It is a truth universally agreed upon that one should have more to do in life than to complain about the look of a hastily-greenlit CGI reboot of a cartoon they grew up watching (and if you don’t believe that, please, for the love of Christ, go outside). And that holds true even for the bizarre-looking new Rugrats series that Paramount+ will be debuting later on in the month. The streamer dropped a brand-new trailer for the series earlier on Wednesday, and it’s the kind of thing that unexpectedly fills a certain type of millennial with rage, both for the repressed memories that it summons forth, but also because it makes them realize that, yes, the good times are long gone and have been replaced with digital artifice. We’re not saying that we felt that way, but we, you know, understand if you do. Anyway, if you and your kids like your cartoons free of that pesky thing called “style,” this might be for you.
Take a look:
Here’s what you can expect from the first episode:
“In the one-hour premiere episode, ‘Second Time Around,’ Tommy leads the babies on a daring adventure to help Chuckie after his big attempt to be brave goes horribly wrong. Warning: dinosaurs are involved.”
The new Rugrats will premiere on May 27 on Paramount+, but it won’t be an entire season nor will it air in weekly installments — apparently, they’re going to drop episodes in batches without a set schedule (also known as the “Cartoon Network strategy for well-reviewed shows“). You also may be wondering how you can legally watch this show without having to pay for a new streaming service, so we have good news: You can pay for cable or a live-TV streaming service, as the episodes will premiere on Nickelodeon at some point after the conclusion of the first season. But, honestly, why would you do that when you could just watch the original series? It’s not like it doesn’t hold up.