| Feeding Hubert | Gallery | Transcript |
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| Season 2 Episode 21a | |
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| Feeding Hubert | |
| Original Airdate | March 21, 1993 |
| DVD release | Season 2 |
| Previous Episode | My Friend Barney |
| Next Episode | Spike the Wonder Dog |
Feeding Hubert is an episode of Rugrats from Season 2.
Characters Present
Synopsis
The Rugrats believe that the neighborhood garbage truck is a monster named Hubert (even though it's only the name of the trash collector) that they have to help "feed". Will the babies hamper the Pickles' efforts to recycle by offering too much garbage as tribute to Hubert? - Description from Klasky Csupo.
Summary
The babies all hear the same Noise Every Night every week. They find out it's a garbage truck, and they try to feed him Stuff. The babies find the garage is messy, and they let all the stuff out, leaving a mess of recycling.
Plot
Early one morning Tommy wakes up to a noise and looks outside. He witnesses the garbage truck go by, and is amazed. Later in the day, he tells Chuckie, Phil, and Lil all about Hubert the monster. Chuckie knows all about Hubert (and naturally fears him), but it's news to the twins.
The babies decide they want to try "monster food" and sneak into the Pickles' garage. The garage, it turns out, is a horrible mess because Didi or Stu haven't taken their recyclables to the recycling plant in six months, but they manage to locate the garbage cans. They try to have Lil reach in and grab some of the contents, but because the cans are near empty Lil accidentally falls in and realizes on her own that "monster food" isn't good at all!
While trying to sneak back to the playpen, Betty and Didi catch them and notice Lil covered in garbage. While they quickly wash her in the kitchen sink, the phone rings. Stu answers it for Didi, and finds it to be Tiffiany Bride ("the one with the hair"). She wants to do a story next week about the Pickles' campaign for recycling trucks for their city (instead of people having to drive to the recycling plant themselves), which will increase the amount of goods to be recycled. Stu agrees, much to Didi's horror since they haven't driven to the recycling plant in months. Stu assures her that he'll go take everything to the recycling plant before the interview. He also states all Tiffiany Bride is going to see is one little can, to Tommy's horror.
The babies, meanwhile, are worried about the lack of trash in the garbage cans and decide to do something about it. They go around the house and find "junk" to fill the cans. However, Didi and Stu find their things and rescue them.
The day of the interview arrives, and it turns out Stu never cleaned out the garage. Didi is horrified, but Stu points out that nobody has to go into the garage. All they will see is "one little can", to seem like the family creates much less garbage than it really does.
Tommy is concerned about one can for for Hubert, and relays these concerns to his friends. They agree something must be done, and sneak back to the garage just as the interview begins in front of the Pickles' house. Live on TV, with the neighbors watching, the babies get the garage door open and junk cascades out into the street. The reporter's hair is knocked off, revealing her to be bald on live television!
One week later, the reporter has returned with a new story, describing last weeks disaster, and how it's inspired the city to invest in new recycling trucks, which pull up to the Pickles' house. So Didi's campaign is a success after all. The babies are watching on TV (even though it's a live report), and are impressed with the "baby Huberts".
Trivia
- The original script for "Feeding Hubert" had the crowd laugh when they saw the big pile of trash near the end of the episode, but it was changed to the crowd being appalled & surprised because Nickelodeon felt that a happy audience was too confusing.
- Hubert was once referenced as "our very own monster," but it was ordered by Nickelodeon to be just "a monster" because neither of the Rugrats or the Pickles own either a monster or a garbage truck.
- Originally, there were supposed to be characters called "Supermarket Kid A" & "Supermarket Kid B" which Nickelodeon found confusing & any references to the supermarket were later removed in later drafts.
- Nickelodeon didn't understand the "Baby Huberts" reference at the end of the episode where the recycling trucks followed the garbage truck.
- On recent reruns of this episode the title card is not shown.
- In this episode, Tommy reads his ABC book upside down.