The twelfth episode of the eighth season of Rugrats (1991).
A Tale of Two Puppies
The babies try to help Spiffy and Puppy, Spike and Fifi's last two puppies, find new homes.
Okey-Dokey Jones and the Ring of the Sunbeams
The babies have an Indiana Jones-style adventure inside an exotic pet store while trying to retrieve Lil's toy ring from a monkey cage.
"A Tale of Two Puppies" provides examples of:
- Animals See in Monochrome: Scenes from the puppies' point of view are shown in black and white, with the humans speaking in gibberish.
- Call-Back: When Chuckie tries to teach Puppy how to be brave, one of the things he encounters is Hubert the garbage truck.
- Cowardly Lion:
- Chuckie, who for the whole episode has tried unsuccessfully to face his fears so he can teach Puppy to be brave, stands up to Angelica and tells her all the reasons why she can't adopt Puppy.
- When Puppy sees Angelica being mean to Chuckie, she stands up to Angelica by running up to her and barking angrily at her.
- Face Your Fears: Chuckie has to learn to do this if he wants Puppy to be brave and to help her find a new home.
- Limited Wardrobe: In this episode, Stu wears a pair of orange plaid pants when his regular blue jeans are chewed up by Spiffy.
- Manchild: Stu. In this episode, he begs Didi to let him keep Spiffy like a small child would. Lampshaded by Didi.Didi: Three little boys and Spike is more than enough.
- Portmanteau: The name Stu gives to the puppy he wants to keep is "Spiffy", as he is the son of Spike and Fifi.
- Pushover Parents: While Drew usually falls into this territory, he tells Angelica that taking care of a puppy is a lot of responsibility and that he said they'd talk about it, which Angelica misinterprets as him saying yes after she chooses which puppy she wants. Drew is relieved when Angelica tells him she doesn't want a puppy after all.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Chuckie gives one to Angelica when he tells her the reasons why she wouldn't be a good owner to Puppy.Chuckie: No, Angelica. You can't have her!
Angelica: Oh, yeah? How come?
Chuckie: Cause'... you're... loud, and bossy, and selfish, and sometimes plain not very nice! - Series Continuity Error: In this episode, Chuckie is shown to be scared of pillbugs, despite previously keeping one for a pet without a problem.
- Shout-Out: This episode's title is a reference to the 1859 Charles Dickens novel, A Tale of Two Cities.
- Trouser Space: Phil puts the leaf with a face he found in his pants.
- Uncatty Resemblance: Puppy looks and acts so much like Chuckie that it's almost scary—not only is she shy and afraid of nearly everything, but she also has orange fur, some of which sticks out like Chuckie's hair and even a purple spot over her eye that resembles Chuckie's glasses.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: One of the things Chuckie tries to overcome his fear of is the man on the oatmeal box. Just thinking about the man terrifies him.
"Okey-Dokey Jones and the Ring of the Sunbeams" provides examples of:
- Bird-Poop Gag: The parrot that Lou tries to get for Lulu poops on Lou's head.
- Fowl-Mouthed Parrot: A G-rated example; Lou's parrot says "Hey, lady! Want a date?" to a lady who passes by him and Lou. The lady accuses Lou of saying that to her, despite Lou trying to tell her that it was the parrot. When Lou glares angrily at the parrot, the Parrot asks him, "What are you lookin' at?"
- Imagine Spot: Shown whenever Tommy imagines himself as Okey-Dokey Jones and his friends as explorers.
- Look Behind You: Angelica distracts the babies by telling them there's some stuff babies like behind them so she can get Lil's ring.
- Raiders of the Lost Parody: In this episode, the babies go on an Indiana Jones-style adventure to retrieve Lil's missing ring from a monkey's cage.
- Tempting Fate: When Chuckie tries to talk Tommy out of retrieving Lil's ring from the Monkey, Tommy says, "No monkey's too big for Okey-Dokey Jones!". He then comes across a giant ape (which in reality, is one of the pet store's employees) and says "Except maybe that one."
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Parodying Indiana Jones' fear of snakes, Okey-Dokey Jones has a fear of lizards. Tommy even paraphrases the trope name, with "lizzers" in place of "snakes".
