earlier this month we spoke about the latest holiday special from the rugrats
that being the traditions episode of the 2021 reboot of the show and how it blended multiple
traditions into one episode say however we are taking a look at the original rugrats
and how it tackled holiday episodes mainly the original one the santa experience but also go
through and appreciate what the rugrats was also able to accomplish by shining a light on other
traditions aside from christmas and giving them their own episodes as well so yay more rugrats
it being one of my favorite cartoons growing up i love going back and revisiting this series of
wacky and weird adventures they would all go on but also admire how they went out of
their way to show more love to other holidays breaking new ground for the time so welcome
back or hello for the first time to the 25 days of fringemiss where i cover something
interesting nostalgic or holiday related every day from the 1st of december to the 25th
in order to find that holiday spirit i lost nearly a decade ago so if you want to be a
part of this daily journey and help me find that good old jolly joy subscribe and come aboard
we start off with a christmassy remix of the rugrats theme song over top of the regular intro
again always a nice touch with a little bit of effort thrown in there extra at the start at
a toy store chucky tells tommy the horrors of christmas and how santa is the scariest guy in
the world tommy just says that's not true come on chucky what's so scary about a strange man
dropping through your chimney in the middle of the night to eat your cookies and leave behind
proof that he broke in i just don't see the issue angelica cuts in line to see santa first and asks
for so so much stuff but then questions why is he asking for what i want he should already know what
i want so she exposes that he's not the real santa and causes a mass upset among the rest of the kids
in line to make it right the store gave her like every toy in the store but just not anything that
she really wanted this also sparks drew to be worried about angelica's christmas being ruined
and that she's traumatized because of what she saw really she just wants better toys
chaz as well is worried about chucky having a good christmas as he doesn't want chucky to end up
having the same lackluster christmas experiences like he did growing up they plan on hiring a santa
impersonator to surprise them on christmas to bring joy as chaz just wants to dress up and do
it himself angelica though is plotting some more devious licks by trading phil and lill
for their toys and giving them in return gifts that they can give each other the only problem
is that phil traded his reptar to get lil some crayons for her coloring book and lil traded
her coloring book to get a reptar space helmet for phil's reptar you can clearly see the problem here
and angelica is like extra evil about it all she basks in the glory of pulling off something
so messed up chucky doesn't want any part of this whole santa guy business but tommy says that they
should catch him and ask him if he's a good or a bad guy just to prove it grandpa lou assures the
kids that santa is real telling them how christmas works if you're good you get presents if you're
not you get cold good news everyone they want to celebrate a snowy christmas for this year making
it special for the babies who are experiencing it for the first time so they rented a cabin to go
visit on the actual eve and christmas day for the holiday angelica now back at her place is kind of
thinking about the whole being bad and getting cold thing so when she falls asleep we enter a
dream sequence like usual for her and how her conscious works where she wakes up on christmas
to a tree full of presents only to find coal in every single one and she questions why this is but
ask and you shall receive answers because big old saint nick appears behind her telling her what's
what and how she's been bad alright now i see why chucky doesn't like this dude that's pretty freaky
she wakes up as it was just a nightmare now in fear that she needs to fix what she has done
to fill in lil in time to make good but now the real problem emerges there is only limited time
don't go away coming up next on nickelodeon it's rugrats
the babies are back we open up with a title card that rather than a second episode sequence it
just says later that day as the families travel to their cabin in the snowy mountains angelica
tries to tell phil and lill something but every time she does they get interrupted by adults or
by gravity so now when she's trying to do right she gets wronged this divine intervention puts
her in a sour mood as she can't accomplish this good deed tommy and chucky plant some traps around
the place to catch santa all but the chimney we also see charlotte not leaving her work at home
as she's on the phone the majority of the time at the cabin grandpa lou just keeps getting hurt i
don't have more to add on to that i'm just letting you know that he keeps getting hurt after dinner
it's getting late so the babies get put to bed and it seems that angelica's time has run out to fix
the situation she's created both chucky and tommy can't stay awake long enough to catch santa and
fall asleep the adults now all singing christmas carols while charlotte's still on the phone
chaz sneaks off to go dress as santa at the same time drew calls in to make sure the impersonator
santa is still making an appearance angelica in a last-ditch effort calls a number she overhears
another trope of hers in these situations to speak to santa and ask if she's on the
good list or the bad list but the number she calls was not the right number on the phone
nor is it santa and the dude that answers just straight up tells her that she's on the bad list
yeah angelica is awful but you a grown dude told a little girl she's seen as bad in the eyes of santa
pretty messed up there even i have a big enough heart to never do that chaz climbs up to the roof
to come down the chimney and thanks to stu setting off one of the traps that was set up for santa the
babies wake up only to be scared by chaz who has got himself stuck there in the chimney completely
scaring chucky so bad to the point that he has to prove that it's just him underneath the outfit
and there's nothing to worry about so they all realized that it wasn't santa and everything is
okay for a second but then the santa impersonator shows up quickly handing everyone presents
showing chucky that santa's not scary and giving angelica an actual gift and says trying to be good
is as important as being good in the first place acknowledging her efforts to right her wrong he
leaves and the rest of them open up their presents phil and lil received the presents that they
traded angelica for but are happy they even cared enough about each other in general regardless of
no longer having their toys that they traded for these but angelica shows up and gives them their
original trades back at no charge taking the word santa said to heart a nice touching moment
and it's good to see angelica do good even if it's for the sake of getting presents it's okay though
inside her play house where the car should be was instead a lump of coal reminding her that there
are still consequences for not being a good person and just a reminder that santa's always watching
but then drew receives a call from the santa impersonator his company is called the santa
experience hey there's the name of the special anyway he is out of costume at home apologizing
for not making it which confuses and shocks drew and chaz as to who that santa was in the first
place santa is then shown flying away ending the episode now while the episode by itself is great
it's nothing new story-wise we can't find anywhere else it's just a good holiday special to watch
during the season but it's what the rugrats would do going forward with holiday specials that would
shake up what the norm was breaking ground is one of the first animated shows to make specific
episodes that also showcase the jewish side of tommy's family with holiday specials such as a
rugrats passover and a rugrats hanukkah going further than that the show would still have
several christmas-related episodes like babies in toyland and all grown up special the finster
who stole christmas as well as a newer special in the 2021 reboot traditions which again we covered
the other week here on the channel and that in itself focuses on more than just christmas and
the original rugrats also even making an episode about kwanzaa the gangs all here stick with us
and now back to the rugrats all grown up when it comes to a rugrats passover the story of exodus
is told through the babies reenacting it as the story is told to them by boris when trapped in
the attic it also introduces the concepts of what passover means to those asking questions
within the show itself like angelica this episode overall was extremely well received
scoring a 3.1 nielsen rating an audience measurement system that determines the
audience size thus making it the highest rated show from nickelodeon also it was nominated for
a handful of awards as far as the rugrats hanukkah episode which comes a season later
it would have a similar concept of the babies reenacting the story of how hanukkah came to be
once again told by boris and slomo his name in hebrew meaning peaceful who is anything but until
they reconcile their issues while performing a play at their synagogue both of these episodes
would showcase to a generation of kids to learn and respect other traditions than their own and
bring those who do celebrate other holidays than christmas a chance to see themselves represented
on screen and that's another reason on why i love the rugrats aside from being relatable through
fantastical adventures the babies would go on they never shied away from doing things differently i
went deeper into detail about my past and the way i grew up within the 2021 rugrats reboot
tradition special video i did but to briefly touch on it again as someone who was a part of and saw
more traditions other than just christmas this show in a way helped me understand the stories
and experiences from another perspective which no matter who you are or where you're from what you
do or don't celebrate respecting and understanding those differences is what brings us all together
and to me what the holiday season should be about coming together and spreading the joy of life
and learning from our past or something you may not be familiar with in general
a blue board listen to the spirit
what does that mean
anyway out of all the rugrats holiday specials which one was your favorite or
resonates the most with you let me know in the comments thanks so much for hanging out with
me today make sure to hit the like button and subscribe for more content like this
follow me on twitter i'll see you tomorrow with another video for my next day of fringe
miss check out the playlist to keep up with the month but until then later
you