Red Stewart reviews Hey Arnold!: The Ultimate Collection…
To revisit Hey Arnold! after all these years was to go back to an era of my life I hold dear: my childhood. I have very fond memories of watching the TV guide scroll on Channel 0 of my family’s old television, waiting for it to get to certain channels to see if my favorite cartoons were airing, and Hey Arnold! was one of those. There was just something about the aesthetic of the show that made it stand out. Perhaps it was the unique structural features of the characters, the murky color palette of Hillwood, or the funky Jazz tune of the theme song. But even more important were the storylines: it was like creator Craig Bartlett and his team of writers took the slice-of-life template pioneered by works like Peanuts and deconstructed it for the kids who were growing up in the real-world. The philosophy wasn’t about hypotheticals or general feelings expressed by children: it was about grounded issues that continue to prevail in this day and age.
Nostalgia is a tough feeling to describe, but it’s an emotion I imagine most people will experience should they choose to purchase the Hey Arnold! The Ultimate Collection. As the title suggests, this is not just a DVD box set: it contains every single episode of the original Hey Arnold! run, the two feature length films (Hey Arnold!: The Movie and Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie), and some behind-the-scenes content. The question is, is it worth the asking price of $50.00, or is it an example of an old series being milked for money? The short answer is it is well-worth your money, but don’t expect much bonus material. For the long answer, read on!
To talk about the individual episodes, or even the movies, would be a pointless exercise as not only would it make this review far too long, but it would also impose my own views and beliefs on a series that was meant to have wide-lasting appeal. Everyone reacts differently to things, and that is the case with Hey Arnold’s! many story beats and themes; an episode that someone may dislike could appeal to someone else. Fans know what their preferred seasons are, while newcomers interested in buying the Ultimate Collection won’t care for an individual critics’ opinion.
Instead, I’ll talk about the general formatting of things. First, what prospective customers should know is that this is not an upscaled version of the show, like what the Deluxe Edition of Batman: the Animated Series is. Every episode (the vast majority of them being divided into two 11 minute segments) is presented in the original condition that it aired in back in the late 90s-early 2000s. That is perfectly fine as it keeps the old-school feel in check and prevents the DVDs from being sold at a higher retail price. Plus, it’s not like there were any false advertising gestures on the part of the creators. However, be warned that, when compared to The Jungle Movie, which was produced 13 years after the end of the series in a post-HD entertainment world, the episodes and first Hey Arnold! movie do look a little worse for wear (as is to be expected).
There is, however, a real problem, and that is that whoever put this compilation together didn’t take the time to remove the intro and outro from every episode. Look, as the opening paragraph suggests, I love the main theme as much as anyone, but having to listen to it every time a new episode plays gets tiring. And yes, you can technically fast forward through it, but those of you hoping to just kick back and relax will be disappointed.
Still, you are getting all 100 entries, which is nice when you consider that, when Hey Arnold! was first airing, we all had to rely on reruns and our own cognitive wikis to keep track of the chronology.
There’s not much to say about the two movies, though it is worth pointing out that the first one, Hey Arnold! The Movie, was literally just transposed from its original release, meaning you’ll see some advertisements for Charlotte’s Web 2: Wilbur’s Great Adventure. On the one hand, this feels kind of lazy, especially since it wouldn’t have taken much to edit it for the contemporary publication. But on the other, it truly is no big deal.
Now the last thing is the bonuses, and this is where my biggest quandary with the Ultimate Collection comes from: there’s barely anything! You get the original Arnold pilot, Craig Bartlett’s first Arnold claymation short (Arnold Escapes from Church), a small look at the table reading for The Jungle Movie, and a video of Bartlett and a fellow Hey Arnold! writer unboxing their archives in anticipation for The Jungle Movie.
None of these were particularly enticing. The pilot was great, but you could just as easily find it online. Arnold Escapes from Church was visually nice to watch, but imagine my surprise when I found out that Bartlett made two other plasticine shorts- why couldn’t they be put here too? And like with the pilot, you can easily find all three online. The table read was a big let down; it’s only about a minute long and randomly stitched together. Yes, it is nice to see the cast and crew having fun, but that only goes so far. Finally, the unboxing was a huge missed opportunity for Bartlett to talk more about the creation of the series and cool stories from the past.
And that’s really what’s missing here: a lack of true behind-the-scenes content. I honestly believe the creators behind the Ultimate Collection could have effortlessly worked to add more stuff, particularly for long-time fans of Hey Arnold! who want to get this collection. It should also be mentioned that all of these features can only be accessed through the first disc of season 1.
For all my criticisms of the bonus content, at the end of the day what matters is that we finally have a true compilation of what Hey Arnold! was. Throwing all 100 episodes and the two movies for $50.00 USD is more than fair, and would make an awesome Christmas present for both fans and newer generations interested in experiencing one of the best cartoons from the 1990s.
Red Stewart
