In the Dreamtime

"In the Dreamtime" is an episode of Rugrats from Season 3

Characters Present

 * Tommy
 * Chuckie
 * Phil
 * Lil
 * Spike
 * Chas
 * Stu (cameo)
 * Bull Dog

Synopsis
''Chuckie is having trouble distinguishing fantasy from reality after having vivid dreams at night. This almost results in disaster when he sleepwalks into his neighbors yard, where a bulldog is keeping watch.''

- Description from Klasky Csupo

Recap
The episode begins on what appears to be a normal day in the sandbox at Tommy Pickles' house. After the babies watch ants float atop a tiny stream of water, Lil asks what they're going to do next. Tommy suggests that they go to Spike's doghouse. While along the way, Chuckie notices some strange things happening, like walking flowers, waving snowmen, flying toaster planes, and a man only clad in a bush. When the babies make it, Chuckie notices that the doghouse is a big mansion. Inside, he notices that Spike is talking with a Cockney English accent, drinking some tea. Chuckie realizes that Spike isn't supposed to talk and asks Tommy what is going on, only for him to turn around, with a silly clown face and a different voice. Tommy says, "I'm not Tommy!" and then giggles. Chuckie wakes up in his room, scared—it was all a dream.

Chas comes into the room, alarmed, asking Chuckie if he had a bad dream. Chas assures Chuckie that he doesn't have to be scared of dreams, saying that nothing in a dream can hurt him. Chas gives Chuckie a kiss, and he goes back to sleep.

The next day, or so it seems as it was a nightmare too, Chuckie tells the babies about his dream while rolling the ball in Tommy's playpen. Tommy tells the others to come up to his grandpa's room. While going up the stairs, Chuckie notices that the stairs aren't what they seem. While at the top of them, the babies go into Grandpa Lou's room—a galaxy of planets and stars and have fun in it. Chuckie attempts to go in, only to fall—back into his room. It was just a dream, too.

The next day, while the babies are watching worms race and ants float, Chuckie tells everyone about his dreams. After Phil and Lil wish that Tommy was a clown in real life, Chuckie thinks he's dreaming all over again. The babies try to convince Chuckie that he isn't dreaming, only for Chuckie to deny that the babies are really his friends.

After the babies go into Spike's doghouse, Chuckie says that he's going into the next yard to talk to the neighbor's dog, a bulldog, which he does. After talking to the dog, Chuckie falls on his bottom, saying that it hurts. This is proof that Chuckie isn't dreaming. Tommy saves Chuckie's life by distracting the dog into fetching a stick. Chuckie, realizing that he's awake, faints after going into the next yard.

Later that night, Chas had a nightmare too. In it, Chas puts Chuckie into bed, and Chuckie goes to sleep. As soon as Chas enters the next room, he notices Stu in there asks him that he didn't know he was coming over, only for the latter to turn with a clown face on. Stu says "I'm not Stu!" in a weird, silly voice and giggles, very similar to Chuckie's dream at the beginning of the episode. Chas wakes up, screaming with fright—it was all a dream, ending the episode.

Trivia

 * The creamy yellow sky foreshadows that Chuckie is in a dream.
 * This is one of the only episodes where Spike actually talks, aside from the movie Rugrats Go Wild. (in dream sequence) Spike's voice is provided by Michael Bell who also voices Chas, Drew, Boris, and Spike's barking.
 * The "I'm not Tommy!" and "I'm not Stu!" clown scenes would later be parodied in YouTube Poop videos. Also, these scenes are popular on YouTube.
 * The "I'm not Tommy!" and "I'm not Stu!" clown scenes could be an allusion to Large Marge from the 1985 film Pee Wee's Big Adventure.
 * This episode had the intro that was used in this season from episodes 40 to episode 54. This is the last time to use this intro.
 * At the hall before "grandpa's bedroom", there's a picture of Tommy looking like Krumm from Aaahh!!! Real Monsters.
 * The episode's ending makes it unclear if the whole episode was Chas' dream, or just the "I'm not Stu" scene.
 * Chas explained to Chuckie that during dreams, no one can get hurt and later Chuckie tells the babies that he doesn't like his dreams. Nevertheless, both of Chuckie's dreams looks more like nightmares instead of dreams.
 * The description from Klasky Csupo is inaccurate, in which it says that Chuckie was sleepwalking into the yard with the bulldog bur in the actual episode, Chuckie was awake when he was doing this.
 * Chuckie was actually daydreaming when he went into the yard with the bulldog.
 * A similar plot would later be used in the Ed Edd n Eddy episode, "Rock-A-Bye Ed".
 * This episode shares some similarities with the science-fiction film Inception as both have a character or two trying to distinguish what is real, or what is a dream.
 * The title of this episode "In The Dreamtime" might be a reference to the term used by early anthropologists to refer to the religion-cultural worldview attributed to Australian Aboriginal beliefs.
 * Moral: Understand the difference between fiction and reality and avoid daydreaming in dangerous situations.

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