Move it, Football head!

Hey Arnold! has been airing on TV recently and they’ve got me glued to the monitor watching it -- hook, line, and sinker.  The last time I watched that show was waaaay back when it originally aired.  I loved it back then, and still love it today.  I’ve actually come to appreciate the show even more now with an adult perspective.

First off, hats off to Jim Lang for an incredible soundtrack!  Mostly incorporating jazz, a genre of music you wouldn’t expect to fit well with a cartoon for kids, actually does really well and gives the show a unique vibe compared to other cartoons at the time when it aired.  Sure, there was a mix of tracks that heavily used synthesizers (and a lot of slide whistles), but those were pretty good, too.  Here’s a short list of songs I found online as samples for you to listen to.

• Ending Theme (Stompin-Jim Lang)
• Groove Remote (LockJaw)
• Operation Ruthless End
• Home Wit Jerome
• La Femme Helga
• Dangerous Lumber

But what I was really impressed with was the background art.  Since the show takes place in a large city, it primarily includes urban settings such as skyscrapers, streets, sidewalks, highways, and buildings of all shapes and architectural designs.  I don’t know the art style, but backgrounds look like they are colored in with pencils.  This is easily seen with the night sky or a rounded corner like a bus seat.  Check out the image below of what has to be the best background shot.

Well, actually it’s a still shot that is shown for about 5 seconds before the episode ends, but look at it!  The red building the image is focused on is the Sunset Arms boarding house where Arnold lives with his grandparents.  The drawing also includes the neighborhood so you can see the surrounding buildings, the highway, and Mr. Green’s butcher shop.  It’s a beautiful image because of the angle of the shot and it occurring at sunset.  Because of these, you get great light and shadowing contrasts and the angle allows you to see the rooftops, the overall shape of each building, and the street.  Lots of details are in this drawing and I love it!

The image could have been better, but I had to take the screenshot on my phone instead of my laptop as Apple has decided to prevent users from taking screenshots of the QuickTime player on the desktop when copyrighted materials are playing.  I understand taking precautions for ripping video, but to take a screenshot?  Come on!

In addition, the stories are well written and do include moral values.  But what I didn’t expect was the show to have a few endings that were a bit on the depressing side.  I guess it’s to show how a decision can have a bad result and you just have to live with the consequences of your actions, but hey that’s life, right?

The show is also jammed packed with characters, so the focus can be pointed at different groups like the residence in the boarding house or someone at Arnold’s school.  This keeps the show fresh with scenarios so every episode is different and never feels the same as another episode.  In fact, Hey Arnold! contains 100 episodes, and to me, every episode is great.  Craig Bartlett created an incredible show and kudos to Nickelodeon for greenlighting it.

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