Incident in Aisle Seven

"Incident in Aisle Seven" is the second segment of the tenth episode of Season 1, and the tenth Rugrats segment overall.

Characters Present

 * Tommy
 * Didi
 * Stu
 * Lou
 * Reptar
 * Larry
 * Steve
 * Tom
 * Manager 1

Summary
When Grandpa Lou takes Tommy with him to the supermarket, madcap adventure follows as Tommy gets loose and goes on a quest for Reptar cereal.


 * - Description from Klasky Csupo

Plot
One day in the Pickles' household, Grandpa Lou is cheerfully enjoying television when he realizes he's out of his favorite snack; Fudgy Ding-A-Ling Bars! While he looks for another box in the kitchen, Tommy sees a commercial for brand new Reptar Cereal, which promises to turn milk green. Tommy becomes determined to have Reptar Cereal as he's picked up and carried into the kitchen.

It turns out there aren't any boxes of Fudgy Ding-A-Ling Bars left in the entire house. Grandpa Lou announces he's going to go to the store to buy some more, and is given a list of groceries for the entire week by Didi and Stu. Lou insists he just wants his snacks, while Didi and Stu point out he ought to buy the week's groceries while he's there.

Stu also loans Grandpa Lou his scientific calculator so he can calculate sales and coupons before checking out. Lou insists he doesn't need a calculator for a few snacks and claims he can use his fingers just fine, and can even use his toes for larger numbers. Lou is reminded, again, that he's buying all of the groceries and is urged to take the calculator. Grandpa Lou takes the list, the calculator, and Tommy with him and leaves the house without saying much else. Didi hopes he comes home with more then just armfuls of Fudgy Ding-A-Ling Bars. Stu just hopes he comes back.

At the grocery store Grandpa Lou actually abides by Didi and Stu's wishes by picking up (most) of the groceries while Tommy keeps an eye out for Reptar Cereal. Grandpa Lou makes a point to avoid picking up the cereal on the list (Corrugated Bran Puffs) and sarcastically comments on them before finally grabbing more then a few boxes of Fudgy Ding-A-Ling Bars.

Now that he's finished shopping, Grandpa Lou tries to use the calculator to figure out the total cost of the groceries, though without much success. While he's preoccupied, Tommy decides to look for Reptar Cereal on his own. Using a link of sausage as a lasso, he latches onto another cart which takes him away from Grandpa Lou.

As he travels along, Tommy passes another cart with a baby girl in it. Tommy tries to ask her where Reptar is, but the cart pulling his along takes him away from the girl before she can answer. Shortly afterwards Tommy decides to abandon his cart in the middle of the store so he can search on foot.

Tommy encounters the girl again and asks a second time if she knows where Reptar is. It turns out the Reptar Cereal is right on the end of that aisle. However, before Tommy can move, the girl's mother sees Tommy under her cart and panics. She backs into a display of watermelon which topple loose and roll throughout the store, knocking over and breaking many things. Tommy is knocking down Wipe Offs, Nonsense Baby Powder, Baby Oil, Baby Shampoo, Baby Lotion, Super Dry, Squeaky Clean, Tighties and Snug Fits on the floor. Watermelon chases Nonsense Baby Powder, Perpi, and Lobsters on the floor. Customers all over the store panic and announcements for aisle cleanups go out over the intercom (Grandpa Lou is oblivious to all of this as he's still fiddling with the calculator). Tommy and the baby girl find the entire thing amusing.

Tommy sets off toward the display, where he hitches a ride on a miniature working windmill (an advertisement for the store's Dutch Bakery) and winds up on top of the light fixtures. Tommy climbs down a large Reptar cutout to the top of the Reptar Cereal display. He grabs and pinnacle laughs one of the boxes and rides it like a sled down the display (knocking it down in the process) and back towards Grandpa Lou.

Grandpa Lou finishes using the calculator and notices Tommy on the floor with the box of cereal. Unaware of the entire incident, Grandpa Lou puts Tommy back in their cart (which ended up back next to Lou during the chaos) and heads over to the checkout. As Grandpa Lou unloads the cart he comments on the state of the store and notices the box of Reptar Cereal. He isn't sure how it ended up in their cart, but doesn't care as it sounds considerably more appetizing then Corrugated Bran Puffs!

As Tommy and Grandpa Lou leave the store, calls for cleanup continue to go out over the intercom. Steve and Larry, who currently work at the grocery store, argue over who's going to clean up the next mess. Both of them insist they don't have to do it based on the messes they've already cleaned up while the voice over the intercom yells for them to clean up the mess!

Trivia

 * This is the second appearance of Reptar.
 * This was the last episode to air in 1991
 * It's one of the times a Rugrat other than Angelica speaks in front of the adults, in this case Tommy.
 * The episode is later a level in the video game Rugrats: Search for Reptar.
 * The old Nickelodeon site lists this episode as Incident in Aisle 7, using a numbered seven instead.
 * The Season 1 DVD also used the numeral one rather than the spelled out one. Whenever the DVD is played, it has 7 in written-out form, despite the back of the DVD saying "Incident in Aisle 7" rather than spelled out.
 * Tommy lands on a large stack of Tighties diapers, the same diapers Phil and Lil made a commercial of in "Baby Commercial".
 * Most of the mess isn't actually created directly by Tommy.
 * First episode to feature Reptar Cereal, which shows up in several future episodes and is later indicated to be Tommy's favorite cereal.
 * Lou asked how did the cereal get in the cart despite he saw Tommy on the ground with it.
 * The scene where Lou puts A lot of food in the cart is seen on the Videos VHS commercial.
 * When Larry gets covered in milk, he says that he and Steve should have stayed at the Octoplex. Larry and Steve previously worked at the snack bar of the Octoplex theater in "At the Movies".
 * This marks the third time Larry and Steve have appeared in an episode.
 * A sign that says Melon Camp can be seen atop the pile of watermelons. This is an obvious pun on the name of musician John Mellencamp.
 * The large stack of Perpi that is knocked over by the watermelons is a parody of Pepsi Cola.
 * Nonsense Baby Powder its the parody of Johnson's Baby Powder.
 * Nonsense & Nonsense is the parody Johnson & Johnson.
 * Moral: Focus on what your family needs other than yourself. Wait until the end to focus on your needs.

Goofs

 * A lobster on the cash register rips the Tom's bowtie off. In the next scene, it's back on.
 * When Lou first begins adding up his total he says that the cost of the Fudgy Ding-A-Ling Bars is $2.79, but the price displayed on the shelf was $1.25.
 * Throughout this episode, all likenesses of Reptar depict him with white eye sclerae instead of the usual orange sclerae. This also happens in this episode's companion episode "Weaning Tommy", with Dr. Homer's Reptar mask.