully rescued her.
• Damsel in Distress: The babies imagine Taffy as a princess captured by Gracko the Dragon.
• Deep-Immersion Gaming: When the babies believe Taffy to have been captured by Gracko, they imagine themselves in the levels of a medieval-themed video game.
• Fictional Video Game:
  • The babies play a medieval-themed one that's a clear parody of Super Mario Bros..
  • Super Mortal Extreme Doom 3D Ping-Pong, which Taffy wins a game of against the token boy.
• Gilligan Cut: Happens three times:
  • At the beginning of this episode, Taffy hopes the babies won't be bored at the arcade, but Britannica tells her that they'll probably think it's the best place ever. Cut to Chuckie saying that it's the scariest place ever.
  • When Taffy eyes the Token Boy, Britannica tells her to ask him out. Taffy tells her that if she does, the babies will miss her. Britannica tells her that the babies won't even notice she's gone. Cut to the babies playing the game to try to rescue Taffy.
  • The third one ends on a positive note. When the babies see the princess crying in the tower, Kimi says, "Poor Taffy. She looks so sad!" Cut to Taffy cheering after beating the Token Boy at Super Mortal Extreme Doom 3D Ping-Pong.
• Immediate Self-Contradiction: Taffy decides to try out one of the video games, saying that she has great hand-eye coordination, then she trips and falls into the arcade machine.
• Malaproper: When Gracko unleashes a rain of eggs and baby dragons, Kimi says he's throwing everything by the "kitty sink^note kitchen sink" at them.
• Poison Mushroom: Gracko drops an egg on Tommy that temporarily shrinks him, giving the exact opposite effect of the blue bubble.
• Shout-Out:
  • This episode's title is a reference to Dungeons & Dragons.
  • The game that the babies play is a parody of Super Mario Bros., with elements of Donkey Kong and Dig Dug.
• Super-Speed: Kimi pops a red bubble that gives her this power and also makes her temporarily invincible. She uses her power to dig through the ground very fast and defeat the baby dragons, but loses it when she runs on the ceiling.
• Tempting Fate:
  • Chuckie lands in a green bubble that protects him from the baby dragons. He then says that nothing can hurt him and that he doesn't have to be scared anymore, then he falls off the flower and pops the bubble.
  • Tommy pops a blue bubble that makes him gigantic. After he defeats the dragons, he says, "Giant Tommy's comin' to save you, Taffy!" and shrinks back to his normal size.

"Baby Power" provides examples of:

• Added Alliterative Appeal: Stu invents Stu Straps to secure down the furniture in the house.
• Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!:
  • This line from Tommy after the first earthquake happens:
  Tommy: Uh, I'm sure it's nothing to worry about, guys.
  (Cut to the babies wearing earthquake safety helmets)
  Tommy: Okay, maybe we should worry.
  • This exchange after the babies drench Dil with water in an attempt to wash the baby powder off:
  Kimi: We washed the power off! Tommy, you're the smartest!
  (Another earthquake happens as Dil continues crying.)
  Lil: Okay, now you're dumb again.
• Big Brother Instinct: When Didi takes Dil away after another earthquake, the other babies believe that she's going to send him away to the zoo, or another planet. Tommy objects to this, as he loves Dil and wants him to stay with him.
• Contrived Coincidence:
  • Tommy covers Dil in baby powder, believing it to be "baby power" that makes him stronger. An earthquake happens not long after, and Tommy believes that he gave Dil too much powder.
  • The babies believe that if they take away Dil's rattle, he'll stop causing earthquakes. This only causes Dil to cry just as an aftershock happens.
  • After Tommy drenches Dil with water in an attempt to wash off the baby powder, Dil cries again, but nothing happens at first. The babies beleve Tommy's plan to have worked, but then another aftershock happens as Dil continues crying.
  • The babies have Dil play with a toy lawn mower, believing that it will render him tired, as mowing the lawn always does so for Stu. When Dil poops his diaper, the babies expect another earthquake, but nothing happens, and the babies believe their plan to have worked.
• Dogs Hate Squirrels: Stu invents earthquake warning devices, which he has Spike and Spiffy wear because dogs can sense earthquakes before they can happen. Spike and Spiffy bark after the devices go off, and Stu believes them to work, but it is then revealed that Spike and Spiffy were barking at a squirrel outside.
• Gone Horribly Right: Tommy believes that he gave Dil too much baby powder after an earthquake happens, and tries everything he can think of to stop Dil from causing earthquakes
• Malaproper: The babies mishear baby powder as "Baby Power", believing baby powder to make babies stronger.
• Not This One, That One: Tommy takes his friends to Dil's bedroom and points to the baby powder, telling them it'll make Dil stronger. Lil thinks he's pointing at the baby wipes, and Chuckie thinks he's pointing at a nasal pump.
• Tempting Fate: Stu invents Stu Straps to secure down all the furniture in the kitchen. When he tries to demonstrate how to get them off to Didi, he accidentally causes a kitchen drawer to fall out. Didi then says, "I hope you didn't put these anyplace else", and walks into the living room, where she sees all the furniture there covered in Stu Straps.
• Toilet Humor:
  • The babies drench Dil in water in an attempt to wash off the baby powder, but all this does is make Dil cry. When Didi finds him, she says, "Oh, dear! Your diaper's wet, sweetums, and so's your head? Wow, when you have to go, you have to go!"
  • Dil poops his diaper near the end of this episode, and the babies run for cover because they expect him to cause another earthquake, but by this time, the earthquakes stop.
• Trouser Space: Phil keeps the bugs he likes to eat in his diaper, and pulls a worm out of it.