Saira’s Review: "Downtown As Fruits"/"Eugine's Bike"

“Downtown As Fruits”

Welcome to my first recap in which I’ll be talking about the first Hey Arnold episode ever – Downtown as Fruits. It’s been a real treat starting this project. I was so excited just hearing/seeing the Hey Arnold theme song so let’s get started. 

I think this episode does a great job depicting the setting of the series. One of my favorite things about Hey Arnold is that it takes place in a city environment. I grew up in Jersey City, NJ and I always loved how Arnold’s city was very similar to my city. I felt that most shows would depict either a suburb or a recognizable city like New York. No other television show depicted a city that felt authentic – a city that was a little gritty or a city that was low-income class. I will obviously be relating to Arnold’s city experiences throughout this recap series.

Hey Arnold starts these city references by taking a public transportation bus to their school play which I love. In 6th grade, I would take the NJ Transit buses with the rest of the Jersey City population to get to my middle school. 

fave fruits

“Downtown As Fruits” is a very catchy phrase just for its absurdity.  I’m not sure if Downtown is supposed to be the sketchier area of town. It seemed like it with the way people were saying “Wow, people downtown sure are friendly.” And, of course, being thrown loads of cash out of the blue is sketchy af. It was incredibly brave and a little stupid of Arnold and Gerald to not get off at their correct stop. If I was in 4th grade I would be terrified of getting lost, not knowing where I am, and having to stay alive in a dangerous neighborhood.

groovy af

I thought it was hilarious how those two older criminal guys were wearing the SAME EXACT costumes as Arnold and Gerald.  What a coincidence – amiright?  At the end of the episode, when those two guys got arrested, you can hear the police radio say “Officer shot in the-“. Very sketchy and very dangerous.

Arnold and Gerald’s banana and strawberry costumes were visually hilarious. So were their funky outfits.

I thought it was great how Helga was so invested in her play. “I ate nothing but dairy products for two weeks!” she says about her role as milk. It shows that right from the beginning, Helga really cares about her art. I was delighted to see that the Helga-punching-Stinky meme was evident as far as the first episode. 

I like how in the end Arnold gives his money to a woman whose car has broken down. I thought that was super sweet and generous. As a 23 year old, I know a broken down car can cause a lot of stress and money problems. 

Arnold/Helga shipper goggles: 😍 when Arnold realized he had hurt Helga and knew he had to go back and make it right 😍

"If I ever get my hands on that Arnold I'll-I'll soothe his fevered brow. Oh my poor lost sweetheart. How I love you. And yet I hate you. And yet I love you. And yet I hate you. And yet I love you" - Helga

Stray Observations:

• Payphones: Every-time I see a payphone in older television shows I’m like omg wow a payphone lol.
• “The journey is the destination, man” – Gerald. He is so cool.
• “Sodas for everyone.” - Arnold. My kind of party.

“Eugene’s Bike”

In this episode, Arnold accidentally breaks Eugene’s bike and spends the entire episode trying to make up for it. I was very impressed with how Arnold took apart Eugene’s messed up bike and rebuilt it so expertly. I think if Abner hadn’t taken away the brake cable, the bike might have been good as new. I was very impressed with Arnold’s kindness throughout the episode. When fixing the bike didn’t work, he tries to give Eugene a fun filled day by taking him out to a ballgame and other fun activities. Of course, Eugene gets hurt in all of them. I’m a sensitive soul so it was discouraging seeing Eugene get hurt over and over again. Like Arnold, I also believe every geek should have his day.

Stray Observations:

• Eugene got his bike for Flag Day? What a hipster holiday haha.
• I never noticed that Eugene underwear sticks out from his pants until today. 
• Eugene got his tonsils AND spleen removed accidentally at the hospital. I cringed the most when this happened.  
• “Stuff like this always happens to the geeky kids.” – Gerald. 

Shalini's Review" “Downtown as Fruits”/ “Eugene’s Bicycle”

Welcome to the first Hey Arnold!  recap! Like you, I grew up on Nickelodeon and Hey Arnold!  was a particular favorite of mine. Not only was it wildly entertaining and hilarious, but it was also capable of tearing your heart right out of your chest (who could forget the emotional “Helga on the Couch” episode ?).

             

So as you can imagine, coming back and re-watching these episodes after the original series ended a little more than a decade ago has been a treat. It also caused me to notice a few things I hadn’t before; for instance, Arnold’s head looks a lot more oblong in this episode than in subsequent seasons. Also, both halves of the episode begin with Arnold daydreaming- I’m not certain, but I think that this happened with less frequency as the series progressed.

            

The storyline in the first half of the episode is centered on a play about the food pyramid that the class is performing later that night. Weirdly enough, Miss Slovak and Mr. Simmons don’t appear in this episode - even though it is a school play. Instead, directing duties fall on the irreplaceable and irascible Helga G. Pataki. The opening moments of the show quickly establish Helga as both a bully (“If anybody is late, they’re gonna have to answer to old Betsy *shows fist*”) and a huge nerd (“I want to hear what’s in your souls!”). In fact, Helga is so invested in this play, I’m going speculate that she probably wrote the play herself (it’s certainly within her capabilities).

She orders everyone show up early so they can have another run-through before the play. Later, Harold and Arnold (dressed as a strawberry and banana, respectively) get on the bus to get to the school. Both Harold and Arnold are less than thrilled with this, so when Harold suggests that they skip out on the whole thing, it’s not surprising that Arnold goes along with it (albeit after a few moments of indecisiveness). They get off on the last stop and realize they are stuck downtown with no money. This problem is easily solved when a random dude (mistaking them for the goons he works with) tosses them a bag of money. They ditch their costumes, get new duds, and let loose.

Meanwhile, the food pyramid play is falling apart and Helga wants to rip them both into pieces. However, she takes a break from her rant to do her standard back-and-forth “I-love you’s” and “I-hate-you’s” speech to Arnold’s picture. And then ends it by punching Brainy in the face. Classic Helga.

Arnold and Harold are chased out of a bar by the goons who should’ve received the money. They run into a fortune teller who asks them if they have wronged anyone. Arnold immediately feels bad about what they did to Helga and decides to fix things. They get their costumes, give the money to a random family, and head back to school. They perform their song and the play is a rousing success.

In “Eugene’s Bicycle” we’re introduced to the perpetually unlucky Eugene Horowitz. In this episode, he shows off the bike he received for Flag Day. However, his moment in the sun is cut short when Arnold accidentally sends Eugene’s “dream bike” into the path of an oncoming street cleaner. The bike is completely destroyed.

Arnold tries to make it up to him by fixing it for him. Eugene is elated- at least until the bike falls apart and he crashes into a car door. Later, a guilt-ridden Arnold visits him at the hospital and vows to make things right. After a trip down memory lane (during which he remembers how he’s indirectly responsible for all of Eugene’s bad luck moments), Arnold decides to take Eugene out for an action-packed fun day. However, Eugene keeps getting injured. He falls down a manhole, gets hit with a baseball, chokes on a hot dog…it’s safe to say that all of Arnold’s noble efforts have been in vain. 

But since Eugene is an optimist who sees a glass half-full, rather than half- empty, he warmly thanks Arnold for giving him such a great day. 

So, based on these two episodes, what kind of person is Arnold? He is a person with a moral compass, who makes mistakes (what kid doesn’t?), but is also capable of fixing them. I couldn’t think of a more worthy protagonist.

The Bubblegun Shrine: An Introduction

Hi everyone! Welcome to our blog - The Bubblegun Shrine! We created this blog to recap, review, and cry over old Hey Arnold episodes. We are both huge fans of the show and it was a big part of our childhoods. We were thrilled to learn that Hey Arnold: the Jungle Movie would finally become a reality and with our hype we decided to make this blog. We hope to finish the entire Hey Arnold series by November 23, 2017 which is when the new movie comes out. That's 100 episodes plus the movie! We'd love to have you on this journey!

This is a shared blog between two friends - Saira and Shalini. Expect 1 posts each week from both of us (usually on a Sunday) where we give our recaps about the episode of the week.

Here's some information about us:

Name: Saira
Age: 23
Location: New Jersey
Likes: Harry Potter (proud Hufflepuff!), Sitcoms (The Office, Friends, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Middle, and many, many more),  Gravity Falls, Harry Styles, alternative music, writing.

Name: Shalini
Age: 23
Location: New Jersey
Likes:   Miss Fisher's Murder Mysteries, Harry Potter, Great British Bake-Off (Nadiya is my hero!), The Middle, writing, and grilled cheese sandwiches,