Connections:
"The Simpsons" & "Hey Arnold"
Connections:
"The Simpsons" & "Hey Arnold"
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Left: Bart and Chuckie duke it out in the ring, with other Rugrats characters, plus Disney and Looney Tunes characters looking on. This drawing was used in a Washington Post article about Rupert Murdoch's purchase of The Family Channel (US) and the impending impact on children's channels, with Bart representing Fox; the Rugrats representing Nickelodeon; Winnie, Tigger and Mickey representing The Disney Channel; and Bugs, Daffy, Porky and Road Runner representing Time Warner's Cartoon Network. (Art by Nick Galifianakis, published in the Business section of the 2/1/98 Washington Post, © 1998 The Washington Post Company. All characters are trademarks of their owners.) |
1. Klasky-Csupo, the creators and producers of Rugrats, animated and produced FOX's The Simpsons (created by Matt Groening) from 1987 (when they were merely shorts on The Tracey Ullman Show) to 1992 (when K-C quit Simpsons for unknown reasons (Film Roman took over)). Also, the FIRST voice of Maggie was not Elizabeth Taylor, but Gabor Csupo (the other half of K-C), who did Maggie's sucking sounds during K-C's days at The Simpsons. Oddly, this is the SAME sucking sound as the sound Tommy makes when he sucks on his bottle. The yellowish skin tones and Marge's blue hair were also Csupo's idea.
2. Tress MacNeille, the voice of Charlotte, is currently a Simpsons regular, doing various voices on that show. She also plays Arnold's grandma and Ms. Slovak on Hey, Arnold (created by Craig Bartlett; see #5).
3. Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson, played several characters in the Pickles vs. Pickles episode. He also plays Arnold's grandpa on Hey, Arnold (see #5).
4. Nancy Cartwright, the voice of Bart Simpson, was the voice of Prudence "The Junk Food Kid" in Showdown At Teeter-Totter Gulch. (Thanks to John R. Senft)
5. Steven Dean Moore, frequent Rugrats director, is also a frequent Simpsons director (see #7).
6. Craig Bartlett, story editor and frequent writer for Rugrats is Matt Groening's brother-in-law, married to Matt's sister, Lisa. Also, Bartlett's Hey, Arnold (now a Nicktoon) was seen in comic-strip form in Simpsons Illustrated magazine, published from 1990 to 1992 (the strip is now seen in Nickelodeon Magazine)
7. Kath Soucie (Phil, Lil, Betty) plays Mrs. Vitello and Helga's mother, Miriam Pataki on Hey Arnold. In a side connection, she also does some minor voices on Matt Groening's other hit animated series, Futurama.
8. Rick Bugental, another Rugrats director, is also associated with The Simpsons; near the end of that show's closing credits, you can find him as "Opening Titles Technical Director"; he's the one who helped out in the famous, cloudy, action packed "Ahhhh...The Simpsons" opening each week.
9. After K-C transferred The Simpsons to Film Roman in 1992, many of K-C's staff that worked on The Simpsons continued to work on the show under Film Roman.
10. Some networks outside the U.S. show Rugrats and The Simpsons on the same network. These include the legendary BBC, in Great Britain, TVNZ in New Zealand and Pro Sieben in Germany.
11. In the Spanish versions of Rugrats and The Simpsons, Marina Huerta (Chuckie) is also the voice of Bart Simpson in the Spanish version of The Simpsons; likewise, Laura Torres (Tommy) plays Martin on Spanish Simpsons.
12. One more notable connection -- on the back of the box for The Simpsons Virtual Springfield CD-Rom, it describes the various places you can go in Springfield, including the Aztec Theater, which asks the following:
"Why watch the flick, when you can lob Dummy Bears at audience members?"
Paul Gatsby ain't going to like that.
Miscellaneous Simpsons Connections
(Special thanks to Varakorn Ungvichian)
1. Names of Simpsons episodes that are similar to the names of Rugrats episodes (though the plots between the two may be completely different):
| Simpsons Episodes | Rugrats Episodes |
| Marge Gets a Job (1992) | Stu Gets A Job (1993) |
| Bart's Haircut (Tracey Ullman Short) | Chuckie's First Haircut (1993) |
| Deep, Deep Trouble (1991 music video) | Sleep Trouble (1998) |
| Bart's Hiccups (Ullman) | Hiccups (1998) |
| Bart's Nightmare (Ullman) | Angelica's Worst Nightmare (1993) |
| Radio Bart (1992) | Radio Daze (1997) |
| Blood Feud (1991) | Family Feud (1992) |
| Zoo Story (Ullman) | Zoo Story (1999) |
2. Both The Simpsons and Rugrats have an episode where the mother appears on a game show hosted by Alex Trebek, who provided his voice on both shows.
| Name Of Show | Episode Title | Name of Game Show | Alex Appeared As: | Why The Mother Appeared On The Game Show | Won or Lost? | Aftermath |
| Rugrats | Game Show Didi (1992) | "Super Stumpers" | Alan Quebec | Didi was jealous of Super Stumpers' current champion, Edmund Haynes. | won big | Didi got her choice of prizes; her choice was a gold dalmatian statuary. |
| Simpsons | Miracle On Evergreen Terrace (1997) | "Jeopardy!" | himself | Marge needs to earn money to pay back the Springfield citizens after Bart lied about burglars stealing their Christmas gifts (he burned them by accident, then hid them in the snow, which later melted). | lost big | Marge lost so much in the negatives in "Final Jeopardy!" that she's obliged to pay Alex for the losses (in actuality, contestents don't pay anything if they lose in the negatives on Jeopardy!; they just win a 2nd or 3rd place prize; also, anyone in the negatives at the end of "Double Jeopardy!" do not participate in "Final Jeopardy!"). |
3. Episodes where both series covered the same topic:
| Topic | Simpsons Episodes | Rugrats Episodes |
| "Exodus" and the parting of the Red Sea | Simpsons Bible Stories (1999) | Passover (1995) |
| The Dreidel | Lisa The Greek (1992; the Super Bowl was seen on Israeli station "Gimel Aleph Nun") | Chanukah (1997) |
| Bad Money Making Schemes | Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? (1991; Homer's concept car bankrupted a major car company) | Chuckie is Rich (1993; Drew's ear wax removal device bankrupted newly-millionaired Chazz) |
| Football |
Lisa The Greek (1992; Super Bowl) Sunday, Cruddy Sunday (1999; Super Bowl) Bart Star (1997; junior football) |
Touchdown Tommy (1991; Ultra
Bowl) The Stork (1993; Ultra Bowl) The Turkey Who Came To Dinner (1997; College Football) |
| Money For Lard | Lard Of The Dance (1998; Homer & Bart sell lard stolen from Springfield Elementary) | Stu Gets A Job (1993; Stu becomes lard salesman) |
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