Tommy Pickles

Thomas "Tommy" Malcolm Pickles
Tommy as seen in Rugrats
First appearance	Tommy Pickles and The Great White Thing (Rugrats, 1990)
Last appearance	Bad Blood (All Grown Up!, 2008)
Created by	Klasky-Csupo
Portrayed by	Elizabeth Daily
Information
Nickname(s)	Tommy
Age	1 (10 in All Grown Up!)
Occupation	Film Maker (All Grown Up! only)
Family	Stu Pickles (Father) Didi Pickles (Mother) Dil Pickles (Younger Brother) Lou Pickles (Grandpa)
Relatives	Grandpa Lou Pickles (grandfather; father of Stu and Drew) Trixie McGee-Pickles (grandmother; mother of Stu and Drew; deceased) Lulu Pickles (grandmother; Grandpa Lou's second wife) Angelica Pickles (cousin) Drew Pickles (uncle; brother of Stu) Charlotte Pickles (aunt; Drew's wife) Boris Kropotkin (grandfather; father of Didi and Ben) Minka Kropotkin (grandmother; mother of Didi and Ben) Ben Kerpackter (uncle; brother of Didi and husband of Elaine) Elaine Kerpackter (aunt; wife of Ben) Aunt Mariam (Grandpa Lou's cousin) Dylan Prescott (Didi's cousin)
Religion	Jewish/Christian

Thomas "Tommy" Malcolm Pickles is the main character from the Nickelodeon animated television series' Rugrats and its spin-off All Grown Up!. He is clad in only a T-shirt and a diaper and is bald with big, blank eyes.^[1][2] He translates everything adult into baby gibberish.^[3] Arlene Klasky said that she based the character of Tommy on her own son.^[4]

In the two Rugrats pilot episodes, Tommy was voiced by Tami Holbrook. In the TV series, the character was voiced by E.G. Daily.^[5]

Having a Jewish mother and a Christian father, Tommy celebrates both Jewish and Christian holidays (Hanukkah and Christmas for example). However, the only members of the family that appear to be religious at all are Tommy's maternal grandparents.

The San Jose Mercury News wrote in 1998 that "Tommy Pickles is a bigger star than George Clooney."^[6]

Rugrats

Appearance

Tommy's distinct features in Rugrats are a mostly-bald head with a few strands of hair and stubble, a sky blue shirt, a diaper, bow-legs, and pigeon-toed feet. Tommy wears a white diaper with yellow straps. Inside his diaper is a screwdriver collection, which he uses to get himself and his friends out of the play pen. He was the youngest character (although not much younger than Phil and Lil) until his younger brother Dil was born; despite that, he had a reputation for being the "bravest" baby. In Mommy's Little Assets Charlotte babysitts him and she rarely punishes or disciplines him, but it is up to Stu and Didi's decision to do so. The only time Tommy was visibly punished by his parents was in the episode Brothers Are Monsters where he is both yelled at by his father and is sent to his room for disobeying his fathers orders of being mean to Dil. Most other times, his parents just scold him instead of threating him with punishment for being horrible to Dylan. These adventures of his usually involved stopping some sort of evil monster. He also stood up to his evil-minded cousin Angelica Pickles. He appeared in the most episodes of any character. In certain episodes he wore a red shirt with overalls. Although every episode since he has worn a sky blue shirt.

In the Rugrats films

• The Rugrats Movie

Tommy is the leader and the main character of the movie. He and his friends are playing Okey Dokey Jones (a parody of Indiana Jones) at the beginning of the film. He gets a new baby brother, however, he thought he was getting a sister and while his mother is giving birth he and his friends go through the hospital to "find her". Unfortunately, Didi has her baby and her baby is male. His friends (Lil and Phil) plan to take Dil back to the baby store (hospital). Tommy does not want Phil and Lil DeVille to take Dil to the hospital because his mom and dad want to keep him.

• Rugrats in Paris: The Movie

He and Dil are at Grandpa Lou's wedding. He is angry because someone took Dil's pacifier and buried it in the sandbox (although he mentions that the park is his favorite place). He and the other Rugrats help Chuckie find his new mother.

All Grown Up!

Tommy as seen in All Grown Up!

Personality

Similar to Susie's talent for singing, Tommy also has a newfound talent: making films with his camcorder. A few episodes have been made around this fact: "Truth or Consequences" (first US tx: November 30, 2003), revealed he made his first film at the age of 37 months, then making a negative film about his friends. The main storyline of "Brother, Can You Spare The Time?" (first US tx: January 17, 2004) opened with him mentioning recently winning a young filmmaker's award; and one storyline in "Bad Aptitude" (first US tx: June 4, 2004) was about Tommy's sudden early retirement from filmmaking after making a flop and receiving an unfavorable (for his filmmaking aspirations) result on his career aptitude exam. However, he has not been seen with his camcorder since "The Big Score" (first US tx: April 25, 2005), when he was filming Lil at the soccer field.

In "Thief Encounter" (first US tx: December 6, 2003), he was discovered to be stealing goods from around the neighborhood, but that was because he was sleep walking; in "River Rats" (first US tx: December 13, 2003), he was shown to be afraid of water, stemming from an experience during a fishing outing with his grandpa; in "Dude, Where's My Horse?" (first US tx: July 16, 2005), he was the worst cowboy out of the regulars.

Up until early Season 2, Tommy was also either shown or mentioned as being part of the school soccer team, even trying to teach Dil how to play ("Fools Rush In", first US tx: June 5, 2004). Lately (more specifically since "The Big Score"), however, all the focus on soccer has involved only Phil and Lil DeVille. He had his first kiss with Olivia in episode 25, "Fear of Falling". Also it is shown that he has feelings for his friend Kimi Finster and so does she in "TP + KF".

Appearance

Tommy now has purple hair like his father, Stu. From season 2 onwards, his hair was changed to a lighter purple color. For season one, he wears a white shirt with yellow sleeves. For later seasons, Tommy (like most characters) expanded his wardrobe and began wearing many different outfits. He still keeps his screwdriver he had as a baby in his pocket. More recently, he had a keychain with a screwdriver on it.

Ethnic background

This section does not cite any references or sources. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (October 2009)

Tommy has mixed religious heritage with a Christian Father and a Jewish Mother. He is a Russian-American having Russian grandparents (Boris and Minka) and an American father (Stu). Tommy's Grampa Lou's mother is Scottish (as evidenced in All Grown Up! episode Bad Blood).

References