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The
Journal
Arnold finds his father's journal, which tells the story of how
his parents met, how they got Abner, Arnold's birth, why they
went on their "last" trip...and one last surprise
Written by Craig
Bartlett, MIchelle Lamoreaux, and Joseph Purdy
Directed by Raymie Muzquiz
Storyboard Supervisor: Tuck Tucker
Animation Director: Christine Kolosov
Storyboard Artists: Ron Brewer, Miyuki Hoshikawa, Tim Parsons,
Stephen Sandoval, Dave Smith
Cast:
Arnold - Alex Linz
Miles (Arnold's father), Abner - Craig Bartlett
Stella (Arnold's mother) - Antoinette Stella
Helga - Francesca Smith
Gerald - Jamil Smith
Stinky - Christopher P. Walberg
Harold - Justin Shenkarow
Grandpa, local priest (at wedding) - Dan Castellaneta
Grandma, mother of boy in tram - Tress MacNeille
Eduardo - Carlos Alazraqui
Boy afraid to leave tram - Jeremy Suarez
A number of parts were uncredited: La Sombra, Eugene (baby
Eugene spoke at the end), Sid (baby Sid cried after hitting
Stinky with a rattle), Eugene's father, and the laughing boy and
his father that appeared early in the episode
- Things we learn in this
episode: Arnold's parents' first names (Miles and Stella);
Phil is Miles's father; Arnold is named after Stella's
father; Abner was a wedding present.
-
When Stella gives Arnold his
name, she says, "It was my father's name", which implies
that Arnold's other grandfather had died before he was born
(otherwise, she would have said "is" instead of "was"), so
there's one explanation as to why Arnold's "other
grandparents" are never mentioned in any episodes.
-
Arnold knows his parents left
on October 5, but Grandpa didn't mention this in "Parents
Day". Then again, maybe he told Arnold the next day or
something...
- The
journal was found in the attic - but Arnold lives in the
attic, doesn't he?
-
Stella is the doctor, but in "Parents Day", Grandpa tells
Arnold that Miles is the doctor.
-
For the record, "Stella" is
Italian for "star". For that matter, "La Corazon" is
Spanish for "the heart", and "La Sombra" (the
villain) is Spanish for "The Shadow". (I had trouble
figuring this out, as Grandpa definitely pronounces it "La
Sambra".)
-
Miles telling Stella not to
look at La Corazon sounds a lot like the ending to
Raiders of the Lost Ark, when Indiana Jones says not to
look at the Ark of the Covenant. (There's another
Indiana Jones reference later, when Miles uses his whip to
catch the loose tram.) Miles yelling "Stella!" as he
dives for the runaway tram is almost certainly a reference
to A Streetcar Named Desire.
-
Also for the record, Prince
Charles was with his brother, Prince Andrew, when he entered
St. Paul's for his wedding to Diana. (The bride and
groom never enter together; it's bad luck. Speaking of
Diana, I'm glad to see I'm not the only person who doesn't
call her "Princess Diana", which she wasn't supposed to be
called, as it is supposed to apply to daughters and
granddaughters of kings and queens.)
-
If you're not going to mention
Arnold's last name, don't do yet another "we'll tease
telling you but it's interrupted" gag. There's enough
of that with "Where's Springfield?" on The Simpsons.
-
Where did Grandpa get a
barbecue grill in the middle of the San Lorenzo jungle?
-
The only way Miles can get
from a stationary tram onto one that's quickly falling away
from him is to fly.
-
Grandpa's fortune cookie said
"13 13 666", which hardly means "things are looking up".
(For those of you who don't know, 666 is the mark of the
Anti-Christ mentioned in the Bible.)
-
When they go back to San
Lorenzo from Rio, the written journal mentions "the Rio San
Lorenzo" (the San Lorenzo River).
-
Most of the time, the journal
just has written in it what Grandpa reads. However, in
the part right after the wedding, it says: "It was the
hottest night the jungle had ever known, and I'm not talking
Centigrade... Stella was unbelieveably beautiful,
wearing nothing but a smile. Trembling, I took a step
towards" (the page ends there). To think it was rated
"TV-Y" ("suitable for all ages, especially younger
children")... (However, Stella is wearing something
besides a smile in the scene just before Grandpa slams the
book closed.) By the way, "Centigrade" is the old word
for "Celsius" (the metric temperature scale); as a
scientist, Miles uses metric measurements a lot (another
place in the journal has a distance listed in kilometers).
-
When they went flying back and
forth for the ingredients, I'm not sure about the second
map, but the first and third ones have Tiyo Point and Shaler
Plateau, which are both at the Grand Canyon. (The line
in the upper right corner of the third map is the Colorado
River.)
-
At the "welcome home"
celebration, Mr. Hyunh is playing trombone, Oskar trumpet,
and Ernie...well, it's too small to be a Sousaphone but too
big to be a Tuba or Euphonium (maybe we can call it a
Langophone, after the show's music writer?).
-
Somebody at Nickelodeon must
have been asleep: Stella said "pregnant".
-
Grandpa reads "Stella grows
more and more pregnant with Arnold"; presumably, Grandpa
threw "with Arnold" in, as they wouldn't know the baby would
be a boy yet, much less have him named already.
-
Volcanoes don't really erupt
like that; besides, if they did, the fiery ash that came out
would have set pretty much the entire jungle on fire.
-
Arnold is born with pretty
much a full head of hair.
-
The first thing Miles says to
Arnold is "Hey Arnold".
-
In the park (in the scene
where Arnold climbs the slide) are Gerald and his parents,
Helga and her father, Phoebe and her mother (Big Bob is
trying to tell Reba something), Rhonda with Sheena's Aunt
Shelly (with Rhonda's parents sitting on a bench nearby - I
guess Shelly was Rhonda's nanny back then), Eugene and his
father, Harold (who's supposed to be four years old at that
point if Arnold is one), Sid, and Stinky.
-
Revisionist History:
- The story of how Miles
first met Stella is slightly different (for example, they
leave out the entire "schooner / clipper ship" bit)
- Miles is seen giving
Arnold his hat outdoors, but in "Arnold's Hat", he does it
indoors.
- Give credit where credit
is due: when the episode first aired in the USA, Nickelodeon
used its "split-screen" credits, one of which read: "ADR -
Chris Jensen for Earthsalt Studios (This credit was request
by Earthsalt. Please advise me on the placement etc.
of this credit)".
- In the two-part version,
part one ends when Grandpa has to go to the bathroom (and
says "Never grow old, Arnold!") right before Miles and
Stella go back to San Lorenzo, and part two has Grandpa
giving a brief recap of part one at the beginning, although
he leaves some parts out (for example, in the sky tram
rescue, he says something like "I don't remember this part
at all").
- "Arnold found the map!
Now what happens?" Well, it took fifteen years, but
we finally found out...
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