Chuckie Finster

Charles "Chuckie" Crandall Finster III is Tommy Pickles' best friend from the Nickelodeon animated television series' Rugrats and All Grown Up!.

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. 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.

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 a lot of 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". His looks show the resembelence of Michael Collins.

Hero
Also, in Rugrats in Paris, Chuckie is the main character and hero; something that has rarely happened before in the series. His heroism is shown when he leads the babies on the giant Reptar to the church to stop Coco from marrying Chaz.

Mother
Chuckie's mother is Melinda Finster. She is deceased 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. 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 Season 5 episode "Mother's Day", when Chaz is show talking to Chuckie about his mother in a manner that implies that she was dead rather than merely absent (As a TV-Y production, 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 very young baby while she is sick in 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.



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)

Trivia

 * According to the Rugrats episode "Chuckie Loses his Glasses" his full name is Charles Crandall Finster. But according to the All Grown Up! pilot its Charles Crandall Finster III. In the episode "Rat Traps", this has apparently been retconned to be Charles Randall Finster.
 * A running gag with Chuckie in Rugrats is his fear of various things, in particular, clowns and "the guy on the oatmeal box".
 * Chuckie is the president of the audio-visual club at school ("It's Karma, Dude!", first US tx: April 14, 2005).
 * Chuckie's appearance and personality is based on Devo founder Mark Mothersbaugh, who does the soundtrack for Rugrats.
 * His first word was No!