Helga's Love Potion - March 5th

Helga's Love Potion


["Well.. he's a boy. A weird, kind of quiet, kind of stupid, amazing boy. With a big heart and no sense of reality.. Oh, and a football-shaped head."]




WHERE CAN I WATCH THIS EPISODE?
Download: Hey Arnold! Torrent file (Season 1-5 You'll need a torrent client program to download, like Bittorrent, but it's worth it)
Watch Online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j0TpfWqerVo
Buy: Amazon.com / I-tunes



The questions:

1) Ever had that feeling, that random stuff keeps reminding you of someone?
XD I have to admit that lemons and footballs remind me of Arnold sometimes.. XD seriously

["Alright.. just hypothetically, let's just say, that I'm obsessed with, hopelessly focused on a certain b-b.. uh. . uh.. thing.. Let's call it, ice cream."]
2) Ice cream as a metaphor for Arnold? Your thoughts..
Because he's so cool and sweet maybe? XD

3) Brainy punching himself?! One crazy HA! moment I'll never forget!
But why?? Why isn't "Hi Brainy" enough for him? Why does he want to be punched in the face so badly? He's such a weird character XD

4) The background music is AWESOME! Jim Lang's a genius!


REMINDER: You don't have to just answer the questions! Seriously, SAY ANYTHING YOU WANT. And respond to other people to keep the conversation flowing.

Tomorrow:Gerald's Secret (3/5)

NEXT WEEK: The Big Scoop (3/12) and Harold's Kitty (3/13)!!!

1.YEAH!!!!!!!! The shadow of my lantern in my bedroom looks like Harold. IT'S CREEPY!!! Oh yeah and one time I crumpled up a pice of paper foil and iit looked like Helga because of the whole lip thing XD

2. Yep. Maybe. XD

3.I think he is so use to the mean Helga/fast talking kind of nice Helga that he punches himself like if he's like "WHAT THE HECK IS WRONG WITH MY LOVE?????"

4. HE ROCKS!!! If my career takes off (in like 10 years, hopefully like in two years or so, fingers crossed) then I'm hiring him for my show!!

1) Ever had that feeling, that random stuff keeps reminding you of someone?
XD I have to admit that lemons and footballs remind me of Arnold sometimes.. XD seriously

Double that, but sometimes brooms make me think of Helga (there was a commercial where they showed how to make different characters out of random objects. 3 brooms laying across one another the right way made Helga...it was weird). I've done things like randomly thought of a song and then had to call certain friends because it reminded me of them.

["Alright.. just hypothetically, let's just say, that I'm obsessed with, hopelessly focused on a certain b-b.. uh. . uh.. thing.. Let's call it, ice cream."]
2) Ice cream as a metaphor for Arnold? Your thoughts..
I thought it was cute...especially the smile Phoebe gives at the end. I think that was the first episode I was like "Okay, Phoebe totally knows..." Interesting metaphor, though.

3) Brainy punching himself?! One crazy HA! moment I'll never forget!
Poor guy doesn't know how to handle Helga not punching him. He had a withdrawal! He had to fix it somehow!

4) The background music is AWESOME! Jim Lang's a genius!
Yes. Yes he is.

Thank Craig that Helga did have her obsession with Arnold. Without that, she's a terribly boring person. No passion, and her poetry was...uh...yeeeaaaaaah. Plus Arnold didn't even seem relieved, he seemed kind of freaked about it. Madam Blanche is a rip off artist, though. One day Helga will remember to go back and get her money back.

Thank Lisa, she is the one that told Craig to have her have the obssesion. Isn't that awesome.

That's right! *smacks self* I remember reading that once...thanks for the reminder!

You're welcome!!

This is really one of my favorite episodes though. It shows that Helga needs her obsession. It may be a little unhealthy (but so is junk food, and that's nummy! ...ahem...), but it's part of what makes Helga so...Helga. If she didn't have that, she'd be cardboard and quite boring. And then I doubt Hey Arnold! would have the following it ended up with (it's not that the other characters can't carry the show, but look at the poll on this site - Helga's tops for favorite character, and it seems most fanart of the show is of her. I don't think it would have been as popular without Helga's zaniness).

I wonder how her life was before Arnold! ?
Yes, she woud be 3 or 2, but it's Helga! She could make pooping in a diaper seem funny XD (gross, but true!! I mean she makes love seem like the MOST interesting thing in the world XD)

Well, babies are often hysterically funny creatures (my son headbutted the cat 3 times in a row...I still have no idea why he did it. He also laughs everytime the cat comes out)...I bet Helga had colic. In a way, that helps me sort of understand what happened with Miriam and Bob (they seem so attentive to Olga, maybe even good parents to her...)...it doesn't excuse their behavior, but it makes it a bit more understandable.

I know! When I was a baby, I had a head so big that if you put it up straight it would tilt my whole body to one side.

Poor Helga.

1) Yes! That happens to me all the time. The smell of this perfume reminds me of my grandma. Even the inside of her car smelled like it! Also, when I was little and she would take me to school and pick me up, she always either had the traffic report playing, or jazz music. I remember when I was five listening to a jazz rendition of "Away in a Manger" in the car with her on the way to Kindergarten; even at the age of five, I found the rendition very touching. It's funny, but traffic reports and jazz music remind me of my grandma. She was a real sweet lady who died a little over two years ago.

@ Perhapsormaybe: I remember that commercial with Helga, showing how her hair resembled brooms. It also showed that Eugene's hair was like an open soup can and Nadine's was a spider.

2) I liked the metaphor. And well, ice-cream is cool, and Arnold is a cool guy. I also liked how this episode let in Phoebe onto the fact that Helga likes Arnold. It was cute how Phoebe remained professional about helping Helga, but her little smiles throughout the episode show that she knows about Helga's love for Arnold. Phoebe would be a great friend to have.

3) Brainy is too used to Helga punching him, that when she doesn't do it, he has to find a way to fill that void somehow. XD

4) Jim Lang is brilliant and vastly underrated. I found the "Hey Arnold!" music and I constantly have it on play. I love the jazz and the piano.

@ Perhapsormaybe: That's funny that you mention Helga having colic. I heard that whether or not a baby has colic comes from the eating habits of the mother, particularly when she's nursing, and that mothers who breast feed are often encouraged to eat healthier so their babies won't be as colicky. If so, then it'd be interesting to see that Miriam might've brought that on Helga?

Not necessarily, One Fine Wire. Colic is commonly misunderstood...it's actually a catch-all term for a particularly fussy baby who cries for 3 hours or more and can not be comforted. Most of the time, it's a stomach/gas issue, but it's been noted that other causes can be to blame. Unfortunately a lot of people just assume that it is a stomach issue, which sometimes leads to a baby getting medicine they don't need. It can also be genetic...and if Miriam was already drinking after having Helga, she (hopefully) wouldn't be nursing. But it would make things kind of interesting, I have to admit...it would kind of hammer home the point that Miriam and Bob never knew what to do with Helga, and the way they handled her....uhmm...well, let's just say they weren't very good.

And I remembered the Eugene thing, but thanks so much for reminding me of Nadine's one...It was driving me crazy that I couldn't remember that part. >.<

And One Fine Wire's right, Brainy had to hit himself to fill the void. He has to be touched by Helga some way or he freaks out.

@ Perhapsormaybe: Thanks for that information. I had no idea that Colic involved more than stomach issues. You learn something new everyday! But you're right - hopefully Miriam wouldn't be nursing while drinking excessively, but it would also explain a lot about Helga and why she is the way she is, to an extent.

I wonder if she went through Post Partum depression, and maybe Bob had to take care of Helga instead? Might explain why Helga has so much more in common with her father than her mother, and if she did have colic it might explain even more how he's never known just what to do with her.

Miriam having Post Partum depression wouldn't surprise me. We know that Bob always keeps her down, so that, plus the depression probably didn't help the situation.

Also, there's a huge age gap between Olga and Helga. If Olga was a really good baby, and Helga, a much harder one to take care of, then that would explain a lot as well.

I'm actually contemplating diving into this further in a fanfic, exploring Bob's relationship with Helga a bit more in depth, starting from when she's a baby and going all the way up to when Helga has her own kids.

But that is a good point. Huh. I wonder, which parent does Helga get her passion from? Do you think Miriam was like her when she was younger, or maybe Bob has a secret soft side? He did really seem to want to bond to her in the episode they went to see "Rats" in...so he might be more sensitive than he seems, but I can't tell. And in effect, could that mean Miriam's own 'antilove potion' was the alcohol?

...I'm trying to make things more profound than they really are, but I'm kind of out of it right now.

I would love to see a fanfic like that! In some episodes, it's apparent that Bob and Miriam DO care about Helga and have good intentions, but a lot of times, it doesn't translate over well.

I see Miriam as being someone who had a lot of promise and talent. In the episode "Olga Gets Engaged" when Olga tells her parents that she's dropping out of school and getting married, Miriam says, "Don't make the same mistake I did!" It was clear right then and there that Miriam doesn't want Olga throwing her life away for the sake of getting married. It'd be cool if you explored that in your fic as well. Craig Bartlett often said that Miriam was someone who has a lot of potential, but is held back by Bob.

I see Helga getting her passion from both her parents, but more Miriam.

Yeah, I can see the Miriam part too.
I wonder what Miriam's childhood was like now.

1) Yes. Coconuts remind me of one of my friends because of her tanned complexion, and I sometimes call one of my friends Mc2 (M. C. Squared) because she's so smart and her name begins with a C... so now whenever I do math it reminds me of her. And yeah... every time I see a football now I think "Football head". XD

2) Because so many people love him, and scream when they see him.

I scream
You scream
We all scream for ice cream

Only for Arnold everyones screaming "HEY ARNOLD!" And yeah... he's a little sweetie pie.

3) He just wasn't used to her not punching him on sight so he did it himself to avoid his recent 'Helga' encounter from feeling incomplete. And I think he likes Helga punching him because that means she's TOUCHING him! Holy crap! XD

4) Yeah, Jim Lang is awesome.

And I see people are talking about Helga being a accident baby or something? I don't know. I just saw two posts talking about the age gap between Helga and Olga.

I'm fourteen and my youngest sibling is around twenty-five... But my mom planned on having me despite her age.

I wonder how life was when the Helga-bun was still in the oven?

Weird1 - I don't think it's the age gap that makes people believe Helga was an uh...'surprise' baby (I hate the term 'accident' for kids...). I want to say I read it somewhere, but I don't know if it was a fan theory or something confirmed by Craig.

Yeah, I don't think it was ever confirmed by Craig that Helga was a surprise baby. There's always be the possibility that Helga was actually planned and that Bob and Miriam assumed that she'd be another Olga, and when she wasn't, they were disappointed.

Yeah, you're right. Just thought I'd throw it out there. *Shrugs* And I could see Helga being a surprise baby pretty easily given her role in the Pataki household... The ghost.

Poor girl...

1) Ever had that feeling, that random stuff keeps reminding you of someone?
All the time! Too many times to name. xD Especially now with HA! Whenever I see something that somehow refers to the series, characters or whatever, I just giggle and grin. It happens for all the things I love. X3

["Alright.. just hypothetically, let's just say, that I'm obsessed with, hopelessly focused on a certain b-b.. uh. . uh.. thing.. Let's call it, ice cream."]
2) Ice cream as a metaphor for Arnold? Your thoughts..
Well, Helga needed a code for Arnold so Phoebe wouldn't catch on! ...However, I think Phoebe knew all along, even before this episode. X3 I guess Helga likes ice cream, and wants to associate Arnold with something she likes? And hey, once more, she can't let Phoebe know! So she uses food instead, I guess!

3) Brainy punching himself?! One crazy HA! moment I'll never forget!
I agree with what others said! He's used to Helga punching him, and so when she doesn't do it, he does it to fill in the void. XD

4) The background music is AWESOME! Jim Lang's a genius!
I agree. ^w^

And now...

I really liked this episode, because it shows just how much Arnold truly means to Helga, and we see a little bit more of how she thinks when it comes to love, and how much it hurts her to have unrequited love. So sad...it's one of those episodes that breaks my heart for her. The poor girl. I know feminists have a problem with this, making it seem like Helga needs Arnold to live through the world, because after all, if she didn't love him, bam, she'd be just like Miriam-bland, uninspired, and depressed. But like I said, it shows what he truly means to her on a deep level. Oh well, she can grow up and find other motivations, too! Doesn't mean he can't be her inspiration and motivation and love. Give her a break, feminists, will ya?

Lisa Groening, THANK YOU, for giving Craig the idea of having Helga secretly love Arnold. X3

Lisa Groening? Who in the flack is that?

I heard it was someone with the last name Bartlett who came up with the idea of Helga loving Arnold. I think it was his wife... I can't remember her first name, though. Dang it.