If you grew up in the nineties like I did, you probably watched your fair share of Nickelodeon cartoons. Shows like “Rugrats” and “Doug” were a regular part of life and while I’ll probably eventually get to those two series, today I want to talk about…
“Hey Arnold!” Pilot “Arnold” (8 out of 10) created by Craig Bartlett; Starring J.D. Daniels, Francesca Smith, Justin Shenkarow, Jamil Walker Smith, Dan Castellaneta, and Tress MacNeille; originally aired March 1, 1994.
In this eight minute short, Arnold and a group of neighborhood kids are playing baseball when Arnold accidentally knocks Harold’s (the neighborhood bully) hat off when he hits the ball. The plot was later used in a full length episode titled “24 Hours to Live” but was originally shown as a short before Nickelodeon’s first feature length film “Harriet the Spy.”
I remember watching this in theaters because, as ashamed as I am to admit it, I saw “Harriet the Spy” in theaters, mostly because I was nine and had minimal taste in movies and even less control over which ones I got to go see (except for the time I absolutely lost my mind until my parents took me to see “Jurassic Park” at the drive-in in the rain).
The series revolves around a fourth grader named Arnold, his best friend Gerald, and arch nemesis/love interest Helga. Arnold lives in a boarding house that’s falling down around him (except for his strangely high-tech and awesome bedroom which I totally want to this day) with his grandparents and a motley cast of unusual adults that, as a child, always made me feel just a little bit uncomfortable.
What’s special about “Hey Arnold!” is the way it accurately portrays the feelings of being a kid, adults are around but there’s a sensation that they don’t really get what’s going on in your life and you have to solve your problems on your own, whether that means getting into or out of a fight, unrequited affection, urban legends, or breaking a world record for making the world’s largest pizza.
What you may not know is that “Hey Arnold!” was conceived long before the theatrical short or the Nickelodeon series. The character of Arnold originated on “Pee-wee’s Playhouse” as a minimal player in the claymation Penny cartoons (Penny looks a bit like Helga Pataki as well).
Series creator Craig Bartlett, brother-in-law to Matt Groening and husband to the real life inspiration for Lisa Simpson, showcased some of the Penny shorts to executives and Nickelodeon while pitching ideas for new cartoons. While he intended to expand on the character of Penny, they were more impressed with Arnold and asked to see more.
If you’re old enough you may even remember seeing Arnold on “Sesame Street,” some claymation shorts of the character were used as filler material in 1991.
Arnold’s design changed a bit between his time on Sesame Street and his time on Nickelodeon, keeping only the hat perched atop his football shaped head. The show officially debuted in October of 1996 and ran until 2004, producing a total of 100 episodes as well as a feature film titled “Hey Arnold!: The Movie.”
To my mind “Hey Arnold!” is one of the crown jewels of nineties kid’s television and a suitable replacement hasn’t presented itself since. Bartelett went on to create “Dinosaur Train” which isn’t terrible but just doesn’t have the capacity to cover the same level of content or hit the same heights. Maybe if we all ask him really nicely he’ll give something comparable to a new generation. It would certainly be welcome.