" Mother's Day ", also known as " Special Mother's Day Rugrats " or " Mother's Day Rugrats ", is the second episode of the fourth season of the television series American animation Rugrats and the 67th episode of the event as a whole. Released as Mother's Day Special, it revolves around the holidays from the perspective of a group of babies - Tommy Pickles, Chuckie Finster, and Phil and Lil Deville. Tommy, Phil, and Lil try to find the perfect mother for Chuckie (who was raised only by his father Chaz) while sharing their favorite memories of their mother. At the end of the episode, Chuckie's mother is revealed to have died of a deadly disease. It ended with Chuckie and Chaz looking at a box of his stuff, including the poem he wrote for his son. Meanwhile, Didi Pickles tries to plan a perfect Mother's Day with her mother, Minka, while Betty DeVille helps Stu Pickles with her invention to help mothers.
Norton Virgien and Toni Vian direct the episodes of the script by Jon Cooksey, Ali Marie Matheson, J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, Susan Hood, and Ed Resto. Co-creator Paul Germain series has put up two potential storylines to explain the absence of Chuckie's mother, but Nickelodeon executives rejected his ideas that the mother had divorced from Chaz or had died. Before "Mother's Day" aired, only a small reference to Chuckie's mother made. Germain left the show in 1993, and several new writers took over. The concept was then revised and approved as a special Mother's Day. Germain said he was disappointed to be unable to cover the topic during his time in the series.
The broadcast on May 6, 1997, in the United States, "Mother's Day" was one of the few special hours Nickelodeon assigned to Rugrats . This episode featured on the VHS 1998 release Rugrats: Mommy Mania , and was then available for digital download along with the rest of the fourth season. "Mother's Day" is praised by critics and has been the subject of some retrospective reviews for its treatment of the deaths of parents. It is also praised for the positive representation of breastfeeding and expansion on the definition of motherhood. He won the CableACE Award for Writing Children's Specialties or Series, and was nominated for the Humanitas Award for Animation Categories of Children. The series received a nomination for the Primetime Emmy Award for the Animation Program Exception for the 49th Primitive Emmy Prize after Nickelodeon submitted the "Mother's Day" for consideration.
Video Mother's Day (Rugrats)
Plot
On Mother's Day, toddler Angelica Pickles builds a macaroni statue from her head as a gift to her mother, informing Rugrat of the meaning of the holiday. After delivering his son Chuckie, Chaz Finster gives his friend Didi Pickles a box of his wife's belongings as he fears Chuckie will find him. Chaz does not feel he's ready to talk to Chuckie about his mother. While helping another baby Phil and Lil DeVille and Tommy Pickles find the perfect gift for their mother, Chuckie is not sure how she should celebrate Mother's Day. Tommy, Phil, and Lil share their favorite memories of their mother with Chuckie. Phil and Lil say that the best gift they give their mothers is their first laugh. Tommy recalled his mother who comforted him when he was in the neonatal intensive care unit. The babies thought of a plan to find Chuckie's new mother. Their attempts to have Tommy Spike and Lil's dogs acting as his mother were unsuccessful. Angelica agrees to act as Chuckie's mother only if she completes her macaroni statue. Meanwhile, Didi takes Minka's mother to the spa, and Betty DeVille helps Stu Pickles with her invention to help mothers.
Angelica Chuckie duty to choose dandelion to decorate her statue. He can not get it after being pursued by bees and Stu Motherfunctioning Day discovery, which is a machine like a vacuum that destroys the majority of the grass. After Chuckie broke her macaroni head, Angelina ordered her to stay in the closet with Tommy, Phil, and Lil. While the baby comforts Chuckie, he realizes that his father fulfills all the requirements of a good mother. They opened the Chaz box, found a shovel, a book of pressed flowers, and a picture of Chuckie's mother. Meanwhile, Stu's discovery continued to suck up the mud before it finally exploded inside the house. Didi is disappointed that Minka does not like spas, but Minka says she just wants to spend time with her daughter for Mother's Day. Chuckie gave Chaz his mother a picture of Mother's Day gift. Chaz decides to talk to Chuckie about his mother, telling him that his mother died of a deadly disease shortly after his birth. He explained that he wrote a diary while he was in the hospital, and read the poem aloud that he wrote for Chuckie. The mother recounted the poem during a flashback when she played with Chuckie in the backyard. When they play in the backyard, the episode ends with Chuckie telling his friends that his mother is all around him in nature.
Maps Mother's Day (Rugrats)
Production
The 23 minute and 46 second episodes were written by Jon Cooksey, Ali Marie Matheson, J. David Stem, David N. Weiss, Susan Hood, and Ed Resto. Directed by Norton Virgien and Toni Vian, it is produced by the animation studio Klasky Csupo Productions, part of Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Cella Nichols Duffy, Gabor Csupo, Arlene Klasky, Paul De Meyer, Stem, and Weiss also produced this episode. Mark Mothersbaugh and Ruby Andrews contributed to music. In 2016, co-creator Paul Germain revealed that the concept for the episode, and discussion of Chuckie's mother's status, was previously filed to Nickelodeon executives. He was not included in the first season to avoid the need to animate a completely new character. During the production of the second and third seasons of the show, Germain noticed that the question of character absence became more prominent. He consulted with co-creator Arlene Klasky, and they concluded that the only two possible ways to overcome the character were that he was divorced from Chaz, or had died before the series debut.
Germain and Klasky originally planned to portray characters as divorced, but Nickelodeon executives rejected the idea, feeling that the subject was inappropriate for younger audiences. The studio also vetoed revealing that the mother was dead, arguing that such an idea would be "frightening" and that "the children [do not want] want to see it." Germain stated this prevents them saying much about the characters in the previous season, adding: "We mentioned that he was there but we did not tell you what happened to him.We even made jokes out of it in one episode, but we were not allowed into the subject. "Even when the show depicted Chuckie's mother dying of a deadly disease, the word" dead "was never used by any of the characters. The character has been mentioned briefly earlier in the episode "Real or Robots?" (1991), "Chuckie vs. Potty" (1992), and "My Friend Barney" (1993).
Germain left the series in 1993, and several new writers succeeded him. At that time, Nickelodeon allowed writers and animators to include the storyline about Chuckie's mother's death. The development of the special Mother's Day event "Rugrats " was announced on December 7, 1996. Kim Cattrall voted for Chuckie's mother, Melinda Finster. Germain described the episode as "this very maudlin thing," and said that he was disappointed because of his inability to discuss the topic. He explained: "I just sat there thinking, 'We are not allowed to do this, and now you do it.' That's something I regret. "Mary Harrington, an animation watchdog producer for Nickelodeon, described it as one of her favorite episodes of Rugrats, and praised writers and producers for handling their subject matter.
Broadcast history and release
"Mother's Day", also promoted as "Mother's Day Special Rugrats", was originally broadcast in the United States at 8:00 pm. Eastern Time on May 6, 1997 at Nickelodeon. The Los Angeles Times ' Lee Margulies recommends appropriate for children between the ages of four and eight. This episode is one of several half-hour specials created for Rugrats, with others including "The Santa Experience" (1992), "A Rugrats Passover" (1993/1995) and "A Rugrats Chanukah "(1996). According to author Jeff Lenburg, special events, including "Mother's Day", earned high ratings.
"Mother's Day" is featured on the release of VHS Rugrats: Mommy Mania , which came out on January 4, 1998 . This is included in the 2011 DVD package of the fourth season show, with a press release that lists it as one of the "special episodes". A writer from DVD Talk believes that this episode should also have been featured on the 2004 Rugrats Holiday Celebration DVD release due to lack of content on the second disk of the collection. The release is distributed by Viacom. This episode was later purchased as a digital download on the iTunes Store and Amazon Video, along with the rest of the fourth season. It is also available in streaming video on demand services, such as Hulu.
Critical response
In 1998, Eric Schmuckler of The New York Times pointed to a special "Mother's Day" as an example of the balance of events between displaying "always bright and usually ridiculous" tones while also being "poignant". Schmuckler describes Chaz's interaction with Chuckie as "an age-appropriate version of his mother's loss". Rugrats was nominated for an Emmy Primetime Prize for Animation Program for the 49th Primitive Emmy Prize, after Nickelodeon made special consideration, but lost to The Simpsons . This episode was also nominated for the Humanity Award for the Animated Kids Category in 1998, which went to Blinded by Love episode of "Life with Louie". Jon Cooksey, Ali Marie Matheson, J. David Stem and David N. Weiss received the CableACE Award for Writing Children or Series Specials for their contributions to the episode.
"Mother's Day" has been the subject of some of the retrospective reviews of this series. Philip Lewis of Arts.Mic praised this episode as an example of Nickelodeon's potential to address a serious subject, noting his treatment of "parental loss" as one of the most memorable moments in this series. Kristy Anderson of Moviepilot writes that Chuckie's backstory development is a surprise because "[f] ew will be expected to be faced with the topic of death while watching cartoons about babies". In their book Flickipedia: The Perfect Movie for Every Occasion, Holiday, Mood, Trial, and Desiquette, writers Michael Atkinson and Laurel Shifrin echo Anderson's sentiments, commenting that the episode could "hit you like a truck if you let it. "
"Mother's Day" has been cited in several lists of commentators' favorite episodes or moments from Rugrats . Anderson places him on the must-watch episode list of the third, fourth, and fifth seasons show that "[y] ou will need a network". The poem written and narrated by Chuckie's mother was praised by Daniel Pearson of Moviepilot, and was included in the list of eight most touching moments in animated television by Mara Mullikin of the same publication. Victor Beigelman of A Plus put this episode in the list of seven episodes of Mother's Day-themed television, citing it as a "heavy nostalgia dose".
Critics also commented on other aspects of the episode. In 2016, Caroline Bologna of The Huffington Post praised the episode for pointing out "delightful breastfeeding depictions" and to normalize it to a wider audience. Bologna distinguishes the scene with the lack of breastfeeding images on contemporary children's television, writing that the show has a "positive legacy" and proves that "this topic is considered very suitable for children's events 20 years ago". Priscilla Blossom from the Romper.com mothers website also praised the scene as addressing reproductive health, along with the portrayal of Tommy's premature birth and time in the neonatal intensive care unit. In their 2013 essay "What is Mother? Gay and Lesbian Perspectives on Parenting", scholars Jack Drescher, Deborah F. Glazer, Lee Crespi, and David Schwartz analyze "Mother's Day" as an extension of Donald Winnicott's psychoanalytic theory of early childhood. They highlight Chuckie's consciousness that his father acts like a mother as "a postmodern moment of insight" extending the definition of motherhood.
References
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Book sources
External links
- "Mother's Day" on IMDb
- "Mother's Day" on TV.com
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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