'Toon Reviews 16: Hey Arnold Season 3 Episode 18: Helga's Show/The Flood

Helga’s Show

Everyone has different tastes in entertainment.  Certain things that are hilarious to some people may do nothing good for others, but to me, the right thing to do is try and understand why a style of entertainment can be funny even if you don’t always agree with it.  For that, I admire that this cartoon portrays this very theme. 

There’s an after-school lounge called the Coco Hut in which the students of PS 118 gather to perform comedy acts for all the attendees, and Helga has her own style of comedy by doing impressions of various people she knows.  As someone who enjoys hearing, as well as doing, impressions of real-life people and TV characters, I personally enjoy Helga’s act.  However, while some enjoy their own impressions or don’t get that they’re the ones being impersonated, the rest of the kids Helga impersonates take offense for how her act capitalizes on their primary habits like Harold’s cries for his mommy, Rhonda’s sense of fashion, and Stinky’s newly revealed love for lemon pudding.  They proceed to ignore Helga, feeling hurt by her act and see no appeal in her style of comedy at all which seems believable to anyone who doesn’t agree with certain entertainment styles. 

In a pleasing turn of events, Helga, who normally would use brute force to get others to see her point of view, feels bad that some of her friends don’t get her style of entertainment so much so that she’s led to confide these feelings to her best friend.  Through doing so, she discusses her own reasons for why her comedy came out as it did, claiming that if the kids can laugh at the impressions of others, they can laugh at their own which makes sense and shows how she felt it could work.  However, Helga’s flexible enough to see how her style of comedy wouldn’t work when the kids she wronged deal with their hurt feelings by doing impressions of Helga, and she sees their point. 

What follows is a rare moment where she shows consideration for kids other than Arnold by attempting to do another act to celebrate what’s good about her friends through a poem even if she doesn’t see the comedic appeal.  That said, her feelings about how unfunny the whole thing is are justified when she goes on stage, performs the poem, and while no one’s hurt from the act, no one is moved by it either.  It’s at this moment where the kids, and to an extent Helga herself, discover the humor of watching someone impersonate their quirks after hearing an unenthused poem about how great they are.  Right then and there is the appeal of forms of entertainment they might not always agree with. 

Ultimately, the cartoon closes with Helga bouncing back from the funk and returns to her old impressions, including people she originally didn’t impersonate in full force giving the kids something truly funny especially since they can now laugh at themselves like Helga felt they would.  It does make you wonder if Helga truly learned anything through all this since she simply goes back to doing what she did in the beginning while everyone else has a change of heart, but other than that, this is highly enjoyable, especially for those who always feel the need for solid entertainment. 9/10

The Flood

Some of the best stories in my opinion are those that bring different people together during a bad situation which make for different ways of dealing with what happens.  This cartoon features one of those stories and the use of characters and moments that come from the situation make it as great as it is. 

The situation presented is one that’s hard to imagine happening everyday (depending on where you live of course), which makes what happens interesting.  Mr. Simmons’ class ends up stranded at PS 118 for the night due to a flood roaring outside all because he felt the need to keep them longer to teach them.  This is particularly concerning to the kids who just want to leave for spring break. 

From here, the cartoon shows everyone living through the flood providing a variety of experiences.  Most of the students act up for much of the ordeal with constant fighting and annoying each other.  This could make the kids unenjoyable, but since they were on the verge a whole week off from school and they probably would’ve beaten the flood if Mr. Simmons didn’t keep them longer, it’s at least believable that they’d be so stressed that they’d let it out the way they do. 

Also Mr. Simmons shows a great display of his strengths of trying to stay positive in a bad situation, but his positivity is his downfall against the angry students.  Even his attempts at being firm have no effect because he’s simply not good at acting in such a way, so when the flood gets worse with water flowing into the building, the tensions rise significantly enhanced by believable angst from the kids and desperation from the teacher. 

In the process, the intensity of the entire flood is lightened a bit by a few laughs.  The bickering from the kids has a fair share of humor, but strong laughs are also found elsewhere.  They include brief breaks from the fighting and annoying such as when Helga attempts to break out of school running into Principal Wartz in a strange dance getup which works for how random it is.  There’s also a subplot of Grandpa making a raft to rescue Arnold and his friends while Oskar schemes to make a quick buck out of the flood by charging rescues which includes many funny interactions with clashing personalities and senses of morality made more exciting as the flood gets worse. 

These many moments from the flood build up to an exciting climax when the kids, for all their rowdiness, show that they do have hearts when after breaking from Mr. Simmons, they fear for his safety when he’s gone for a long time.  They find him dangling on a broken ladder above the raging floodwaters while he was trying to signal for help.  It’s the sense of danger that gets the kids to work together to save their teacher.  The speed of them tossing him a weight to reel him in, the strain as they pull, and the basic intensity is perfectly felt and tie into the music and visuals of the moment especially when Helga falls in and needs to be rescued too.  Then everything in the scene ties into a relieving finish with both Helga and Mr. Simmons dragged to safety and everyone finally able to leave the school on Grandpa’s raft. 

As it stands, the whole flood experience is easily one of the best entries for the season with a wide range of moments being funny, relatable, and especially intense stemming from a natural disaster. 10/10

The Ranking

1. Helga Blabs it All
2. Harold the Butcher
3. Cool Party
4. Grandpa’s Birthday
5. Crabby Author
6. The Flood
7. Mr. Hyunh Goes Country
8. Road Trip
9. Helga Vs. Big Patty
10. Arnold’s Thanksgiving
11. Hey Harold!
12. Curly Snaps
13. The Aptitude Test
14. Pre-Teen Scream
15. The Pig War
16. Olga Gets Engaged
17. Oskar Gets a Job
18. Arnold and Lila
19. Phoebe Takes the Fall
20. Best Man
21. Career Day
22. Helga’s Show
23. Gerald’s Tonsils
24. Grand Prix
25. Rich Kid
26. Dangerous Lumber
27. Casa Paradiso
28. Arnold’s Room
29. Helga and the Nanny
30. Roller Coaster
31. Stinky Goes Hollywood
32. School Dance
33. Sid’s Revenge
34. Girl Trouble
35. Arnold Betrays Iggy

The next Hey Arnold review is on a full-length special covering the kids performing a school play of Romeo and Juliet.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is the Steven Universe Season 2 finale "Log Date 7 15 2."

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

'Toon Reviews 16: Hey Arnold Season 3 Episode 11: Phoebe Takes the Fall/The Pig War

Phoebe Takes the Fall

While many things in life bring on Helga’s mean behavior, one of the few things that show her good side is her friendship with Phoebe.  A few cartoons have shown that there’s some good heart between these characters.  Sure, there are times where Helga would take advantage of Phoebe’s generosity, but Helga plays her part in making this friend pairing work.  Whether it’s encouragement to keep going with something new, or comfort when things go wrong, there’s a clear genuineness between them which is especially great for someone like Helga.  This cartoon continues the trend. 

Phoebe’s intellect is a main subject when she and Helga end up competing against each other in a PS 118 Academic Bowl.  Because Phoebe answers the questions better than anyone else in the first round, she’s the student who will most likely win.  That’s when Helga taking advantage of her takes over when she begs her to take the fall in the next round secluded from everyone else.  Despite her restrained tone towards Phoebe as opposed to her usual aggressive authority she gives everyone else, you may think Helga’s being inconsiderate here.  Technically she is, but when it comes to winning competitions, she has a lot of pressure to do so since her home life consists of her parents giving more attention to her older sister for being so accomplished, so Helga’s actions are at least understandable.  Even then, the Academic Bowl is a competition that even Olga couldn’t win, so her parents don’t even pressure Helga into winning, so Helga’s less justified for asking Phoebe to blow the Academic Bowl for her in this regard.  However, it’s believable that Helga’s drive for generally one-upping her perfect sister would exist anyway. 

So, Phoebe’s will to please her friend’s wishes pulls through as she lets Helga win the Academic Bowl win the competition by having her answer a question she knew, and puts herself through intense quizzing sessions to help Helga prepare for the championship although she gets extremely tired.  This combined with Arnold pointing it out to Helga brings out what makes the friendship worth getting behind.  Although Helga has become prepared enough to win the competition, she does have genuine guilt about making Phoebe lose on purpose that grows following Arnold telling her about Phoebe’s exhaustion.  There’s even a surreal dream sequence where while answering questions in front of a grey audience and Arnold suddenly appears making Helga question if she really deserves to be there. 

In the present, while it takes until the night of the championship, it’s still nice that Helga decides that her best friend is more important than boosting her ego.  This makes for a great sequence of Phoebe giving a strong performance in the championship as Helga’s alternate, winning by answering the question that blew Olga’s chances of winning, and even Arnold giving Helga subtle praise for doing the right thing to make the moment happen.  It goes to show that the character relationships present bring out the best in who’s involved. 

It’s debatable how much tolerance you can give the catalysts of what happens, but everything still comes together as something good. 9/10

The Pig War

For any animated series, including slice of life shows like this, creative concepts are always welcome.  Animation is a where anyything can be drawn or planned out and all characters can fit the actions and emotions.  This cartoon is an example of this which also benefits from historical context. 

The historical event referenced is one most people probably don’t know in which the US and the UK were fighting over ownership of San Juan with a war breaking out after an American farmer killed a British pig who wandered into his garden.  The war brought in ships of larger armies, all over a pig mind you which resulted in the island becoming completely American owned.  That historical context is used point-for-point here except San Juan is replaced with the show’s own Elk Island, so this cartoon already gets interesting points for giving light to a not often discussed war. 

The strengths of animation come in when Grandpa announces that he signed up Arnold and his friends for a reenactment of the Pig War as well as Abner as the respective pig.  The kids in battle attire and stationing themselves on the site give a unique perspective to a reenactment of a war and are a special kind of engaging with a childlike feel.  Also captured well is the comedy of the banter between some of the characters especially Grandpa and his old British rival, Rex Smythe-Higgins, who are just as enjoyable arguing as they were in Rex’s first appearance. 

While the approach to the war reenactment is charming, it’s also impressive how there’s seriousness to the scenario with genuine worry about what this could mean for Arnold’s pet.  There’s something suspicious about Abner taking part in a reenactment of a war where a pig is killed, so it’s easy to believe something bad will happen to him even when Grandpa says that the pig will only get a little greased.  However, following a fast-paced, yet slightly sloppily animated, chase scene for Abner, the British capture him and take him back to their camp to roast him since the rules say that can be done with the pig.  It’s a bit concerning for how neglectful of the rules Grandpa was since he really should’ve paid more attention for the sake of his grandson’s pet.  At least it’s lightened by his clear regret and Arnold not holding a grudge as the gang sets out to rescue Abner. 

In their attempts, animation’s versatility is on display again. There’s a creative concept of the American team using a pig-themed Trojan Horse trick to get into the British team’s fort, humorous interactions between Rex and the kids on letting them in, and shots of an intricate device to roast Abner in use while a battle in which everyone is armed with water guns ensues.  There’s even a scene to show that not all in the opposing team is bad when Rex’s grandson, Rex Smythe-Higgins III, helps Arnold save his pet just in time giving the climax a lot of feels from laughs, to suspense, to surprise, to relief.  Everything ends with solid character-based comedy from Rex III explaining his betrayal to his grandfather and Grandpa trying to convince Arnold to do the reenactment again next year right into the credits. 

This leaves us with an interesting take on an interpretation of a lesser-known historic battle with creative and charming scenarios and humorous character interactions with enough room for suspense and heart. It’s one look at history you’ll never forget. 9.5/10

The Ranking

1. Helga Blabs it All
2. Harold the Butcher
3. Crabby Author
4. Mr. Hyunh Goes Country
5. Helga Vs. Big Patty
6. Hey Harold!
7. Curly Snaps
8. The Aptitude Test
9. Pre-Teen Scream
10. The Pig War
11. Olga Gets Engaged
12. Oskar Gets a Job
13. Phoebe Takes the Fall
14. Career Day
15. Gerald’s Tonsils
16. Rich Kid
17. Dangerous Lumber
18. Casa Paradiso
19. Arnold’s Room
20. Helga and the Nanny
21. Stinky Goes Hollywood
22. Arnold Betrays Iggy

The next Hey Arnold review features the return of Coach Wittenberg and his wife Tish as they attempt to remarry, and you're invited to a geek party which accepts everyone in Arnold's neighborhood as opposed to Rhonda's cool party which only invites "cool" kids.

Next time on MC Toon Reviews is a look into a Voltron: Legendary Defender episode that introduces "The Blade of Marmora."

If you want to stay updated for more reviews, become a follower of this blog, click here to like the official Facebook page, and click here to follow me on Twitter.

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

'Toon Reviews 7: Hey Arnold Season 2 Episode 3

Save the Tree

From the title, it’s easy to get the impression that this is nothing more than a preachy environmental story existing solely to explain why trees are important and shouldn’t be cut down.  However, the actual cartoon works because of what the environmental issue means for the characters involved, which makes it easy to care for the tree needing saving.  Right at the beginning, we get a feel of what the tree, called Mighty Pete, means to Arnold and his friends mostly for how it holds their very own treehouse and its historic significance as the oldest tree in the neighborhood.  Though why they claim it to be the only one when there’s clearly other trees, I really don’t know.  Anyway, because of the kids’ attachment to the tree and their apparent care for it, their concerns of it doomed to be knocked down by Helga’s dad, Big Bob, and his assistant Nick, to make room for a new beeper store are easy to get behind.  What follows mostly consists of the kids trying to do what they can to save Mighty Pete, despite most of them feeling powerless against a rich and powerful store owner like Big Bob.  The most entertaining bits come from Arnold’s Grandma who really demonstrates her appeal as a character by showing the most passion for the cause.  She even has the gang take matters into their own hands when they can’t get help from city hall, and even when Big Bob retaliates as they all protest in front of his house in ridiculous costumes, she makes it clear that their cause isn’t over.  However, even with Grandma’s great charismatic and determined demeanor, the kids grow depressed that they can’t save their famed tree, and its especially felt when they all wake up in the middle of the night to spend time in their treehouse one last time.  However, that’s when we get an exciting climax when the bulldozer set to knock down Mighty Pete approaches.  All the kids can do is throw everything, INCLUDING the kitchen sink, to stop the bulldozer but to no avail.  At the same time, we get a great moment from Big Bob, who’s known to be very neglectful of Helga.  When he sees that she’s up in the tree, he protests Nick to stop the bulldozer, giving the impression that while he’s not a good parent, his flaws aren’t intentional.  What does succeed to stop the bulldozer is easily the high point of the climax.  Grandma, in all her versatility, shows up in a Tarzan suit, swings from the tree, and takes control of the bulldozer, driving it out of the way at the last minute.  In the end, it’s the lack of a bulldozer as well as the fact the kids risked their lives to protect the tree that gets Big Bob to decide against knocking it down.  That’s the appeal of this whole plot; the characters’ devotion to a piece of nature leading to solid comedy, tensions, and heart. 9.5/10

New Teacher

At the start of these reviews, I mentioned that there’s a game-changing element included here which causes continuity errors if you follow the airing order.  That element is introduced in this cartoon.  As the title shows, Arnold’s class gets a new teacher called Mr. Simmons.  Compared to their previous teacher, Ms. Slovak, he’s way more fleshed out.  He always has a positive demeanor and shows genuine care for who he’s teaching unlike the other who just did her job and not much else.  As a result, he’s a much more pleasing teacher to have around for the rest of the series.  In his debut, things with him start off on the wrong foot as his teaching methods such as putting the desks in a circle, getting the kids to share personal feelings on other students, which almost gets Helga to reveal her love for Arnold, and pushing sappy subjects like poetry don’t get the kids to think well of him.  They devise a plan to overwhelm him to quit.  As they drop pencils, swap names, and protest the teachings, topped with Harold eating his lunch I might add, it’s easy to feel for Mr. Simmons.  He’s easily the nicest, most caring teacher anyone could ask for, and it never feels like he deserves this treatment.  It makes it all the more concerning that all the students, including the nice, smart, and considerate ones like Arnold himself, go along with the mistreatment for no real reason.  However, the consequences to their mistreatment are both grueling and fun to watch.  They get a drill sergeant of a teacher, Lt. Major Goose, and his military mannerisms make for an interesting approach in teaching the class especially with something as simple as multiplication tables, though they clearly don’t belong in a classroom setting.  It’s too much for the kids to take, and who can blame them?  Having a literal drill sergeant for a teacher makes school worse than it is.  They may have brought Lt. Major Goose in, but it’s great that they take it upon themselves to get Mr. Simmons back.  They actually go to his house and prove that they’re open to his teachings in several nice moments where they not only prove to be teachable for him, but also befriend him which is something we hardly see in shows.  I can really relate to this based on the friendly terms I’ve been on with many of my teachers.  So, after a hilarious scene of the kids overwhelming Lt. Major Goose to quit with everything Mr. Simmons taught, classes resume with Mr. Simmons at the lead, and everyone advancing in knowledge greatly, and this is only the beginning.  Overall, even if it has to disregard the good nature of some characters to make the plot work, this is a great start to a great change to the show’s dynamic. 9/10

The Ranking

1. Harold’s Kitty
2. Save the Tree
3. New Teacher
4. The Big Scoop
5. Hooky
6. Arnold Saves Sid

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode where Gerald's little sister finds a way to spend time with him through a "Ransom," and we're introduced to another prominent character named Lila, a.k.a. "Ms. Perfect."

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

'Toon Reviews 7: Hey Arnold Season 2 Episode 1

It’s time once again for all Football Heads to come together to look at more adventures in the big city.

Hey Arnold (Season 2)

BASIC PREMISE

When it comes to animated TV shows I really like, whenever I start reviewing one of them on this blog, I can hardly wait to come back to it after a while to look at another season.  One of these shows is the classic Nickelodeon show, Hey Arnold.  As I’ve discussed way back in my look of Season 1, this is one of the best animated series out there mainly through how sincere and believable it is through how it brings about different emotional responses through many highs and lows of life.  Amidst simple stories of Arnold doing a fun kid-friendly activity, there are several times when the show can delve into heavy, thought-provoking, and honest subject matter, which makes the world of the show feel highly engaging.  It also helps to have a cast of characters of many personalities and ages that somehow fleshes out everyone commendably.  Because of this, of course I really want to discuss how these strengths continue into other seasons especially since this old 90s cartoon show is relevant again thanks to The Jungle Movie.

I should probably point out that the order the cartoons are reviewed in may seem confusing to some who look at the order in some major online sources, and even the Complete Series DVD set.  That’s because in those sources, they’re listed in the order of how they aired.  However, going in that order can create a lot of continuity-related confusion, especially since this season introduces a game-changing element to the series.  Heck, the airing order of this season even lists cartoons made for the previous season.  Well, even if the cartoons aired in a certain order, I’ll be reviewing them in their intended production order as sited from the official Hey Arnold wiki, and how they’re listed in digital download sites like iTunes.  Hopefully, this will help clear up the way things are meant to unfold with every cartoon, and this practice will continue well into reviews of the other seasons.  Now that we got this out of the way, it’s time to look at more Hey Arnold via its second season.  So, let’s move it Football Heads.

Now on with the reviews:

The Big Scoop

Newspaper stories don’t always seem to come out great.  They usually focus on one character posting embarrassing articles on everyone they witness ,and their close friends, and in some cases their families, responding by posting an embarrassing article on the person or treating them like they’re a heartless monster because of that one misdeed.  That never comes off as enjoyable, but the way this newspaper story is structured does justice for the characters involved.  When writing the school newspaper, Arnold, the kid in charge, strives to post only the facts, but Helga feels that the stories posted aren’t exciting enough for the school.  Given her aggressive nature, it’s fitting that she sets up her own school newspaper that posts nothing but what she feels the PS 118 students will like even if they’re completely fabricated out of photos of certain kids.  It’s amazing how convincing the fake stories like Arnold kissing a tree and Gerald playing with dolls come out in an era before Photoshop was a thing.  Clearly, the victims of Helga’s reports want to put a stop to this nonsense.  At first, Arnold and Gerald are set up to solve everything the way most characters in these plots would by posting embossing stories of Helga, but soon after, Arnold points out that stooping to her low is not a good way to deal with this.  Instead, they go in a much more mature direction by posting a story to flat out claim that one of Helga’s stories is completely untrue.  The story they target is of a pretty huge supposed occurrence where Helga overhears Principal Wartz talking with Ernie, the demolition man, about walls coming down and claims that this means the school is going to be torn down and replaced with an amusement park.  It’s really a ridiculous conclusion to come to and Phoebe's reaction to the claim is hard to believe, but given how much everyone bought her fake stories before, it makes sense for Helga to predict they’ll believe this one.  As for Arnold and Gerald, they take the time to research what’s going on, learn that what Helga claims is completely untrue and post it in their paper.  This, along with the subsequent scene of everyone demanding Helga to stop posting lies, effectively gets Helga to realize the errors of her ways and gives her a chance to change.  It’s certainly a much better way around the issue than to make her a pariah because of this, and this way around the issue means a lot more given her bully status.  While she still wants the news to be more exciting in the end, it’s great that she’s at last complying with Arnold’s leadership on being honest.  Ultimately, of all the newspaper plots of any show, this will always be the strongest one to me for the mature way of dealing with the typical beats it comes with. 9/10

Harold’s Kitty

Way back at the start of the show, Harold was seen as a one-dimensional big bully who just wanted to insult or pound anyone he felt was beneath him with occasional moments of softness.  As the show would go on, his soft side would grow even more, making him a genuine human character.  This cartoon is one of the best examples of his growing soft side.  We begin with him doing his typical immature, brash things like banging along a fence annoying an old lady named Mrs. Ryle and being snappy at the kids which makes them not want to him to play with them.  Then everything changes when he and Arnold find a lost kitten, and Harold agrees to take it home, and from there, we see a large display of Harold’s friendly side at work.  As time goes on, Harold gets more attached to the small cat, happily playing with him, buying him treats and toys, and pretty much going anywhere with him. It’s interesting, and of course adorable to see a huge, mean-looking kid like Harold find a liking, let alone really bond, with a creature as small as a kitten who he names Cupcake.  It’s hard to get enough of their moments together, and you can really feel for Harold when Arnold proceeds to put up lost kitten posters all over the neighborhood.  Speaking of which, it’s also great that this cartoon doesn’t solely rely on cuteness from Harold and Cupcake, for in the second half, Arnold discovers that the kitten belongs to Mrs. Ryle.  Considering how distressed Harold was at the sight of Arnold’s lost cat posters, he completely refuses to let Cupcake go, locking them both inside his house.  This may be a simple action, but then it just grows in tension as a commotion arises first by a crowd of the neighborhood’s residents gathering around the house, then both of Harold’s parents demanding Harold to open the door, and then with the whole police force, including the air force, interrogating Harold to come out with the cat.  So much craziness happens from this simple act that you just can’t help but get invested.  Ultimately, after hearing how the cat, really named Thurston, is the only friend Mrs. Ryle has, Arnold breaks through to Harold’s room and informs him of this, and if he loves the cat as his only true friend, he has to get him home, which Harold does.  Even with this separation of friends, it leads to a greater good with Harold and Mrs. Ryle reaching a truce over the cat, him being allowed to visit him, and everyone starting to get to know the real Harold.  In addition to being cute and really building up on intensity at times, this is one of the show’s strongest entries for having Harold’s story prove that anyone can be more than what they seem. 10/10

The Ranking

1. Harold’s Kitty
2. The Big Scoop

Be sure to stay tuned for the review of the next episode featuring Sid's very first starring role in "Arnold Saves Sid" and Arnold and Gerald decide to play "Hooky."

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