The fifth episode of the sixth season of Rugrats (1991).
Submarine
When Stu goes to Looney Larry's car dealership to buy a new family car, the babies have an underwater-themed adventure, where they visualize Looney Larry as a shark.
Chuckie's a Lefty
When Chuckie discovers that he's left-handed, he thinks that his skill will make him a freak.
"Submarine" provides examples of:
- Abnormal Ammo: When the babies think that Larry is about to attack Stu, Tommy orders Chuckie to fire the "potatoes" (torpedoes) at him. Chuckie points out that they don't have any "potatoes", so they just decide to fire whatever they have at him. They toss their bottles, rattles, toys, and a pretzel at him.
- The Alleged Car: Larry's cars are all junk. A tire on the first one he tries to sell to Stu pops, and another one is in such sorry shape that Tommy and Chuckie, two babies, push a door off its hinges.
- Alliterative Name: Looney Larry.
- Contrived Coincidence: When Stu plans to buy a new car, Lou warns him that used car salesman are always "sharks". Not only does Larry literally have a hairstyle that resembles a shark fin, but his crooked business practices are exposed by the babies as well.
- Honest John's Dealership: This episode plays off Lou's description of used car salesmen being sharks as a pseudo-Jaws parody.
- Insane Proprietor: The car dealership that Stu goes to is Looney Larry's used cars.
- Laser-Guided Karma: Larry tries to sell Stu a used car through crooked business practices. Near the end of the episode, the babies reveal that, just as Lou predicted, the good cars are kept in the back for the employees to use. Larry is given the choice of either selling his own car to Stu or talking to the cops about the lemons he was trying to sell, and ultimately goes with the former.
- Literal-Minded: When Lou takes the babies to Looney Larry's, he tells them that they're going to have to save Stu from the sharks. The babies believe this to be true and go on an imaginary underwater adventure where they visualize the showroom models as submarines and Larry as a shark.
- Malaproper: The babies constantly mispronounce words in this episode, including "Scrubmarine" (Submarine), "Tuba diver" (Sucba diver), "Paddle stations" (battle stations), "Bear-a-scope" (periscope), "Potatoes" (torpedoes), "Admirable" (admiral), and "Worst Mate" (First Mate).
- Not Where They Thought: When the babies go to Looney Larry's car dealership, they visualize it as the ocean, the showroom models as submarines, and the employees as sharks.
- Obviously Evil: Lou calls used car salesman "sharks." Looney Larry’s hair is shaped like a shark's dorsal fin, and he is introduced with an over-the-top Jaws-style theme while Finger-Tenting. The babies imagining him as a literal shark doesn't look much more blatantly villainous than the real thing.
- Papa Wolf: Lou comes with Stu to Looney Larry’s car dealership under the suspicion that his Horrible Judge of Character son will get scammed if he goes on his own. He is right, as Stu is oblivious that Larry selling is cars that are clearly pieces of junk.
- Senior Sleep-Cycle: As usual, Lou falls asleep when he is tasked with looking after the babies.
- Threatening Shark: The babies visualize Larry as a shark who tries to eat Stu.
- Waking Non Sequitur: After the babies accidentally knock the door off of a showroom model in an attempt to open it, believing the model to be a submarine, the crash awakens Lou, who shouts "Take cover, Sarge!"
- Wearing It All Wrong: As the babies escape from Larry, they wear diapers on their heads, pretending they're diving suits.
"Chuckie's a Lefty" provides examples off:
- Baffled by Own Biology: Chuckie is at first confused as to why he's been favouring his left hand, since he's recently become left-handed; handedness often doesn't develop until toddlerhood and he's two. When he hears Didi mention his "right" hand, he fears he's using his "wrong" one.
- Family Theme Naming: Stu and Drew reveal in this episode that they had an uncle named Hugh who was left-handed, and he always put his pants on backwards.
- I Resemble That Remark!: When Tommy tells Angelica that she's kind of bossy, she tells him he's not. She then orders Phil to get away from an old dead fly she found, Tommy Chuckie, and Lil to move away, and Dil to stop sneezing.
- Like Father, Like Son: In a previous episode, "The Odd Couple", Chas is portrayed as writing left-handed when he works on a Crossword Puzzle. In this episode, Chuckie is revealed to have developed as a lefty as well.
- Malaproper:
- Angelica mispronounces "Population" as "Poopulation", and "United" and "Ignited".
- Both Chuckie and Angelica mispronounce "Attraction" as "Distraction".
- Nose Nuggets: When Dil is sick with a cold, Angelica nicknames him "Goo Boy" and advertises him as the "ickiest baby in the world". Timmy and Teddy are less than impressed.Timmy: That's just a baby!
Teddy: Hey, my nose runs too! - Severely Specialized Store: This episode features a store called "Not Quite Right" that sells only left-handed products.
- Sick Episode: Downplayed; in this episode, Dil has a runny nose, believed by Didi to be a cold. However, it's not part of the main plot.
- Two Beings, One Body: Played with; inspired by a two-headed cow she saw at the Museum of the Strange and Unusual that she and her parents visited, Angelica pulls the head off her leprechaun doll and glues it onto the shoulder of her Cynthia doll in an attempt to pass it off as a two-headed doll. Timmy isn't fooled, but Angelica claims Cynthia was born with two heads.
