Sid the Vampire Slayer / Big Sis (Hey Arnold Season 5 Episode 1) - 'Toon Reviews 34

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The end is near for the series that started this huge onslaught of reviews for this blog.  However, I’m excited to go out in style in reaching completion with my look into this staple of classic Nickelodeon:

Hey Arnold (Season 5)

BASIC PREMISE

As much as I enjoy discussing the old-school Nicktoon that I believe holds up the best out of all of them as I get older, there’s something exciting about reaching completion with it.  Not only is it an accomplishment to see an entire series through to the end, but it’s also remarkable to see how consistent in quality Hey Arnold really is.  The slice-of-life tone is easily at its most emotionally engaging here with all sorts of endearing characters and thought put into the strife of everyday challenges.  That said, five seasons is a long time to run a show like this, so it’s also best to be a little cautious going in.  In other words, it shouldn’t be surprising to find a few works not up to the highest standards.  Nevertheless, given the series’ general nature, the things that work the best about it still should be top priority, andI still have many fond memories of the fifth season.

As an added bonus, after completing my thoughts on Season 5, I’m also going to cover the two feature length Hey Arnold works.  There’s the show’s attempt at a theatrical release with Hey Arnold The Movie, and the grand finale 15 years in the making Hey Arnold The Jungle Movie.  This way, in addition to further completing my look at this classic series, my views of the series are also going to cover the entire underlying story.  It’s the ultimate way to bring my reviewing experience with Hey Arnold full circle.

Having said all that needs to be said to introduce this review set, get ready as this is the final season of Hey Arnold, so for the last time, move it Football Heads!

Now on with the reviews:



Sid the Vampire Slayer

 

Most of the characters in the cast deserve praise for how they’re written, but others have made themselves quite overbearing and not too enjoyable.  Sid is one of the overbearing types who’s constantly paranoid over little things and tends to jump to ridiculous conclusions in many of his starring roles.  With that, you have an idea of what to expect going into this starring role, although it does deserve credit for invoking a dark atmosphere. 

In a way of fitting the childlike tone often seen in these cartoons, it’s a result of watching a scary movie about vampires.  Kids, who are usually kind of impressionable about what they watch, can give into the fear factor and believe such scary things can happen in reality.  From the clip of the vampire movie of an innocent woman getting chased and bitten by one and a mob forming to stop anymore out there, I don’t blame Sid for becoming scared.  Then again, since paranoia is kind of a thing with him, anything sympathetic is sure to be beaten by overbearing ridiculousness. 

His fear of the movie is instantly recognized by Arnold and Stinky, with Stinky joking around that he may be a vampire himself.  Sid being Sid, he takes this statement to heart and then reaches the expected ridiculous conclusion that Stinky meant what he said.  It’s all complete with a nightmare where Sid’s in the place of the woman from the film and Stinky’s the vampire who sucks his blood. 

From here, the cartoon is nothing but Sid spying on every little thing Stinky does in the name of exposing him as a vampire.  The thing is though, many of these things have logical explanation.  You don’t even need to listen to Arnold to come up with them.  Stinky only wears sunglasses for one day, he may just not like garlic bread, and maybe he legitimately wanted to go to the blood drive to give blood instead of taking it.  Instantly Sid starts going too far through poor photography as a way of saying Stinky has no reflection, or taking his sandwich while claiming a bite out of it to be a fang bite. 

To be fair, he does start having some validity when he captures a bat, believing it’s Stinky’s true form.  This is an unusual occurrence, and they build from here.  At night, both Sid and Arnold discover even more strange customs like Stinky in a large necked robe, biting a goat’s neck, and getting into a glowing coffin.  Though Arnold starts to see these things as unusual too, he makes the smart decision of directly confronting Stinky.  All Sid does is rush in with a rubber sword, thinking it will solve everything.  At least through doing so, he notices that Stinky has a reflection, proving once and for all that he’s not a vampire.  Plus, those strange things he just saw have a logical explanation too. 

However, once Sid’s fears are settled, the cartoon ends with a suggestion that Stinky really is a vampire which I just find pointless.  The cartoon gave legit proof to the contrary and no other cartoon explores this, so there’s no need to even consider the possibility, other than for a short end gag.  The fright aspect of the story does elevate the cartoon to some appealing level which adds a little weight and legitimacy to an otherwise overbearing showing of Sid’s overreactions.

B+

Big Sis

The first cartoon featuring Helga’s older sister Olga offered a lot of promise for them to overcome their differences and become closer throughout the series.  Disappointingly, this never really happens with Helga always having a problem with her sister whenever she comes home, and Olga being happy with her perfection.  Even in this final season, the formula is in place with Helga and Olga not getting any closer, but that’s not all. 

It’s hard enough to put up with one overly happy character.  This cartoon goes the extra mile by teaming Olga up with another overly happy girl in the cast, Lila.  Olga announces that she’s signed up for a program where she acts as a surrogate older sibling to an only child.  With Lila as her assigned only child, things get very saccharine.  Something about two characters alike in demeanor makes the experience feel uneasy to sit through without a well-rounded tone to make everything genuine.  I suppose that’s what happens when two characters interacting have interchangeable personalities. 

As a result, the character who’s the easiest to side with in this scenario is the edgiest one, Helga, but then again, she’s almost always the easiest to side with being so well-written.  Even so, the cartoon’s direction makes it difficult to find out who to really side with.  It may be hard and largely unentertaining to follow Olga and Lila together, but Helga has her share of problems too.  She pulls off a lot of stunts to inconvenience or even hurt the two of them which is kind of messed up.  This especially goes for Lila since, as I’ve said back in my Season 4 reviews, Helga should be more respectful of her since she supports her love for Arnold. 

Nevertheless, certain scenes make the sting of Helga’s actions much less impactful.  For one thing there are interesting ways things turn out all right for Olga and Lila so they avoid any legit pain, even if they are mostly conveniences.  There’s also more of a demonstration to how Helga and Arnold work as a pairing despite their tensions.  As is true with what’s been happening at this point in the series, Arnold takes a keen interest in how Helga’s doing without her even coming to him.  He can easily tell what’s going on despite it having no bearing on him, and points out a hard truth to Helga’s problem.  She claims she doesn’t like seeing Olga and Lila together, but because she’s watching what they’re doing instead of leaving them be, she’s actually feeling jealous.  Through silently seeing images of her older sister having a family bond with someone else, Helga slowly comes to admit that this is true. 

Then comes an endearing scene where she’s upfront and honest about her feelings to Olga. Olga then reassures her that her bond with Lila will never outshine how she feels about her actual little sister.  You can only imagine how disappointing the payoff to all this is.  Helga joins Olga and Lila for a rowboat outing and doesn’t enjoy it a bit.  In fact, she has to do all the paddling work while Olga and Lila are sappily in bliss as they take in the moonlight.  The last scene of Helga abandoning ship and swimming for shore makes her emotional arc for the cartoon a total waste.  It also brings sad symbolism that while the possibility for truly bonding with Olga exists, they’re so radically different that it will never happen. 

While the overall cartoon does have its moments if you’re in the right mood, it’s a testament to the disappointment of a decent sibling bond never being allowed to really happen.

C-

The Ranking

1.      Sid the Vampire Slayer

2.      Big Sis

 

 

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Gerald becomes obsessed with a card game, and many boys and their dads in the cast have a bad time during a fishing trip.

If you would like to check out other Hey Arnold reviews on this blog, click here for the guide made especially for them.