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Intrancity — The Complete Rugrats Scorecard

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Published: 2018-12-31 06:00:06 +0000 UTC; Views: 20580; Favourites: 39; Downloads: 28
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Description So far in this season, Nickelodeon hasn't gotten a show review that's a property of said network yet so let's crawl into the world of Rugrats. Now before I boot off the history section, you may be wondering that I'm reviewing three shows in one scorecard since they are linked to form a franchise. Well, back in the older seasons, the review structure would be similar to that of a one-show scorecard where you got each section of the review (writing, quality, and characters) except that each show's aspect are bundled to fit into that section. Now that we're in the third season and the review structure appears to be different from the first two seasons, what now?

Well, to solve this, I will spun off each show as their own and instead of having both show have their aspects be bundled up in a section, they will get their own part of the review. Take this structure for example where it would go from this: 

Writing: Show A, Show B 

Quality: Show A, Show B 

Characters: Show A, Show B 

Final Thoughts: Show A, Show B


...to this for now on:

Show A: Writing, Quality, Characters, Final Thoughts 

Show B: Writing, Quality, Characters, Final Thoughts 


...so that the show you're curious to know my thoughts on won't have their part of the review be too spaced out of one another.

Now that I got that out of the way, let's begin my review on all three shows. Also, the history and pie chart analysis sections will remain as it is meaning it will include all shows bundled into this scorecard.

HISTORY

One of the few things I remember while watching the series has to be the time when I watched the show's Tales from the Crib series starring the Rugrats as they take on classic fairy tales. And that would be about it I remembered while watching Rugrats before I reviewed the show.

Now for the next thing I would like to share to you guys, which is something you may not believe this, but I actually tried to review the show back somewhere in August 2016 during my early days as a critic. At that time, I was trying to look for more shows to review since I liked the design of my first scorecards so much. So, I decided why not review Rugrats since it's super long yet that could make up for a humongous scorecard? And so I began watching that show and I only made it to the first 6 episodes counting the pilot. I don't know why I left the show, maybe it's that I lost interest in reviewing at that time.

However, I didn't completely gave up on Rugrats since I still had plans to finish reviewing that and its two spin-offs where after many delays and production order rearrangements, I got to this show and it took me 2 weeks to watch the show and its spin-offs. The only thing that halted me from reviewing is that I had a vacation to Corpus Christi to attend to but other than that, there wasn't much of a hiatus going on with this scorecard. 2 weeks is long of course, but if we're talking about long-running shows, I went through this show pretty quickly while also not acting like I'm in a rush. This amount is much better than the following scorecards to come, though...

PIE CHART ANALYSIS

From the looks of the pie chart (including the final ratings), you can see how much the show really has evolved; from being okay to mediocre where it nearly slipped itself into the BAD range and would eventually land into it once the spin-off arrived to surprisingly using its strength to climb up to GOOD territory. Well, I see a lot of negative colors so why not start with them?

So first off, there appears to be 15 damned episodes that only takes up a small slice in the pie chart. Turns out that All Grown Up! delivered all of them to the dinner table! Speaking of that show, it is overran by a bunch of reds that it only feeds the BAD slice which is enough to surpass 25% of the pie chart. Rugrats got low enough to a Heinous while the other spin-off got an Alright one.

Then we go over to the mixed bags where there's a total of 14. Oddly enough, both Rugrats and All Grown Up! share the same amount of mixed episodes with the total divided by 2. And if that isn't enough, the amount of meh mixed bags are literally the same amount as the middling mixed bags. Talk about a coincidence.

But what appears to be more shocking is that the entire franchise as a whole was only able to crack just one great episode alongside eleven swell ones that only made itself a small room in the pie chart. I kind of feel bad that this franchise couldn't even get near the blessed range because the best episode of the entire franchise was barely even great!

With such a huge scorecard, I would like to calculate the total amount of ratings by range combined for fun. So, there's 70 GOOD episodes, 180 MEH episodes, 114 BAD episodes, and 15 DAMNED episodes (it isn't in bold since the other paragraph has the same amount already). It comes to my surprise that there's more negative material than positive to be seen here and you'll find out coming up next with part one: Rugrats.

Also, I forgot to mention the Iron Curtain's first appearance this season with higher details compared to last season's, separating the bad from the ugly and the good.

*PART ONE: RUGRATS*
FIRST THOUGHTS

Now we're talking about a cartoon from 1991, which is more than 20 years ago. And by that point, the concept for the series look interesting enough. How about we take a look at it?

`Rugrats' reveals the world from a baby's point of view. Everything looks bigger, more mysterious and uncontrollable. Angelica, the oldest, likes to terrorise her cousin, Tommy, and his friends, and is famous for screaming, "You stupid babies!" The adults in the series are often clueless.

                                                                                                                                                                                                  -Sourced from a Google search

Okay, I may be wrong with the baby concept being interesting because before this show arrived, there are a bunch of shows that de-aged popular characters into kids but whatever. This show can be able to crack some original and relatable characters which kind of makes it that they're unforgettable. Not only that, but I feel like the animation style looks distinct from the other cartoons at the time so it can work out really well alongside the baby's point of view aspect  that establishes how revolutionary this show might turn out.

So overall, I think this show might be great from the premise alone. It can possibly have great characters, interesting animation, and stories that can possibly lead to crazy yet engaging situations.

WRITING

I was kind of right...only for the first two seasons.

There is of course one thing that makes the whole series unique at its time; the atmosphere. It's mostly from a baby's point of view which this show greatly portrayed. Sure, they might be simple but rather fascinating since it dives deeper into how the babies experience the real world whether if it's them being unaware of their surroundings and would rather play around in it.

Also, I must admit that with how unique the atmosphere turned out to be at least for its time, it has some cool dream sequences that are quite exaggerated. But one other aspect that decently uses some exaggeration is the toddler's imaginations where the babies must deal with situations in form of something like mining and other things like that. One other thing that spices up the imagination aspects of the episodes would be that the subplots involving the adults have something to do with them.

But even if it has some alright creativity, this show would lose its charm throughout the years ever since the third season and by 2004, it began to feel outdated. Even the imagination scenes and atmosphere began to lose their magic since they've became less creative and engaging than before. It didn't age well by that point where during Season 3, the 1B Formula (now renamed to the Monotonous Method henceforth) would take the series by storm. Each component of how much the Monotonous Method destroyed the show will be explained within each numbered paragraph:

  • Fragile structure: This would be the case of how much substance is taken away from the episodes and would repeat the same type of thing again and again. Not to mention that it's bare bones but then again, it's common for cartoons at that time
  • Pacing issues: Especially in the earlier seasons, the pacing is very slow to the point where it makes the episode feel boring or even tedious. This can be the case of the setup going on for too long or perhaps the episode must be stretched to fit the 22-minute mark and at times, the episode doesn't remotely resemble anything 22-minutes. It would change as this show tried to learn from the slow pacing starting with Season 3 where it's slightly faster but not fast enough and Season 6's pacing just drives me insane.
  • Repetition: This one's probably the biggest factor of why the writing is poorly executed later on. Not only is there the lack of substance in a countless number of episodes, but you got a bunch of episodes where Tommy (and possibly the other babies) get into hijinks in a place, the Rugrats attempting to find Reptar, or Angelica taking advantage of the babies by telling lies. Another thing that can be repetitive would be the endings at some points where they involve the babies' imagination actually coming true.
  • And with these three aspects together, they create what is the most blatant reason on why the writing is flawed; boredom. You know, it's especially boring when the babies have no dialogue and all you hear is just background music and that's it. Plus, it turns out that much of the series' episode premises are really bland and predictable at that.

    One other thing that is blatant from the series has to be the toilet humor. This show doesn't really do that all the time since it can have a few good jokes here and there with the slapstick and stuff, but when Dil came into the scene in the 6th season, Rugrats would have to face through his drooling, barfing, and pooping that is just disgusting even if it's the point of the show and Dil. And yes, this show treats Dil's baby habits as jokes which includes the aforementioned actions he does.

    The endings at some points aren't the only ones that can be flawed uncommonly, this can apply to the short climaxes where it looks like they can last for less than a minute. Looks like the episode is too repetitive enough where it forgot about its climax and tries to rush through it just so it can have a proper structure.

    Remember what I said about the show being relatable? Well, if you remember what you did as a baby it can be that at times but how about a taste of the show's morals since I have more to talk about them more than the relatability. Well, at times it can be relatable and can work out decently, but there are often times when it comes out as unnatural (dying your hair won't make you noticed in public but leaving your hair as it is will) or even repetitive. This show would often use the changes plot as an excuse to create a moral out of them and it just gets old and as the rehashing gets worse ever since the 6th season, the audience might get it at that point.

    Verdict: Who thought that a show with a unique atmosphere and plenty of material with some decent creativity got overran by the Monotonous Method and poor executed morals? Not to mention that it didn't necessarily age well.

    QUALITY

    Well I can suppose see that the quality is good for its time, but it's about as poorly executed as the writing.

    So what do we have here? An animation style that is pretty unique with its crudeness and solid selection of colors? With color choices like purple as the skies, it does look unique while simultaneously fairly ugly with color combinations of green and purple. But with the designs here, there's a lot of squiggly lines as the strokes for the backgrounds and character designs, who aren't anything special but nothing too wrong. Moreover with the animation style where I actually like some of the close-ups where the designs would have some minimal detail with them sprinkled with many dots.

    The voice acting worked out here pretty well. The voice actors did a good job capturing the squeaky and naive voices of the babies that makes it feel believable. The adult voices aren't too behind, though.

    And as for the depth, while there isn't much depth to be seen within the animation during the first few seasons, it started to show up during the 4th season which is a solid move for the series to include more effort than ever.

    But despite a unique animation style, voice acting, and depth, the quality would unfortunately suffer the same fate as the writing; it didn't age well. It began to show it during the 6th season when the depth is starting to wear off to when it felt like it vanished ever since the show switch to digital ink and paint and speaking of that, it still feels old even if it did switch to that. It could be that the color schemes presented here overstayed their welcome as it symbolizes the 90's really well especially with its title sequences and cheap synthesizer music that sounds dated even for its time. But despite some of the synthesizer tracks being a problem, I still really like the dreamy background music that sounds relaxing and cute to listen to.

    Seasons 1-2 are the best seasons of the show, but they have some notable quality issues as well with the choppy character animation and how those seasons alongside the other ones aren't able to display some well-crafted textures like with the transparency of glass objects and the episodes background music can get repetitive. The repetition has found its way into the quality of the series.

    The age of the quality and choppiness might affect the overall execution of the quality, but one thing that really hurts the quality big time is definitely the many animation errors. They are common to spot throughout the series even when the series made the switch to digital ink and paint (which I think is ironically more rushed than the earlier seasons). The coloring is occasionally inconsistent like one time when Chuckie's hair is brighter than usual and even times when the coloring stops and doesn't fit into the frame completely. In fact, the coloring has gotten many issues with me where it can look ugly especially during one dream sequence in "Angelica's Worst Nightmare".

    Verdict: A similar fate has been placed on the quality where it has some of its uniqueness with an interesting animation style at the time and some very good voice acting, but like the writing, it feels outdated by the time the show was over and it experienced a lot of animation errors during its run.

    CHARACTERS

    See the pattern here? Potential happens for a pretty short time and then the problems became more noticeable.

    Like how the writing handled the series, Rugrats had a very good portrayal of the babies. This show really knows how to distinguish them from the adults, whether if it's misunderstanding things which makes sense because they're babies and they don't know as much as adults do. Plus, they become curious to know what certain things are such as slumber parties and television. Another distinct and clever aspect of the babies are how they speak differently from adults where they would mispronounce words like animal, TV, etc.

    It's time to talk about the characters and oh boy did this show have a lot of them. I will start off with the babies first: You have Tommy who appears to be the more adventurous of the Rugrats, and Phil and Lil, twins who likes gross stuff. These three characters aren't the ones I have much to talk about but they're likable thanks to how they really feel like babies with their characteristics.

    Then you have the popular characters of the show; Chuckie Finster, who is cowardly of many things the babies do, and we have Angelica Pickles, the spoiled older Rugrat. Now for the latter, she seems to be a unique character thanks to her alongside Chuckie getting the better development out of all the characters where in the earlier seasons, they wouldn't develop much. Not only that, but there are times when the episodes know when to give Angelica comeuppance with her spoiled behavior and she is easy to relate because don't you remember when you act so spoiled often where you beg your parents for stuff? Unfortunately, the repetition casts a spell on these characters where a majority of Season 3 and onwards focus way too much on them and less on the adults and the other Rugrats.

    I forgot to talk about the other main characters so let's go: Basically, this show has been adding too many characters where it simply shoves another character out of the spotlight where he/she seems to be forgotten. First off, we have Dil Pickles who started appearing in the 6th season and is just a generic baby with so many gross habits that just makes him not as likable as the other Rugrats but still pretty relatable. And finally, Kimi is simply a clone of Tommy where both of them are adventurous, but she at least has good care for Chuckie as she does help him overcome his fears.

    Then we move the tables towards the adult side of things where they have more interesting characteristics than babies. I mean, the babies have rather simplistic traits while the adults are more than simplistic which makes them more interesting but how are they likable even if I really like the type things they have?

    Anyways, we start off with Stu Pickles where seeing him be an inventor of the house as well as make toys for the babies is one thing that makes him stand out. There's Didi, Stu's wife that seems to be learning how to take care of babies with the help of Dr. Lipschitz, Grandpa Lou who can act immature and annoying at times serves as a decent grandpa figure to the babies as he talks about his army days during World War 2, Drew Pickles, Stu's brother whom he would sometimes fight with him, and then we have Charlotte Pickles, the most interesting character out of all the adults. She appears as a busy businesswoman very often busy with work while also trying to achieve as a mom to Angelica and of course, she has a good heart towards Angelica. We may have the others like Betty DeVille, the more tomboy-ish and feminist woman and Charles Finster, Chuckie's father who also have a good heart towards Chuckie, but the other adults aren't as interesting nor have the same charm as the other characters where I don't have anything to say about them.

    With a lot of these characters, they have a lot of potential to create a great cast of characters, perhaps fantastic, but they're not all good news since there are some that I don't necessarily like. Of course, there's Dil Pickles, but there's also Susie Carmichael, the goody two shoes Rugrat where she can stand up for the babies against Angelica's schemes to get back at them but she seems to be the most easy to flanderize at times when she can hog the spotlight from Angelica and be egotistical about her goodness.

    Speaking of the babies, they too have their flaws because there are times when they want to be like or be picked on by Angelica. Of course, they're trying to be friendly towards Angelica, but don't they think that her motives are too much for them?

    And we got another con that happens sometimes with the background characters where they won't be aware of what the babies are doing and would blame the adults on them rather than the babies. Of course, babies are babies and no older fellow would be rude towards a cute toddler, but the repetition can happen with this and seeing them think the "real" babies are part of the exhibit is just plain stupid.

    And who remember the later seasons where this show throws in some annoying stereotypes just so that it can feel relevant for its time? Yeah because the later seasons not only have them but also more forgettable characters that's just filling up the series with way too many characters to handle like Taffy, the babysitter of the Rugrats.

    Verdict: Turns out that the characters are the ones who aren't affected by bad execution the most. A lot of these characters are not only interesting because of their characteristics but also relatable. However, the repetition can be too much for these guys, they can have some pretty dumb actions and let's not forget about the fact that there's just way too many of these main characters.

    FINAL THOUGHTS

    Oh dang, so the "series that has potential ended up becoming wasted" is still present here. Nicktoon's early days made me think that this show alongside The Ren & Stimpy Show  and Rocko's Modern Life  would make 1991-1996 the best era for Nicktoons. but sadly:
    This series used to have a charm to it due to the cartoon having a uniqueness to it with the point of view from babies, the dreamy music and a bunch of likable characters that could’ve made this a great cartoon. Sadly, it went on for too long where all it relies on is the Monotonous Method where for the most part its barebones structure, blatant toilet humor, dumb morals, dozens of animation and coloring errors and introducing way too many characters that aren’t anything special. It showed its age when it reached the number 7 where even the imagination aspect and animation style lost its magic.Yeah, this show just needs to be executed a lot better so that I can be glad to give this one a passing grade. However, it's so repetitious and the Monotonous Method is just so much for the series that I'm afraid that I'm gonna have to give this show a MIDDLING (49%). It's just that this show lasted way too long where it's losing its charm fast and become so boring as a result of those 13 years. And as that time flies by, the Rugrats became older.

    *PART TWO: ALL GROWN UP!*
    FIRST THOUGHTS

    Uhhh...so what was really the point of this spin-off? Anyways, how is the premise going?

    The characters of "Rugrats" TV series are now preteens. Tommy, Dil, Chuckie, Phil, Lil, Kimi, Angelica and Susie now have to deal with adolescent issues. Making their way through middle school, making new friends and following their dreams, the kids are just trying to cope.

                                                                                                                                                                                                       -sourced from a Google search

    I guess Klasky-Csupo saw how successful As Told by Ginger was that they had to resort to making another slice-of-life cartoon. Anyways, this is bland, I don't see what's the point of it, and that's all I have to say about my first thoughts. If I repeated what I say, then it's going to be as repetitious as how Rugrats was. Also, how are these characters going to evolve while simultaneously retaining the charm from their toddler counterparts?

    WRITING

    So what do we have here? It's like the original series except at first it's bland but the execution makes it all worse.

    Firstly, I don't find much worth investing in the show's generic school atmosphere where there's not a whole lot that stands out of it. Not to mention that the relatability here has decreased drastically from the original series' where it's pretty hard to relate here not only because it's heavily clichéd and predictable where not even that can make the situations feel relatable, it's also how this show just tries to pander to shippers and 2000's kids. Okay, I may not have a problem with pandering as long as something unique has been done here but All Grown Up! goes rather repetitive with that and barely does something fresh with them. With so many girl bands, rise of the internet and cell phones and punk styles often doesn't even have any charm in this show as I can't really find much interesting out of them and just clichéness. Come to think of that, Season 3 would have the clichéness to its extent and would execute them in a more annoying type of way.

    Speaking of repetition, it's fairly present here where there would commonly be episodes about a character falling in love. Doesn't seem bad, but they can possibly enter in a cringeworthy or perhaps mean spirited direction.

    This might be material to make a bad show, but one thing that makes the writing more insufferable are the darn subplots. At first, they're dull like the atmosphere this show is set in, but as they progress they can easily get annoying and ridiculous at any minute. Plus, they can get really bad where they end up affecting the entire episode.

    And what else? Plot devices. Specifically, they feel rather irrelevant and if they aren't being treated as that, then it's mostly awkward filler for the most part. And the other thing would be the many conflicts that can range from being too stupid to too immature.

    With this show's immaturity, it has the ability to create some cringeworthy humor. Rugrats has toilet humor, All Grown Up! has lame slapstick and dozens of gross gags like armpit farting that don't even serve a purpose.

    Verdict: Well there's technically not much to describe the writing except its pandering is rather executed in the wrong where it ended up becoming annoying and clichéd in the process

    QUALITY

    Another poorly executed aspect for the series. What a downer.

    Remember what the original series had with its dreamy background music, squiggly designs and a style that symbolizes the 90's really well? Well, it's gone but probably for a good reason here so that All Grown Up! can feel relevant to the 2000's. It's too bad that it contains some typical concepts necessary to pander to the 2000's decade.

    Of course I find much of the animation style dull compared to Rugrats. Here, it looks more down-to-earth and polished where they have more gradients and depth to it with the backgrounds and coloring, which is something this series did try to fix what the original series had when it comes to being outdated but even with that, it still isn't that convincing now that the simplicity and uniqueness the original had is replaced with this.

    Here, instead of dreamy background music that made the original stand out, you have typical rock music which I'll admit sounds catchy, but doesn't prove anything to make the quality sound or look interesting. However, we have some unnecessary backwards music where it appears for only two episodes during Season 4.

    Also, remember the inconsistent coloring? Well, that return where I notice that Phil's hair is darker in one episode, but other than that, this series was able to fix up the animation errors.

    With these aspects together, it creates some rather subpar quality. But what makes the quality worse is its voice acting where it sounds blander than how it was handled back in Rugrats. There's plenty of stereotypical voices to fit the mood of the series with these cool dude-ish and valley girl accents. But then you got some boring voices with Mr. Beaker's voice where he even doesn't sound like he's reacting during accidents.

    And the character designs? Yeah, let's not forget about them because this section wouldn't really be complete without them. Anyways, from how the Rugrats evolve to their double digits, they look fine and we can still recognize some of these characters from their looks. However, some characters like Tommy and Dil look completely different from their baby counterparts now that they grew hair and extra clothing that they may seem unnoticeable at first but still recognizable. Also, why did they change Tommy's hair from the course of going through Season 1 and Season 2?

    Verdict: The quality is bland. That's it, although it did try to fix up the issues the original series had.

    CHARACTERS

    It appears that the Rugrats 10 years later are nearly the same as their baby counterparts, but unfortunately, it's so unfitting for someone who is around their double digits that it just makes them look immature and annoying. At least as babies it's understandable why they're that way, but here it comes to show that these character technically remained the same type of character but with some added characteristics.

    What this series did get right from the original series is that the focus is much better. Instead of focusing on either Chuckie or Angelica often, each character can now share the spotlight with each other thanks to the subplots and the fact that each episode is twice the length as a regular Rugrats episode. Essentially, there's better variety when it comes to the focus.

    Let's see how the characters are doing, shall we? One by one, Tommy is still the self-proclaimed leader of the now grown-up Rugrats except he now has an interest in film making for some reason, Phil and Lil still have gross habits but now they play soccer with Lil acting as a tomboy in the series, Kimi doesn't have much in her other than be like Lil where she's also a bit of a tomboy and embraces her heritage some more, Angelica is simply hooked into the stereotypical things the 2000's where it takes away much of her likability and rather just a bland popular girl, and Susie is possibly one of the more tolerable characters in the show even if she's still part of the Goody Two Shoes cliché still has some sympathy, relatability, and development.

    Well, it looks like a bunch of these characters are now just dull versions of what were formerly relatable babies. But then we have the ones I didn't mention and they're the worst of the group; Chuckie has degraded drastically from his toddler years where his nervous attitude is even more annoying and would be so aware of things plus his awkward lying. Not to mention that he does serve as a punching bag throughout the series within a few episodes. Then there's Dil who is still unlikable as his Rugrats counterpart where he's also annoying plus unfunny alongside his irritating obsession of aliens.

    And as these characters evolved 10 years, so will flanderization struck them in many levels to come. Here, it's very possibly character derailment can possibly happen and that can enter in an annoying direction like how Lil would often get into petty fights with Phil and it can even be played off for the humor ("Bad Aptitude").

    You got the main characters mentioned where most of them are just bland versions of their former selves, but this show tried adding in new ones like Samantha and her friends, Nicole, and Shawn to name a few, who are all obnoxious school stereotypes capitalizing with Angelica's popular girl status. But there's another new character that bugs me even more than these guys, and that would be Vice Principal Panghorn where he's another annoying character except it seems like he has a rather obnoxious lighter side of him and would act weak at times opposed to his strong appearance that he just bothers me a lot.

    Verdict: So you not only got a lot of bland transformations, but also how flanderization can be easy in some like All Grown Up! alongside creating plenty of character tropes on the way.

    FINAL THOUGHTS

    I think this is the first bad reincarnation of series I've reviewed since Ben 10 . I apologize if the reviews here aren't that long as the Rugrats portion of this review, but while reading my notes 6 months later, it lacked elaboration where it's kind of hard for me to clarify on why I dislike that aspect. Also, this portion wouldn't have much variety if all I said was "bland, bland, bland". But in all seriousness:
    Continuing the franchise was totally a horrible idea with All Grown Up! where this time, almost all of the uniqueness the original had was gone and instead wants to be treated as a generic slice-of-life cartoon that’s an obvious product of the 2000’s, clichéd writing galore, ridiculous and annoying subplots, multiple failed attempts at humor, bland animation and voice acting, and the characters who are really easy to derail and became immature and obnoxious versions of their former selves. Looks like I found a worse cartoon than CatDog . If this show was just nothing new, it would've been just mediocre, but thanks to the many ways this show became annoying, it stooped down to becoming UNSATISFACTORY (23%). This isn't the last spin-off of Rugrats, however, because there's more and this time it's based off another Rugrats episode.

    *PART THREE: RUGRATS: PRE-SCHOOL DAZE*
    FIRST THOUGHTS

    Some of you guys wouldn't believe it, but this show does exist. You can read the history of this series later but let's take a look at what the premise has in stores? Is it as bland as All Grown Up!'s?
    Based around the main characters of Angelica Pickles and Susie Carmichael, the series had the two toddlers heading off to preschool where they would learn lessons and meet new friends.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          -sourced from a Nerdier Tides article Looks like this spin-off was so obscure that I ended up resorting to another site to find an accurate enough premise. Anyways, this show is "bland, I don't see what's the point of it, and that's all I have to say about my first thoughts" but not by much. I can see that the animation does look decent enough for me to like it so at least there's a winner here. But even with that, I'm quite worried this show will bore me again just like how it did with All Grown Up! sometimes.

    WRITING

    Well I'm mildly surprised that this show was able to crack some good writing for once.

    Yeah, you can sort of see the similarities between this show and Total DramaRama; I was iffy about these shows at first but they became surprisingly good. And with that, the clever direction is one thing that proves that. And because of how the writing isn't even predictable or clichéd, Rugrats: Pre-School Daze was able to avoid them (with the exception of one episode) and would enter in a more tense and interesting path thanks to how clever it can be. More things that contribute to the cleverness would be plenty of the unexpecting twists.

    For a show whose typical episode is 22-minutes long, it surprisingly gets the right pacing and structure by having things go a little fast than usual where the dialogue would go forward alongside the action.

    What especially makes the show better would be its surprising sense of humor. I didn't knew this show was able to have humor and make it good but yeah, here it is. Aside from a few minor gross jokes, the humor has plenty of solid audio gags. An example would include whenever the preschoolers look at something they don't know, they try to describe it but it comes out as pretty funny. Doesn't that remind you of how the original series portrayed babies?

    But if there's one thing that I must criticize about the writing is that the atmosphere is definitely dull where it's kind of like Rugrats except it's now in a preschool. However, with the many ways this show was able to be cute, I can somehow excuse that.

    Verdict: Huh, I can't believe this show has a sense of cleverness. Still, there's a dull atmosphere to deal with.

    QUALITY

    At first the quality seems pretty generic for a children's cartoon but the more I look into it, the more I just can't see what's quite wrong with it.

    Unlike the spin-off, this show tried something different with its animation style where it in all looks cute and unique rather than bland and generic.

    For the backgrounds, they may seem simplistic but it still captures the whole feeling of the show very well with some minimal detail in them. There are a few objects like an evergreen that has a grainy detail to them and you got trees that have minimalist detail in them with partly thick lines. These are some solid details that makes the visuals look pretty interesting and also vibrant with its bright coloring that gives the show a more kid-friendly approach.

    And how about we take a look at the show's transitions where the cleverness strikes here where it uses colorful hand paintings to transition from one scene to another? Wow, that is a nice touch to the animation.

    We stumble upon the character designs where they seem to be one of the factors on why people may dislike this show. The inner glow for the eyes in the characters actually looks different and interesting for me. Alongside the cheek details that look more like blush, the eye designs and the blush help make the animation look cute to look at. Not only that, but there are some fascinating aspects with Angelica's hair where gradient is placed as coloring as hair glow.

    Then we have the sound effects, another thing that contributes to how cute the quality turned out. It consists of squeaking, which isn't repetitive but has a charm to it for not only being adorably timed but also fits with the show's atmosphere. This includes the background music too where it has the same sound mixing where it helps establish a uniqueness within the quality.

    And take a look at the voice acting. Of course, it doesn't seem anything special, but I can say that the voice actors from the original series reprises their roles here and they don't even sound rusty. Plus, the new characters' voices worked really well to capture the feeling of a preschooler.

    Verdict: At first, the quality seems rather generic for a kid's cartoon set in preschool, but the cuteness helped establish the charm within the quality where it has a fresh animation style, adorable character designs and nice sound mixing.

    CHARACTERS

    Looks like the characters I once liked in Rugrats are back here.

    Since I already talked about Angelica and Susie, I don't have to talk about them here but as usual, this show knows when to give Angelica comeuppance. Plus, her moves tend to be clever here to make the things the way she planned like wanting to take on real news.

    But then you add in more characters who are as likable as Angelica and Susie where some of them have a good heart or perhaps fondable. You have Ms. Weemer who seems to feel a bit troubled when managing the preschool class. Not only that, but what makes her more likable is that she can be sympathetic at times like when she needs a husband and would be upset for not having one. Then you got Harold, the more playful and naive character, and often treated as the antagonist of the show, Samantha. While a few characters do look gross or does things disgusting, there are still the other characters who are as relatable as those back in Rugrats.

    And just like how this series gained its charm for being cute, so will these characters would do actions that can be chuckleworthy or just plain adorable.

    What I kind of expected more from these characters is character development so that they can feel likable but there are some episodes that have that so I guess it kind of counts.

    Verdict: There's not really much to say here. I ended liking these characters not only because they do some cute actions, they also stay faithful to what the original series had as well as adding in some more likable characters and some relatability on the way.

    FINAL THOUGHTS

    In the end, while leaving the series, it left me with a smirk. That shows that, in my perspective, this cartoon has a charm to it. This portion is also pretty short like with All Grown Up! but it's not because of the lack of elaboration; it's because that this show only lasted for 4 episodes which is a shame because it was just starting to crack some very good ones that ended up becoming one of the best episodes of the whole franchise. How will the summary do?

    It’s surprising to see that such an obscure and forgotten counterpart of the franchise has better charm and appeal than the former 2. It looks like a bland spin-off, but it worked mainly because it can enter into cleverness, have plenty of good laughs especially with the audio gags, cute and fitting animation and relatable characters who are fleshed out and behaves like how they do in the original series. Overall, I find this cartoon too adorable to dislike.This is one of those shows that are way too harmless to dislike and just like Rugrats, it's not a show that takes itself seriously. From how this show portrays preschool in an adorable manner, it was able to keep me smiling for most of its run. Out of the 4 episodes, I'm glad that much of this series is a solid GOOD (78%).

    Epilogue: Ah, we're in the epilogue already after three parts. Anyways, I was kind of troubled while writing this review since it's been 6 months that I finished production on this scorecard and I had to use the best of my memory to put this review together. But after what happened, here it is in all its glory. It's been hiding in my hard drive for 6 months only to be sent to DeviantArt as its new home. Now that I'm done, the original series could've been an example of what made 1991-1996 good and because that Seasons 3-9 ruined it, alongside All Grown Up!, it only made the entire franchise just middling. I'm kind of disappointing just like some of the other shows I encountered that too has wasted potential. I wonder how Klasky-Csupo's other Nicktoons might turn out.

    Related content
    Comments: 23

    TheLoudHouseFan37 [2020-09-09 10:43:44 +0000 UTC]

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    L0udL0v3r [2020-05-04 03:40:42 +0000 UTC]

    Can you add 2 extra episodes to each of the top 10s?

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    HugeSUFan [2019-06-03 00:43:07 +0000 UTC]

    Currently working on a Rugrats Scorecard. Has 2 Iron Curtains (S9 Rugrats-S1 All Grown Up and S2 All Grown Up-S3 All Grown Up).

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    HugeSUFan In reply to HugeSUFan [2019-06-03 00:43:27 +0000 UTC]

    It's Gon' Be Good.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    18yazidjiand [2018-12-31 16:11:06 +0000 UTC]

    How are you able to get through so many episodes you don't like?

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    Intrancity In reply to 18yazidjiand [2018-12-31 16:29:39 +0000 UTC]

    I enjoy reviewing bad episodes but with ones that are boring provide some sort of a challenge for me. I never give up since I wanted this scorecard to be a "complete" one.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    18yazidjiand In reply to Intrancity [2018-12-31 16:33:20 +0000 UTC]

    Okay, that makes sense to me. Bad episodes can be better to review than boring ones. 

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    1033Forest [2018-12-31 15:02:40 +0000 UTC]

    How many abhorrents? I can't see the number

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    Intrancity In reply to 1033Forest [2018-12-31 15:55:33 +0000 UTC]

    7, and I'm kind of bothered that you keep asking questions about the number of ratings.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    TheReviewer20 [2018-12-31 13:49:38 +0000 UTC]

    I was sorta right about the rating. I thought you would either find it lukewarm or mediocre, and that the latter seasons would see a decrease in quality.  I forgot that All Grown Up existed, so I did not take that into account.

    Two questions: What’s the worst episode of the OG Rugrats, and which franchise is worse, Ben 10 or Rugrats?

    👍: 0 ⏩: 2

    PrincessPeachFan2000 In reply to TheReviewer20 [2024-02-10 00:55:15 +0000 UTC]

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    Intrancity In reply to TheReviewer20 [2018-12-31 15:55:00 +0000 UTC]

    2.Changes for Chuckie
    2.Rugrats

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    HugeTFPFan [2018-12-31 06:43:10 +0000 UTC]

    My brother and father both hates the OG show and I think it's just good. The reason I can tolerate your review of the OG show is because you have a legitimate reason to just tolerate the show and you give actual detail in your review. I haven't seen All Grown Up or Preschool Daze yet. Say, what's worse? Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy or Season 1 of All Grown Up? 

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    Intrancity In reply to HugeTFPFan [2018-12-31 06:54:14 +0000 UTC]

    latter

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    HugeTFPFan In reply to Intrancity [2018-12-31 07:33:15 +0000 UTC]

    youtu.be/e63cgsxMRdk

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    Waluigi333 [2018-12-31 06:13:39 +0000 UTC]

    Oh hi Mark

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    DTH-Incorproductions [2018-12-31 06:10:09 +0000 UTC]

    Finished reading the review.

    I agree with you. Rugrats is not a fun show to watch, I'm surprised you didn't consider the baby music playing in the background while the characters are silent to be CORNY. I think it's meant to be something for REALLY younger kids, that's probably why the predictability is omnipresent.

    All Grown Up, I actually like more than Rugrats, because I actually think the 2000's-esque look of the show gives it more identity and better designs to look at than the other show, but I'll admit, it's fucking bland sometimes...but I don't think it's as bland as the OG show. Reading your review and how you emphasize this being a "bland slice-of-life" series makes me even more hyped for your incoming Hey Arnold! review, whenever that arrives. I'm thinking about re-reviewing that show as well...I myself think I'm praising it too much. 

    Rugrats: Preschool Daze...back at it again with them unpopular opinions, chief. I dunno why people complain about that show. The animation looks better than the OG and All Grown Up...and it looks...watchable.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    HugeTFPFan In reply to DTH-Incorproductions [2019-05-09 03:12:00 +0000 UTC]

    I only watch Rugrats because Tommy sounds like Buttercup and yes, I know they have the same voice actress. Other than that, the show is nothing special. My current rating would be "Alright". 

    I agree that All Grown Up is better than Rugrats for your reasons. My rating is Good. 

    And I think Preschool Daze is alright for your reasons. 

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    DTH-Incorproductions [2018-12-31 06:02:22 +0000 UTC]

    Can you do the zoom up thing? I wanna see the episode titles.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    Intrancity In reply to DTH-Incorproductions [2018-12-31 06:03:25 +0000 UTC]

    I thought I did, but it keeps going up to 1920 pixels wide.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    DTH-Incorproductions In reply to Intrancity [2018-12-31 06:04:19 +0000 UTC]

    Oh. It works now, nevermind.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    Intrancity In reply to DTH-Incorproductions [2018-12-31 06:04:50 +0000 UTC]

    Why not try to download it?

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    DTH-Incorproductions In reply to Intrancity [2018-12-31 06:12:11 +0000 UTC]

    That's a good idea......

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0