The twentieth episode of the second season of Rugrats (1991).
The Seven Voyages of Cynthia
Angelica's Cynthia doll goes missing when Tommy and Chuckie take her on a boat ride.
My Friend Barney
Chuckie has an imaginary friend.
"The Seven Voyages of Cynthia" provides examples of:
- An Aesop:
- Don't take something that doesn't belong to you, even if you intend to return it afterwards. You could accidentally lose it and make the person it belongs to upset as a result.
- Don't leave something you value lying around, or someone could take it without your permission.
- Animals See in Monochrome: Several flashback sequences from Spike feature him seeing the world in black and white, as well has having the humans speak in gibberish.
- Berserk Button: Angelica really dislikes losing her Cynthia doll, and she threatens to turn whoever took it into "a million zillion blobs of applesauce".
- Borrowed Without Permission: Tommy and Chuckie are playing in a stream of water and make a sailboat from a piece of fence and a sign for peas from Drew's garden. However, they need a toy to be the captain for their boat. When Tommy sees Cynthia, the favorite doll of Angelica, his older cousin, he decides to use her. Chuckie, knowing that Cynthia is Angelica's doll, doesn't think using her is such a good idea, but Tommy tells him that they'll only need her for a little while and he will return her to Angelica when he's done with her. Unfortunately, while playing with Cynthia, the boat accidentally goes down a sewer drain, eventually winding up in a garbage dump. When Angelica finds out that Cynthia has gone missing, Tommy and Chuckie wonder whether or not they should tell her that they accidentally lost her, especially when she threatens to beat up whoever took her. They eventually confess when Angelica throws a funeral for Cynthia, but just before Angelica can beat them black and blue, Spike returns with Cynthia, having found her at the dump.
- Butt-Monkey: Done with an inanimate object. Angelica's Cyntha doll gets sent down a sewer, covered in dirty water, eaten and spit up by a fish and winds up at the city dump before Spike brings her home.
- Companion Cube: Angelica is shown to really care a lot about her Cynthia doll in this episode, even going as far as considering it her best friend, and wanting the original back instead of a replacement.
- Description Cut: During Angelica's funeral for Cynthia, Angelica says, "At least we know this; she's gone to a better place.". Cut to Cynthia at the city dump.
- Eat the Camera: The camera zooms in on Angelica's mouth when she screams after discovering Cynthia is missing.
- Help, I'm Stuck!: Stu gets his foot stuck in a bucket, and Drew has to help him get it out.
- Lost Toy Grievance/Mourning an Object: When Cynthia goes missing, Angelica becomes very upset over her disappearance, even going as far as to hold a funeral when she believes she truly lost her forever.Chuckie: I think this is it, Tommy. I think she's gone off her rocket.
- Oh, Crap!: Tommy and Chuckie when they overhear Angelica screaming for Cynthia.
- Pet the Dog: When Spike brings Cynthia back to Angelica, she calls him a "wonderful, beautiful dog".
- Premature Eulogy: Done with an inanimate object. Angelica throws a funeral for Cynthia when she goes missing and can't find her despite Tommy and Chuckie's efforts to help her. Cynthia is eventually found and returned to Angelica by Spike.
- Refuse to Rescue the Disliked: A variant; when Spike finds Angelica's Cynthia doll at the dump, he originally refuses to bring it back to Angelica when he remembers how mean she was to him. He reconsiders when he remembers how nice Tommy was to him, most likely because he didn’t want Tommy and Chuckie to get in trouble for accidentally losing Cynthia.
- Shout-Out:
- This episode's title is a reference to The 7th Voyage of Sinbad.
- As Cynthia travels down a waterfall, one of the things that can be seen on the ledge near the waterfall is a bottle with a note in it that says, "SEND HELP! Gilligan."
- Tropey, Come Home: Angelica kicks Spike out after he refuses to participate in a pretend wedding ceremony around the same time Tommy and Chuckie send her doll Cynthia on a boat ride... down a sewer drain. Spike finds the doll in a garbage dump and, remembering Angelica, decides to leave it. However, when he remembers Tommy, he snatches it and heads back. No one really realizes he was gone, but Angelica does become aware of Cynthia's disappearance.
"My Friend Barney" provides examples of:
- An Aesop: Always have positive thoughts when bad things happens.
- Disproportionate Retribution: When the other babies ask why Barney, Chuckie's imaginary friend, never comes over to play, Chuckie tells them this;
- Imaginary Friend: Chuckie creates an imaginary friend named Barney (no, not that Barney), who seems to be a lot braver than Chuckie.
- Missing Mom: In this episode, Chuckie finds a stuffed fish plaque, and Chas tells him, "Your mother never liked this fish much, but hey, I guess now we can hang it back up in the dining room!", confirming Chas' status as a single father. But it is not until "Mother's Day" when it is revealed that Melinda Finster is deceased.
