Recap / Rugrats S 1 E 11 Touchdown Tommy The Trial

The eleventh episode of the first season of Rugrats (1991).

Touchdown Tommy:

While the dads watch a football game, the babies have a similar competition over a bottle of chocolate milk.

The Trial:

Tommy's clown lamp gets broken, and the babies hold a trial to determine who broke it.

"Touchdown Tommy" provides examples of:

• Alliterative Title: Touchdown Tommy.
• An Aesop:
  • When you're in charge of caring for young children (and especially babies), don't let yourself get distracted. An unattended toddler can easily get into all kinds of mischief that could get them hurt—or worse.
  • No matter how many precautions you take to ensure a child's safety, it doesn't guarantee they won't cause damage or make messes while playing—and since it's your job to watch them and keep them out of trouble, you'll be the one held accountable for their actions if something goes wrong.
• Anything but That!: When Grandpa Lou is skeptical of the idea of Stu inventing something to keep the kids from hurting themselves, Stu points out that if he doesn't, then the men will have to take turns looking after the kids, which means watching the game in shifts. Lou's response?
  Lou: Shifts?! Well, get busy then!
• Artistic License – Animal Care: Several times in this episode, Spike is seen licking some of Tommy's chocolate milk. Chocolate is toxic to dogs (though in large doses, thus a few drops of flavored milk don't make the scene too unrealistic). Of course, the whole point of this scene is that the guys are so focused on the game that they aren't properly supervising.
• The Complainer Is Always Wrong: An interesting subversion occurs in this episode; The B-Plot has the dads watching a big football game, though Chas wants to watch the chess tournament. They blow him off, and he's stuck watching the game. He knew what he was saying—because the dads were too busy watching football, the babies covered the living room in chocolate milk, and Didi and Betty were pissed when they got back:
  Chas: I told you we should've watched the chess tournament.
  [The others glare at him.]
• "Could Have Avoided This!" Plot:
  • Chas is shot down when he wants to watch a chess tournament, and he tells the other dads he warned them and Grandpa after the babies make a mess in the living room.
  • If Grandpa Lou had given all of the children chocolate milk (or not at all), Angelica wouldn't have gotten envious, the babies wouldn't have had their fight, and the house would have been kept clean (of chocolate milk at least, anyway). Didi points this out when she asks the dads, "Who was watching her when this happened?"
• Didn't Think This Through: While giving the babies their milk bottles, Grandpa didn't realize that one of them (namely Angelica) would be jealous of Tommy getting chocolate milk. When Didi and Betty discover the chocolate milk stains, he laughs nervously.
• Doting Grandparent: Grandpa gives regular milk to the other babies, but chocolate milk to his grandson Tommy.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Angelica's cat, Fluffy, is seen being scared by Angelica when Stu calls Drew. This is before Fluffy's official introduction in "Fluffy Vs Spike".
• Early-Installment Weirdness: Stu refers to Chas as Charles in this episode. In later seasons, Stu calls him Chas like all the other adults except for Didi.
• Eat the Camera: Didi when Tommy bumps his head for the second time.
• Establishing Character Moment: This is Chas's first proper speaking role in the series, and he instantly establishes his similarities to Chuckie by replicating his catchphrase and being the ignored buzzkill of the group.
• Full-Name Ultimatum: When Didi comes back from shopping and sees Angelica screaming amidst the huge mess in the living room, the first thing she does is yell, "Angelica Pickles!"
• I Take Offense to That Last One: Didi is reluctant to leave Tommy and the kids with the dads as they'll only focus on the football game, stating that after kickoff, they'll only think about drinking soda and gobbling pork rinds.
  Stu: [doing a timeout gesture] Whoa! Time out! I haven't had pork rinds in years!
• Mass "Oh, Crap!": The dads and Lou all let out one collective "Uh-oh!" when Didi and Betty return from shopping.
• Meaningless Villain Victory: Angelica finally snags the bottle but gives it too hard a squeeze, causing the rest of the milk to spurt out. Amusingly, Tommy takes this a lot better than Angelica.
  Angelica: [enraged] IT'S EEMPTYYY!!!! RAGGGHHHHHHHH!
• Minor Injury Overreaction: Secondary example. Tommy accidentally bumps his head and starts crying briefly. Didi reacts in horror that Tommy got a "concussion" under Stu's supervision, even after Tommy quickly goes back to playing merrily. After he accidentally knocks his head a second time (this time not even reacting to it) Didi screams in response.
• "Oh, Crap!" Smile: Grandpa chuckles nervously after a livid Didi questions why there is chocolate milk all over the house.
• Parental Bonus: While the team names are never stated (presumably for copyright reasons), it's clearly intended to portray the Houston Oilers (later the Tennessee Titans) vs the Dallas Cowboys. Drew is wearing a silver shirt with a blue star on it, while Stu's shirt is red, white and blue, with a stylized oil derrick◊ on it, both of which are the main logos for the respective teams. The episode was first aired in late October of 1991, at which point Houston was 4-2 and Dallas was 5-1. However, despite being in opposite conferences and thus having the possibility of playing one another in the championship (writers get bonus points for creating a matchup that was possible, and somewhat likely, in real life), Houston didn't make it, while Dallas did. Also, in that same episode, right before the game starts, Stu and Grandpa yell, "Come on, Houston!" while Howard and Drew respond with "Go get 'em, Dallas!", further reinforcing the point that it does indeed depict Oilers vs Cowboys.
• Parental Neglect: While Didi is rightfully concerned for Tommy's safety after he bumps his head, Stu's idea of keeping the babies safe so the dads can watch the game and the moms can go shopping is to put them in "Bonk-o-Matic Baby Bumpers", a series of baby helmets he invented. He didn't count on the babies fighting over a bottle of chocolate milk, and none of the dads pay any attention to their kids, instead focusing on the football game. The end result is the kids successfully unharmed but the rest of the living room a mess.
• Pyrrhic Victory:
  • Angelica finally manages to swipe Tommy's chocolate bottle from the babies, though after all the tussling around, the milk is sprayed everywhere and the bottle is empty. Angelica is not happy.
  • Stu's test run of the Bonk-o-Matic Baby Bumper may also apply. It succeeds in preventing the kids from injuring themselves, but they still manage to make a mess of everything else in the room, thus Didi is still livid.
• Stock Sound Effects: This episode and "The Trial" are the first time Tommy's often-recycled distinctive crying sound recording is heard ("WAAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAH! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!")
  • Angelica's crying from "Slumber Party" is re-used when she finds out the bottle is empty.
• Unwitting Instigator of Doom: Grandpa Lou showing favoritism to Tommy by giving only him chocolate milk is what caused the fighting to begin the first place.

"The Trial" provides examples of:

• Accidental Public Confession: Well, if saying it out loud next to the room where Didi and Betty could overhear counts as "public".
• Afraid of Clowns: One of Chuckie's many fears is clowns, and in this episode, he is one of the prime suspects of destroying Tommy's lamp due to this fear and his temptation. However, he doesn't go through with it out of respect for Tommy.
• Alliterative Title: The Trial.
• An Aesop:
  • Don’t break someone’s personal property and frame someone else just so you can have fun watching them get in trouble for what you did; you will be punished accordingly once the truth comes out.
  • If you really must gloat that you've gotten away with something, make sure no one but the person you're gloating at can hear you.
• Artistic License – Law: Played for Laughs, of course, since the group is between the ages of one and three. There are only three members of the courtroom: Tommy (who would realistically be the plaintiff) is the judge, a group of teddy bears is "the jerky", and Angelica (who would realistically be a defendant along with the other babies) is the "persecutor" (prosecutor, but her persistent and malicious accusations play the term straight).
• Big "NO!": Chuckie screams this when Angelica calls him to the stand, accusing him of breaking the lamp.
• Blatant Lies: When Tommy's lamp breaks at the beginning of the episode, Angelica pretends it woke her up from her nap to convince Didi and Betty that she didn't break it.
• Break Them by Talking: Angelica uses this on Chuckie when he's accused of breaking the lamp. It works.
  Angelica: But that isn't really the whole story, is it, Chuckie?
  Chuckie: W-wwhat do you mean?
  Angelica: When you were sitting there watching Phil and Lil play, you started thinking about... bad ideas, didn't you, Chuckie?
  Chuckie: I don't know what you're talking about.
  Angelica: I think you know exactly what I'm talking about, Chuckie! That lamp! You wanted to push it more... much more, didn't you, Chuckie?
  Chuckie: NO!
  Angelica: Yes! You wanted to push it 'till it fell over! You wanted to break the clown lamp!
  Chuckie: [cracks under pressure] It's true! It's true! I wanted to break that lamp! I wanted to break it 'cause it was scary! I'm bad, Tommy, real bad!
• Caught by Arrogance: When the babies manage to deduce that Angelica was the one who broke the Mr. Fluffles lamp, she loudly proclaims that she did it, how she did it, and tells the babies they can't out her because they can't talk to the grown-ups. Believing she's gotten away with it (and forgetting that the adults can understand her), she starts dancing around shouting, "I did it! I did it! I DID IT!"...
  Didi: ANGELICA!
  Angelica: Oops. I didn't do it! I didn't do it!
  Betty: We heard the whole thing, Angelica.
• Comical Overreacting: At the end of the episode, Didi finds out that Angelica broke Tommy's lamp, and punishes her. Angelica screams, "No! Not the chair! Not the chair!" as Didi puts her in Tommy's high chair.
• Cool and Unusual Punishment:
  • When Didi punishes Angelica for breaking Tommy's clown lamp, she makes her sit in Tommy's high chair until Drew comes to pick her up.
  • Angelica also threatens to make Phil "the jerky" when he argues about why only Angelica gets to be the persecutor.
• Courtroom Episode: A variation; Tommy's playpen serves as the courtroom, with Tommy as the judge, Angelica as the persecutor, and some teddy bears as the jury ("jerky") to find out who broke Tommy's clown lamp.
• Deliberately Monochrome: The babies' flashbacks are shown in black and white.
• Died Happily Ever After: Parodied at the very end: the "spirit" of the clown lamp is shown smiling down on the babies from above.
• Everyone Has Standards:
  • Due to his fear of clowns, Chuckie found Tommy's lamp to be scary and did consider breaking it, but he couldn't bring himself to actually do it because not only was he too afraid to, but because Tommy's his best friend, and Chuckie knows how much Tommy loved the lamp. He breaks down in tears from shame when confessing this to Tommy.
  • He also watches Angelica's punishment with a very uncomfortable look, despite her previously trying to frame him for breaking the lamp. No one deserves "the chair."
• Evil Gloating: Angelica gleefully admits to her crime, knowing the babies can't talk to the adults and expose her. But she forgets the adults can understand her, so when she starts jumping and shouting "I DID IT!" at the top of her lungs), Didi and Betty hear the whole thing.
• Evil Is Petty: Near the end of the episode, Angelica reveals that she broke Tommy's clown lamp because she hated how it looked. She also reveals that she was looking for a crayon so she could draw on the wall and blame it on Tommy.
• Exactly What It Says on the Tin: The trial, which the episode takes place around. Tommy's clown lamp is broken, and the Rugrats hold a mock trial to see who did it.
• Exact Words: Angelica telling Tommy to hit his gravel and say "order, order!" Tommy does, only to be yelled at.
  Angelica: NOT YET!
• Fake Alibi: The kids try to determine which one of them broke Tommy's lamp. Angelica is supposedly cleared since she claims to have been napping when the lamp broke, but she turns out to be guilty when Tommy realizes that she'd already taken her nap prior and knew what was happening at the time of the lamp's breakage.
• Guilt by Association: Chuckie, who is accused of breaking the lamp by Angelica. He admits that he wanted to break the clown lamp because he thought it was scary, but didn't touch it.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Angelica's confession to the babies that she was one who broke the lamp is what gets her caught, as she was loud enough for Didi and Betty to her.
• How Much Did You Hear?: When Angelica realizes Didi and Betty are behind her, she attempts to deny her wrongdoing. It's no use, as they overheard everything.
• Hypocritical Humor: Angelica explains the different roles in the courtroom. When she mentions that Tommy will be the judge, the babies ask if she means the fudge. Angelica says that the judge is the proper term and wonders why they don't talk right. She then states that teddy bears will act as the "jerky". When they ask if she meant jury, she tells them she used the proper term again.
• I Never Said It Was Poison: When Angelica's accusations towards Phil, Lil, and Chuckie get out of hand, Tommy takes control and calmly explains why none of them could've done it: Phil and Lil did jostle the lamp while playing ring-around-the-Rosie, sure, but not hard enough to knock it over, and were already playing on the other side of the room when the lamp broke. Chuckie wanted to break the lamp due to his phobia of clowns, but his cowardly nature kept him from actually following through with the idea, and the sudden appearance of a "monster" spooked him into hiding under the couch just before the crash. Angelica was taking a nap and was woken up by the sound of the lamp breaking. Tommy was in the kitchen being fed by Didi... and that's when Tommy remembers that Angelica had already taken a nap earlier that morning before coming over to visit. He and the other babies quickly realize that the only way she could've known exactly what they were all doing when the lamp broke was if she saw them doing it, meaning she wasn't asleep.
• Laser-Guided Karma: Near the end of the episode, Angelica admits that she broke Tommy's clown because she hated it. She gloats that the babies can't stop her because they can't talk to adults, but does it so loudly that Didi and Betty overhear her and punish her.
• Mourning an Object: Tommy is saddened by the loss of his lamp, and the titular trial is treated as one for murder.
• Oh, Crap!: Angelica after realizing the adults were standing behind her while she confessed everything.
• "Rashomon"-Style: The babies attempt to figure out who broke Tommy's clown lamp via a trial. It's played with quite a bit as Angelica keeps trying to paint Chuckie or the twins as the culprit through various reasoning, such as the twins spinning around it too fast and Chuckie being absolutely terrified of it and actually wanting to get rid of it. This is a bit of a Hoist by His Own Petard moment for the real culprit, Angelica, who wouldn't have known those things if she wasn't there.
• Repeat After Me: This exchange:
  Angelica: [to Phil and Lil] Do you swear to tell ruth, all ruth, and nothing but ruth, so help you Bob?
  [Phil and Lil look at each other in confusion.]
  Angelica: Just say you do.
  Phil and Lil: You do.
• Right Behind Me: Didi and Betty pull this off while Angelica gloats about breaking Tommy's lamp.
• Rewatch Bonus: Angelica "waking up" from her "nap" in the beginning.
• Visual Pun: At the end of the episode, Didi punishes Angelica by sending her to the chair... Tommy's high chair.
• Wham Line: When Tommy goes over the trial, he has a realization:
  Tommy: Well, we don't know who broke the lamp, but we do know who did not broke the lamp. Phil and Lil could not broke the lamp on account of they were playing on the other side of the room. You couldn't have done it 'cause your head was hiding under a pillow. Angelica couldn't have broke the lamp 'cause she was taking her afternoon nap, and I couldn't have broke it 'cause I was..... hey, wait a minute! Angelica, didn't you already take a nap this morning before you came over?