Chuckie Finster


 * "Chuckie" redirects here. For the titular character in the horror movies, see Chucky

Charles "Chuckie" Crandall Finster II is Tommy Pickles' best friend from the Nickelodeon animated television series' Rugrats and All Grown Up!. The character is voiced by Christine Cavanaugh and Nancy Cartwright.

Chuckie is the oldest out of the six main Rugrats at two. He is distinguished from the others by his fear of irrational objects, most notably the guy on the oatmeal box and clowns. He is also the only Rugrat who is left-handed, and the only one who has spoken an intelligble word to adults during the Rugrats series (he said "No" during the Rugrats in Paris movie). Chuckie's appearance comes from Rugrats music supervisor and former Devo frontman Mark Mothersbaugh.

There are several inconsistencies with Chuckie's real name. In "Chuckie Loses his Glasses," his name is revealed by Angelica as being Charles Crandall Finster. In the pilot for "All Grown Up!" his name is made even more specific by calling him Charles Crandall Finster, III. However, in the "All Grown Up!" episode "Rat Traps," his name is changed to Charles Randall Finster.

Another inconsistency is the number of teeth Chuckie has in his mouth. In the early episodes, he is shown to have not only his trademark buck teeth, but also a full mouth of them. From 1993 onwards, the mouth full of teeth is removed, and he has only the two buck teeth.

In Rugrats
One of the original five main characters introduced in Rugrats, Chuckie has uncontrollable red hair, glasses and bucked teeth, and is left-handed, as revealed in Chuckie's a Lefty (first US tx: February 19, 1999). Chuckie commonly wears a blue shirt with Saturn on it, green shorts, and red shoes with untied shoelaces. In some episodes, his hair is shown neater and shorter; in the episode Chuckie's First Haircut, he gets his hair cut off and in Chuckie's Wonderful Life, his guardian angel resembles him with short hair. He is scared easily, and at the first suggestion that he and the other babies should do something or go somewhere, he will always say, "Maybe this isn't such a good idea." All the same, he is still friends with Tommy Pickles and the DeVille twins. Among his fears are adventures, Santa Claus, clowns, and the "guy on the oatmeal box with the scary hat" (a parody of Quaker Oats). He is loyal and often brave, facing his fears (albeit briefly) to come through for his friends, whenever there's a problem, Chuckie's there to help his friends get through it emotionally. Chuckie doesn't really like misbehaving, but his friends often get him into trouble. He is very close to his father, Chaz, and is usually the main target of Angelica's bullying.

In Rugrats in Paris, Chuckie is the main character with a bigger role and hero; something that had rarely happened before in the series. His heroism was shown when he lead the babies on the giant Reptar to the church to stop Coco from marrying his father, Chaz.

Kimi
In Rugrats in Paris: The Movie, Chuckie's father Chaz got married to Kira Watanabe. As well as gaining a step-mother, Chuckie also gained a step-sister - Kira's daughter Kimi. Kimi and Chuckie get along well, except for the fact that Chuckie is still afraid of various things. Chuckie also began talking to his parents in the same film, albeit with an extremely limited vocabulary. In fact, all he could say was "No".

Mother
Chuckie's mother is Melinda Finster. She died of an unknown reason and has only been seen in photographs and flashbacks. She made her first appearance in "Mother's Day", and later in the book "The Bestest Mom" which was based on the same premise. She was a keen gardener and first met Chaz when she was working on a produce stand. She is voiced by Kim Cattrall.

During early episodes it was implied the Chuckie's mother was alive and well. For example, during the episode "Real or Robots?," it was explicitly stated that she was coming to collect Chuckie. After putting Tommy and Chuckie to bed, Tommy's dad, Stu, said "Good night Chuckie. Your mom and dad will come pick you up in the morning". However, she was never seen on screen, and was referenced only rarely, at that time.

As the series progressed, it was made known that Chaz was not married, and that there was no woman in the house (girlfriend, unmarried partner, etc) to fulfill the role of Chuckie's mother. The fact that Melinda had died was confirmed in the fifth season episode "Mother's Day," when Chaz is shown talking to Chuckie about his mother in a manner that implies that she was dead rather than merely absent (often on children's programming, deceased characters are referred to as "being in a better place" or similar, without a direct mention of death), and showing him photographs and other personal possessions that he kept in a box at the back of his closet. She was specifically stated having died in the cinematic release "Rugrats in Paris", which was bound by different guidelines.

It was never explicitly stated when Melinda died, though the fact that photographs and flashback depicting her show Chuckie as a very young baby while she is sick in the hospital imply that her death was retconned to have occurred prior to Season 1.

"My Sweet Little Chuckie ~ Though I must leave you behind me, This poem will tell you where you always can find me. When a gentle wind blows, that's my hand on your face. And when the tree gives you shade, that's my sheltering embrace. When the sun gives you freckles, that's me tickling my boy. When the rain wets your hair, those are my tears of joy. When the long grass enfolds you, that's me holding you tight. When the Whippoorwill sings, that's me whispering, "Night,night.""

- Poem written to Chuckie by Melinda shortly before she died

Possible Appearance
In Rugrats Season 1, Episode 2 Entitled "Barbecue Story / Waiter, There's A Baby In My Soup" specifically "Barbecue Story." At the beginning of the episode as Stu is grilling the burgers, he is also panning a hand video camera around the persons attending the barbecue. As he is panning Chaz Finster is seen sitting at a picnic table with a woman who strongly resembles Chaz as well as Chuckie, though it is not mentioned this could possibly be or is in fact Chuckie's mom, Melinda Finster. However, the events in the Mother's Day episode appear to contradict this, as it seems Melinda got sick not long after Chuckie was born.

In All Grown Up!
Since he got older, Chuckie has been wearing braces for his teeth (which is expected to be for "2.5 years", according to Chuckie's statement in the pilot for All Grown Up!). He still considers Tommy his best friend. One difference is that he is not as close to his dad as he used to be (as seen in "Saving Cynthia") Notable storylines for Chuckie have included his crush on Nicole Boscarelli, dropped after the first season ("Chuckie's in Love" and "It's Cupid, Stupid", first US txs: December 6, 2003 and February 14, 2004); partnering with Angelica on a social-studies project ("Project Chuckie", first US tx: November 27, 2004); entering the safety commissioner election against an imaginary friend, inexplicably dropped without even mentioning the final result ("Izzy or Isn't He?", first US tx: November 27, 2004); and dragging in what looked like a trashed Christmas tree ("The Finster Who Stole Christmas", first US tx: December 7, 2004) Also, in the pilot for all grown up, it is mentioned that he first had a crush on Angelica Pickles's friend, Samantha Shane. He is also the president of the audio-visual club at school, as seen in the episode "It's Karma, Dude!"