"Babies in Toyland" is the third and final Christmas episode of the Nickelodeon animated series Rugrats, and also the show's only hour-length Christmas episode, produced as the third and fourth episodes of the show's ninth season. It was originally released as a direct-to-video special on September 24, 2002, before airing on Nickelodeon on December 9th of the same year.
Synopsis
The episode opens on Christmas Eve at the Pickles' residence (presumably at least one year after "The Santa Experience"), where some carolers are singing outside, much to the confusion of Tommy and his friends. Eventually, Angelica and her parents, Drew and Charlotte, show up, having rented a limo; they and the other families are going to Christmasland, a Yuletide-themed park that Stu has designed, located in front of Charlotte's company headquarters. Angelica approaches the babies, who explain that they're trying to think of something special to do for Dil's first Christmas. Being the brat she is, Angelica says that presents are the only things that make Christmas special, and Santa Claus, who they're going to see at Christmasland tonight, gives out the best ones.
Later, the Rugrats' families all arrive at Christmasland. Angelica insists to the babies that she's going to see Santa first, believing that she's been good all year and deserves the best presents. She then further puts pressure on the babies by telling them that Dil will never get to celebrate Christmas again if he doesn't get anything good this year. As Angelica goes looking for Santa, Stu shows the other parents the control room and the security cameras monitoring all the pavilions in the park, including an animatronic Nutcracker show and a life-size Nativity display with a petting zoo. Stu also reveals that each pavilion has its own snow-making machine. The parents then head off to the artificial 19th century pioneer log cabin, except for Grandpa Lou, who stays behind to watch the kids (and naturally falls asleep almost immediately).
Angelica irritates the Santa actor.
Angelica spies one of the "elves", Hermey, heading for the employee break room and figures that's where Santa is hiding. Making the babies stay behind, she barges in and meets the man hired to play Santa, rattling off her Christmas wish list to him. He, who's pretty reluctant to listen to her demands, gives her a plush reindeer. This does not please her, whose ungrateful attitude only irritates the Santa actor further. Eventually, he grows so sick of her obnoxiousness that he throws the hat off and quits the job. The babies, seeing him quit, are devastated at this, with Tommy believing now Dil has no chance of getting to celebrate Christmas again. However, Kimi then points out that when "Santa" left, he didn't take his bag of toys with him, so perhaps their Christmas presents are still around. Angelica, listening in on the babies' conversation, figures that Santa's workshop must be around here as well, and figures that she can get the toys she wants there. She then tricks the babies into believing that the North Pole is in the opposite direction they were about to go, before going to the workshop herself, bringing along her plush reindeer, whom she names "Prancy".
Meanwhile, the parents are all listening to the animatronic pioneers singing in the cabin. But unbeknownst to them, one of the rubber bands in the control panel Stu designed (obviously having not learned his lesson from the giant Reptar robot he built for EuroReptarland) slips loose, causing the snow-making machine outside the cabin to unleash a blizzard's worth of snow, trapping the parents inside. They fret over the fact that they may be stuck inside the cabin for days and are separated from their kids, and Charlotte complains that she's missing her company's Christmas party because of this. However, Lou's wife, Lulu, tells them that they should try to make the best of this situation, and they start decorating the cabin interior for a Christmas party of their own.
The babies sliding downhill.
The babies, in the meantime, do not get very far in trying to find Santa's workshop when Chuckie comes upon a giant walnut and they find themselves face-to-face with the giant animatronic Nutcracker. Thinking he doesn't look too happy to see them, the babies back away, only to bump into the robotic Mouse King and his henchmice. Kimi charges into battle against them, with Chuckie trying to protect her, eventually knocking a jingle bell off of one of the mice in the process, while Dil grabs the tail on one of the mice and gets his stroller pulled by it. During this, Phil and Lil grab a shoe and ribbon from the dancing cardboard ballerina. Eventually, the mice start firing cannonballs, so the babies use Dil's stroller to slide down the hill (which, from their perspective, looks a lot steeper than it actually is) out of the Nutcracker show. As they slide downhill, they briefly cross paths with Angelica again, and Dil snags a hat that she herself had gotten her hands on earlier.
Meanwhile, Lou wakes up from his nap and notices the kids have gone missing, but when he sees a cup of hot cocoa that Tommy left behind for him, he assumes that Lulu came back to get them. As he goes to catch up with the others, he then comes upon Hermey dealing with a line of impatient kids and their parents waiting to see Santa. Lou, seeing the problem, volunteers to play Santa for the kids himself.
On her way to Santa's workshop, Angelica drives away some Christmas carolers with her off-key singing and takes all the free cookies that some other carolers were giving out. She soon reaches the building that appears to be Santa's workshop, but the door is locked ("I hope the toys work better than these doors!"). She then breaks it down and, from her perspective, sees a fully-fledged toy workshop. Hermey (who now appears to be a real elf) appears before her and asks what she's doing here. She says she's here to get the presents she's expecting and claims that she's been good all year. Hermey, however, checks the nice list and says her name isn't on it, saying she shouldn't have scared off the carolers, taken the cookies, or lied to her friends. She then sees that Prancy has seemingly turned into a real talking reindeer, who is feeling really hurt by how much she insulted him earlier. Hermey and Prancy then take part in a musical number, telling her that she should "treat each day like Christmas". This finally puts the true Christmas spirit in her, and she promises to change her ways. She then sees that Hermey has suddenly disappeared (indicating that the previous sequence was all in her mind), but she takes his lesson to heart.
The babies, meanwhile, crash into a snowman after escaping from the Nutcracker show. As they try to figure out if they're still going the right way, a goat comes up to them, having wandered out of the petting zoo in the Bethlehem pavilion. Kimi, Phil, and Lil figure that he is lost, and they decide to bring him back to his home, thinking maybe he's a pet of Santa's. The babies bring him to the petting zoo to reunite him with his family and notice that this place doesn't look like the North Pole. They then walk into the nearby Nativity display and notice the baby Jesus figure in the manger. Feeling sorry for him, they each give him a gift - Chuckie, Kimi, Phil, and Lil all give him the respective things they picked up in the Nutcracker show, and Tommy and Dil give him the hat that Dil got from Angelica earlier. This display of affection causes the Jesus figure, who previously had a neutral expression, to now have a smile on his face. Lou then drives up in in a horse-drawn sleigh to pick up the kids, having gotten word that they were heading toward the Bethlehem pavilion.
The families all singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas".
Lou then pulls up in front of the snowed-in cabin, hearing Lulu playing the piano inside, and starts digging the snow away. As he does so, the babies lament the fact that they never did find Santa's presents for them, but Chuckie says they had a good time trying to find Santa's workshop anyway, and he's learned that maybe that's the kind of thing that makes Christmas special. Angelica then shows up with a bag of gifts that she found inside "Santa's workshop" and presents them to the babies - a new snowsuit for Chuckie, a glockenspiel for Kimi, a new pair of shoes for Phil, a magic princess wand for Lil, and a toy camera for Tommy (perhaps foreshadowing his future ambition for filmmaking in All Grown Up!). She also gives Prancy to Dil. Afterward, Lou brings the kids inside to reunite with their parents, who have come to enjoy the time they spent together in the cabin (with Charlotte admitting that she hadn't really wanted to go to her company's party anyway). The special ends on the families singing "We Wish You a Merry Christmas" as the camera pans up into the sky to show the real Santa flying in his sleigh.
Songs
- "We Wish You a Merry Christmas"
- "Christmastime on the Prairie"
- "The Holly and the Ivy"
- "Treat Each Day Like Christmas"
- "Deck the Halls"
Availability
The episode was first released directly-to-video on the Rugrats: Christmas VHS on September 24, 2002. The tape also included four regular episodes from the show's seventh season - "The Great Unknown", "Falling Stars", "Spike's Nightscare", and "Cuddle Bunny". The episode was also included as a bonus feature on the Nick Jr. Holiday DVD, released on the same day. It was later featured on the NickToons Christmas DVD in 2003, and on the second disc of the Rugrats Holiday Celebration DVD set in 2005. It was included on Amazon.com's Rugrats: The Best of Season 9 manufacture-on-demand DVD set in 2011 and later on the full Rugrats: Season 9 manufacture-on-demand DVD set in 2014. Its latest release was on the Rugrats: The Complete Series DVD set, released by Paramount Home Media Distribution on May 18th.
September 24, 2002
September 24, 2002
September 30, 2003
August 31, 2005
Notes
The cover to the storybook adaptation.
- The Santa actor whom Angelica drives away would later reappear as a mall Santa in the All Grown Up! Christmas episode, "The Finster Who Stole Christmas".
Cast
| Voice actor(s)/actress(es) | Character(s) |
|---|---|
| Cheryl Chase | Angelica Pickles |
| E.G. Daily | Tommy Pickles Elf |
| Nancy Cartwright | Chuckie Finster |
| Kath Soucie | Phil and Lil DeVille Betty DeVille |
| Dionne Quan | Kimi Watanabe-Finster Fidgety kid #1 Elf |
| Tara Strong | Dil Pickles Crying boy Elf |
| Melanie Chartoff | Didi Pickles |
| Jack Riley | Stu Pickles |
| Michael Bell | Chas Finster Drew Pickles |
| Julia Kato | Kira Watanabe-Finster |
| Debbie Reynolds | Lulu Pickles |
| Joe Alaskey | Lou Pickles Real Santa |
| Tress MacNeille | Charlotte Pickles Fidgety kid #2 |
| Phil Proctor | Howard DeVille Parent |
| Paul Reubens | Hermie |
| Jim Belushi | Park Santa |
| Paul Williams | Train conductor Walkie-talkie elf |
| Lauren Wood | Prancy Fidgety kid #3 Elf |
| Casey Simpson | Pioneer woman |
| Michael Stanton | Pioneer man |
| Gregg Marx | Caroler Quartet singer |
| Melissa Fahn Diane Pershing Didi Conn David Jeremiah Samantha Alexa Macisso Stephen Reed Jim Thornton |
Other carolers |
| Mick Murray Barry Pearl Stephen Reed |
Other quartet singers |
See also
External links
- Rugrats Wiki: Babies In Toyland
- Nickipedia: Babies in Toyland
- "Babies in Toyland" at the Big Cartoon DataBase
- "Babies in Toyland" at the Internet Movie Database