MovieChat Forums > Hey Arnold! (1996) Discussion > Undertones in Hey Arnold we didn't notic...

Undertones in Hey Arnold we didn't notice as a kid

posted 14 years ago by Kissie147
79 replies | jump to latest

There use to be a list here and I was going to copy it to my friend but IMDB only holds a few discussions and deletes whatever was on the bottom of the list. So I wanted to make a brand new list and I want to see what you guys add to this. So here is my go on this:

1)

Episode: Helga on the Couch

Dr. Bliss:

Mmhmm.

Helga:

It's okay to be obsessed about him? Y'know, the shrines and stuff, the 3 AM vigils, the tantric spells?

Dr. Bliss:

As long as you're not hurting anyone, it sounds like an okay way to express yourself.

Helga:

So, animal sacrifices are out.

Dr. Bliss:

Yes, I'm afraid so.

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Helga:It's okay to be obsessed about him? Y'know, the shrines and stuff, the 3 AM vigils, the tantric spells?

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Tantric Spells - (a Sanskrit word which means "woven together") is a term applied to several divergent and even contradictory schools of Hindu yoga in which the sexual union of... male and female is worshipped either in principle or in human practice.

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2) Episode: Helga's Parrot

"Arnold, my love, my sultry preteen,
Why must I hold you only whilst I dream?
Will I be forever enslaved by your spell?
Why must I worship you and never ever tell?

Arnold, you make my girlhood tremble,
My senses all go wacky.
Some day I'll tell the world, my love,
Or my name's not Helga G. Pataki."

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Girlhood - Private Area for a female.

Your Turn guys, what sexual or adult like themes are on Hey Arnold that we missed as a kid?

Hey Arnold Jungle Movie Nickelodeon / MTV Networks 1515 Broadway New York NY 10036

[–] ari_belle 13 years ago

oh, one other thing....does harold have a binge eating disorder?

[–] poniesonspeed 13 years ago

Okay, this one was too good not to include:
Season 4, Episode 4~
(Helga's mom drops off Helga at school)
Arnold: Hey Helga, was that your mom?
Helga: As a matter of fact, Arnoldo, it was!
Arnold: When did she get her license back?
Helga: Well, technically she hasn't but she has to get to work.

I found this hilarious because you just KNOW she must have gotten a DUI or something and gotten her license taken away!

Also, her mom probably isn't even drunk in this entire episode! Helga even get's a well-balanced lunch!

Edit: Found another one!

Helga is choosen to meet with the school shrink
Big Bob: Yeesh, what a not job (about Helga)
Miriam: I need a smoothie...

[–] Illyngophobia 13 years ago

I forgot about those, especially "Helga's Parrot".

"I'll go,because I am Cinema!" - Ben (Man Bites Dog)

[–] Phantomrose86 13 years ago

Chocolate Boy certainly had addiction issues. The episode where Arnold helps him, that video looks like withdrawal depictions and possible paths he could end up on if he doesn't stop eating chocolate. Then he ends up hooked on radishes, his newest addiction.

[–] LilKSweezy 13 years ago

'Crush on Teacher' when the feedback from the walkie talkie goes off in Arnold's pants and Arnold tries to silence them, it looks like he's trying to 'cover up'. He then tells Miss Felter, 'Sometimes my pants.. uh.. they talk,' and she then she has a strange look on her face

http://i40.tinypic.com/a44f93.gif

[–] CarrieSpicoli 13 years ago

I never realized Helga's mom was an alcoholic until about a year ago reading about it on these boards. As a kid I always thought she was just dumb.

In the journal episode, Grandpa's fortune cookie numbers are "13 6 6 6".

I'm Tom Hanks and I want you in my bed.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] rpacejr19 13 years ago

This isn't naughty like most of the things mentioned in this topic, but I think they may have done this intentionally.

Sometimes when Helga tells Phoebe to do something, Phoebe repeats the action in a high-pitched, cheery voice to confirm it. For example:

Helga: Phoebe, this whole thing? It never happened. Got it?
Phoebe: Forgetting!

It makes Phoebe seem like she's more of a robot slave than a friend, and it's her way of "Processing" and then "Confirming" Helga's orders.

And speaking of Helga... she is definitely freakin insane. When I was a kid, I thought she just liked Arnold a lot. Now, though...

In "Beaned," she knowingly walked right in front of a speeding truck just so Arnold would believe she still had amnesia. She was willing to RISK HER LIFE just for a LITTLE attention from Arnold. That's way more than a 9-year-old crush.

She also tried to make him believe that she had lost her amnesia... by banging the ever loving sh*t out of her own head on a water fountain. That's love, I'll give you that... but just the weird, creepy, restraining order kind.

Also, her parents are complete sh*t. They let her walk to school (which is apparently a dangerous route, going from her house to school) more than once, without proper clothing for the weather (once in a downpour as a PRE-SCHOOLER, and once as a 9-year-old in a snowstorm).

I also LOVE how a lot of the relationships aren't "conventional." Phoebe has a crush on Gerald, Phoebe's mom (from the South, presumably Kentucky) is with Phoebe's father (a Japanese man), Oskar (has some sort of non-American accent I think) is with what's-her-name (who's clearly a white woman), etc.

Sorry for the long post-- I think I've had this all bottled up for a decade. LOL. Love this show.

[–] RapaxGuardian 13 years ago

In Judeo-Christianity, 666 is the number of the beast.
Also, in western cultures, 13 is considered an unlucky number, bringing about bad luck. Therefore, Grandpa's "lucky numbers" are considered bad in western cultures.

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"This is good... Isn't it?"

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] rpacejr19 13 years ago

Helga tells a story to her classmates before school starts about Miriam thinking Big Bob said he wanted to make out when he said he was ordering Chinese take out.

I sure as hell didn't know what making out was when I watched this.

[–] CarrieSpicoli 13 years ago

I did, but you don't hear much about making out in a children's cartoon.

The live-action Nick shows, however, don't seem to have much of a problem with it.

I'm Tom Hanks and I want you in my bed.

[–] rpacejr19 13 years ago

^ True.

I also realize that the stuff I posted aren't really undertones, but I think we may have gotten through them all anyway. But to anyone who was annoyed by my lack of topicality, I apologize.

[–] emily317 11 years ago

I will never foget that! Hahahaha! i had no idea what that meant! now that i do it's weird!

[–] blondcutie1972 9 years ago

Another Miriam related topic, she asked Helga in an episode, (forget which one) she said "Helga did you remember to take your constipation medication? Most cartoons don't talk about things like that.

[–] fifacup84 13 years ago

When Helga told a story about an incident that happened between Bob and Miriam in Masquerade, "So I'm sitting on the couch the other night watching tv, when Big Bob walks in with a bag from Fog Chang's under his arm, and miriam wearing some silky nightgown thing, takes one look at him and says "Chinese take out? I thought you said we were gonna make out"?

[–] bananafofana 13 years ago

Take a good look at grandpa's head.

it is shaped like the male reproductive organ

Okay...No, it's not okay!

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] TheWumberlog 13 years ago

Being a girl, I never noticed how dirty it was that some characters (like Harold) would mix up the words 'circumstance' and 'circumcision'. It happened at least two times.

Boys might have caught this.

[–] Miss_Negative 13 years ago

I just rewatched the Summer Love episode and in one scene you only see a shot of the dance studio where Miriam and Suzie are taking lessons and you hear Miriam say "Oh Carlos, you sure know how to have fun!" I don't think they were dancing in there. 0_0

Reading The Book Thief made me cry more than Titanic.

[–] 13 years ago

[deleted]

[–] tomydearjuliet 12 years ago

In the episode where Grandpa gets his High School Diploma and he goes out late with a bunch what 12 or 13 year old girls?

Seems legit xD

[–] Brookiee124 8 years ago

I was gonna mention the Summer Love episode, too! You know Susie and Miriam weren't just dancing with Carlos... lol

[–] Diann08 12 years ago

I'm just re-watching this show and all I have to say is, there was a lot of jokes that I definitely didn't catch as a kid. As others have already mentioned Miriam being an alcoholic as a running gag just flew over my head. I just got done watching this episode where Timberly (Gerald's sister) has a crush on Arnold. There was one joke where Lila showed up and Timberly invites her to go with her and Arnold to some fair making it a "threesome"... Arnold blushes at this. Later on after a baseball game Sid makes a comment saying "2 girls? Who does he [Arnold] think he is? Rudolph Valentino?" (reference to a big 1920s actor that was known as "the Latin lover"). Also later on in that episode Sid makes yet another comment and I swear he says exactly this "So I told Stinky, get your own stinkin' lap dancers! I paid good money for mine". Brilliant adult jokes right there that most kids would certainly not notice.

I won't belong to any organization that would have me as a member.