The Carwash

The Carwash	Gallery	Transcript

Season 4 Episode 7a
The Carwash
Original Airdate	September 13, 1997
DVD release	Season 4
Previous Episode	The 'Lympics
Next Episode	Heat Wave

"The Carwash" is a Season 4 episode of Rugrats.

Characters Present

• Tommy
• Angelica
• Chuckie
• Phil
• Lil
• Stu
• Chas
• Spike
• Boris (mentioned)
• Lou (mentioned)

Synopsis

When the Rugrats are left in Chas' mini-van as he enters a carwash, will they get soaked before their dads get them out? Defiently, if Angelica has any say in the matter! - Description from Klasky Csupo

Plot

It's around lunchtime, and Chas returns from the new automated car wash, proud of his clean car. Stu is washing his car the old fashioned way, which he prefers.

Chuckie tells his friends about the car wash. Chuckie is, naturally, terrified of it, and was glad his dad "rescued" him from having to be in the car while it went through. Phil and Lil, however, disagree. They say their mom allowed them to stay in their car, and it was a lot of fun! Tommy wants to experience the car wash now, too. When Angelica antagonizes them, they accidentally get Stu and Chas's cars clean cars dirty. Chas decides to return to the car wash for it to be clean, despite being there less than an hour ago. Because Stu doesn't want to spend the entire day washing his car, he accompanies Chas and brings the children along as well.

While Stu and Chas pay, the kids are still in Chas's car. Chuckie is still horrified by the car wash, while the others want to experience it. Angelica wants it to be a big kid experience only, but because Chas hasn't returned, they're all going to go through the car wash!

Chas has been arguing with one of the car wash employees, because he had been there that morning, and thus feels entitled to a discount. Suddenly Chas realizes he never took the kids out of the car, panics, and overreacts. He hijacks another man's car in the line so he can rescue the babies.

In the car wash, Tommy, Phil, and Lil love the experience, which disappoints Angelica because she had tried to scare them. Nobody notices Chas exit the other man's car inside the car wash, causing Chas to experience the car wash a bit too personally! Angelica, in an attempt to really frighten the babies, opens the moon roof just before the top of the car is to be washed. Chas is horrified, but he can do nothing. Tommy starts yodel cry with the babies. Angelica and Chuckie fighting over the buttons. Angelica presed the sun roof button, opens the moon roof again before the top of the car is to be washed Angelica in horrifield.

We fade to later on, that the car is all finish and clean. Finally, Chas manages to exit the car wash (getting sprayed by wax in the process). His car has exited ahead of him. When one of the doors is opened, water and soap bubbles flow out from within. Chuckie has decided the car wash isn't scary after all, and had a lot of fun with his friends. Stu has changed his mind about the car wash as well, and informs Chas he plans to take his car there every weekend from now on.

Goof

• In one scene, Angelica is seen sitting in a carseat. Yet in every other scene, she's not.

Trivia

• It's against many automatic car wash safety regulations to allow people, let alone children, inside a car once the wash starts. This is because as you saw in this episode, the car wash is operated by a belt that hooks the car to it's frame and if the car is accidentally or purposefully put into a drive gear, it could cause lots of damage to the car and the riders inside of it.
• The windows and the sun roof inside Chas van are ajar when the car is inside the wash. The babies would have most definitely been seriously injured or even killed because of this.
• One of the last lines in the episode, Stu says to Chas, that he wishes to go to this car wash every week now. Chas who was the only one who noticed the children inside his van the entire time and tried his best to get them out of the car unsuccessfully, no doubt is never going back to this car wash again and possibly for all intents and purposes sued the car wash, as even though the children were left in the car at the fault of Stu and Chas, the attendants or operators should have noticed children in the car and/or noticed the soap, suds and wax inside the car due to the windows and sun roof being open and would have pressed an emergency off button. It is implied he also convinced Stu not to return either.
• In the scene where Angelica pushes the sun roof button, when she says "Ha!"; the audio is taken from "Chuckie vs. The Potty". It was later re-used again in "Snow White".
• Angelica is seen riding in the front seat. However, it's illegal to have children under the age of 13 and/or under 120 lbs or 5'5" to sit up there, due to car safety regulations regarding young children.
• The original working title of this episode was "Carwash Monster".
• Moral: Don't be afraid to try something new.

Video Clip

How Many Times Did Tommy Pickles Cry? - Part 9 - The Carwash