Shoot it at me, Shortman: A Hey Arnold Reviewing Project by Milkmaidman

[MMM]

I've been doing this on SBM for a little over a month now, so why not do it here.

 

See, i'm a huge fan of Hey Arnold, and one day I decided to take on the challenge of reviewing every Hey Arnold episode there is, from Downtown as Fruits to Phoebe's Little Problem. Anyways, let's a-go.

 

1a. Downtown as Fruits

 

 

 

Most shows don't have a good introductory episode. Exceptions to this rule are Spongebob, Adventure Time, Regular Show, Rocko's Modern Life, Rugrats, and of course, Hey Arnold. This episode is very creative and an instant masterpiece. It starts off as the gang doing a school play directed by Helga, but since Arnold and Gerald have to be a banana and a strawberry (respectively), and not bagels or beverages, like they wanted, they decide to be the little devils they are and skip the play. They do this by not yanking the stop cord on the city bus, thus making the bus pass by the school. But, they aren't any more stops, so before they know it, they're stuck downtown, Gerald's a strawberry, AND THEY DON'T HAVE ANY MONEY! This is where things get creative, strange, and awesome. They sneak into a..bar, I think. Yeah, it's been a while since i've seen this episode. Anyways, they play pool in the bar (but they traded their costumes for "funky rags" before the bar scene when someone gave them a couple bags of moolah). So, the new owner of the banana shoes to Arnold's play costume catches them, and the two run into a mysterious dark room which happens to be the realm of the great Zamboni Jones, a fake psychic. After talking to Zamboni without paying $3.50, they run back to the school, where throughout the episode, things have been going terrible. Helga begins to start weeping about her future as a playwright, and Arnold and Gerald knock her out of the way and start the end song, "We're Fruits.". The episode ends with the crowd, and the end.

What I like most about this episode is how well thought out it was. Every scene looked like the writers tried their hardest to make us laugh, make us feel suspense, and all of that. This is easily one of my favorite episodes of HA. It was very creative, notably the scenes where Arnold and Gerald are hanging downtown with bags of money two thugs gave them. This was a great idea on the part of the creators. I know i'm the same thing over and over again about how great this episode, but it deserves to be said over and over again. This episode was one of the best of it's show. Craig Bartlett, Joe Ansolebehere (I think that's how it's spelled), and Steve Viksten really put their hardest to write a great episode, and they dang well succeeded. Interestingly enough, Craig, Joe, and Steve all used to be writers for Rugrats, and you can tell they took their great writing skills from Rugrats, and put it in Hey Arnold, but with a pinch more maturity. 

[PatBack]

I'm surprised you've done this and STILL haven't created anything based on Rocko's Modern Life.

[MMM]

1b. Eugene's Bike

 

http://images4.wikia...ges/d/d8/Eugene

This is one episode of Hey Arnold I have a love-hate relationship with. I understand that Eugene is the character who was created to get unlucky, but this an example where the creators take it a little too far. Anyways, Eugene gets a bike as a gift because it's Flag Day, even if that had no context IMO. After some showing off, his bike gets runs over by a truck. He does a Charlie Brown-style scream, and then after that, Arnold feels bad and decides to fix the bike. Then, he gives it back to Eugene, but Arnold's pet pig, Abner, rips off the brake cable, so Eugene goes sailing into...a car. Of course, he ends up in the hospital, but after Arnold walks out the hospital room after visiting Eugene and onking up his bed, he slams the door so hard that number on the door switches from 339 and 336, or the other way around. I can't remember. But since the person in room 336 or 339 is supposed to have tonsillectomy, yeah, you can see where this is going. Anyways, Arnold is lying in his room, playing with his Etch A Sketch and sketching times he caused bad luck to Eugene. He feels guilty about all this, so he tells Eugene he's gonna take him out for an entire day and do fun stuff, or "The Best Day Ever". complete with fun clothes. Lots of bad things happen, including him choking on a hot dog with later became a famous internet moment as in 2000, someone saved their friend from choking by doing the Heimlich, which they said the person learned from this episode. Interesting ain't it. Anyways, Eugene is still happy that he got such a great day, and the episode ends with his arm being crushed by a bus door. 

Eugene's Bike was honestly decent. Some parts were good, but not all parts. As I said before, what I didn't like about it was that the Eugene abuse. I know Eugene was the character in Hey Arnold who is notable for getting unluckily, but this time, in my opinion, they pushed his unluckiness way too far. It wasn't even this bad in Eugene's Pet, maybe not even Eugene's Birthday. Let's recap. Eugene's bike gets run over by a truck, the brake cable comes off the new bike, Eugene crashes into a car, Eugene's hospital door number gets switched, (in a flashback) Eugene sort of falls off a seesaw, Eugene gets pinched by a crab, and he gets his glue-coated finger stuck in his mouth. And, after the flashback, Eugene chokes on a hotdog, gets hit by a baseball, Eugene falls in the sewer, he throws up, and falls in the lake. All in all, that equals a total of twelve Eugene abuse moments. TWELVE. It may not seem like much, but after you think about it, it's a lot. There might even be more than 12, But, anyways, this was an OK episode. It had some good, but way too much Eugene abuse. 

[MMM]

2a. The Little Pink Book

 

 

This seems like the Hey Arnold version of Marceline's Closet from Adventure Time. By that I mean both episodes from both shows are as suspenseful as he**, and center around someone hiding in a closet. But, this is a Hey Arnold review, rather than an AT review, obvi. Anyways, this starts with Helga writing a secret love poem in a small book, and guess what, the love poem is about Arnold. Anyways, the bell rings, so they get on the bus, yadda yadda yadda, and then yadda yadda yadda, Helga writes more, yadda yadda yadda, getting off the bus, she puts the book in her bag, and the book falls through right into Gerald's lap, who's sitting next to Arnold. They notice the book, and find out that the poems are about Arnold, and since the poems are signed anonymously (except the last one that Helga wrote on the bus, which happened to be an acrostic that spelled out "HELGA"), the mystery begins. Anyways, Arnold puts the book in his room, and Helga sneaks into Arnold's closet when no one is in the room, so...she hides there. Arnold and Gerald come back into the room, and it turns out they're doing a scientific experiment to determine who wrote the poems. Basically, they try comparing samples of things owned by the people who A and G think might have done it (Well, Arnold only thought it was Ruth McDougal, but Gerald refused to believe it). Also, they do other methods, but this takes a long time that it cuts into the late night. Helga ends up sleeping in the closet, and the next morning, Arnold still has the book, and Helga spitballs him to distract, she gets the book back, and then the episode ends with Stinky yelling in the trash can.

There were two things that tied about what I like this episode for most. The first thing was that it was the very first in a long line of episodes focused around "Helnold". I mean, this episode gets a lot smaller reputation than it deserves. The second thing was how suspenseful it was. Going back to the beginning of the review, this episode reminded of the AT episode "Marceline's Closet", as they were both really suspenseful and about someone hiding in a closet. This is a good comparison to me cause MC is one of my very favorite Adventure Time episodes ever. Yeah, overall, this was a fantastic episode. I may have left out some plot details, but who cares. The music was great, the plot was pretty creative with it's execution, and the characters were good, but I can't really say much about the jokes because there aren't many jokes in Hey Arnold, so yeah. Anyways, I can't wait to have more reviews done, so i'll just see y'all next time on Shoot it at me, Shortman. (Cue for random talk show transition music) 

[NegiSpongie]

Actually, Arnold still had the pink book. Helga just ran up to him as he was reading the page with her name on it and ripped it the page out, using it as a spitball so he couldn't read it. But who cares?  I really like these and hope you continue it.