The fifth episode of the first season of Rugrats (1991).
Beauty Contest
Wanting to win the Kingfisher 9000 boat, the top prize in the "Little Miss Lovely" beauty pageant, Stu and Lou dress Tommy up as a girl and enter him as "Tonya" in the contest (which Angelica, unbeknownst to them, has also entered).
Baseball
Stu, Lou, and Tommy go to a baseball game, and while Stu and Lou are focused on the game, Tommy is more interested in his balloon.
"Beauty Contest" provides examples of:
- An Aesop:
- Cheaters don't win. They get disqualified. It's unfair to those who didn't cheat.
- Don't pretend to be someone you are not. That's used primarily to steal money.
- Lying will always get you in trouble. One lie covers up every previous lie. This is known as a web of lies.
- Beauty Contest: It's in the title.
- Call-Back: Stu's doorbell messenger robot from "Tommy's First Birthday" re-appears in this episode.
- Cute, but Cacophonic: Angelica charms the judges with her smiles and skipping around with her song and its mangled lyrics endearing, but unfortunately she's not great with high notes. She does, however, get the second highest amount of points and wins by default when Tommy's disqualified.
- Cuteness Proximity: Tommy doesn't do much for his act except react to the bright lights, stumble around when his wig falls into his eyes, and bend over to reveal his diaper to the audience, but the judges and crowd find him adorable and award him with high marks, with one of the judges even giving him a perfect score.
- Disguised in Drag: Stu and Lou dress Tommy as a girl so he can enter the beauty contest.
- Disqualification-Induced Victory: Near the end of this episode, Tommy wins the contest, until Didi reveals to the judges that Tommy is actually a boy by removing his wig. The judges disqualify Tommy, and Angelica wins. Grandpa Lou doesn't mind when he remembers that Angelica is his granddaughter.
- Dragged into Drag: When Stu and Lou dress Tommy up as a girl, Tommy isn't too happy about it. He even admits to Phil and Lil that he wishes he didn't have to.
- Dramatic Unmask: Didi decides to attend the contest, since she has some free time that day. When "Tonya Pickles" is announced as the winner, Didi storms onstage to expose the fraud.Didi: [pulling off Tommy's wig] Does this look like a Tonya to you?
- "Eureka!" Moment: After the whole mess is out in the open, Angelica is declared the winner. It takes a moment for Lou to realize that means he still has an in to use the boat.
- Failed a Spot Check: During the Twin Switch, Betty only notices the ribbon and somehow misses that "Lil" isn't wearing a skirt.
- Glass-Shattering Sound: At the end of her song, Angelica sings a high note that causes Drew's glasses to break.
- Have We Met?: Backstage, when Angelica first sees Tommy in drag...Angelica: Don't I know you?
Tommy: [falsetto voice] Uh, no. I don't think so.
Angelica: I know this, Goldilocks: next to me, you're the cutest little girl in the show.
Tommy: Um, you really think so?
Angelica: Pretty funny, kid, but remember this: if you win, you're going to regret it. - Karma Houdini: After Didi exposes Stu and Lou's plan to disguise Tommy as a girl to win the Kingfisher 9000 fishing boat, she leaves Lou behind at the mall in anger. Cue Drew and Angelica driving up beside them... and Lou riding the boat with them! However, this was just after Lou remembered that Angelica is his granddaughter.
- Mondegreen Gag: Angelica sings a mangled version of "My Country Tis of Thee", with such lyrics as, "My Country Tears of Thee" and "Sweet land of Lizardy".
- Oh, Crap!:
- Tommy-as-Tonya upon seeing Angelica backstage.
- Stu when he sees Angelica is a contestant, realizing people that know them are there.
- Poor Communication Kills: Lou and Stu completely forget that Angelica exists and that she’s very much the kind of girl who loves beauty contests. A phone call to Drew would have made this plot nonexistent.
- Sobriquet Sex Switch: Lou and Stu enter Tommy into the beauty pageant under the name "Tonya".
- Tempting Fate: Didi is perfectly fine with leaving Lou behind at the mall, saying he can think about what his actions during the long walk home. Cue Drew's car passing by, with Lou happily riding on the towed boat.
- Twin Switch: Phil and Lil do this when they try to convince Tommy that looking like a girl isn't so bad. Phil puts on Lil's ribbon and cries like Lil to get Betty's attention, leading Betty to believe that he is Lil and Lil is Phil.
"Baseball" provides examples of:
- Adults Are Useless: Stu and Lou become so engrossed in the game, that they don't notice that Tommy has run off to chase his balloon.
- Bait-and-Switch: At the beginning of this episode, it looks like a boat is struggling to make it through a field of icebergs. However, it is soon revealed that Tommy is in the bathtub, playing with his toy boat.
- Baseball Episode: Stu and Lou take Tommy to see a baseball game between the Grizzlies and the Boston Boomers. Tommy gets a balloon at the game, which becomes the main focus of the episode's plot, as it keeps escaping his grasp. He leaves to chase the balloon while Stu and Lou are oblivious that he's missing and continue to watch the baseball game.
- Big Damn Heroes: Bucky catches Tommy during the fall.
- Bland-Name Product: A GoodDay blimp flies over the stadium.
- Chasing a Butterfly: A variation; as Stu and Lou are distracted with watching the game, Tommy wanders off and chases his balloon.
- Fainting: After seeing Bucky catch Tommy on live TV, Didi is overwhelmed and promptly hits the floor.
- 555: At the beginning of this episode, Lou calls 555-KOLD to enter the radio contest that wins him, Stu, and Tommy tickets to a baseball game between the Grizzlies and the Boomers.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Bucky when he sees Tommy falling right towards him.
- As everyone marvels over Bucky's catch, Lou says the baby looks a lot like Tommy. He checks the seat next to him and realizes that is Tommy, leading to a loud, "JUMPIN' JEHOSHAPHAT!"
- Radio Contest: At the beginning of this episode, Lou enters one and ends up winning three tickets to go to be baseball game between the Grizzlies and the Boomers.
- Tertiary Sexual Characteristics: Averted with Bucky Majors, who is clearly male yet is given prominent eyelashes.
- What Is This, X?: Stu badgers Lou on how the game's going after they both fall asleep.Lou: What do I look like, a scoreboard!?
- When I Was Your Age...: While posing for a newspaper photo, Lou bores Bucky with talk of how he could've gone pro back in his day and how they played real baseball back then.
