| Weaning Tommy | Gallery | Transcript |
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"Weaning Tommy" is the first segment of the tenth episode of Season 1, and the tenth Rugrats segment overall.
Characters Present []
Characters Mentioned[]
Characters Introduced[]
Summary[]
On advice from Dr. Homer, Tommy's dentist (Didi prefers calling him a "tooth fairy"), Stu and Didi want Tommy to start drinking from a cup. Tommy, however, wants to stick with the baby bottle.
- - Description from Klasky Csupo
Plot[]
Didi and Stu are taking Tommy to his first ever dentist appointment now that he's begun teething. Didi consults Lipschitz and insists they refer to the dentist as the "tooth fairy" so Tommy won't be afraid. Stu himself is still uncomfortable about dentists and worries about what the dentist will say about Tommy's tooth.
At the dentist's, Tommy has become nervous, and refuses to open his mouth. After some coaxing and bribery, Tommy opens his mouth and the dentist examines his sole tooth. It checks out just fine, and the Pickles begin to leave. A bottle falls from Tommy's diaper bag, however, and the dentist quickly stops them. He claims that bottles rot and ruin teeth and Tommy needs to be weaned at once. Worried (and horrified) by the idea of cavities and braces, Didi and Stu agree to wean Tommy tomorrow.
The next morning, Didi gives Tommy his milk in a sippy cup, so he can drink "like a big boy". Tommy, however, wants his bottle, but Didi tries to convince him to drink from the cup, only for him to turn over the cup, which starts dripping from the nozzle, much to her and Stu's disappointment.
After breakfast, Didi washes all of Tommy's bottles in preparation of packing them away. Tommy, unhappy, looks around the house for any bottles Didi might have forgotten. However, Didi was very thorough and after looking in all of his hiding places, Tommy can only find a single, very dusty, bottle. Tommy has a difficult time reaching it and has to knock it out into the open. Unfortunately, it rolls straight towards Didi, who picks it up and washes it before Tommy can get to it, much to his frustration.
Later in the day, Betty brings Phil and Lil over for a visit. Betty is very surprised to hear Tommy is being weaned already just because he got his first tooth and says she was told not to even consider weaning the twins until after they turn two. Didi is surprised by this advice and appears to rethink weaning Tommy when Betty says the dentist was probably a quack.
Meanwhile, in the playpen, Tommy shares his predicament with the twins and is very jealous of the bottles they're currently enjoying. Phil and Lil agree Didi is being harsh, and they wish to help, but refuse to share their bottles with him, saying they aren't supposed to. Tommy begs and bribes the twins, but they still refuse to share their bottles. Finally, Tommy uses the old "Look, there's something over there!" trick to try and grab one of their bottles. He nearly succeeds, but Didi catches him, scolds him, and puts him out of his playpen.
The day moves on, and Tommy takes his afternoon nap. Tommy dreams first that there are bottles everywhere, but his mom takes them away because he's "too big for bottles" before he can have any. Then he's in the kitchen, but he is now very big; he can practically touch the ceiling and he accidentally crushes his highchair when he tries to sit.
Down at his feet, a voice gets his attention; it's one of his old bottles, but it's very, very tiny. Tommy picks up the bottle, but the bottle says Tommy is too big for him and bounces away. Tommy chases after the bottle and quickly comes across a giant version of Mr. Tippy. Mr. Tippy demands Tommy to drink from him and chases after Tommy when he tries to flee.
Tommy becomes trapped against the edge of a cliff by Mr. Tippy, who is still demanding that Tommy drink him, but Tommy refuses. A giant bottle appears and saves Tommy from Mr. Tippy by blasting him off into a ravine. Tommy is confused because his parents said he was too big for bottles, but the giant bottle says he's a grown-up's bottle, so it's okay. Didi wakes up Tommy seconds later. Didi asks if Tommy had a nice nap; Tommy simply stares at her in disbelief.
Downstairs in his highchair, Tommy is again offered Mr. Tippy. A clearly miserable Tommy refuses to have anything to do with Mr. Tippy and simply swats it down to the floor without a second thought. Grandpa Lou says he also thinks weaning Tommy this young just because he has a tooth now is ridiculous, telling Didi to “just give him a bottle!” claiming his brother Sparky drank from a bottle for fifteen years and that his teeth are strong to the point where his bite is as powerful as a bear trap. Stu tried to offer Tommy some cups of milk, but Tommy just swats them all onto the floor, breaking some of the glass cups (much to Didi and Stu's dismay) and Spike licks some of the spilled milk. In the meantime, Stu and Didi take Tommy into his room and put him back into his crib. Didi tells Tommy that they can't give him the bottle and promise him that he'll get used to the cup. Tommy gets devastated and begins to cry. Stu and Didi leave his room, turn off the lights and close the door. Both Stu and Didi feel awful, but they agree to stand firm and that Tommy will eventually have to get used to drinking from cups; they hold hands together and walk away.
Later that night, Grandpa Lou creeps into Tommy's room to sneak him a bottle, but he is caught by Stu, who was also attempting to sneak Tommy a bottle. A moment later they see Didi, who was also about to do the same thing. Everyone has obviously decided that they attempted to wean Tommy too early and they're just as unhappy about it as Tommy is. Even Didi realized that Betty was right about Dr. Homer being a quack. The three go into Tommy's room, but, finding him fast asleep, they opt not to disturb him, and agree to switch him back to bottles in the morning. As they head back to bed, Grandpa Lou notices he no longer has the bottle. He looks back at the crib briefly before leaving too. After he leaves, Tommy sits up and eagerly drinks from the bottle he secretly snatched from his grandpa.
Trivia[]
- Even though Tommy is not weaned by the end of this episode, in "Rebel Without a Teddy Bear", Tommy is shown to be able to drink from a cup.
- An episode of the reboot, titled "Bottles Away", follows a very similar concept. However, after a pirate imagination adventure, Tommy ultimately decides to give the bottle away to his eventual baby brother.
- A Tina Trouser doll is shown in the dentist's office (used as a lure to get Tommy to open his mouth) after its first appearance, two episodes prior.
- Stu is revealed to be afraid of dentists in this episode, specifically he is afraid of the tools dentists use.
- Although Angelica is mentioned, and is revealed to go to daycare every week, she doesn't appear in this episode.
- This appears to be a continuity error, as neither Angelica nor her parents ever mention day care in other episodes and is constantly left in the care of her Uncle Stu and Aunt Didi. She also is seen to not get along with other children, as in "Educating Angelica", which begs the question as to why Angelica hasn't been pulled from the daycare. However, since this is an early episode, it could easily be inferred her character has not been fully established.
- When Dr. Homer is checking Tommy's mouth, he isn't wearing gloves. Also, when he checks Stu's teeth, he still doesn't have gloves on. (Possibly another sign he's a quack or simply not being as thorough as he should be).
- Chuckie is seen drinking from an orange Mr. Tippy seven seasons later in "Finsterella".
- The possibility of Tommy needing braces is mentioned.
- Ironically, it's Chuckie who needs braces later in life.
- Both Chuckie and Angelica are absent in this episode.
- This is the first episode in which Tommy talks when by himself.
- Moral: Let your kids grow up on their own and don't wean them too early. Wean them only when they're ready to be weaned. The American Academy of Pediatrics says it is best to wean babies around the time they're 12-18 months old, and definitely by the age of two. Weaning your baby at exactly 1 year old is too early for some babies. Babies should be weaned at or by the age of 2.
- In more recent years and areas of study, it has been stated that weaning should start when a baby starts getting teeth in order to prevent crooked teeth potentially caused by being on the bottle too long.
- This episode has been pointed out to be an example of those who suffer from addiction.
Goofs[]
- Like in "Slumber Party", the clock on the wall inside Tommy's room has no hands.
- Dr. Homer's Reptar mask is shown with white eye sclerae instead of the usual orange sclerae. This also happens in this episode's companion episode, "Incident in Aisle Seven".
- When Didi is on the phone with Betty, the hand that is on her waist is backwards.
- When Lil asks Tommy "Did you do anything bad?", Phil's nose is missing.
- When Tommy cries after Didi tells him he can't have bottles, the pillow that was initially there disappears, and it reappears in the next shot, when Stu and Didi leave the room.