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Season 2 Episode 14
AngelicaVisitsSanta
The Santa Experience
Original Airdate December 6, 1992
VHS release The Santa Experience
DVD release Holiday Celebration
Nick Picks Holiday
Season 2
Previous Episode What the Big People Do
Next Episode Visitors from Outer Space

The Santa Experience is the fourteenth episode of season 2, and the fifty-second Rugrats segment overall. The original title for this episode was Christmas. Nevertheless, the producers changed its title to The Santa Experience.

Characters Present

Synopsis

The Rugrats and their parents go to the mountains to spend the Christmas holidays. Angelica, however, is skeptical of Santa Claus' existence. Will Santa convince her otherwise?

- Description from Klasky Csupo.

Plot

Tommy, Chuckie, and Angelica are at a toy store waiting in line to see Santa Claus. Chuckie is trying to tell Tommy what a terrible and horrifying man Santa Claus is, but Tommy doesn't believe him, insisting that Santa Claus is really nice. Meanwhile, Angelica runs to the front of the line and begins to rattle off the list of toys she wants for Christmas, with her most desired toy being a deluxe playhouse for her Cynthia doll. Santa Claus accuses her of being greedy, so Angelica yanks off his beard, revealing him as not the real Santa Claus! Angelica rushes off, holding the beard up, screaming that Santa Claus is a fake.

Back at Stu Pickles' house, Drew is worried about the affect the events at the toy store earlier are having on Angelica. Angelica doesn't seem all that upset in actuality, as the manager gave her loads of toys to apologize. Chas, however, is concerned about Christmas being a disappointment for Chuckie like it was when Chas was little. The grown-ups decide together to have an extra-special Christmas together away from home, complete with a Santa experience for the kids.

Angelica is disappointed about the toys she got from the toy store, as it was nothing that she wanted from her list. She sees the twins, and gets a very naughty idea! Angelica tricks the twins separately, convincing Lil to trade her favorite coloring book for a Reptar space helmet for Phil's Reptar, and Phil to trade his favorite Reptar doll for new crayons for Lil's coloring book. Angelica is very pleased with what she's done.

Meanwhile, Didi tries to book a location on short notice for the four families to stay at, while Drew and Chas disagree over the Santa experience they want to give the kids. Drew insists they should hire a professional actor for the job, while Chas says he has the experience to do it himself. Drew points out his "experience" is limited to playing a tree during a production of The Wind in the Willows from when they were kids. That doesn't matter to Chas because he "was the willow!" Finally, Didi finds an available location up in the nearby mountains, to everybody's joy.

Back with the babies, Chuckie is still trying to convince Tommy that Santa Claus is a bad man, but Tommy insists that it's not true. Grandpa Lou walks into the room and gathers the five kids around to tell them about Santa Claus. Tommy tells Chuckie that his Grandpa will tell them the truth: that Santa Claus is nice. Lou then proceeds to tell all of them that he met Santa, once, and if they're bad, they won't open toys on Christmas Day, but...lumps of coal! This finally convinces Tommy that Santa Claus is bad. Angelica is a little worried, but dismisses her grandpa's warning as untrue.

Later, Angelica wakes up to Christmas morning, and rushes downstairs to open a very large pile of presents. But every one of them is the same thing: coal! Angelica doesn't see how Santa Claus knows what she did, but Santa appears before her, telling Angelica that he knows Phil got a Reptar space helmet, Lil got a box of crayons, and Angelica got coal. Santa laughs and buries Angelica in coal. With a scream, Angelica sits up in bed. It's still dark out, and a tired Drew tells her it's not Christmas, yet. Angelica is relieved, for now, and resolves to make amends for what she did.

Later that day, both Pickles families with the DeVille's, Chas, their combined children, Lou, and Spike drive into the mountains and arrive at their rented cabin. Lou tried to put up decorations, but has the misfortune of missing with the hammer a bit.

In the meantime, Angelica tries to find an opportunity to right what she did to the twins, but can only get her chance when Betty and Didi take the three of them to chop down their Christmas tree. Angelica tries to do the right thing, but is separated from them when the sled accidentally slides away. Betty and Didi, meanwhile, search for the right tree. When Didi locates one she deems perfect, she won't let Betty cut it down because it's perfect.

Tommy and Chuckie decide to booby-trap the cabin to stop Santa Claus from entering. They decide to block entrance at the door, doggy-door, and window, but ignore the chimney, thinking "no one in their right mind would try coming down the chimney.", failing to realize that's how Santa always enters a house.

Didi, Betty, the twins, and Angelica arrive back at the cabin. Betty and Didi set up a fake tree while Lou finishes the decorations, and the others fix dinner. Soon the gathered families eat Christmas dinner together. But soon the babies are sleepy and put to bed, much to Angelica's dismay. In bed, the babies try to stay awake to listen for the traps to go off, but soon fall asleep

Angelica is worried that, because she couldn't fix her trick with Phil and Lil, she's ended up on the naughty list. She sees a TV ad for a Christmas hotline, so she calls a random number. The employee of the business she called tries to explain that she called the wrong number, but Angelica demands to speak with Santa Claus, so he plays along. "Santa" tells Angelica with a smirk that she's on the bad list and hangs up.

Late in the night, the sounds of the booby traps being tripped are heard by the babies, who wake up and leap out of bed to see if Santa Claus was caught. However, they arrive only to see it's just the grown-ups. But moments later there's a racket behind them, as Santa Claus is suddenly in the fireplace! The babies freak out, but it turns out to be simply a disappointed Chas. Chuckie recognizes his daddy and gives him a hug to comfort him.

Somebody knocks at the door, and Lou answers it. It's Santa Claus! Santa explains he couldn't go down the chimney because of Chas. Drew invites him in, speaking as though Santa is an actor that he hired. Santa gives all the babies presents, and none of them are afraid, including Chuckie. When Angelica gets her gift she immediately opens it, and is delighted to find the deluxe playhouse for Cynthia and not coal! Santa explains to her that he understands that trying to be good and fixing your mistakes is just as important as being good in the first place. Santa Claus departs after that because, after all, he has many more presents to deliver.

Since it's almost morning, the grown-ups decide to open all presents now. The babies enjoy their new toys, but when Phil and Lil open the gifts they got for each other, they realize because they each gave up their Reptar doll and Coloring book respectively, the gifts were virtually useless, but are both very thankful for willing to give up their favorite toy for each other. Immediately afterwards, Angelica gives back Phil and Lil's favorite toys, and they hug and thank her as well. The grown-ups exchange gifts, including Chas and Drew. Chas tells Drew that hiring an actor was a good idea after all. Their conversation is interrupted by a phone call. On the other end, a man tells Drew that he's calling from his car and, because of the snow, he can't make it to the cabin to appear as Santa Claus (the viewer can see he's really sitting at home watching TV!). Drew becomes furious, and the man hangs up, muttering how he hates Christmas.

Chas asks Drew what the phone call was about, and Drew starts to explain that it was the actor he hired telling him he couldn't make it. At the same moment, they both have the same thought: if the actor Drew hired couldn't come, then who was it that came? As they pondered speechlessly to themselves, Angelica was happily looking at her new deluxe playhouse. As she looked at the garage, wondering that it came with a convertible as well, an unexpected surprise shocked her. Didi then walked up and asked in curiosity is...is that a lump of coal?

The episode then ends with Santa flying over the cabin with his reindeer, leaving a trail and him saying "Merry Christmas".

Trivia

  • This is the first holiday-themed episode.
  • The theme song in the intro is given a Christmas vibe to it.
  • Charlotte makes her debut appearance in this episode.
  • This episode aired as the first of 4 other Nicktoons on The '90s Are All That's Merry Stickmas, which aired at midnight on December 23rd into the 24th.
  • This episode parodies the short story The Gift of the Magi when both Phil and Lil willingly give up one of their toys for the other. Phil gives up his Reptar doll to give Lil a box of crayons for her coloring book, who in turn trades that for a Reptar space helmet to go with Phil's Reptar doll.
  • Many newer fans preferred Babies In Toyland more than this one, due to this episode having a slap in the face for Angelica at the end. But to older fans, this symbolizes a perfect message that although Angelica tried to be good, she's still naughty for most of the year.

Quotes

  • Angelica: Oh, hi Santa, it's me, Angelica.
  • Cogs Unlimited employee: Oh yes, hello Angelica.
  • Angelica: I just wanted to find out if I'm on the good list or the bad list this year.
  • Cogs Unlimited employee: Hmmm let me check with one of my elves... Ah yes Angelica, you're on the... Oh yes, you're on the bad list. Thanks for calling!
  • Angelica (after dropping the phone and looking shocked): It's over Cynthia. My future as a kid is over...

Gallery

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