"Runaway Reptar" is a TV movie initially released as the 18th and 19th episodes of the sixth season of the

animated television series An animated series is a set of Animation, animated works with a common series title, usually related to one another. These episodes should typically share the same main characters, some different secondary characters and a basic theme. Series can ...

'' Rugrats'' (the 118th and 119th episodes of the series overall). It originally aired on the

television network A television network or television broadcaster is a telecommunications network for distribution of television program content, where a central operation provides programming to many television stations or multichannel video programming distributo ...

Nickelodeon Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...

on November 27, 1999. The plot follows the babies watching a

Reptar Reptar is a fictional character from the American animated television series ''Rugrats''. It is a green '' T. rex'' (and sometimes appears in red-violet and lilac) with rounded, blue spike-like appendages on his back, which intentionally causes ...

movie and imagining themselves as part of the story. It was directed by

John Holmquist John Holmquist is an American animator, director, designer, and storyboard artist. He has worked on several episodes of ''Rugrats'' as a director and storyboard artist from the late 1990s to early 2000s. Holmquist has also acted as a director for ...

and Jim Duffy, and was the first two-part episode in the series.

Plot summary

Part 1

Lou Pickles brings Tommy, Dil, Chuckie, Lil, Phil, and Angelica to a drive-in movie theater, which the babies refer to as a "parking lot movie". Susie and her two older brothers are also at the drive-in, with Susie talking to Angelica via a pair of walkie-talkies. The babies watch the film ''Runaway Reptar''; it begins with a giant

pterosaur Pterosaurs (; from Greek ''pteron'' and ''sauros'', meaning "wing lizard") is an extinct clade of flying reptiles in the order, Pterosauria. They existed during most of the Mesozoic: from the Late Triassic to the end of the Cretaceous (228 to ...

named Dactar terrorizing

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. When Reptar, instead of fighting Dactar, helps him to destroy the city, Tommy suggests they should go to " Pokyo" and figure out what's wrong with their hero. Tommy summons his flying "Super Secret Reptar Car"; he, Phil, Lil, and Dil, joined at the last minute by a reluctant Chuckie, climb in and fly into the movie universe through the screen. The town is mostly deserted, due to people fleeing the two monsters' rampage, and the babies soon find that Dactar is pursuing them. As Dactar tries to peck at them, they go through a tunnel so Dactar will get stuck. They see Reptar destroying a

fire truck A fire engine (also known in some places as a fire truck or fire lorry) is a road vehicle (usually a truck) that functions as a firefighting apparatus. The primary purposes of a fire engine include transporting firefighters and water to an i ...

; convinced Reptar is too bad to redeem, Chuckie suggests a

snail A snail is, in loose terms, a shelled gastropod. The name is most often applied to land snails, terrestrial pulmonate gastropod molluscs. However, the common name ''snail'' is also used for most of the members of the molluscan class Gastro ...

should be the new hero. He finds one, but Dil throws it away. Inspired by a remark from some news reporters, Tommy, Phil and Lil set a trap for Reptar with some dinosaur treats as bait; however, Reptar walks up behind them. Chuckie sees this and asks advice from a

slug Slug, or land slug, is a common name for any apparently shell-less terrestrial gastropod mollusc. The word ''slug'' is also often used as part of the common name of any gastropod mollusc that has no shell, a very reduced shell, or only a smal ...

; receiving none, he hurries to push Tommy out of Reptar's way, falling into the pile of treats.

Part 2

Reptar ignores the treats, and Tommy saves Chuckie from the pile. The Rugrats then discover that this Reptar is merely a

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

replica, controlled by Angelica, who wishes to use it to force her parents to get her more toys. The man who gave her the idea appears on a blimp, and explains his plan for world domination. Angelica sends the Robot Reptar towards the babies' houses, so Tommy and the gang call Susie to tell her what's going on. The Rugrats head to Mount Fugelica to stop Angelica, but Dactar is behind them again; eating their way through the yam "lava" coming out of the mountain's top, they fly through the entrance to Angelica's lair, which is too small for Dactar to follow. Susie and her brothers confront the robot Reptar in their

Halloween Halloween or Hallowe'en (less commonly known as Allhalloween, All Hallows' Eve, or All Saints' Eve) is a celebration observed in many countries on 31 October, the eve of the Western Christian feast of All Saints' Day. It begins the observanc ...

costumes, and stop him from crushing Tommy's house. Meanwhile, Angelica, who has already imprisoned the real Reptar in a giant snow globe, captures the babies. While Tommy tries to break open their prison, Dil finds and pulls on a joystick Tommy calls "the tinkly thing"; this causes suction darts to shoot out of the Reptar car, breaking Angelica's controls for the robot Reptar. The robot Reptar returns to Mount Fugelica, dragging Susie and her brothers with it. It chases Angelica, and Tommy gets her to let them out so they can help her. Susie hides Angelica in a pile of cookies. The robot Reptar damages the car and leaves with Dil, so Tommy frees the real Reptar with his screwdriver while Susie's brother Edwin repairs the car. Reptar then helps the babies by fighting his robot counterpart, aided by Dactar. While they fight, Tommy rescues Dil; the kids thank Reptar and return to the real world. Dactar and Reptar chase the robot into the sea. As the families go home from the drive-in, Tommy uses Angelica's walkie-talkie to thank Susie for helping. The kids doze off in the car; as Angelica falls asleep, she drops a toy snow globe, and a miniature Reptar appears inside it.

Cast

E.G. Daily Elizabeth Ann Guttman, (born September 11, 1961) better known as E. G. Daily and Elizabeth Daily, is an American actress and singer. Daily is best known for her animation voice roles as Tommy Pickles on ''Rugrats'' and its spin-off ''All Grown ...

as Tommy Pickles *

Christine Cavanaugh Christine Josephine Cavanaugh (''née'' Sandberg; August 16, 1963 – December 22, 2014) was an American actress, who had a distinctive speaking style and provided the voice for a large range of cartoon characters. She was the original voice of ...

as Chuckie Finster * Kath Soucie as Phil and Lil DeVille *

Tara Strong Tara Lyn Strong (née Charendoff; born February 12, 1973) is a Canadian-American actress. She is known for her voice work in animation, websites, and video games. Strong's voice roles include animated series such as ''The New Batman Adventures ...

as Dil Pickles/Mariko *

Cheryl Chase Cheryl Chase may refer to: * Cheryl Chase (activist) (born 1956), American activist * Cheryl Chase (actress) (born 1958), American actress * Cheryl Chase (politician) Cheryl Chase (born February 5, 1953) is a former member of the Arizona House o ...

as Angelica Pickles *

Cree Summer Cree Summer Francks (born July 7, 1969) is a American-Canadian actress and singer. She has worked extensively in animation, voicing long-running characters such as Susie Carmichael in ''Rugrats'' and Elmyra Duff in ''Tiny Toon Adventures'' and r ...

as Susie Carmichael/Edwin Carmichael *

Joe Alaskey Joseph Francis Alaskey III (April 17, 1952 – February 3, 2016) was an American actor, voice actor, broadcaster, impressionist and stand-up comedian. Alaskey was one of Mel Blanc's successors at the Warner Bros. Animation studio until his deat ...

as Grandpa Lou Pickles/Announcer *David Eccles as Reptar/Robot Reptar/Dactar *

Michael Donovan Michael Donovan is a Canadian voice actor and director known for his roles as Suikotsu in ''Inuyasha'' and Zoken Mato in ''Fate/stay night''. He has also directed many animated series and feature films. Roles Animation * ''3-2-1 Penguins!''K ...

as Evil Scientist/Jim Hashimato *

Jess Harnell Jess Harnell (born December 23, 1963) is an American voice actor and singer. His notable roles include Captain Hero in the animated TV series ''Drawn Together'', Wakko Warner in ''Animaniacs'', Ironhide in the first three ''Transformers'' films ...

as Jingle Singer *

Freda Foh Shen Freda Foh Shen (born April 25, 1948) is an American actress. She is best known for the voice of Fa Li in the 1998 Disney animated film ''Mulan'' and its 2004 direct-to-video sequel ''Mulan II'', and for playing Anne Lee on '' 9-1-1'' (2019-prese ...

as Pam * Gedde Watanabe as Zack *Joey Wilcots as Buster Carmichael * Michael Keenan as The Professor

Production

"Runaway Reptar" was inspired by an idea from Scott Gray. It was written by Ali Marie Matheson and Jon Cooksey, and directed by John Holmquist and Jim Duffy. It was presented as the eighteenth and nineteenth episodes of the sixth season of ''Rugrats,'' which was created by Arlene Klasky and Gábor Csupó, along with

Paul Germain Paul Lazarus Germain (born June 6, 1959) is an American writer, director, and producer. Among the shows Germain has written, produced or directed are ''Rugrats'', '' Recess'', "The Big Splash" from ''Even Stevens'', ''Lloyd in Space'', and ''The ...

, founders of the self-titled company Klasky Csupo.

Release

"Runaway Reptar" originally aired on

on November 27, 1999, and was given a

TV-Y The TV Parental Guidelines are a television content rating system in the United States that was first proposed on December 19, 1996, by the United States Congress, the television industry and the federal communication commission (FCC), and went ...

parental guidance rating. The episode was viewed in 2.17 million households when it first aired. The episode became available on VHS on August 3, 1999 and on an Amazon-exclusive

DVD The DVD (common abbreviation for Digital Video Disc or Digital Versatile Disc) is a digital optical disc data storage format. It was invented and developed in 1995 and first released on November 1, 1996, in Japan. The medium can store any kin ...

set on October 6, 2011. The title is currently available for streaming on the Paramount+ service.

Legacy

Book

"Runaway Reptar!" was adapted into a children's picture book by Cecile Schorbele. The book was published by

Simon Spotlight Simon & Schuster () is an American publishing company and a subsidiary of Paramount Global. It was founded in New York City on January 2, 1924 by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. As of 2016, Simon & Schuster was the third largest publ ...

on June 1, 1999, and is currently

out of print __NOTOC__ An out-of-print (OOP) or out-of-commerce item or work is something that is no longer being published. The term applies to all types of printed matter, visual media, sound recordings, and video recordings. An out-of-print book is a book ...

Roller coasters

"Rugrats Runaway Reptar" was the name given to a trio of Suspended Family Coasters designed by Peter Clerx for the Vekoma company. The first of the three coasters debuted in 2001 at

Kings Island Kings Island is a amusement park located northeast of Cincinnati in Mason, Ohio, United States. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, the park first opened in 1972 by the Taft Broadcasting Company. It was part of a larger effort to move and expan ...

, and the years 2002 and 2003 saw its counterparts open at Dreamworld and

Carowinds Carowinds is a amusement park located adjacent to Interstate 77 in Charlotte, North Carolina. The park straddles the North Carolina-South Carolina state line, with a portion of the park located in Fort Mill, South Carolina. However, it has an of ...

, respectively. Also in 2003, the Green Slime Mine Car coaster at

California's Great America California's Great America, often shortened to Great America, is a amusement park located in Santa Clara, California. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair, it originally opened in 1976 as one of two parks built by the Marriott Corporation. Califor ...

was renamed "Runaway Reptar" and rethemed in honor of the episode; however, this ride, designed in 1987 by

Intamin Intamin Amusement Rides is a design and manufacturing company in Schaan, Liechtenstein. It is best known for creating thrill rides and roller coasters worldwide. The Intamin brand name is a syllabic abbreviation for "international amusement ins ...

, is a small

steel coaster A steel roller coaster is a roller coaster that is defined by having a track made of steel. Steel coasters have earned immense popularity in the past 50 years throughout the world. Incorporating tubular steel track and polyurethane-coated wheel ...

with traditional sit-down cars. All four coasters have since been renamed and rethemed; as of 2022, all four are still operational.

References

{{Rugrats 1999 American television episodes Rugrats and All Grown Up! episodes Klasky Csupo animated films