Rugrats

1. Tommy, Phil, Lil, Spike, Grandpa, Stu and Didi are featured in this pilot. The voices are the same as the TV series, except that Tami Holbrook was the voice of Tommy -- E.G. Daily would not come on board until the series starts. Also, Grandpa's character was named as "Stu Pickles, Sr.", though he'll later be called "Grandpa", and later, "Grandpa Lou". Conversely, Stu was listed as "Stu Pickles, Jr." 2. In the pilot, Tommy wears an orange shirt. He won't begin to wear his trademark blue shirt until Barbecue Story. 3. Peter Chung also animated and directed the Rugrats introduction you see at the start of every show (the one used for all episodes produced through 2000). But most of all, he went on to create the futuristic anti-heroine, Aeon Flux, for MTV. 4. In the pilot, Stu, talking to his dinner guests, mentions that it would be a couple of months until Tommy starts talking. Of course, since the series started, he never talked to the grown-ups. 5. A segment from this pilot was actually used in a station-ID for Nick (still seen to this day): using the TV scene, the Nick logo pops up on the TV screen as Tommy turns on the TV. 6. Apart from the false TV Guide listing in the 8/10/1991 edition (as well as many newspaper TV listings), there were actually plans to televise this episode in another format. In 1992, Klasky-Csupo had plans to expand this episode to the standard 11 minutes and place it in normal rotation on Nick in 1993. However, due to unknown reasons, this episode never made it to TV. For more details, click here. 7. Apart from exhibitions at animation festivals and conventions, this episode was never seen by the public until August 2001, when it appeared on volume 1 of the Decade In Diapers video, which was released as part of Rugrats' 10th anniversary on Nick. 8. Tommy's famous Star Ball was also seen for the first time in this series. According to "Helvetica Gold", the Star Ball was originally designed by Pixar (the Toy Story people) for their short, Luxo, Jr.. The ball also appeared in Toy Story in a scene where Buzz Lightyear (voice of Tim Allen) bounces off of it after leaping from a bedpost. 9. It should also be noted that in the pilot and Tommy's First Birthday, the ball makes a jingley sound when rolled, but in all other appearances, including its next appearance in Barbecue Story, the ball is silent.