Hey Arnold!: episode notes
ungvichian
the other episodes, go to these threads:
(The original thread)
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.nickelodeon/tree/browse_frm/thread/a8e0967ddd9cc765/6d9c6e7bf995fa40
("New Bully" / "Phoebe Breaks A Leg")
http://groups.google.com/group/alt.tv.nickelodeon/browse_frm/thread/2b3e3f365770dc3d/a7fe2b96b3286663
But now... Eugene isn't the only kid who gets "Stuck In A Tree" and has
to get Chocolate Boy (yes, him) to get help from the fire department,
and "Rhonda Goes Broke" and goes to live with Arnold. Plus, a
mini-featurette in the middle!
"Stuck In A Tree"
- A simplified story that would sound perfect for the earlier days of
the show. We open with Arnold flying his box kite past a few baseball
playing kids and a picnic, over a beautiful harp arrangement. The kite
lands near a tree (a cherry tree as it were). He hears Eugene coming
from the tree. Apparently Eugene thought it was a good day to climb a
tree, and while he was climbing, he suddenly got a fear of heights.
Eugene has been here for hours, and Arnold is the first person to come
across him.
- Arnold decides to climb up. Arnold ends up stuck as well, as one of
the branches he climbs up snaps to the ground. So we have a situation
that seems taken right out of "Roller Coaster" (but you wonder why no
one thinks that Eugene's jinx is causing all this).
- An hour passes. Arnold points out that he's been saying "Any minute
now" every minute for the last hour. Okay, someone is coming, and it's
Harold. Harold calls the two stupid for getting stuck in a tree :D and
tells them to pay him a nickel each.
- Okay, so Harold's back with a ladder. He took it from some guy who
was at a water tower, who promptly falls off said tower :D ... Harold
denounces the two as being stupid, but as reaches the branch, he
accidentally kicks the ladder and it drops down in half, prompting him
to call himself stupid. Eugene sez "At least you tried", but after all
that, Arnold and Eugene STILL have to wait for someone else to come.
"Any minute now."
- Another hour passes. "Caesar" is passing in a sit on lawnmower. As if
that's not enough, he's wearing earmuffs, so he can't hear anyone
yelling anyway. So, they take another branch with cherries. Arnold
misses with his cherry. Harold throws the whole branch and it gets
chewed up by the mower. Eugene beans Caesar with his cherry. "At least
we got his attention." Er, he's passed out at the wheel.
- Harold has a woodpecker on his head :D and Eugene considers that good
luck. Speaking of luck, still no one blames it on Eugene's jinx.
Anyways, Harold is crying since no one passes this particular part of
the park. Then here comes Chocolate Boy. Arnold tells him to head
straight to the fire department and get help (and DON'T STOP FOR
CHOCOLATE). Eugene mentions that they've rescued him several times (one
of these was in "Roller Coaster", although it was Arnold doing more of
the rescuing then). Anyways, Arnold has to repeat the instructions over
and over and over. Then CB leaves to get some help. Harold and Arnold
are pessimistic about getting help from CB, Eugene is still optimistic.
- Caesar is still going around in circles. Another hour passes. Harold
remembers that he has 4 lbs. of leftover egg foo yong. Harold gives
Arnold a box of take out. Arnold gives the box to Eugene, prompting
Harold to yell that he's a jinx (at least his jinx is mentioned...).
Eugene is saying that he'll handle it carefully, but it won't help now,
since as he's saying so, he's making a seemingly appropriate "of course
not" gesture... with the foo yong carton in his right hand. Result: the
foo yong spills out of the box, and on to a branch where a squirrel
eats it. I sez Eugene would never have spilled the foo yong if he
wouldn't have lifted his arm, and he would have never lifted his arm if
Harold hadn't pointed out his jinx. That's my opinion of course... your
mileage may vary.
- Eugene is hoping for CB to arrive. Harold yells that he'll end up
living on the tree and picking off splinters from his butt. Snark edit:
As Harold yells, "I'll never go to college" Arnold rolls his eyes
slightly, as if to say "Like you ever had a chance anyway?" Squirrel is
still eating the foo yong.
- Cue flash forward to the future, where the tree is still standing,
with them still stuck on the tree despite all the technological
advances that have occured, and it's been 70 years. Eugene still talks
about CB, and Harold's actually married to a squirrel. The gang are
passing on a travelator: Sid, Rhonda, Gerald, Helga, Phoebe and Stinky.
Eugene points out they're all deaf, otherwise THEY would go for help.
What are the odds that they'll all be deaf in 70 years? Caesar is still
driving on the travelator :D
- Back the the present with Harold crying. Eugene points out that they
still have fresh air, the stars at night, and woodland creatures.
Harold threatens Eugene... as a woodpecker pecks Harold on the head :D
- Rainclouds are forming. Curiously, from this point on, Arnold's kite
and the broken ladder are not there. Eugene is hiccuping. Harold is
annoyed. Arnold tells Harold to have a little faith. It begins to rain.
Eugene starts singing. Harold gets agitated even further! Harold
decides to punch Eugene. Arnold happens to be stuck in the middle so he
gets swiped off the branch. Eugene and Harold hold either of his legs.
Eugene tells Harold to have a little faith, and Arnold tells Harold to
listen to Eugene. Eugene chips in with the song he was singing earlier.
They manage to hold on as the rain ends.
- Eugene says something about believing, and adds that any minute now
they'll be rescued. And indeed they are. A dalmatian is licking CB as
the firemen are taking down the kids. Everything seems perfect, until
the fireman's cherry picker gets stuck :D (hey, "Roller Coaster"
flashback anyone?). Eugene points out the irony of this situation, and
Harold threatens to pound him again. Caesar passes the viewer again.
- This ep was so simple, Nick decided (in foreign syndication at least)
to follow the story with a mini-featurette. Details follow shortly.
- Quotables: "At least it's a beautiful day. Yep. Any minute now"
(Eugene) "Arnold and Eugene stuck in a tree / S T U K in a tree!"
(Harold is not smart...) "Two nickels, that's 15c" (...as if more proof
were needed) "Tell them Eugene sent you. They know me, they've rescued
me several times before" (Eugene to CB) "Don't stop except for
chocolate" (CB interprets "Don't stop for chocolate" as this) "Go to
fire station, stuck in tree, don't stop for chocolate..." "He's not
coming back is he?" "Nope" "Oh sure he is, just minutes from now, he'll
come back riding in a fire engine, siren singing, with a whole bunch
of smiling firemen to save us. Ah, any minute now" (CB leavse for help
for Harold, Arnold and Eugene) "Who am I gonna marry, a _squirrel_???"
(Harold) "We're going to get out of here" "What if we don't?" (Arnold
and Harold, cue flashforward) "Take my advice, don't get married"
"Especially to a squirrel" (old Harold and Arnold) "Gosh, you'd think
he'd eventually run out of gas" (old Eugene on Caesar) "If you don't
shut the heck up Eugene I'm gonna pound ya" (Harold) "That's because
he's living _in his own little pretend land_" (Harold on Eugene) "First
we're stuck in a cherry tree, now we're stuck in a cherry _picker_.
Isn't life funny?" (Eugene)
Mini-featurette:
It's comprised entirely of clips from Helga's personal love for Arnold.
This lasts about 62 seconds. Let's simply run down what clips were used
(if I can ID the ep, I will, and shots are separated with commas):
- Helga runs into Arnold carrying a shopping bag with sign in BG saying
"Space to Let, 555-RENT" ("Helga on the Couch")
- Arnold runs into dirty Helga in front of Green's ("Arnold's Hat")
- Arnold runs into dreary Helga in PS 118 hall ("Helga's Love Potion")
- Arnold skateboards into Helga on street corner ("Monkey Business")
- Helga sits on bus with purse in different dress from normal
- Arnold sprayed at water fountain ("Helga's Love Potion")
- Helga throws spitball at Arnold ("Girl Trouble"?)
- Helga and Arnold in the hall of mirrors ("Operation Ruthless")
- Helga blows through a straw, Arnold hit on head by spitball ("Helga
on the Couch")
- Helga throws spitball at Arnold ("The Little Pink Book", and note the
flatness of Arnold's head back then)
- Tailfeathered Arnold steps in gum ("Girl Trouble")
- Helga holds Arnold to punch over a chalkboard background ("The Little
Pink Book")
- Helga sits on bus with purse in different dress from normal
(different shot), opens purse to reveal Arnold locket
- Arnold and Helga and the green pudding ("School Play")
- Tuxedoed Arnold lets go of Helga's arm ("Best Man")
- Helga and an ice cream truck ("Arnold's Hat", where the audio at this
point comes from)
- Arnold the angel in Helga's dream ("Olga Comes Home")
- Helga's soliloquy at the ice cream truck again ("Arnold's Hat")
- Baby Helga behind a wastebasket, looking at her Valentine with photo
("Helga on the Couch")
- Helga's locket with school floor BG
- Helga's locket with pencil sharpener in the BG ("Girl Trouble")
- Helga's locket with school floor BG
- Helga's locket with wooden BG... the Arnold pic has no mouth...
probably an earlier season
- Helga's locket held up with lockers in the BG
- Helga's locket with grass BG
- Helga's locket with bus seat BG... earlier season look
- Helga's locket with different grass BG
- Helga's locket with trash in the BG ("Arnold's Hat"?)
- Zoom on Helga's locket with blue wall in the BG
- Fade to Arnold's eye turning into a pool with Helga in it over a
chalkboard background ("The Little Pink Book")
- Helga wears Arnold head ("Helga on the Couch")
- Helga pushes her clothes to reveal an Arnold shrine ("Helga's Love
Potion")
- Arnold shrine with lights ("Helga on the Couch"?)
- Arnold shrine on a shelf
- Arnold shrine with brooms as his hair and a couple candles ("Helga's
Masquerade")
- Cross section of book showing Arnold effigy inside ("Helga on the
Couch")
- Arnold broom shrine close-up with broom saying "Broom-o-fun"
("Helga's Masquerade")
- Arnold made from watermelon and bananas ("Helga's Parrot")
- Arnold made from a football ("Helga's Love Potion")
- Arnold effigy in a book... a different one from the "Helga on the
Couch" version ("Girl Trouble"?)
- Helga at the Arnold shrine made from a football with a boombox in the
background ("Helga's Love Potion")
- Arnold shrine made from gum ("Arnold's Hat")
- Locket in a heart tunnel, Helga runs up to touch it ("Helga's Love
Potion")
- Helga hugs her locket at her locker ("Helga on the Couch", audio is
from this ep)
- Helga on melting Arnold sundae ("Helga's Love Potion")
- Helga squints over shoulder at her locker ("Helga on the Couch")
- Brainy pops up behind her on the bus ("Arnold & Lila")
- Helga looks up holding a valentine heart ("Arnold's Valentine"?)
- Brainy appears in a tree hollow and gets punched by Helga ("Monkey
Business")
- Helga on bus in different dress punching Brainy
- Helga on bus punching Brainy
- Helga punches Brainy outside school ("24 Hours to Live"?)
- Helga punches Brainy with yellow wall in the BG ("Helga's Love
Potion"?)
- Helga punches Brainy at the hall of mirrors ("Operation Ruthless")
- Slightly beaten Helga punches Brainy in the rain ("Mudbowl")
- Helga in German dress punches Brainy at school ("Helga and the
Nanny")
- Carmhelga punches crewman Brainy ("What's Opera, Arnold?")
- Little Helga punches little Brainy ("Helga on the Couch")
- Helga shoves Brainy in a trashcan ("Girl Trouble"?)
- Brainy punches self :D ("Helga's Love Potion")
- Helga throws Brainy off train into a stream ("Haunted Train")
Who would have thought that 62 seconds would provide me so much to
recap? Apparently, this may have been used as a commercial in the
states. Here, it's used as part of the ep. Go figure.
"Rhonda Goes Broke":
- Another Lamoreaux-written ep, but it's not Michelle Lamoreaux, but
her husband Robert. We open at school, where Rhonda is talking about
the time her dad bought a scarf for a trip to Aspen, and showing the
scarf off to Helga, Harold, Nadine, Sid and Stinky. Peapod mentions
that Aspen in expensive, and Helga points out that it's filled with
yuppies and snobs. Rhonda calls Helga a "common brownbagger" in return.
- Nadine is in the bathroom with Rhonda. Rhonda tells her that she
needs a three-day rotation for her shoes (she's wearing yesterday's
shoes today). At the bus, Stinky is right in front of Rhonda
complaining about the 5c raise in the bus fare to 55c. Rhonda calls him
a tightwad and pays up, while Gerald comments that they're not made of
money like her.
- Back home, Rhonda sees the couch being taken out. She wonders why
since it's just been re-upholstered last week. Other stuff is being
taken out as well. As it turns out, the Lloyds' stock account has dried
up, and their things have been sold. Mommy Brooke tells Rhonda that
when she got married, daddy Buckley (who begins crying upon the mention
of this) had to sell one of his yachts for their multi-continent
honeymoon.
- So, they have to move to the Arms. Rhonda doesn't like it already.
Phil shows them around. Hyunh is at the phone with a very bad chest
cold. Coming out of the "community bathroom" is Ernie, telling them to
clean out the bath. They reach their room where Oskar is sleeping in
their closet bed with a salami. Phil tells them that Pookie is the
brains of the whole operation at the Arms... cue Pookie chasing Abner
:D
- Brooke opens the window and finds a bunch of bricks. Buckley suggests
that Rhonda go out for some fresh air. There's a picture of PS 118 in
the room. As a rat makes off with one of her pocket watches, Arnold
comes in, and Rhonda explains away her moving in here with that they're
remodeling, but she doesn't want anyone to know that she's living here
since she has an image to maintain. Arnold says that Phil told him that
the Lloyds are in financial trouble. Rhonda fesses up, and tells him
that she doesn't want her reputation ruined, so she's telling him to
keep it secret (knowing his track record, he's pretty good, "Arnold
Betrays Iggy" notwithstanding, and that doesn't even really count
against him).
- Meanwhile, Rhonda sez that she'll be keeping up appearances. The
following day, Rhonda hauls butt over to the Lloyds' former place
(breaking a high heel in the process), takes down the "for sale" sign,
does her hair a little, and gets on the bus. Helga notices that she's
sweaty and out of breath. Rhonda tells her that she's just finished her
morning aerobics to prepare for her ski trip.
- Stinky notices her broken high heel, and Rhonda calls her shoes
"single-heel striders". Arnold rolls his eyes as Rhonda tells them
they're on the cover of this month's Outrageous Miss magazine. Also
there, Sid, Iggy, Curly, Sheena, Helga and Harold. Plus a few unknown
kids. Rhonda calls Arnold style-savvy, cf. "Cool Party".
- Classroom. Front: Gerald, Arnold, Sheena, Harold. Middle: (Iggy),
Phoebe, Sid, Brainy. Back: (Curly), Nadine, Rhonda, empty.
(Parenthesized are those who are walking near the seats) Nadine tells
Rhonda that she keeps getting a disconnected phone message. Curly is
sitting next to Iggy, as Rhonda tells Nadine that her dad is getting a
satellite phone, and adds that Arnold's getting one too.
- Arms. Dinner. Counterclockwise from Arnold: Suzie, Hyunh, Phil,
Oskar, Rhonda, Ernie, Buckley, Brooke. Today's dinner: salami, with a
few bites taken out of it :D Buckley tells Ernie that he's dabbled in
international finance... and Ernie doesn't understand what that means
:D Pookie comes with a bowl. Ernie's sock is in it :D Freeze frame fun:
while Ernie is holding the sock on his fork, Brooke's lips disappear
for a frame as she says, "Oh, I see".
- Rhonda is offended by Abner the pig. Arnold chases it away. Hyunh
sneezes on Rhonda. She runs up to her room and cries into her pillow a
la Olga Pataki. The parents tells Rhonda that they're down to their
last dollars, and suggest that she redeem empty bottles and cans for
actual cash, i.e., recycling. She balks at the suggestion... but next
thing you know, she's in the Royal King dumpster (from "Suspended")
throwing out stuff. Sid encounters her (as do Sheena, Stinky and
Nadine) and asks about what she's doing. She says that she's looking
for her contact lens, which raises the question, when exactly did she
get contact lens, and what about the period between then and "Rhonda's
Glasses" (in which Brooke tells Rhonda that she's too young for
contacts), where she apparently had no optical aid whatsoever?
- Anyways, she says it popped out when she was throwing away her
expensive European mineral water. A lolly gets stuck to her sweater,
and she rips it off. Rhonda tells everyone that she has to get a new
sweater for Aspen. Just then Peapod comes in, mentions that he heard
from the country club that Rhonda's family is broke. Peapod's dad is
considering buying Rhonda's house and turning into a low-income condo.
- While the others discuss (Harold has come in), Rhonda's finally
forced to confess in an emotional outburst and runs off. Helga has
delight in this. Back at the Arms that night, Arnold overhears the
horror of Rhonda's parents playing tennis at a public court (Buckley's
mouth seems to disappear while he's talking). The next morning, Arnold
passes room 6 with a kite, where Rhonda is still repeatedly crying
"Why?" a la Stinky's dad in "Stinky Goes Hollywood". Later that night,
Arnold comes to tell Rhonda (peeling wallpaper off the wall) that
dinner is ready. Rhonda asks him what point there is in eating now that
she's poor? She adds that there's nothing fun to do now like movies and
the mall that she's poor. Rhonda's bed retracts into the closet :D
Arnold calls her pathetic, and tells her she is _not_ a different
person just because she's poor, unless being rich is all she's about.
Arnold leaves, fade out...
- ...to Rhonda taking Hyunh's bathtub curtain and sewing it and showing
it to her parents, and then making some doodles on a paper bag and
putting a carrot and some grapes in it. Fade to PS 118, where Nadine is
asking Rhonda about her dress. Wonder where she got the hat from?
Anyways, Iggy, Eugene, Park, Helga, and Curly are in the halls watching
this.
- Cafeteria. Rhonda whips out her lunch (grapes, apple, oranges,
carrot) to Park and Nadine. Helga (with a packet of "chips", in the
British sense of the word, ie French fries. Yes, it really does say
"chips" on the packet) asks about the lunch. It's from a garden just
outside the boarding house. Pesticide-free too. Lila is sitting at
Rhonda's table as well.
- Bus stop. Rhonda does some powerwalking past Nadine, Harold, Stinky,
Sid and Gerald. It's the healthiest way to get home, she sez. Sid asks
to join in. Rhonda is OK with that as long as they can keep up... but
that's when Rhonda's parents inform her in their new sports car (!)
that their stocks have gone back up, they got a new scarf for Rhonda,
and they're going to Aspen tonight.
- Rhonda throws away her hat, and gives Arnold some cash as a tip for
getting her through her poor period. Rhonda leaves in the Lloyds' car.
Gerald, Stinky, Harold and Sid drop their books and chase the car.
Arnold puts his cash under his hat and leaves, clearly somewhat
unsatisfied that Rhonda is back to being her snobby self. We get the
"Eugene's Bike" cut over the final scene and closing credits. Special
Thanks: Frank Weiss, Mark Merthe, Christopher Hink.
- Quotables: "Cost is no object" (Rhonda quotes her dad on buying a
scarf) "Aspen is very exclusive" "Yeah, exclusively yuppies and snobs"
(Peapod and Helga on Rhonda's upcoming trip to Aspen) "We're not all
made of money like you" (Gerald) "Maybe you should sit down... or stand
up if you prefer" (Buckley to Rhonda, just before the big revelation)
"It does have a sort-of Bohemian charm" (Brooke on Arnold's house) "I
always look forward to my weekly shower" (Ernie) "Gimme that salami,
it's tomorrow's dinner!" (Phil to Oskar) "It'd be a sad day when Rhonda
Wellington Lloyd goes completely broke" (Rhonda) "Yeah, they're all the
rage" (Arnold, with clear sarcasm on Rhonda's "single-heel striders")
"I dunno know nuttin' about that, but if you can tote a 12-lb. sledge,
I can put you to work" "I'll think about it" (Ernie and Buckley) "I
claim this dining room in the name of Spain. Hole'!" (Pookie pronounces
it "hoe-lay") "Hey, that's my sock! At least she cooked the stain out
of it" (Ernie) "I believe they call it... recycling. Yeah that's it"
(Buckley on redeeming bottles and cans) "You two may have lost all your
dignity, but I certainly haven't lost mine. There is no way I'm going
to recycle bottles and cans to pay for my lunch" (Rhonda) "I never
thought I'd see the day Rhonda Lloyd was broker than me" "Oh, how the
mighty have fallen" (Stinky comments on the situation, and Helga gets
to say the same thing about Rhonda again, cf "Rhonda's Glasses") "Why,
just yesterday we played tennis at a public court" (Buckley) "I'm only
gonna die of misery anyway" (Rhonda) "Where's the excitement I crave?!"
(Rhonda gets sprung on her bed :D) "Being rich is the one thing I'm
really good at" (Rhonda) "You were Rhonda when you had money, and now
you could still be the same Rhonda now that you _don't_. Unless being
rich is all you're about..." (as it turns out, Arnold is quite right
about Rhonda) "I found the nicest little garden growing outside the
boarding house. Pesticide-free too" (Rhonda)
(Checks backlog of reviews) I have only two more reviews left to post.
"Helga's Locket" / "Sid and Germs" (well, most of the latter, anyway)
and "Arnold's Halloween". Stay tuned for those in the coming weeks...
hopefully.
ungvichian
hands, and "Sid and Germs" suddenly don't mix, which can't be good if
he's competing in a frog catching contest. Thoughts follow shortly, all
corrections welcome.
"Helga's Locket"
- We open at Crown Jewels jewelry shop. Helga is picking up
newly-inscribed locket saying: "Arnold my soul, you are always in my
heart. Love, Helga G. Pataki". I smell "The Little Pink Book" redo...
As she picks it up, the edges of the screen sparkle and shimmer with a
white border, no doubt CG, and says what's in the locket. Realizing
that she just said it within earshot of the jeweler, she threatens him,
and leaves without even paying for the thing ($19.95)!
- She says what's in the locket again. Abner is suddenly next to him,
and Helga chases him away. She passes the Shoe Repair shop, and sees
Arnold watering his potted plant (no longer the one that caused Helga
so much confusion in "Helga Sleepwalks"). She climbs up the ladder
underneath Arnold. Helga's soliloquy (there's that white CG border
again!) is suddenly interrupted by her slipping on water (leakage from
Arnold watering the plant) on the ladder, and the locket is dropped to
the ground, where it's picked up by Abner and brought inside to the
kitchen. Now it REALLY smells like a "Helga Blabs It All" redo.
- Anyways, Abner brings it to Pookie in a deepsea outfit. Just then
Phil comes in, and Pookie gives it to Phil. Phil thinks it's an
anniversary gift. Anyways, Pookie leaves to raise the Titanic. Arnold
comes in, and Phil tells him about the gift. Phil has problems opening
the clasp (Helga's biting her nails, looking on in horror from outside
the kitchen window). Meanwhile, Arnold thinks that Pookie would put her
own pic on the locket.
- Hyunh and Ernie pass. Phil runs to them with the locket. Arnold
follows Phil. Outside the kitchen window, knowing the consequences of
Phil opening the locket and reading the inscription inside, Helga needs
to get that locket back, and climbs in the window :D
- Living room. Phil is on the couch trying to open the locket. Helga
throws a quarter to distract Phil, and sneaks behind to tug on the
chain. She falls back, and scurries behind the couch. Phil thinks it's
Abner. Anyways, Phil leaves the room. Under the couch, Helga exposits
that she just can't give up... and she suddenly finds Abner under the
couch with her :D
- Phil opens the front door, and yells at councilman/butcher Mr. Green
and florist Mrs. Vitello, showing off his locket. Arnold rolls his
eyes, and since there's no takers, Phil decides to read the headlines
from the "National Inspirer", which just appeared in his back pocket.
Meanwhile, Helga is on the 2nd floor with a fishing rod and a magnet.
- So, she's trying to take the locket using the magnet on the end of
the rod. Phil is reading about a 2 ft. kid with a 3 ft. beard and
Elvis, when he's suddenly hanging by the locket :D The locket falls,
the line goes out, Phil gets beaned on the head with the magnet, and
Helga falls into Abner's litter box :D scaring the heck out of Abner.
- Phil walks back in, as Abner is running out, and walks straight to
the kitchen. Arnold doesn't like it that Phil's showing off the Arnold
locket, and still thinks the wrong picture was put into it. Phil wants
to wear it 24/7, and Phil has to explain what that means to Arnold ;)
and leaves. Arnold exposits that he has to get that locket from him and
put Pookie's picture in it. Fade out to the Arms at night.
- Helga sneaks into Phil's bedroom when she suddenly sees Arnold
sneaking in himself. Helga hides in the closet as Arnold takes the
locket up to his room. It's starting to thunder as Arnold cuts out a
heart picture of Pookie. Since Arnold has a hard time opening the
locket, he's going downstairs to get some pliers. Time for Helga to
come in, and take the locket, but not before ripping up a photo of Lila
on his computer monitor. As she gets to the stairs (it's raining
suddenly), Phil comes in to look for the locket. He finds a dollar in
Arnold's desk... and Helga (watching Phil take the dollar) suddenly
slips on the stairs and gets beaned by the swinging glass pane exit.
The locket falls onto the bed, and Phil claims it back. After her
scream's covered up by thunder, Arnold comes to the desk and discovers
that the locket and his dollar are missing. Helga realizes she needs a
foolproof plan.
- Fade to morning. "Bernard Fluts", a rich antique art collector,
knocks the door. Phil answers, and when asked about a boarding house in
this neighborhood, it takes a few seconds for Phil to realize this is
the one "he's" talking about.
- In the kitchen Phil offers a loosemeat sandwich. "Bernard" points to
the locket, tells him that it might be worth thousands, and asks for a
better look. "His" mustache falls off and one of Helga's pigtails pops
out later, as "Bernard" takes the locket... and RUNS FOR IT!... and
Phil pulls the rug out from under Helga as she's running to the door
and catches the locket.
- She runs all the way to Green Meats, sits on the bench, and throws
the hat into the bin. After apparently realizing she can't live without
the locket (and especially not with her secret in the open), we see a
grappling hook being thrown on to the Arms' chimney, and Helga climbs
up the rope to the roof. She sees Phil and Arnold through the glass
roof.
- Arnold, stll feeling that Pookie's picture should be in it, and Phil
are making a deal: that he'll wear Pookie's picture for one day and see
how it goes. But since the locket won't open, they're going to the
basement for the major hardware. Helga is following.
- Helga jumps into the basement, rolls herself into a rug :D, and
places herself under the table with the vise. The locket goes into the
vise. Let's see what Phil's asking for: Pliers, Handsaw, T-square,
Compass, Soda, Sander, Powder, Laser, Sandwich... Well, the wall's
empty. Arnold points to a metal stick on the wall. Phil throws his
sandwich as he explains that this is Phil's grandpa's shish kabob
stick. The sign on it says "The Shiska-Bob Stick, July 16, 1926". That
is the date of of his last barbeque, and Arnold says that's exactly
what they need.
- So, they're going to use it to pry the locket open. Helga spies the
Main Power switch, so she snakes her way pas tthe Acme Furnace to the
switch and turns it off just as they pry it open. Phil suddenly thinks
he's blind. Amidst the confusion, Helga takes the locket off the vise
table (we see that the photo of Arnold is placed in there with tape),
and hides in a box of puppet heads (there are stickers on it, for
example, Paris, Tahiti, Nova Scotia, Backward Town [?}). Phil thinks
Abner took it, or someone took it. Arnold asks who would actually come
up with a plan to steal it. Phil says someone nuts (Snark edit: Helga
rolls her eyes as the comment is being said).
- Arnold offers to make a new locket to put a pic of Pookie in it. Phil
wants to put a picture of Hedy LaMarr ("Big Caesar", "Veteran's Day"),
or a big roast beef sandwich, or LaMarr eating a roast beef sandwich ;)
They leave the basement by the stairs, and Helga climbs out of the box,
and goes out the basement window. As Helga says that she won't allow it
out of her grasp again, Abner takes it again, and Helga is chasing him
into the sunset. Next!
- Quotables: "And remember, if you so much as speak a word about this
locket to anyone, you'll be wearing your tongue for a necktie" (Helga
threatens jeweler) "I can't even think about it! I have to get that
locket back..." (Helga climbs in the window) "Never a dull moment,
Arnold. Never a dull moment" (Phil) "What, no takers? Okay then Arnold,
I'll sit here and read you the headlines from the National Inspirer"
(Phil) "Ooh, to be young, pink and in a hurry" (Phil, on Abner) "I'm
wearing it 24/7" "24/7? What's that mean?" "24 hours, 7 days a week.
Yeesh, you're behind the times..." (Phil and Arnold... and who'd expect
Phil to know what 24/7 means?) "Hey, where's my dollar?!" (Arnold)
"This is a _double freakin' nightmare_" (Helga) "Heck, wait a minute,
_this_ is a boarding house in this neighborhood" (Phil) "That locket's
just a cheap piece of junk! It's worth nothing!" "Oh yeah? Well, so are
you! And you forgot your mustache" (Phil to Helga) "What was I
thinking? Live without it? That's crazy talk" (Helga thinking to
herself on the locket) "I have a feeling that's exactly what we need"
"A barbeque?" "No, the shish kabob stick" (Arnold and Phil) "That
stupid pig's smart, but not that smart" (Phil on Abner) "Grandpa, who'd
care so much about it that they'd come up with a plan to steal it?"
"Probably someone nuts" (Arnold and Phil) "No, wait, a picture of Hedy
LaMarr eating a roast beef sandwich" (what Phil wants in his new
locket)
"Sid and Germs"
(well, most of it anyway, see note at the end of this recap)
- A latecomer to the "two random words connected with an 'and'" trend,
maybe? :D We're at the swamp. Arnold, Gerald, and Stinky are watching
Sid catch frogs (one frog per hand!). We learn that, as a team, the
four have won the city frog-catching contest two years running. But
Stinky tells us that Wolfgang and Edmund are forming their own team
this year. Wolfgang is catching frogs with a net and putting them into
Edmund's bucket as he speaks. Arnold calls Sid the frog-catching
champion of PS 118. Sid has a long speech about how much he likes
catching frogs, and catches his frog Sidney (kept under his hat!) in
his mouth. Sidney is the first frog he ever caught, so they've been
together a long time. Arnold tells the others that they have nothing to
worry about.
- PS 118. (l-r, f-b) Sheena, Sid, Eugene, Curly ; Rhonda, Helga,
Phoebe, Nadine ; Iggy, Harold, Gerald, Arnold ; (unseen) , Stinky,
Joey, Brainy. Instead of the usual science lecture, Simmons is showing
a movie instead. Brainy turns off the lights, Phoebe turns on the
projector, and it's "Hygiene Keeps You Healthy!" (title card has a man,
a woman and a boy and a bar of soap on it), in black and white. As
everyone else is disappointed (Sheena is not) that it's a science movie
they're watching, some narrator guy tells us all about germs and how
they're all around us, but Sid is mostly fixated to an image of a frog
that is in the thing. Note that during the shot of the screen as it's
showing a shot of a frog eating a fly, the film scratch is slightly
larger than the screen itself. (You really have to play it in slo-mo to
catch it.)
- Playground. Wolfgang and Edmund give Arnold, Gerald and Stinky a
pre-game trash talk, so to speak. The threesome tell them about Sid.
Cut to bathroom, where Sid is soaping his hands, while the documentary
voice-over runs in his head, making him hesitant to open the room 206
doorknob as he's returning. Sid is suddenly slammed by Simmons opening
the door :D
- Sid walks in. There is a banner saying "Science Fair" in the
classroom. I don't know if this is good or bad, but this show never did
a science fair ep, like many another school show (AGU!, "The Science
Pair", for example). Phoebe, Helga, Sid and Harold are the front row,
Eugene, Arnold and Curly are in the 2nd row. Right now it's arts class
(they'll be doing their self-portraits today), and Sid is spraying his
table and brushes with something. Helga asks about it. It's
disinfectant from the janitor's office, since kids like to borrow his
brushes. Arnold is concerned...
- Cafeteria. Curly is coming out with his lunch. Iggy, Nadine and
Rhonda are at one table. Sid is putting on gloves to eat his sandwich
with Arnold and Harold near the Yahoo Cola machine. It's just a couple
minutes past noon. Harold takes a huge bite of his sub, and the sausage
in it slides out. Harold picks up the sausage. Sid has taken a bite of
his sandwich when he sees him put it back in his sub, and he jumps and
takes the sub and puts it in the trash. Odd jumpcut: It cuts from Sid
at the bin straight to Sid walking past Harold at the table. Harold
complains about that and threatens to give him a fist sandwich. Sid
tells him that it's better to have "safe" snacks like vacuum-packed and
hermetically-sealed potato chips. The container says "New" and
"Crisps", which, like the French fry bag saying "Chips" from "Rhonda
Goes Broke" (the previous ep), is British terminology. Harold picks up
the chips and licks on them. Harold claims the chips and Sid runs away
from the table, with an apple and plum (I guess) still in his bag.
Helga and Rhonda are visible in the distance.
- Gerald Field. Hey, didn't the 4th graders lose it to Wolfgang and
Ludwig a few eps ago? Anyways, they're playing baseball, and Helga tags
Stinky at home plate. Harold pitches, Gerald is on 2nd, Iggy, Nadine,
Curly and Park are participating. Sid is up next with a broom. Helga
calls him Germ Boy, and sneezes on the bat. Sid freaks out when Helga
tells him there's a pile of germs behind him :D Sid runs away past
Arnold and Joey on the bench. Gerald tells him this doesn't bode well
for the frog-catching contest. Arnold wonders if he needs a good
night's sleep...
- Night at Sid's home. His belongings are in plastic bags. Sid is
cleaning the cabinet the aquarium with Sidney (also bagged) is sitting
on. A sign above it says: "Danger, Frog". The frog ribbits at him, and
he's visibly disgusted. Sid is cleaning the bathtub with lots of Ultra
Cleanser.
- Morning, his alarm clock rings in a plastic bag. Sid realises that he
needs to figure out a way to protect himself from all those germs. PS
118. Arnold and Brainy see Sid wearing a deep-sea diver's suit (his
words: "germ suit"), carrying Sidney in his bagged aquarium. Sid asks
Arnold to take Sidney. Arnold talks with Sid about this whole deal with
his phobia of germs. Sid sez he has a better life now without germs, as
he walks into the classroom...
- ...where Helga is erasing the chalkboard. Front row (window to wall):
Curly, Eugene, empty, Harold; middle row: Stinky, Gerald, Arnold,
empty. Sid walks in, and Simmons tells him to go talk with the nurse
during recess. Sid thinks she'll have some good disinfectants ;) Arnold
and Gerald talk about Sid and decide that they need to do something
about it. Arnold tells Sid to take off the suit. Sid refuses, so Arnold
and Gerald tell him that everything will be like before. Helga pats the
brushes in front of Harold, making him sneeze on to Sid's helmet, and
he freaks out :D and runs out of the room.
- Back home, Sid is scrubbing the floor. Arnold comes along with
homework and Sidney, but Sid won't even allow him to push it under the
door. After putting it in a provided plastic bag before sliding it in,
Arnold mentions tomorrow's frog catching contest, and sez that the Sid
he knows isn't afraid of wallowing in mud and catching frogs. He even
mentions bedbugs on his bed, and germs flowing through the airducts,
causing Sid to freak out some more. His point: the world is full of
germs, you have to stop worrying about them. He tells him that the frog
contest wouldn't be the same without him, and leaves.
- Sid has a nightmare about germs (in his dream, they appear as bugs),
where he's in his regular outfit. Germs are filling his room, and
Sidney is at his window As Sid is sweeping, the documentary narrator
guy tells Sid that germs are his master and he only lives to serve
them. He sees the other three on his frog-catching team playing
baseball, and suddenly he's being eaten by germs...
- ...as he wakes up. He hears Sidney from outside his room, and after a
rather cautious moment at the doorknob, he opens it and finds Sidney in
his aquarium. Sid picks him up and kisses him and says, "I'm
baaaack..."
- Swamp. Sheena and Nadine, the red headed extra, as well as others,
are at the "5th Anual Frog Catchin Contest" (remember, this is the same
show that gave us "Welcome Speelers!"). As Wolfgang and Edmund are
asking Arnold and Gerald where the frog catching king (Sid) is, we see
that Harold is here as well, as well as Siobhan (I think it's Siobhan,
note the back we see in the first shot of Arnold and Gerald being asked
by the 5th graders). This is where my recording cut off. Originally, I
remember it going up to a bit where Sid (?) is heard screaming...
apparently, when I decided to record "Helga's Love Potion" and
"Gerald's Secret" again, the recording cut off a bit more. (Why I
recorded these eps, BTW: to confirm my observations on who was wearing
what in the bike race.) I never got to catch the end of this one...
- Okay, I'll explain. When I had originally recorded the eps most
recently reviewed here (from "Sid the Vampire Slayer"/"Big Sis"
onwards), I was missing a good deal of the closing credits of all the
eps, plus the final few seconds of "Phoebe Breaks A Leg", the final few
minutes of "Rhonda Goes Broke", and of course the final few minutes of
this one. While I managed to catch (and/or record) the other eps I had
recorded back then so I could properly finish my notes, I haven't had
any luck trying to watch/record this ep since back then either. It
reaired twice after this airing: the first time, my sister was watching
CSI (yeah, my sister actually watches CSI) and so obviously wouldn't
let me change to HA!, and the other time, it began raining about 6-7
minutes into the story. So? HA! airs here on a "direct-to-home"
satellite broadcaster (for you Americans... think Dish Network), whose
signal doesn't perform so well in the rain. As a result, the signal
disappeared around the part with Sid's nightmare (about a minute or so
before where my original recording cut off). (And I'd gone home from
university early with the main purpose of catching/recording this ep,
too. BTW, I did the same thing to catch "Big Sis" and "Rhonda Goes
Broke" 's endings also [plus the entirety of "Bag of Money"/"Principal
Simmons"], and my mommy never approved of that.) I did believe I have
two more shots at getting this ep remaining tho (and thanks to the
station's production-order airing of HA!, I knew exactly when, too)...
and then one day, they just got rid off HA! mid-run (the last airing of
HA! in Thailand: ep #93, "On The Lam" / "Family Man", aired 7/30/05...
as of August, its slots were replaced with other programmes).
- Quotables: "They're gonna clean our clocks, no bout adout it"
(Stinky, and yes, he pronounces it as shown)
"The frogs, the mud, the slimy green water, I love it all! The slimier,
the better" (Sid) "Yeesh, what a donuthole" (Helga sees Sid disinfect
his brushes) "I oughta make you eat a fist sandwich!" (Harold to Sid
for taking away his recently-dropped-on-the-floor sandwich) "Now
they're all mine, unless you want 'em back" (Harold slurps on Sid's
potato chips) "Watch out for that pile of germs behind you!" (Helga)
"That is one sick little monkey" (Helga) "I gotta find a way to protect
myself from all those germs" (Sid) "Sid, I hate to say this, but you're
acting kind of crazy. I mean, you're letting your phobia about germs
ruin your life" "No I'm not. I have a better life now. It's germ-free
and hermetically sealed" (Arnold and Sid) "At recess, I think you and I
should go have a talk with the nurse" "Good idea, I bet she's got some
good disinfectants" (Simmons and Sid) "The world is full of germs Sid,
you can't get rid of all of them. You just have to stop worrying about
them, or you'll end up all alone, curled up in a little ball, with
nothing but germs in your life" (Arnold) "Sidney! Oh wonderful germy
Sidney, I'm baaaack..." (Sid)
Hey, does anyone read my recaps? Well, next recap ("Arnold's
Halloween") will be the last.
ungvichian
writing, and I'm down to just one last episode I've already summarized.
It's been a good long trip, even if I spent most of the last year
alone. Here goes...
Shades of Orson Welles as "Arnold's Halloween" involves a fake alien
attack. And unlike the last few eps, I got the ep in its entirety when
I recorded. Thoughts follow shortly, all corrections welcome.
"Arnold's Halloween"
- We open with the regular title music. After we're done, the ep
credits have been given a reddish shade, and (as is the case for all
the 30 minute eps except "Arnold's Valentine" and "Married") the title
and writers' credits are separate cards. There is also a separate
credit for the story (as is the case with many of the 30 minute
stories, as well as for some reason "Grandpa's Birthday").
- We open in the forest (there's a water tank in shot), panning to a
wide shot of the town. We then cut to the Arms, where leaves are
blowing around. There is a skeleton in front of the door, as well as a
jack-o-lantern. Inside it's almost 7. Arnold, Gerald and the boarders
are eating Vito's Pizza, and watching what appears to be some alien
flick, as some aliens' mothership flies into a city and opens a panel
to reveal its guns. Just as Gerald's expecting the aliens attack to
tonight, the flick they were watching turns out to be an ongoing series
called the Z Files (as will be seen in "Jamie O In Love"), and the
attack will be next week, much to A&G's surprise / disappointment.
- Oskar, eating ice cream, derides Z Files' writing as terrible. After
Z Files is UFO Tonight with Douglas Kane. This red-headed host is also
the reporter, writer, and producer. But enough about that, as Phil
turns off the TV (note the "white spot" effect is simply superimposed
over a picture of flying saucers). Okay, what idiot decides to put a
show about "real" UFOs right after a show about fictional UFOs?
- Anyways, it's time for the meeting about the Arms Halloween party.
Phil won't let A&G help out, by saying that Halloween's not for kids
(!). Anyways, Hyunh is reading out details on who's playing who. Pookie
will be a witch, and Ernie will play an executioner. This sparks an
argument between Ernie and Hyunh. Ernie says that he thought Hyunh said
Ernie was going to play Frankenstein, and Hyunh says he's taking that
role this year. Ernie complains that Hyunh played the Bride of
Frankenstein last year as well. A&G leave the area, and Arnold says
that the grown-ups need a good scare this year, involving aliens.
- Green, Harvey and Bob are playing poker, and watching Douglas Kane.
Helga pops by and Bob tells her to get away from the screen. Helga
wonders how long he's going to keep calling her "Olga", and wonders if
he thinks it's funny and sits on the couch reading a magazine. Harvey
and Green (raising Bob a nickel) say that Kane's a fake, but Bob
(raising a dime) believes him, since he had a close encounter of his
own 20 years ago. Basically, he saw a saucer while driving around with
counterfeit Canadian transistors in North Dakota, and ended up at the
parking lot of the Royal Fort Smorgasbord. Helga is mouthing his words
as he's speaking. Bob says that we'll see aliens someday, and points to
the TV screen for an example.
- Fade to drawn picture of an alien, and apparently, this is Helga's
plan for a group Halloween costume. Helga is standing on a toilet. At
Helga's meeting are Curly, Rhonda, Nadine, Eugene, Sid, Phoebe and
Harold. Curly wanted to go as pirates, Harold wanted Vikings, Phoebe
wanted clowns, but Helga says that the point of Halloween is scaring
people to get some candy. Helga tells Rhonda, Eugene and Nadine to get
silver cloth, Sid to get foil, and Harold to get face paint. Arnold and
Gerald decide to invite the class over to the Arms as part of the
prank. Phoebe is helping Helga put a pot on her head and a blanket on
her body.
- Night time. We go past boys dressed as a die (as in dice) and a mummy
to Miriam giving out candy to a few strangers dressed as a robot, a
tiger, and a ballerina. Helga is still wearing that pot on her head,
painted gray and all, as an alien (replete with a medal, signifying
leader apparently since the others aren't wearing one, and a blue
shirt). She's trying to show Bob her costume, while he's reading the
paper trying to figure out how much he lost on football yesterday ("How
could Green Bay win _again_?") Bob only looks at the costume for a few
seconds, and he has no comments. Helga leaves as the three strangers
from earlier head to the Arms.
- Arms. Opposite the street is a sign saying "retirement hotel". Phil
opens the door... and gives the three strangers worms and cockroaches
and scares the heck out of them as well as the kids who happen to be
near the Arms at the time (like Marcy).
- Inside the Arms is the Halloween Party. Ernie and Hyunh are both
dressed as Frankenstein, arguing over the whole thing. The Johansen
parents are here (dad looks a bit like a caveman), Jerry Berman is
here, some guy I don't know is bobbing for apples (and I don't
recognize most of those at the party), Pookie is walking around as a
witch, and Oskar is complaining to Suzie about his cape, as we zoom in
on the jukebox. In the shot of the party, much of the background
"action" is static.
- Anyways, we see wires running straight through a jack o lantern, and
up to the Arms roof, where A&G have been playing music for a while, and
are getting ready to pull their big prank. The time is 7:49, and Arnold
told Helga to come at 8. Well, they're 4 houses down right now, so
Arnold takes the record off the Fleber player (big grin!). Gerald, in
his best newscaster voice and aided by an old-timey phonograph player's
horn, announces the "news" of an alien landing. The Arms party-goers
are attentively listening, as they also hear accompanying sounds. These
are from Arnold opening a lid from a jar, firing a fire extinguisher in
his hair, throwing spaghetti around, thumping bags of flour, and
punching a punching bag. Ernie wonders if this is a joke.
- TV13 truck on the outskirts of Hillwood. Reporter Mr. Smitty calls
Douglas Kane, and wants to return to the station. However, Kane (at
"Television B") tells him that he's not allowed to come back until 10,
since All Hallow's Eve is the best time for aliens disguised as humans
to infiltrate earth, and tells him to look for aliens. Kane hangs up.
- Smitty's truck drives through town. He wonders how he's going to find
aliens on Halloween night. He has a sticker saying "Barkmar" on his
dash. He turns on the radio to 104.0FM, and hears of the alien
invasion, as the aliens are heading down Vine Street (according to the
"news"). Smitty drives past Vine St. and discovers the aliens walking
cross the street (one of whom has a long nose, one of whom is wearing
Phoebe glasses ;)) Smitty phones in his discovery to Kane.
- The aliens walking cross Vine (and how I know who's who): Sid (long
nose), Nadine (head), Harold (buck tooth), Phoebe (glasses), Eugene
(freckles), but that's just 5. In the shot of Smitty's view we see 7
aliens walking (er, running) past.
- Phil tells the guests that this is no time to panic, and they do
anyways upon hearing a doorbell. Phil opens at the door and sees the
aliens. Ernie runs at them with his hammer. The aliens run away, with
Harold knocking Smitty and his camera over (Helga and Curly are among
the gang), prompting Kane (at Television B) to comment that he's
surrounded by imcompetents.
- Patakis'. Miriam is playing solitaire, Bob is settling down for The
Wheel when the picture abruptly cuts to a B.T.V. testcard, and then
Douglas Kane reporting the alien attack, and showing the video footage
Smitty got earlier. Bob has accidentally poured his drink on to his leg
:D
- Meanwhile, we see that Harvey is watching, guys walking by on the
street are watching at a TV store, Wartz baking cookies is watching,
and Green is watching. Anyways, Kane picks up a radio signal and puts
it on air. It's announcing the arrival of the mothership on Welles
Ridge (talk about your homage).
- Behind the scenes, Gerald tells Arnold to radio Stinky to plug in the
"mothership". Basically, the water tank in the forest from the opening
shot lights up. It's plugged right into a transformer. This causes
overload at the power station, so the lights all over town go out,
leaving the mothership the only thing lit in town as Arnold wonders if
their radio show has scared anybody. And we head into the break after a
whopping 11:53 (!)
- Before we start the 2nd half, mind you, this isn't the only time such
a plot has been done as a Halloween special. ISTR Madeline and gang
causing a panic in New York when their background play reading about
ants attacking the Big Apple ended up being broadcast on the radio
instead of the regular nightly serial (which was doing a major
Halloween prank as that night's 'hanger). Mind you, these are both
rooted in Orson Welles' infamous "War of the Worlds" radio broadcast of
1931 that had people panicking over an alien attack which was 100%
fictional.
- Okay, we pan down from the water tank in the distance to the boarders
packing the Packard. Spotlights are being shined all over town. Arnold
and Gerald come by, and Phil talks about the whole thing that's been
going on. A&G explain everything Phil asks about: the mothership (those
are Christmas lights), the aliens (the classmates), and even how they
did it (using Phil's old transmitter), and Gerald shows how he made the
newscaster voice (by talking into a "Go Figs" funnel held backwards.)
Phil then tells them about Douglas Kane, and A&G realize the TV staion
must have picked up the signal. They then see the aliens being chased
by a bunch of party goers.
- Phil decides to jump into his Packard (licence plate "HEAP"), with
A&G to go save their friends. Pookie (in her "Field Trip" outfit)
abruptly runs in front of the car, and tells Phil not to wait up,
before running out of the house. Phil drives out.
- Citywide mayhem. People running past the Patakis' where Bob is
listening to an old-fashioned radio. He hears that beepers are jammed.
Miriam is lighting candles. Bob sez he's been waiting for this day
since North Dakota, as he puts on a vest and soldier's helmet, gets
some beepers on a belt and unveils his Hummvee and drives it out.
- Hyunh, Ernie and party people (Hyunh has a jack o lantern on a stick,
another person a rake) have cornered the aliens. Helga tells them
they're just 4th graders in costumes, but Hyunh sez that's what the
aliens would say. Helga decides to rub off her face paint, and it
doesn't come off. More chasing as they jump over the brick wall behind
them! In order: Eugene, Phoebe, Harold, Curly, Sheena (?), Helga, Sid
and Nadine. Helga asks Harold what kind of face paint he got: He got
something called permanent exterior latex, since he thought they'd be
outside all night.
- A&G riding in Phil's Packard, yelling at everyone that it's a hoax, a
Halloween trick, but no one seems to be listening or even hearing. They
see Bob driving past a "Used Food" store. Bob is on the radio/phone
with Harvey, and Bob says that he sees the "mothership" on the ridge.
Harvey believes him, and now Bob tells him to meet the butcher at 45th.
- Over at Television B, a bunch of guys are loading 2 TV13 trucks. Kane
is telling some guy loading a makeup kit. Meanwhile, some guy tells him
that power is only available outside of the city, and on the west side.
Kane gets on a truck and orders them to Welles Ridge.
- Same citywide mayhem shot from earlier. In the Hummvee, Bob surveys
the chaos. Monkeyman runs past a gift shop (it's actually open amidst
the mayhem?) as Wartz comes out with gifts and ponders what to say to
them. Wartz walks past Green Meats, a guy holding a chicken in each
hand, and that Used Food store, before Bob and crew pick him up. Green
opens the boxes and sees chocolates and nylons. Bob accuses Wartz of
surrendering to the aliens, and forces him to join their fight as they
drive past Monkeyman.
- Back to the aliens. As Curly the Alien blames Helga ("If only we'd
dressed up as pirates!" he says), they run into Stinky at the top of
the ridge, where Stinky explains why they're being chased. Upon hearing
that Arnold set her and the gang up, she screams so loudly, Arnold
(back in town) thinks he hears something :D
- At the hill, Helga tackles Stinky, and next thing you know, she's
piggybacking him straight back towards town. Bob spies the mothership
through binoculars, and explains his plan: basically, he's put together
6 dozen of his top of the line beepers and an egg timer. Sez when he
trips the wire, it'll start a chain reaction that'll blow the
mothership back to the stone age. Bob's going up to the ridge, and
first sign of aliens he'll wave hands. Meanwhile, Green ties Wartz up,
and Harvey puts the beepers in a postbag.
- Douglas Kane is doing "what may be my final report before the end of
the human race" at the mothership, when Phil's Packard drives up, and
Arnold runs straight past Kane towards the mothership, where the aliens
are approaching. Bob is crawling and pulls apart a bush to find Stinky
climbing the mothership's ladder with Helga. They're both running for
the aliens, and Bob gets there first, and he pulls the Helga alien off
Stinky. Helga alien says that she's Helga, but Bob thinks that the
aliens are taking over his mind and decides to wring her neck.
- Arnold runs to Bob and the alien and also sez the alien is Helga. Bob
signals for the beeper bomb (the logo on the postbag is done decently),
and it hits the "mothership" sending water flying everywhere. Talk
about going postal! :D The water cleans off the paint, revealing the
aliens' true identities. Eugene's headpiece is the first to fall off.
Phoebe, Harold, Rhonda, Nadine, and Sid are all part of the group.
Meanwhile, Stinky is standing still on the ladder as if he's been
painted into the background. Helga has to pull off her headpiece (her
pigtails maybe?).
- The crowd is cheering while Douglas Kane is flabbergasted, and Bob
realizes what he just did to his own daughter. At the transformer,
Pookie finishes up electric repairs. As the lights go back on,
everyone's walking away from the water tank back to town. Big Bob take
the mike from Kane and calls him a windbag. (Bald Harold alert!) As
they're walking back to town, Phil and Arnold do a little summation on
what Arnold achieved with his prank and Phil offers Arnold some candy.
Pookie re-rigs the watertank into a huge jack o lantern, as we head
into the closing credits over creepy music and toned in the same red
shading as the opening credts of the ep. Total time: 22:01, making the
2nd act come in at 10:07 (but the first half of "Parent's Day" comes in
at just 9:59!). With this episode, I've seen every single ep up to
"Helga on the Couch" (and all but 6 of them).
- Quotables: "I can't believe you kids can watch that garbage, the
writing is terrible" (Oskar) "Halloween is a serious business, and it's
not for kids" "But?" "Now, now, now, Arnold, the purpose of Halloween
is to scare the living daylights out of everyone until they scream
bloody murder and beg for mercy" (Phil to Arnold) "Grandma will be a
witch!" "Like that's a stretch" (Hyunh and Ernie) "Mark my words,
flying saucers _do_ exist and we're gonna see aliens someday, and
they're going to look exactly like (points to TV screen) that" (Bob to
Harvey and Green) "Another touching father-daughter moment :p If anyone
needs me, I'll be outside soaping windows" (Helga) "Why don't you help
yourselve to some WORMS AND COCKROACHES!" [kids screaming] "Happy
Halloween" (Phil) "Let's go Gerald, it's time for the alien attack"
(Arnold) "This is a joke, right?" (Ernie) "It's just a _door_ you
ninnies!" (Phil) "One side, gramps" (Ernie chases the aliens) "I'm
surrounded by incompetents" (Kane, after losing video from Smitty)
"Well, Miriam, kid's out trick or treating, it's you me and The Wheel"
(Bob is settling in at home) "I knew something funny was going on
tonight, Miriam" (Bob sees newscast) "The eagle has landed" "I dun see
no eagle here, Arnold, but I'm gonna go ahead and plug in the
mothership" (Arnold and Stinky light up the water tank) "Hey! All them
other lights went out. Now ain't that a cowinkydink?" (Stinky) "I
wonder if our little radio show scared anybody?" (Arnold) "Mamaloni,
what a night... Oh, sorry shortman, I thought you were a package"
(Phil) "Pookie, what are you doin'? It's a bad night to be out" "Don't
wait up" "Crazy old bird" (Phil and Pookie) "Beepers are jammed? That
tears it. Now it's personal Miriam" (Bob) "Bob, please. Can't we just
enjoy the candle light?" (Miriam) "The face paint won't come off? What
kind did you get anyway?" "I got something called Permanent Exterior
Latex, cause I figured we'd be outside all night" "Criminy, I'm
surrounded..." (Helga and Harold, on the run) "What in the name of Hedy
Lamarr is that?!" (Phil sees Bob's car) "Be careful with that, that may
be the last makeup kit on earth" (Kane) "Let's not sit here and wait
for the aliens to enslave us... To Welles Ridge!" (Kane) "Look at these
pathetic losers, they don't stand a chance against the aliens" (Bob)
"Either you grow a spine pronto and join the fight for the human race,
or I'll send you home to Mrs. Wartz in a chocolate box" "I'm with you
all the way. Go humans go! Go humans go! Fight, fight, fight" "Oh, just
sit down and shut up" (Bob and Wartz) "Put a sock in it you weird
little gerbil" (Helga to Curly) "Fun?!? You think being chased up a
hill by an angry mob is fun?!?" (Helga to Stinky) "I'm obsessed by the
fact that this may be the last living award-winning reporter on Earth"
(Douglas Kane) "Uh-oh, it's happening. My worst fear: the aliens are
taking over my mind. You're gonna pay for this!" (Bob to Helga alien)
"Not now kid, I'm savin' the world!" (Bob to Arnold) "Hello!! It's been
me the whole time you big goof" (Helga) "I can assure you that Douglas
Kane..." "Is a big pompous windbag" (Douglas Kane and Bob, on air) "Ah,
what are you talking about? You terrified the entire city, and nearly
caused the end of the world, ooh, I'm proud of you boy, proud. Here,
have some candy. Ooh, there's a cockroach in it" (Phil gives Arnold
some candy)