Hey Arnold!

Even though I wasn't a fan of Hey Arnold(while I got a few laughs from certain parts). I've always wondered whatever happened to Arnold's parents. Too bad the jungle film didn't happen. I've always assumed that they were living with a tribe the whole time.

While it would've been nice to see what happened to his parents, the jungle movie sounded kind of dumb really.

I still think that Eduardo fellow intentionally led them into a death trap, whether for personal reasons or if he was being paid off or threatened by some other force.

edited 13th Jul '11 4:45:43 PM by DonZabu

Maybe Arnold was really a doorstop baby.

Making him no better than Stoop Kid.

I just got the first season on DVD! I can't wait to start watching this; I practically bit the shrink wrap off.

This show and Recess were both so great, I loved them both when I was a kid and they still stand up now.

I wanted to marry Stinky Peterson when I was in the fourth grade

I liked Hey Arnold, mostly because it was more relaxing compared to the other Nicktoons. It painted a pretty good picture of urban life and had a nice, diverse cast of characters. My favorite episode has to be the opera episode. It was not only funny, but it also drew awareness to a medium that needs more love.

I also appreciate this show more now that I'm older. I've lived in some big cities over the years, so episodes like the one where they get trapped on the subway make more sense to me. The city in the show really does closely resemble New York City alot if you think about.

I've been watching this show on the internet since 2009 and I have to say, this is one of my favorite cartoons ever. I like it better than what many consider to be Nickelodeon's best shows (Rocko, Red and Stimpy, Doug).

It had some of the deepest and most well-written characters to ever be on Nickelodeon (Helga being the prime example) and it's a huge shame that Craig Bartlett left Nick. Otherwise, who knows how much further this could have gone with the movie and the Patakis spin-off?

edited 30th Aug '11 2:38:16 PM by Sabertooth1000000000

Yeah now he's somewhere doing a CG dinosaur/train children's show for PBS.

Ever notice how much Peanuts influence there is in Hey Arnold?

Besides the kind of setting it has, of course, I was reading up on my Peanuts as I noticed that Phoebe is a lot like Marcie, and from there I realized Helga is something of a mix between Peppermint Patty and Lucy, except more tragic, less social and a bit more hard-hearted.

edited 29th Feb '12 10:30:39 AM by KnownUnknown

Not to mention, that weird blend of sarcasm mixed with optimism.

I think that's kind of what I like about Arnold. He has his ideals, but he actually guns for them and is proactive about them. He tries to make his world a better place, even if he is, as Helga so succinctly put it, naive. But because he tries, you want to root for him.

Watching the series again (On Teen Nick and Youtube), is it me or does Oskar sound like Tommy Wiseau?

Kinda. He does have the "ambiguously European accent" down pat. He needs a bit more gutteral in his voice, though.

I absolutely love this show, it is one of my favorite nostalgic cartoons, top 3 easily along with Recess. Most characrers were well worth investing into, and they had some sure entertaining plots. The frequent gags like that heavy breathing kid always spying on Helga were classic.

Watched a few episodes on Netflix about a year ago, but man it's not enough. I may get back on the groove very soon.

To whoever said about Arnold helping everybody being a bit annoying, I concur. Still though, hard to hate as a character, and its why I loved the episode where everyone was sick and tired of him trying to help people, and subsequently shut him off before they found out they needed him after all.

edited 1st Mar '12 1:43:04 AM by BlackCudder

I love Hey Arnold! I could've sworn I've searched for a thread on here about a month ago and nothing came up, but apparently this one started in July.

I still watch this show, it was made in Nickelodeon's golden days when they still had edge to their humor, and lots of Nightmare Fuel

I think the problem was that in Arnold becoming near infallible in morals and wisdom, it became harder to give him focus (since most character centric stories tend to focus on their flaws) and he ended up Demoted to Extra. I admit I kinda prefered his earlier spacey persona, even when he was the bringer of advice, there seemed a better charm to it due to how deadpan and semi inept he was.

"Wait what's it like to fly?" "Eh, it's okay..."

edited 1st Mar '12 11:42:46 AM by Psi001

I enjoyed his creative persona too. I think becoming the Messiah made him a bit too nice; he becomes inclined to help everyone even if people mistreat him, while before he'd at least show a reaction.

This kinda ties in to my argument in the Mickey Mouse thread. A Nice Guy tends to only work if they have some other defining personality trait (most preferably a heavy flaw). Later Arnold was just generic wise and pleasant guy that could just as easily have been a forty year old man. Earlier Arnold had wisdom and kindness, but was also amusingly spacey and not too bright, as well as a bit of a frustrated Deadpan Snarker.

edited 17th Mar '12 9:01:20 AM by Psi001

Yeah, that's what I don't like about main characters in most children shows. They're so "perfect" and likeable (except by the "bullies") and serve only to solve everyone elses problems, but they lack severely in the personality department.

Y'know what? Recently I got the idea that an episode where Helga and Lila hang out and get to know each other (sort of like Helga and Harold [unwillingly] hanging out in Buses, Bikes and Subways) would've been ludicrously funny.

Lila ended up being such a removed plot device of a character when it comes to Helga that an episode where the actually really connected would've been pretty interesting. Juxtaposing Lila's blatant cheeriness and repressed "dark side"/woobiness and Helga's blatant cynicism and repressed soft side could've made for some interesting Character Development.

For a really long time I figured that if Helga wasn't so obsessed with Arnold and Arnold wasn't so obsessed with Lila (Lila being totally passive in the whole thing), Helga and her might've been friends, which would've been interesting.

edited 13th Aug '12 11:34:50 PM by KnownUnknown

I tell ya one thing, though: I'm watching "Big Sis" on The Nineties Are All That and Lila and Olga being in any measure of close proximity to each other is incredibly funny. It's like a singularity of satirical cheerfulness and optimism.

I also like the idea that Arnold instinctively knows that his classmates are heading directly into some kind of crisis and actually follows them around to make sure they don't do anything stupid. I mean, he just shows up out of nowhere to deliver An Aesop in this one - Helga even lampshades it. (It helps that this one was aired in conjunction with "Sid The Vampire Slayer," which is all about that.)

edited 9th Oct '12 10:31:10 PM by KnownUnknown

I still kinda prefer space cadet Arnold to wise old soul Arnold, but I did always love when they lampshaded the latter.

The mondegreens for this show are great. From Grandpa's "shitty kids" to Grandma infamously calling arnold a pimp.

Steve Viksten, the guy who wrote "Stoop Kid", "The Vacant Lot", "Helga on the Couch", both the premiere and the finale, and dozens of others, in addition to voicing Oskar Kokoshka, died today at age 54.

edited 25th Jun '14 5:41:48 PM by Wackd