Spike the Wonder Dog

"Spike the Wonder Dog" is the thirty-sixth episode from Season 2 of Rugrats.

Characters Present

 * Tommy
 * Chuckie
 * Phil
 * Lil
 * Angelica
 * Spike
 * Stu
 * Didi
 * Oodles
 * Cynthia
 * Tullulah
 * Billy
 * Uncle Lyle
 * Drew (mentioned)

Synopsis
''Inspired by the TV show "Oddles the Talking Poodle", Angelica rigs Spike with Cynthia's toy celluar phone and convinces the Rugrats that he can talk. Will she be able to fool Tommy and his friends into obeying her orders when they think Spike is telling them what to do?''

- Description from Klasky Csupo

Plot
The babies are watching a show about a talking poodle named Oodles who saves peoples' lives. On the TV he saves a man named Lyle from a burning barn, who is the uncle of two clueless kids Billy and Tulula. He also puts out the fire (which was caused by an electric cable falling over.) and Lyle says "You can't talk. You're a dog." and the show ends.

Chuckie calls Oodles the best dog in the world, Lil admires how Oodles saves people when they are in trouble. Chuckie admires his fearlessness. They all like Oodles's ability to talk. Phil wants Spike to be able to talk, and Tommy thinks maybe he can, but Chuckie says he can't even roll over. Then Angelica comes and they inform her of the show with the talking dog. She shows them the toy phone, which she calls a big girl toy as it is like Charlotte's phone and the babies are too young for it. She then phones Cynthia to do her laundry and leaves.

All the while, she had been dismissing the idea of a talking dog. Tommy thinks Angelica is wrong and that dogs can talk, so they go off to make Spike talk. Tommy says "Hi" to Spike and tells him it is a nice day, also aking him if he's recently eaten any bones. Chuckie doubts that Spike will talk, but Tommy's not giving up and opens Spike's mouth. They think his breath smells bad and Tommy asks him why. Then Spike burps, which Phil and Lil think is talking and they argue what he said, but Tommy and Chuckie say that burping is not talking.

Then Phil and Lil think that maybe Spike is not talking because nobody is in trouble and Oodles only talks when someone is in trouble, so they tie Phil to a tree with toilet paper, Chuckie doubts it will work. Phil shouts for help as part of the plan, also referencing Uncle Lyle. Spike gets up and walks to the bush, but then he pees on it and doesn't say anything. He then goes back and falls asleep. They plan to untie Phil and then get some juice. Meanwhile, Angelica sneakily placed her toy phone to Spike's collar.

The babies are sad that Spike cannot talk. Then, using the phone, Angelica makes Spike say "Hey! Over here!", then the surprised babies ask him to say something else. The next piece of dialogue is "It's me. Spike. The dog." and a claim that he never talked before because he didn't feel like it. Tommy thinks that Spike is a poodle and they take him inside to play. Angelica makes Spike greet Didi, and Didi says she will have his dinner soon. Then Angelica makes Spike tell Stu to clean up a mess he made on the carpet. Stu is annoyed and surprised.

Angelica/Spike later asks the babies to get him/her cookies, despite them being for after dinner, threatening to eat them up if they do not. Despite their fear of the height of the table, Tommy climbs on the others and gets the cookie jar. Then Angelica/Spike tells them to put the jar outside, and when they do it, to get back inside. In the kitchen, the babies think Spike is acting strange both for a superhero and for a dog. Spike is lying down and they hear chewing like he is eating, but he isn't. Angelica is happily gloating and eating the cookies, but after the babies discover Angelica's toy phone falling out of Spike's collar, they call her out. Then, Spike knocks a plant over and barks at Stu. Stu and Didi follow Spike and catch Angelica with the empty cookie jar. They take Angelica to get cleaned up before informing Drew and Charlotte about her actions. Then, the babies all pet Spike, gradually accepting that he is a wonder dog.

Trivia

 * Nickelodeon wanted some "PUs" when Phil & Lil's mouths opened as a way to make the episode funnier.
 * In the "Oodles the Talking Poodle" part at the beginning of the episode, Nickelodeon thought that the childrens' comments about not having a barn or an Uncle Lyle was out of place, but it remained in the final episode draft.
 * Also, three of the famous dogs, Lassie, Old Yeller, and Rin Tin Tin all appeared one by one at the start of the intro to "Oodles the Talking Poodle".
 * Spike's dog breed is a Siberian Tiger Hound, and Siberian Tiger Hounds are rare dogs in the United States.
 * A line that Tommy says about Spike being a "wonder poodle" was removed from the episode because Nickelodeon thought that such confusion would be weird.
 * This episode is seen on the Easter VHS.
 * This is the third episode to feature Angelica's evil side; the first two are "The Trial" and "Sand Ho!".
 * Spike actually officially talked in Rugrats Go Wild. Mostly Eliza Thornberry that a shaman cast on her to talk to Animals.
 * Moral: Taunting and making fun of others in a mean way will come back to bite you. Share with others, and don't be greedy. Don't get caught in the act red-handed with your hand in the cookie jar.