| The Baby Vanishes | Gallery | Transcript |
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"The Baby Vanishes" is an episode of Rugrats from Season 3.
Characters Present[]
Character Mentioned[]
Synopsis[]
Thinking that the vanishing cream can actually make a person vanish, Angelica uses it on Tommy and Chuckie, then on herself. Meanwhile the adults play a very difficult board game called "Neurosis".
- Description from Klasky Csupo
Recap[]
Drew notices Angelica playing with Charlotte's make up. He attempts to punish her, but he lets her off easy, stating that they'll straighten things up a bit, so Charlotte won't even notice. He adds that in the future, he doesn't want her to play with Charlotte's $95-an-ounce oil of oleo vanishing cream. Angelica wants to know what vanishing cream is. Drew says it's something that grown-ups use to make things like unsightly liver spots invisible. Angelica asks if vanishing cream really works. Drew admits that it doesn't, but that grownups pretend for mommy's sake. Angelica smirks, having come up with a naughty idea....
Later that day at Tommy's house, Stu, Didi, and Chas are preparing the Lifestyle (but significantly more difficult) board game, Neurosis. While Drew rings the doorbell, Didi shows Chas the quiz column area of the latest issue of Lipschitz's magazine. Drew comes into the kitchen with some chocolate crème pie while Angelica heads to the playpen, where Tommy and Chuckie are playing with blocks. Angelica asks if the babies are missing anything. The two friends want to know what she's referring to. Angelica answers, "freedom, "inderplendence"...chocolate pie". She shows the babies that the pie is on the kitchen counter, but Chuckie says that they'll get in trouble if the grown-ups catch them taking the pie. Angelica hints that if nobody can see them do it, they can get it. She tells them about vanishing cream, and insists that they'll be invisible to grown-ups, and can therefore do whatever they want.
As Angelica takes Tommy and Chuckie to Didi's bedroom, the adults are finishing up the quiz, "Fifty Ways to Tell if your Child is a Spoiled Brat". Didi is a little worried, having answered one question negatively. Chas says it's okay, having marked four himself, and adding that, according to Lipschitz, up to ten is perfectly normal. Drew is very hesitant to reveal his results, and Chas sees that Drew scored forty-nine (Drew confesses that it's actually forty-nine and a half). The others, after several moments pause, say it's just a quiz and doesn't mean anything. But Drew unhappily admits that Angelica is horribly spoiled, and he doesn't know what to do. Didi tells him that Lipschitz has a cure for her behavior: to just flat out ignore all of her bad behavior. Drew agrees he'll try that, and the adults begin playing Neurosis.
The kids find Didi's vanishing cream, with Angelica putting a dab on Tommy and Chuckie and pretending they're invisible. The two go into the kitchen, with the grown-ups taking no notice as they set up the game. Angelica, certain that the boys would be caught and punished, is amazed that they stole the pie successfully; she believes that vanishing cream does work. As Tommy and Chuckie start eating the pie, Angelica suggests that the two put the cream on her. They put a dab on her cheeks, but Angelica asks for all of it so she can be extra invisible. They comply and Angelica and Cynthia are thoroughly covered in cream, clothes and all. As Angelica goes into the kitchen to do some "invisible" things, the parents pretend not to notice her. During this series of charades, Didi tries to serve the pie, but "notices" that it is missing.
Angelica dumps Spike's food bowl on top of Drew's head and snips his tie with scissors. She makes fun of her Daddy and tells him that she threw his office papers out the window on the freeway because he made her eat broccoli, thinking it was funny. Drew moans in horror because of this and faints on the table.
Angelica then heads back to the pen, saying that she'll never get into any trouble as long as she's invisible. Thinking Angelica took the pie, Didi suggests that the rest would just have cookies instead, and she gives Tommy and Chuckie one each. Angelica begs for a cookie, but Didi simply ignores her. Tommy suggests that Angelica wipe the cream off. Angelica tries to do so but is unable to get it to come off. Angelica thinks that she's going to be invisible for the rest of her life.
Drew, who has woken up, says that he couldn't believe Angelica threw out the Olsen report, saying it was a multi-million-dollar account. Didi says it was just a mistake, and children make them all the time. Drew says that Angelica won't get away with this mistake and marches to the playpen to punish her. However, after hearing Angelica say that she loves her daddy while lamenting about being invisible, Drew quickly changes his mind. He picks his daughter up and says that she's learned her lesson. Drew suggests that he take Angelica home for some cleanup and that he'll buy her an ice cream cone on the way. Angelica suggests the flavors she wants and some toys she wants, including a Mr. X exploding smash-up doll and a Cynthia lunch box.
Trivia[]
- The "vanishing cream" Angelica uses on Chuckie, Tommy, and herself is labeled "Mud". Believe it or not, there actually was a facial cream on the market called "Mudd".
- Another of Charlotte's cosmetics, "Oil of Oleo," is a parody of the real-life cosmetic Oil of Olay. Oleo is another term for margarine.
- Angelica says she threw her father's office papers out the car window on the freeway as retaliation for him making her eat broccoli. However, in the episode "Pickles vs. Pickles", Angelica's mother says that she (Angelica) did not think broccoli was so bad the last time she tried it prior to that episode.
- Drew reveals that he cooks chocolate chip pancakes for Angelica a few nights weekly, but later, in the special "Chanukah", Angelica says Charlotte doesn't allow her to have pancakes for dinner.
- It's possible that Drew stopped doing this in an attempt to spoil Angelica less, or the special takes place before this episode (it's unlikely he would have been giving her pancakes if Charlotte was forbidding this).
- The title of the episode is a reference to the 1938 Alfred Hitchcock film, The Lady Vanishes.
- Moral: Your parents will always care for you and show their love for you no matter what you do, good or bad.
Goofs[]
- Tommy asks what "invisible" means. But in the episode "My Friend Barney" (earlier in the series), Tommy already knew what invisible meant. Either this episode takes place before "My Friend Barney" or Tommy forgot.