My Friend Barney

"My Friend Barney" is an episode from Season 2.

Characters Present

 * Tommy
 * Chuckie
 * Phil
 * Lil
 * Didi
 * Stu (mentioned)
 * Chas
 * Melinda (mentioned)
 * Betty
 * Lou (mentioned)
 * Barney

Synopsis
''Chuckie's new friend Barney is fun, fearless, and full of great idea. But when the Rugrats insist on meeting him, Barney is nowhere to be found. Meanwhile, Didi runs with Betty in the "Save the Grunion" 10k marathon. ''

- Description from Klasky Csupo

Plot
Tommy, Phil and Lil are bored until Chuckie, who just came over, talks about his new friend Barney, a neat kid who is really smart and really brave. Chuckie tells them that the both of them went through some neat stuff together, like the recent garage encounter. When asked if he was afraid, he answered that he's not afraid as long as Barney's around. He also says that Barney looks kinda like him, lives far away in a castle, and, like his parents, isn't allowed to cross the street, only coming to the Finsters' house. Meanwhile, Chas is trying to relabel his self-help videos. Didi offers him the red labels. Chas thanks her anyway, but he could only use brown ones to match his tapes. Didi asks Chas to take care of the kids while she is running at the "Save the Grunion" 10-kilometer marathon tomorrow. This delights the kids, saying that they're going to meet Barney.

The next day at Chuckie's, the two-year-old Rugrat takes his friends to the closet, showing them his dad's fish, which when Chas found with the babies, explains to Chuckie that Chuckie's mom didn't like it much, but with her gone, he can finally put it back up on the wall. The other babies ask where Barney is. Chuckie fibs, saying that Barney was sent to prison for only eating his broccoli, and he also says that he'll go to the park after they bail Barney out tomorrow.

In the car Tommy, Phil and Lil are apprehensive that they wanted to go to Tommy's house. After Didi comes back from the race with cramping feet, she and Betty pick the other kids up. The next day, Tommy convinces Didi to take him to the park, presenting his shovel and pail. Knowing that she has so much work to do, Didi reluctantly takes Tommy to the park. While there, Tommy overhears Chuckie talking to someone. Chuckie says that he's talking to Barney, whom Tommy can't see because he's "invisdible" and is shy. Didi picks Tommy up, telling him that they have a new game to play, "Getting these reports downtown before Mommy gets in trouble."

Back at Tommy's, the little one-year-old tells Phil and Lil about Barney. As the Finsters come over, Chaz suggests that he could use red labels for his nature documentaries while dropping Chuckie off into the playpen. Tommy thinks that Chuckie brought Barney over, too. Asking if they had any games to play, Chuckie offers games of "what's under the rug" and "basketball", only to think the others need practice. Back at the playpen to be safe, Chuckie says that Barney's tired, but the others ask him to do something fun. Chuckie thinks that Barney and the others should go on the roof. Tommy and the others think it's great. In Grandpa Lou's room, Chuckie admits to the others while they attempt to go up to the roof that Barney's just made up. The others say that it was just Chuckie who went to the closet and played "what's under the rug."

Back at the playpen, Phil suggested that Chuckie bring Barney back so that they can go up to the moon, but Chuckie says that once you say someone is made up, it's hard to get them to come over anymore. Chas picks up Chuckie, with a sheet of red labels in hand, then puts Chuckie on the welcome mat, telling him to wait here as he calls that his red labels were printed off center. While at the mat, Chuckie apologizes to Barney for telling the others that fib about his being made up and thinks that they'll always be friends.

Trivia

 * The early title for the episode was "Chuckie's Imaginary Friend".
 * Studies say that children, sometimes even adults that have imaginary friends or romantic partners, talk and interact to someone who could be either alive or dead as if they were physically present even though they aren't, talk to a deceased persons ghost/spirit, have fictitious flashbacks, detailed and delusional daydreams, have a vivid conscious and split personality etc., are very common towards people that experienced a traumatic experience. Judging by other evidence pointed in this episode, we can safely assume that albeit it's never discussed or brought up in this particular episode, that Chuckie's mother unfortunately passed away very recently time wise to this episode.
 * Chas mentions that Chuckie's mother didn't like the fish that Chuckie found in the closet and figures they can put it back up since she's gone. This is the first time it is mentioned that she is no longer around (though it is not until "Mother's Day" that it is revealed that she died).
 * Nickelodeon originally wanted the mention of Melinda cut because, while Chaz's deceased first wife had never appeared in the show at this point, the line implied that she was no longer with him. The line survived and made it into the episode. She died long before the show started.
 * When this episode was on TeeNick's The 90s Are All That/The Splat, the title card wasn't shown. It is seen on the Chuckie the Brave VHS.
 * In a scene (following the 10K marathon), Didi commented to Betty, saying: "You didn't tell me what a 'K' is!" Originally, the script had Betty saying that it was a 10K race with Didi saying that she didn't know that it was six miles. It was replaced with the present punchline because Nickelodeon felt it was funnier than the fact that 10 kilometers equals 6 miles.
 * Near the end of the episode, Chuckie told the Rugrats that Barney is not real & at the end of the episode, he is outside, still talking to Barney after he closes the door. Nickelodeon originally felt that it can't be done both ways & the episode should end when Chuckie mentions that Barney's not real, but the original ending remained in the episode.
 * According to Chuckie, Barney looks just like he does.
 * This episode was inspired by the children's television show Barney & Friends, where Barney the Dinosaur is the children's real make-believe friend alongside with Baby Bop, BJ, and Riff.
 * Moral: Always have positive thoughts when bad things happens.
 * Barney is indirectly mentioned in the All Grown Up! episode "Izzy or Isn't He?".