Spike's Babies

"Spike's Babies" is a Season 4 episode of Rugrats.

Characters Present

 * Tommy
 * Chuckie
 * Phil
 * Lil
 * Angelica
 * Didi
 * Stu
 * Lou
 * Drew
 * Spike

Synopsis
''When Spike steals Angelica's play barbecue, Chuckie's shirt, and Stu's franks while seen by the Rugrats continually going under the Pickles' house, the babies think he may be under the control of aliens. That isn't the case, however, as they find out he has adopted a litter of kittens -- Description from Klasky Csupo''

Plot
It's summer! Stu has created a brand new homemade grill with it's own walkway, and today is it's inagural barbecue. The walkway is still wet, so Stu warns everyone to stay off until it's dried.

The babies, having already experienced a barbecue in "Barbecue Story", are more interested in Spike. Spike is dashing back and forth across the walkway, and steals a cardboard box, Chuckie's shirt, and the sausages Stu planned on grilling. The babies decide to follow Spike to see what he's up to, and cross the walkway to the other side of the yard. Stu notices fresh footprints in the cement and is horrified.

The gang finds an entrance to the crawlspace under the Pickles' house and crawl on in. They see what appears to be a monstrous shape. But, when it walks over to them, they see it's Spike with an abandoned litter of kittens.

The babies wonder if the kittens are Spike's babies, and wonder how they can be if they're cats. They also realize that Spike took the box for use as a bed, and the sausages as food for them to eat. Chuckie, who was mad that Spike stole his shirt, sees the kittens using his shirt as a blankie and forgives Spike.

Tommy notices that the kittens are having a difficult time biting the sausage and says that while Spike did a good job with getting a bed and blanket, the kittens need milk for food. The four of them decide to help out their fellow (furry) babies by fetching them milk. They leave the crawlspace and once again cross the walkway, just after Stu finished getting rid of their previous footprints. Now Stu is furious.

Stu finishes smoothing out the cement once again and notices the crawlspace entrance. Stu decides to board it up, not noticing the kittens within.

Meanwhile, the babies have retrieved a carton of milk, and come back outside only to see that Stu is going to seal the kittens underneath their house. They begin crying. Before they can stop Stu, Didi prevents them from crossing the cement a third time. Spike, however, is able to stop Stu and blocks him from sealing up the crawl space (knocking him into the cement in the process). Stu is very angry, and wants to yell at Spike but stops when he sees the kittens appear from under the house and snuggle up against Spike. Realizing that he was trying to protect the kittens, the adults praise Spike and happily welcome the kittens into their barbecue.

Shortly after, Stu has had a change of mood and has all the babies step in the cement to forever preserve their baby feet in the backyard. Stu even leaves his own butt print in the cement and labels it appropriately.

With only one thing left to do, Spike bites the carton of milk to allow it to leak out and is finally able to feed his "babies".

Trivia

 * Spike later has a litter of his own, as he and Fifi have puppies in "Bow Wow Wedding Vows".
 * It is unknown who or where the kittens' parents are, or what happened to them.
 * This is the second time a book in the Zen series is mentioned. The first time was in Season 2's "King Ten Pin".

Goofs

 * The barbecue trail keeps switching its path.
 * In the last scene, Chuckie has on his normal blue shirt instead of the red one that Didi gave him to wear.
 * The kittens meow without opening their mouths.
 * When Stu is making a barbecue, Drew and Grandpa make fun of him. Watch when the scene cuts to Stu, then back to Drew. For about 1 second, Drew has beard exactly like Grandpa then it all of a sudden disappears!
 * For unknown reasons, the babies appear to not know what a barbecue is even though they did from the season 1 episode "Barbecue Story".