Toy Palace

"Toy Palace" is the first segment of the first episode of Season 2, and the fourteenth episode overall of Rugrats.

Characters Present

 * Tommy
 * Chuckie
 * Chas
 * Stu
 * Security Guard
 * Thorg
 * Reptar
 * Clerk

Synopsis
Tommy and Chuckie unwittingly end up in a toy store after it closes when they wander away from their fathers.


 * - Description from Klasky Csupo

Plot
Stu and Chas have taken a day out with Tommy and Chuckie to the Toy Palace. Although Chas is concerned about some of the toys (such as a radioactive alligator and an actual working time machine for kids) in addition to the fellow customers aggravating his asthma causing him to wheeze, Stu is in his element as a toy inventor and has no problem with any of the toys. Likewise, Tommy and Chuckie love Toy Palace - so much that they decide to live in the store. Putting toy replacements in their strollers while their respective dads aren't looking, Tommy and Chuckie manage to slip off as the store closes for the day.

Though the store has an elaborate camera system complete with dozens of cameras, the security guard doesn't pay attention at all as he eats doughnuts and watches TV. Deep inside Toy Palace, Tommy and Chuckie wander around and see things such as a miniature setup of a Grizzlies baseball game and a Cowboys & Indians play set. When they accidentally activate it, the little Indians fire toy arrows with plastic suction cups that strike a nearby teddy bear. Tommy uses a doctor play kit to "save" the bear by covering it in bandages. Chuckie decides to take the bear with them as they go on.

Meanwhile, Chas and Stu arrive back at their homes, only to finally realize their boys are missing and rush back to the toy store. Meanwhile, the babies decide to ride on the toy train. However, it turns out to be significantly more thrilling than expected as the tracks are very much like that of a roller coaster.

After passing through the Dummi Bear section of the store, the teddy bear falls off the train, and Chuckie jumps off to save it. Tommy pulls on the brakes and manages to successfully stop the train, though the sudden stop causes him to fly off. He lands safely in a display of small stuffed gorillas, unknowingly activating a much larger one at the same time. Tommy then sets off to try and find Chuckie.

Chuckie wanders around to try and find Tommy. Unfortunately, he walks into a dimly lit section that's filled with clown toys. Chuckie is frightened until Tommy shows up, but their relief is short lived as Thorg, the large mechanical gorilla, shows up shouting "Thorg hungry! Thorg want eat!" causing the two to flee.

Stu and Chas finally arrive back at Toy Palace and knock on the security door. The guard cautiously answers, and Stu and Chas explain the situation to him. Unfortunately, the guard doesn't believe them because the toy store is armed with a certain state-of-the-art security system and would have picked up on the babies (it did, though, and the only reason the guard didn't notice the babies was because he was distracted by a portable TV he brought from home). Stu becomes interested because he had heard of the security system, but Chas wants to find his son. Moments later, he spies both babies on one of the cameras and rushes into the store, followed by Stu and the guard (who is shocked that they penetrated the system).

Thorg appears to be actively chasing Tommy and Chuckie, so they decide that someone needs to fight Thorg: Reptar! They find a large mechanical Reptar not unlike Thorg and manage to activate it. Reptar begins to move, repeating the phrase "Halt! I am Reptar!" in a very heroic sounding male voice. Reptar and Thorg "fight" until the mechanical Reptar pushes Thorg into the time machine. The time machine activates, sending it back to the time of the American Revolutionary War, when George Washington and his army are crossing the Delaware River. Moments later, Stu and Chas arrive and are reunited with their sons. The security guard is happy to see them reunited, especially Reptar.

Goofs

 * At the beginning, the model train has a diesel locomotive horn. All other times in the episode, it has a steam whistle.
 * When the Cowboys 'n Indians playset is first activated, the toy horses the cowboys ride on are initially static as they are moved along their track. But in the next shot when the Native Americans began calling war-whoops, the horses' legs are now moving to create the effect that they are running.

Trivia

 * It is revealed that Chas has Asthma. Asthma is a condition in which your airways narrow and swell and may produce extra mucus. This can make breathing difficult and trigger coughing, a whistling sound (Like wheezing for example as heard in the beginning of the episode) when you breathe out and shortness of breath.
 * There are toys of "Daleks" (an alien race of robots of the Sci-Fi series Doctor Who) in the Toy Palace.
 * The Gorilla Thorg is an obvious reference to King Kong just as Reptar is to Godzilla; Thorg, along with the likes of Dactar, Robosnail, and Robot Reptar, is a possible enemy to Reptar but it was never conformed.
 * The fight between Reptar and Thorg is an obvious nod to the third Godzilla film King Kong vs. Godzilla.
 * Toy Palace is based on the defunct toy store chain Child World.
 * This is the first episode Didi was not seen or mentioned in.
 * This episode's plot was recycled for the SpongeBob SquarePants episode Toy Store of Doom (some people consider the SpongeBob episode to be taking the idea from Rugrats, but this is unconfirmed).
 * This episode marks the first steps of Chuckie being scared of clowns. Though he was nervous in this episode, he actually became scared in "Circus Angelicus".
 * The store does not seem to have an alarm or scanner, as the toys Tommy and Chuckie place in their strollers don't trigger the security system. Of course, the plot wouldn't work if their dads knew they were gone even before they tried to leave the store. It's also possible that the entire security system is broken since Tommy and Chuckie never tripped the alarms themselves.
 * When Thorg is sent back in time, the depiction of the Delaware crossing is like that of the famous painting... which is historically inaccurate!
 * The large mechanical Thorg is seen again in the episode "Chuckie is Rich", this time purchased by Chas as one of Chuckie's many new toys. Chas also mentions Toy Palace when contemplating buying Chuckie more toys before deciding he already purchased almost everything from the store for Chuckie.
 * The large train from Toy Palace is mentioned in "Pickles vs. Pickles", as Angelica's most desired birthday present for her third birthday. It's presumably one of the most popular toys sold at Toy Palace, because Drew was unable to purchase one. Although most of the events in "Pickles vs. Pickles" were a nightmare, it's likely that Angelica did want the train for her third birthday, and Drew wasn't able to get it for her, and feels guilty about it.
 * This episode was made into a level for the video game Rugrats: Search for Reptar. It reappears again in Rugrats: Time Travelers.
 * There is a miniature baseball stadium setup featuring the Grizzlies, which was the team Stu, Grandpa Lou, and Tommy went to see in the episode "Baseball".
 * Starting with this episode, the overseas animation is now done by Anivision, a division of Sunwoo Entertainment (and was eventually folded into Sunwoo by 2000). As a result, Tommy has been redesigned a bit, so he looks like his modern self, though on occasion it briefly resembles Tommy's older design throughout the episode. Chuckie's design has been refined as well so he looks more like his more modern self. The rest of the animation is also more polished-looking, compared to the first season's animation by Wang Film Productions.
 * This is the first time Chas is in his normal clothes. It is also revealed that Chas has asthma and therefore uses an inhaler.
 * The opening shot of this episode of the toy train's headlight in the tunnel is very similar to the opening shot of a 1985 Jim Henson's Muppet Babies episode "The Great Cookie Robbery," also opening with a very similar shot of a toy train Baby Kermit is riding on coming out of a tunnel. (In the 1990s, Muppet Babies reruns also aired on Nickelodeon).