Hey Arnold was always kind. The adventures of Arnold, Gerald, and Helga were like formative friendships for many of us who grew up with ’90s Nickelodeon. In a sea of cynical and edgy shows, Hey Arnold was sweet, and friendship focused. Its legacy is its moral compass. That impact is one of the things that means the most to Bartlett who spoke with us about the 20th anniversary of the beloved show. “There’s somebody for everyone in that group, and that was our purpose from the outset.”The show was also stylistically unique with its iconic animation style and character designs, all of which came from the shows origins as claymation shorts. Whether it was Gerald’s cylindrical high top, or Arnold’s football shaped head, the recognizable designs are something that Bartlett and Co. still hear about it today. It’s because their bespoke styles got to the heart of what the show was about: learning about yourself by understanding others. “It’s the sweetest, most flattering thing of all, to think that we put these characters out there–that we really love–and people found someone to identify with.” Nerdist: Nickelodeon in the ’90s was the home of what’s now seen as a renaissance in animation. What was it like to be a part of that?Bartlett: Well, it was the mid-’90s when Hey Arnold came out, and that was a great time for animation. It seemed like they were handing out shows, and there was definitely something in the air; it was incredibly exciting. Nickelodeon kept expandin, and they moved into the studio where they are now in Burbank, and we moved with them after three seasons. Before that we’d been in a more humble setting, but those were the days that everyone loved the most. The crew who worked on the first three seasons of Hey Arnold in this dumpy little place on Vineland–they loved that best. I remember there was this great big room with these little desks, and everyone would catch the same cold each winter. It was totally funky in there but, you know, the journey is the destination.Nerdist: The DVD collection contains some really interesting stuff. Are you excited to share the pilot and the shorts with fans?Bartlett: I am! You know the pilot we shot that on 35mm film, and it was all hand inked animation. You look at that now and it’s like a long gone craft. But when I see it it feels great, because it reminds me of how it all started. I’ve always wanted that version to be available. There are a few different versions, but this the one that I really love. Later, the pilot was used to create “24 Hours to Live” in season one, but I always particularly loved the original pilot. There’s something so fun about creating a pilot because you’re laying out what you want this entire world to be in eight minutes!Also my super funky 8mm “Arnold Escapes From Church” is on there! That’s how actually Arnold started, he was made of clay! I created Arnold in the summer of ’88 when I first arrived in L.A. and had worked on Pee Wee, and was doing the Penny Cartoons which were made in the same style of this flat shooter clay. So when I had the chance to work on Arnold I’d learned that technique, and so I animated three stop motion Arnold shorts in my own living room!Will you be grabbing the Hey Arnold Collection? Can’t believe you never knew that football head started as claymation? Jump into the comments and let us know! The Hey Arnold Ultimate Collection is out now!
It looks like you have an ad blocker enabled.
Hey reader! We’re delighted you're perusing our site for all your nerdy news. We'd wholeheartedly appreciate you enabling ads to keep this content free. Thank you!
Choose your Ads blocker:
Adblock Plus
AdBlock
AdBlocker Ultimate
AdBlock Unlimited
Ghostery Tracker and Ad Blocker
uBlock Origin
uBlock
Adguard Extension
Brave
Opera
Others
Turn off Adblock Plus
Click the AdBlock Plus icon () in the extension bar.
Beneath “Block ads on”, click the large blue toggle next to “This website“.
Refresh the page.
Turn off Adblock
Click the Adblock icon () in the extension bar.
Click "Pause on this site".
Turn off AdBlocker Ultimate
Click the AdBlocker Ultimate icon () in the extension bar.
Click to turn off "Enable on this site".
Turn off AdBlock Unlimited
Click the AdBlock Unlimited icon () in the extension bar.
Click to turn off "On".
Turn off Ghostery Tracker and Ad Blocker
Click the Ghostery Tracker and Ad Blocker icon () in the extension bar.
Trust this site" dropdown, choose "Always".
Turn off uBlock Origin
Click the uBlock Origin icon () in the extension bar.
Click on the big, blue power button.
Refresh the webpage.
Turn off uBlock
To the right of the address bar, click the uBlock icon ().
Click the button “Allow ads on this site”.
Turn off AdGuard extension
Click on the green AdGuard icon () in the extension bar.
Click the large green toggle to turn it off.
Turn off Brave's ad blocker
Click on the orange lion icon () in the extension bar.
Toggle Brave Shields form UP to DOWN.
Turn off Opera's ad blocker
To the right of the address bar, click the shield icon ().
Turn off “Ad Blocker” and “Tracker Blocker”.
Turn off the other ad blocker
Click the icon of the ad blocker extension installed in your browser. Usually, you will find this icon in the top right corner of your screen. There may be more than one ad blocker installed.
Follow the instructions to disable the ad blocker on the site you are viewing. You may need to select a menu option or click a button.
Refresh the page, either by following the prompts or by clicking the "refresh" or "reload" button on your browser."