The History of Hey Arnold!
The beginning - A bunch of plasticine
The history of Arnold began in the year 1988. At that time Craig Bartlett shaped a figure with a pretty wide head from plasticine. He called that figure "Arnold", after he had made a list of every possible name together with his wife Lisa and they had decided to name Arnold after Lisa's uncle Arnold Wiggum. Within the following two years Craig created three claymation films with that character: Arnold Escapes From Church, The Arnold Waltz and finally Arnold Rides His Chair, which was often shown as a short film in the American episodes of the Sesame Street. About Arnold's weird shaped head Craig once said that he chose it because it is easily formed with plasticine. "I used to pour out the stuff like cookie dough on a sheet, and I'd cut shapes out when I was creating characters," Craig remembers. "The football shape was very funny to me, especially when I put the eyes way out on the sides of his head, which gave the character a cool sort of Buddha-like look, which I really liked." 1991 Craig released ten of his Hey Arnold! Comics in Simpsons Illustrated, a magazine about Matt Groening's - Craig's brother-in-law - creation The Simpsons.
The series - Arnold learns to walk
1993 Craig managed to interest Nickelodeon, in a cartoon series about Arnold. So he began to make the pilot episode 24 Hours to live, which had its premiere on 7th of October 1996. During the following years Nickelodeon requested additional episodes. Along with the different seasons the characters changed. While at the beginning of the series Arnold was a carefree nine-year-old with childisch problems and daydreams, he became more mature in the following seasons and had to cope with more complex problems. For example in the last episode of the third season we learn that Arnold lives with his grandparents because his parents are lost in the jungle and he still hopes for them to return one day. Furthermore Helga's secret love for Arnold became more and more of an important subject of the series. The progress has effects on the outer appearance of the characters as well: As Arnold was small and weak at the beginning of the series, but he seemed to have grown up in the last two seasons. Also the animation was greatly improved. The characters' limbs did not look like they were made of rubber any more and the colors became brighter. Since Hey Arnold! had emerged to a very popular series, Nickelodeon requested a TV film and - after the success of Rugrats - The Movie - a movie as well.
The Movie - Big screen, small success
1999 plans for the films were made. First the TV film was supposed to be about Arnold and his friends rescuing the neighborhood from construction companies, but then the ones in charge at Nickelodeon changed their minds and wanted to make a movie about Arnold's search for his parents missing in the jungle , while the story about the rescue of the neighborhood should be split up into three episode supposed to end the fifth season. The latter was produced within a year and finished by March 2001. The "Jungle movie" in contrast was rewritten again and again and finally they decided to make Arnold Saves The Neighborhood - which was later renamed to Hey Arnold! - The Movie to attract more attention - a theatrical movie.
So in the summer of 2002 Hey Arnold! - The Movie came into the theatres. But things did not work out as inteded by Nickelodeon: The expected success failed to appear. The production of the film had consumed three million dollars and over 13 million dollars had been spent for marketing. The gains were only about 13 million dollars. In addition the unfortunate release date of the movie DVD was on 31st of December 2002 - one week after Christmas.
Despite the failure Nickelodeon did not fully abandon the idea about a second movie. So they offered Craig Bartlett a two-year contract under the condition that he worked for Nick exclusively. However, Craig had already signed a contract with Cartoon Network to work on his new project Party Wagon. Nickelodeon let him choose either to work exclusively for them or not for them at all. Craig chose Cartoon Network because he didn't want Nickelodeon to restrict his creativity so much. Unfortunately Craig working for Cartoon Network and the rights at Hey Arnold! belonging to Nickelodeon, for the time being the second film has been put on hold.
Footballschädel in Germany
1997 the time had come: Hey Arnold! aired in Germany. After the series had been dubbed by mendlmedia in Munich (later at the Blackbird Studios in Berlin), the first forty episodes were aired on Nickelodeon Germany of that time until they discontinued their program on 31st of May 1998. In 2001 the RTL Group bought the licenses for the episodes 1 to 80, which aired from 13th of January to 21st of October 2001 every Saturday morning. Starting in spring 2001, the episodes were shown in the afternoon program of Super RTL as well. From time to time the episodes also aired on the pay-TV channel Junior.
The film was released on DVD in Germany in 2003. However there were neither commercials nor any merchandising except the GBA game. In Spring 2004 - four year after the production of the series had finished - Super RTL eventually aired the last twenty episodes except episode 98 April Fools Day. It's not hard to tell that quite some time had past between the first four seasons and the last because nearly all children including Arnold were dubbed by new voice actors. For some of the characters good substitutes were found, for others... well, kind of.
Since 12th of September 2005, Hey Arnold! is now airing on the new Nick channel. On 14th of January 2006 Nick finally showed the last missing episode.
The series - Arnold learns to walk
1993 Craig managed to interest Nickelodeon, in a cartoon series about Arnold. So he began to make the pilot episode 24 Hours to live, which had its premiere on 7th of October 1996. During the following years Nickelodeon requested additional episodes. Along with the different seasons the characters changed. While at the beginning of the series Arnold was a carefree nine-year-old with childisch problems and daydreams, he became more mature in the following seasons and had to cope with more complex problems. For example in the last episode of the third season we learn that Arnold lives with his grandparents because his parents are lost in the jungle and he still hopes for them to return one day. Furthermore Helga's secret love for Arnold became more and more of an important subject of the series. The progress has effects on the outer appearance of the characters as well: As Arnold was small and weak at the beginning of the series, but he seemed to have grown up in the last two seasons. Also the animation was greatly improved. The characters' limbs did not look like they were made of rubber any more and the colors became brighter. Since Hey Arnold! had emerged to a very popular series, Nickelodeon requested a TV film and - after the success of Rugrats - The Movie - a movie as well.
The Movie - Big screen, small success
1999 plans for the films were made. First the TV film was supposed to be about Arnold and his friends rescuing the neighborhood from construction companies, but then the ones in charge at Nickelodeon changed their minds and wanted to make a movie about Arnold's search for his parents missing in the jungle , while the story about the rescue of the neighborhood should be split up into three episode supposed to end the fifth season. The latter was produced within a year and finished by March 2001. The "Jungle movie" in contrast was rewritten again and again and finally they decided to make Arnold Saves The Neighborhood - which was later renamed to Hey Arnold! - The Movie to attract more attention - a theatrical movie.
So in the summer of 2002 Hey Arnold! - The Movie came into the theatres. But things did not work out as inteded by Nickelodeon: The expected success failed to appear. The production of the film had consumed three million dollars and over 13 million dollars had been spent for marketing. The gains were only about 13 million dollars. In addition the unfortunate release date of the movie DVD was on 31st of December 2002 - one week after Christmas.
Despite the failure Nickelodeon did not fully abandon the idea about a second movie. So they offered Craig Bartlett a two-year contract under the condition that he worked for Nick exclusively. However, Craig had already signed a contract with Cartoon Network to work on his new project Party Wagon. Nickelodeon let him choose either to work exclusively for them or not for them at all. Craig chose Cartoon Network because he didn't want Nickelodeon to restrict his creativity so much. Unfortunately Craig working for Cartoon Network and the rights at Hey Arnold! belonging to Nickelodeon, for the time being the second film has been put on hold.
Footballschädel in Germany
1997 the time had come: Hey Arnold! aired in Germany. After the series had been dubbed by mendlmedia in Munich (later at the Blackbird Studios in Berlin), the first forty episodes were aired on Nickelodeon Germany of that time until they discontinued their program on 31st of May 1998. In 2001 the RTL Group bought the licenses for the episodes 1 to 80, which aired from 13th of January to 21st of October 2001 every Saturday morning. Starting in spring 2001, the episodes were shown in the afternoon program of Super RTL as well. From time to time the episodes also aired on the pay-TV channel Junior.
The film was released on DVD in Germany in 2003. However there were neither commercials nor any merchandising except the GBA game. In Spring 2004 - four year after the production of the series had finished - Super RTL eventually aired the last twenty episodes except episode 98 April Fools Day. It's not hard to tell that quite some time had past between the first four seasons and the last because nearly all children including Arnold were dubbed by new voice actors. For some of the characters good substitutes were found, for others... well, kind of.
Since 12th of September 2005, Hey Arnold! is now airing on the new Nick channel. On 14th of January 2006 Nick finally showed the last missing episode.