'Rugrats' gang proves even cartoons can grow up

LOS ANGELES -- The magic of being a cartoon character is that, just like Peter Pan, you never have to grow up.

Take Bugs Bunny. He's in his 60s and doesn't look a day older than when he starred in 1941's "Hiawatha's Rabbit Hunt."

Then there's Tommy Pickles of the Nickelodeon's hit cable TV show "Rugrats." He was a bald, diaper-clad toddler when the program made its debut 12 years ago.

Today? Well, he's about 12 years old.

"It's something you don't normally get to experience when you do cartoons, and it's really been fun," Cree Summer, who does the voice of Tommy's neighbor Susie Carmichael, says of the cast's sudden aging this year. "Usually cartoon characters stay a certain age; that's part of their appeal. Usually they don't grow up.

"But then you usually don't get to work on a cartoon show for 12 years either," she adds with a laugh.

Beginning with the Thanksgiving weekend debut of "All Grown Up," the "Rugrats," TV's most enduring cast of babies, have suddenly vaulted from cribs, playpens and learning how to use potties to riding school buses, overcoming puppy-love crushes and learning how to handle an oppressive vice principal who was once a hulking professional wrestler.

Tommy, still the star of the show that airs at 7 p.m. Saturdays, has even sprouted a full head of hair.

"But he's still the same guy," insists E.G. Daily, the actress who gives him his voice.

The show's co-creator, Arlene Klasky, says the time just seemed right to age the characters a decade.

"The original idea was based on my experiences with my own toddlers," she says, noting her children are older now, as are many of the original members of the show's target audience of 2- to 11-year-olds. "Our audience has grown up with" the show's characters, she says.