| Spike the Wonder Dog | Gallery | Transcript |
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"Spike the Wonder Dog" is the thirty-sixth episode from Season 2 of Rugrats.
Characters Present[]
Characters Mentioned[]
Characters Introduced[]
Synopsis[]
Inspired by the TV show "Oddles the Talking Poodle", Angelica rigs Spike with Cynthia's toy cellular phone and convinces the Rugrats that he can talk. Will she be able to fool Tommy and his friends into obeying her orders when they think Spike is telling them what to do? - Description from Klasky Csupo
Plot[]
The babies are watching a show about a talking poodle named Oodles who saves peoples' lives. On the TV, he tells two clueless kids, Billy and Tullulah, that he is on the way to save Uncle Lyle from a burning barn. (Billy and Tallulah mention they don't have an Uncle Lyle, or even a barn.) Oodles rescues Uncle Lyle and also puts out the fire (which was caused by an electric cable falling over.) Lyle says, "You can't talk; you're a dog." and the show ends.
Chuckie calls Oodles the best dog in the world. Lil admires how Oodles saves people when they are in trouble. Chuckie admires his fearlessness. They all like Oodles' ability to talk. Phil wants Spike to be able to talk, and Tommy thinks maybe Spike actually can. Chuckie points out that Spike can't even roll over. Then Angelica comes and they inform her of the show with the talking dog. She shows them a toy phone, which she calls a "big girl" toy as it is like her mom's phone and the babies are too young for it. She then "phones" Cynthia to do her laundry and leaves.
All the while, she had been dismissing the idea of a talking dog. Tommy thinks Angelica is wrong and that dogs can talk, so they go off to make Spike talk. Tommy says "Hi" to Spike and tells him it is a nice day, also asking him if he's recently eaten any bones. Chuckie doubts that Spike will talk, but Tommy's not giving up and opens Spike's mouth. They think his breath smells bad and Tommy asks Spike why it smells. Then Spike burps, which Phil and Lil think is talking, and they argue about what he said, but Tommy and Chuckie say that burping is not talking.
Then Phil and Lil think that maybe Spike is not talking because nobody is in trouble (Oodles only talks when someone is in trouble), so they tie Phil to a tree with toilet paper; Chuckie doubts it will work. Phil shouts for help as part of the plan, also referencing Uncle Lyle. Spike gets up and walks to the bush, but then he pees on it and doesn't say anything. He then goes back and falls asleep. They plan to untie Phil and then get some juice. Meanwhile, Angelica sneakily places her toy phone to Spike's collar.
The babies are sad that Spike cannot talk. Then, using the phone, Angelica makes Spike appear to say "Hey! Over here!" The surprised babies ask him to say something else. The next piece of dialogue is "It's me, Spike, the dog" and a claim that he never talked before because he "didn't feel like it". Tommy thinks that Spike is a "Wonder Poodle" and they take him inside to play. Angelica makes Spike greet Didi, and Didi says she will have his dinner soon. She then gasps, and quickly dismisses as "silly" the "conversation" she just seemingly had with Spike. Then Angelica makes Spike tell Stu to clean up a mess he made on the carpet. Stu is annoyed to hear this, and then surprised when he realizes Spike "talked".
"Spike" later asks the babies to get him cookies, despite them being for after dinner, threatening to eat them up if they do not. Despite their fear of the height of the table, Tommy climbs on the others and gets the cookie jar. Then "Spike" tells them to put the jar outside, and then to go back inside. In the kitchen, the babies think Spike is acting strange, both for a superhero and for a dog. Spike is lying down, and they hear chewing sounds as though he was eating-- but he isn't. Outside, Angelica is eating the cookies and happily gloating about how easily she tricked the babies. The babies discover Angelica's toy phone falling out of Spike's collar, and, realizing what Angelica did, they call her out. Then, Spike knocks a plant over and barks at Stu. Stu and Didi follow Spike outside and catch Angelica with the empty cookie jar. Both Didi and Stu are furious at Angelica; they scold her as they take her inside to get cleaned up before calling her parents to tell them about her actions. Then, the babies all pet Spike, gradually accepting that, while he may not quite be a wonder dog, "he's a pretty good regular dog!"
Trivia[]
- Nickelodeon wanted some "PUs" when Phil and Lil's mouths opened as a way to make the episode funnier.
- In the "Oodles the Talking Poodle" part at the beginning of the episode, Nickelodeon thought that the Childrens' comments about not having a barn, or an Uncle Lyle was out of place, but it remained in the final episode draft.
- Also, three of the famous dogs, Lassie, Old Yeller, and Rin Tin Tin all appear one by one at the start of the intro to "Oodles the Talking Poodle".
- Composer Mark Mothersbaugh sings the Oodles theme song.
- Spike's dog breed is a (fictional) Siberian Tiger Hound; Siberian Tiger Hounds are supposedly rare dogs in the United States.
- A line that Tommy says about Spike being a "wonder poodle" was removed from the episode because Nickelodeon thought that such confusion would be weird.
- This episode is seen on the Easter VHS.
- This is the third episode to feature Angelica's evil side; the first two are "The Trial" and "Sand Ho!".
- Spike actually officially talks in Rugrats Go Wild (mostly through Eliza Thornberry, since a shaman cast a spell on her to talk to animals).
- Moral: Taunting and making fun of others in a mean way will come back to bite you. Share with others, and don't be greedy. Don't get caught in the act red-handed with your hand in the cookie jar.
- Karma: Spike gets Angelica in trouble with her aunt and uncle by ratting her out in his own way.
