We celebrate the second season of the Rugrats animation series and the birth of Tommy’s little brother Dil with a new ‘meet the makers’ interview series. Find out more about the artists who brought this happy bunch of babies to life.
We sat down with Madhumita Banerjee, who is Senior Animation Artist on the series, to find out more about her work:
Can you tell us about your journey in the animation industry?
I have been working in the animation industry for the last 13 years, spanning several studios. I’ve been with Mikros Animation for nearly 7 years now. I’ve been extremely lucky to work on fantastic projects such as The Adventures of Puss in Boots, Kung Fu Panda: The Paws Of Destiny, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, Fast & Furious Spy Racers, Star Trek: Prodigy and Rugrats.
Rugrats is one of the longest-running Nickelodeon shows and is a Daytime Emmy-winning animated series. What was your first reaction when you learned you’d be working on its CG-animated reboot?
Rugrats is one of the most recognizable Nickelodeon shows. When I came to know that I would work on its CG-animated reboot, I was super excited and honestly a bit nervous too. Rugrats was already an iconic show, and it was a huge responsibility for us to maintain the style of show in this reboot.
The Rugrats reboot is set in the present, with all the advantages and disadvantages of modern technology. It shows the challenges faced by parents today and draws attention to key issues in our society like diversity and inclusion. What do you think is the role of animation in portraying various kinds of families and society?
Rugrats is at its heart a kids show and its storyline is unique. In almost every episode, we can see the value of friendship between the toddlers, as well as the love and bond within each family. I think it has a very good impact on the audiences, especially those with a toddler at home. I have a 2-year-old toddler at home, and I can relate to a lot of the show because of my own experiences as a parent. Parents will also learn from the show and see how kids are impacted by parents’ work and lives as well. Relationships with grandparents also feature, and it shows different relationships within a family. I think it’s great that the show has social messages presented simply.
While working on this all-CG show, what were the main artistic and/or technical challenges you had to overcome in your department?
As an animator, this is my first time animating a group of toddlers. Rugrats usually visualizes everyday activities through the eyes of a group of toddlers. Using their imagination, the babies transform normal tasks into exciting adventures. To think about their point of view while animating the kids is the most difficult task. I think the most challenging was animating Dil Pickles because we had to maintain his cute, innocent look and new-born baby attitude.
Thanks to our talented leadership and technical team, we overcome every difficulty very easily.
What is your favourite sequence from the show, and why?
It’s very hard to pick one, I have many favourite sequences from all the episodes. But the special episodes where the toddlers and parents travel to Tot Springs to celebrate Charlotte’s birthday, were equally rewarding and challenging. We had a huge number of characters in almost every sequence. To maintain the character continuity and poses across the shots was quite challenging.
What are you looking forward to most with the show airing its second season?
Although the show is primarily for children, I have seen that the series attracts many audiences of different ages. It’s great to see that as someone who has worked on this show. I look forward to the second season, because we are going to see a new character on screen – Tommy’s younger brother, Dil.
Discover more of our team members by visiting the Talent Spotlights section our website.
