How the cult animated series “Hey Arnold!” was created: 17 interesting facts about the animated series (18 photos)

The animated series "Hey Arnold" was quite famous when it came out, it was interesting, well drawn and funny at the time.





1. The author of the idea for the animated series “Hey Arnold” was the young artist Craig Bartlett, whose name you may have heard in the intro of the animated series. But Arnold himself was invented even earlier, and in a rather unusual plasticine incarnation.



Yes, the first plasticine version of Arnold was invented back in 1988. In total, Bartlett produced three such short films, which were even shown in the famous children's television program “Sesame Street” (Muppets show).





Some time after this, Craig Bartlett was invited to the Klasky Csupo studio, which worked on the first three seasons of the animated series The Simpsons, and also released the famous animated series Rugrats. And it was at this studio that Craig was able to agree to have separate comics created for his turnip-headed hero.



2. In total, several comics were released. To be more precise, comics about Arnold were published as an addition to the Simpsons comics.

But one day the already well-known company “Nikelodeon” became interested in these comics, which expressed a desire to create a separate hand-drawn animated series on this topic. Naturally, Bartlett simply could not refuse such an offer.

True, for the animated series we had to work a little on Arnold’s image. This is how the main character got his signature clothes in the form of a sweater and shirt. But the cap has not gone away, and remains an important attribute of the character.



By the way, I never paid any attention to this, but if you take off Arnold's cap, it turns out that he has a clear bald spot on the top of his head. One of the episodes was even dedicated to his lost cap, which made Arnie very upset.



3. By the way, about The Simpsons. There are many more connections between the animated series Hey Arnold and The Simpsons than you might think. In addition to the fact that the Arnold comics were published as an addition to the Simpsons magazine, I would also like to note that Craig Bartlett is the brother-in-law of the creators of The Simpsons, Matt Groening. He was married to Lisa Groening (Matt's younger sister) for 30 years. But a few years ago they finally separated.

Well, to make matters worse, actor Dan Castalanetta, who voiced Homer Simpson in The Simpsons, also voiced Arnold's grandfather.

4. Nickelodeon signed a contract to create one season, which will include 20 episodes, and in 1996 this series appeared on screens.



5. Originally, Craig Bartlett wanted to name the characters after his family and friends, but his father-in-law Matt Groening (creator of The Simpsons) dissuaded him from this idea, telling him that it might get him in trouble. And apparently Matt knew what he was talking about, since he himself named the Simpsons after his relatives.

6. The name Helga was not invented by chance. As the creators noted, this name was given to an unbalanced girl, as it is similar to the combination “Hell girl,” which can be translated as “Hell girl.”



7. Helga has an older sister, Olga, who is her complete opposite. Unlike Helga, Olga was always exemplary and an excellent student. Also, Olga is a kind, but overly naive girl.

But the most interesting thing is that the name Olga actually comes from the Old Scandinavian name Helga, and is essentially its East Slavic version.



8. Instead of using women to voice the children, as is customary, the creators decided that it would be much better if the children were voiced by children. But due to the fact that the children’s voices changed (became rude) from season to season, the cast had to be constantly changed.



Lane Toran (g)Arnold's voice) then and now

But do you know what's most interesting? When young Lane Thoran, who voiced Arnold in the first season, began to break his voice, his services were not refused. It’s just that now, instead of Arnold, he voiced the bully Wolfgang from the fifth grade.

In addition, in 2017, Lane Toran returned again to the cartoon “Hey Arnold,” or rather to the full-length cartoon “Hey Arnold! Jungle Movie.” But due to the fact that at that time he was already 36 years old, he, of course, no longer voiced children. He got a small role as a character named Che.

9. But if the actor who voiced Arnold was replaced by another, then the boy Jamil Walker Smith, who voiced Gerald, was left in the same place in the project. And they decided to justify the change in his voice by saying that Gerald had his tonsils cut out. A separate episode was filmed specifically for this.



Jamil Walker Smith (voice of Jerold)

10. And a little more about voice acting. If the boys' voices became rougher and had to be changed from season to season, then the young actresses who voiced the girls were not touched. Even in the latest feature-length cartoon of 2017, the same actresses who voiced these same characters in the original animated series of the 90s returned to voice Helga, Phoebe, Rhonda and other girls.

11. When Craig Bartlett was asked why Gerald wears the number 33, he replied that he just liked the way the number looked.



12. The animated series raised a rather important issue - drug addiction. Only instead of prohibited substances chocolate was used.

A character like the chocolate boy is a vivid example of an addicted person who has sunk to the very bottom because of his chocolate addiction. He looks for chocolate in trash heaps and is willing to do anything for a small piece of chocolate.



But Arnold helps the young shock addict get rid of his addiction. By the way, a very useful series that is still relevant today.

13. Fifth-grader bully Wolfgang got his name thanks to Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. In one episode, he encounters another bully named Ludwig, whose name refers to another famous composer - Ludwig Van Beethoven.



14. Despite the fact that the animated series was broadcast for 9 years (1996-2004), and during this time 100 episodes and one full-length film were released, we never saw the finale, which would reveal to us the answers to many exciting questions.

But many years later (in 2017), the long-awaited full-length cartoon was released, which finally answered all these questions, completely completing the story of Arnold and his loved ones.

Firstly, Arnold and his friends found his parents, who, as it turned out, had fallen ill with sleeping sickness. The children managed to save everyone, and Arnold's parents returned to their son.



Secondly, we learned Arnold's last name, which was never mentioned in the animated series. As it turned out, his last name is “Shortman”, which translates as “Shorty”. Funny trolling from the creators, because that’s what Grandfather called Arnold throughout the entire cartoon series. It turns out that he called him by his last name.

And thirdly, Helga finally achieved her goal, and she and Arnold began dating. Basically. They hinted at this to us in the animated series, but from the grandfather’s side, because, as the old man said, one girl constantly bullied him. It was then revealed that the girl was Arnold's grandmother.



15. And again let's return to the voice acting (what is it?). The film's creator, Craig Bartlett, voiced several characters for the animated series, namely Abner the pig, the radio DJ, and a strange classmate named Brainy, who stalked Helga, drooling on her, for which he constantly got punched in the face by her.

And in the last full-length film of 2017, Craig Bartlett voiced Arnold's father.

16. Originally, Helga was supposed to be a regular bully who just had a bad temper, but Craig Bartlett's wife insisted that she be secretly in love with Arnold. Thanks to this, Helga became a truly vibrant and interesting character.



Moreover, she became tableShe was so popular that she had crowds of fans. This prompted the creators to make a separate spin-off about Helga Potake, but in the end the studio bosses did not support this idea.

17. After the end of the broadcast of the series, author Craig Bartlett said in one interview that Arnold’s teacher, Mr. Simmons, is a representative of a gay person.



Of course, Mr. Simmons could have observed something similar in his behavior, but I don’t understand why talk about it?