If there is a bad episode (or any episode) that you would like to improve on, what would the result be?

Just a fun lil' question (I guess?), after I was thinking on making a change for the mediocre "Girl Trouble" (I might share it later), so that's it for me to explain?

That's an interesting question. I don't think I have any suggestions for direct improvements but I'm interested in hearing yours.

I was thinking of perhaps making Mr. Simmons having a talk with BOTH Arnold & Helga which would prevent the draconian punishment that Arnold receives in the actual episode and with that talk there could probably be some character development and it could have explained why Helga was being a jerk and Mr. Simmons could have experienced  something like that in the past and that he was punished for it (I know Phil said something like this in the episode about a girl bullying him). It could have ended with Helga apologizing for what she did to Arnold, this is all I got and I'm pretty sure this could be improved but this I guess could be a better version of the final result (which had Arnold getting a draconian punishment and Helga being an extreme jerk and getting no punishment). Also (off topic but here it goes) I really think what made the episode terrible is also what's happening with youtube right now (if you have heard about it).

What's happening on youtube?

I never liked that episode much...i felt like Helga was super mean and everything was like unresolved.

Yeah, also what's happening on youtube is that people that are following rules are punished while huge rule breakers don't get punished (I kinda compared the episode to the ongoing controversy). Also any thoughts on my idea (it definitely needs to be worked on, but this all I can come up with so far and yes I really dislike the episode)?

Oh sorry, it's crazy at my house right now. But I like your idea. I think it would have been a much better use of the story line with a better moral then..."Eventually you'll marry your bully..just deal with it" hahaha. I also feel like Mr. Simmons was an underused character. I feel like there could have been a lot more heart to heart scenes with him and the students. I had a good teacher like that once who was really involved in helping us. It was amazing and I feel like Simmons would be like that. :-)

Thank you (also the thing with youtube is better explained here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sF2tCY281Rk)!

Arnold's Love wrote:Oh sorry, it's crazy at my house right now.  But I like your idea.  I think it would have been a much better use of the story line with a better moral then..."Eventually you'll marry your bully..just deal with it" hahaha.  I also feel like Mr. Simmons was an underused character. I feel like there could have been a lot more heart to heart scenes with him and the students.  I had a good teacher like that once who was really involved in helping us.  It was amazing and I feel like Simmons would be like that. :-)

There are a few characters I REALLY wish were expanded upon more than they were - Mr. Simmons is absolutely one of them.  Through her poems, he definitely seemed to connect with Helga and saw potential where others just saw a dysfunctional headcase, a problem child too time-consuming to redeem.  In a way, Mr. Simmons is one of the very few people with a very clear window into Helga's tortured soul.  I would have LOVED if he became the sort of emotionally-caring and nurturing father figure Helga so DEARLY lacked.

AlainRacette wrote:

Arnold's Love wrote:Oh sorry, it's crazy at my house right now.  But I like your idea.  I think it would have been a much better use of the story line with a better moral then..."Eventually you'll marry your bully..just deal with it" hahaha.  I also feel like Mr. Simmons was an underused character. I feel like there could have been a lot more heart to heart scenes with him and the students.  I had a good teacher like that once who was really involved in helping us.  It was amazing and I feel like Simmons would be like that. :-)

There are a few characters I REALLY wish were expanded upon more than they were - Mr. Simmons is absolutely one of them.  Through her poems, he definitely seemed to connect with Helga and saw potential where others just saw a dysfunctional headcase, a problem child too time-consuming to redeem.  In a way, Mr. Simmons is one of the very few people with a very clear window into Helga's tortured soul.  I would have LOVED if he became the sort of emotionally-caring and nurturing father figure Helga so DEARLY lacked.

Mr. Simmons is one of my favorite characters and I feel the same way with you!!!

I can't think of a specific episode right now that I'd like to improve on but there are a few things in the series as a whole I would love to have seen. For one thing, I would have liked canon LGBT+ characters. Mr. Simmons and Eugene are frequently interpreted as gay, but I don't think there was enough evidence to really call it representation. Maybe in a 90s kid show that would have gotten them shut down. It would be cool if it were confirmed in the movie though! They could show Mr. Simmons holding hands with Peter or something. That would be enough for me.

theArnoldWaltz wrote:I can't think of a specific episode right now that I'd like to improve on but there are a few things in the series as a whole I would love to have seen. For one thing, I would have liked canon LGBT+ characters. Mr. Simmons and Eugene are frequently interpreted as gay, but I don't think there was enough evidence to really call it representation. Maybe in a 90s kid show that would have gotten them shut down. It would be cool if it were confirmed in the movie though! They could show Mr. Simmons holding hands with Peter or something. That would be enough for me.

I think it should be confirmed in the movie, we do know that Simmons and Peter are gay but it isn't directly shown, but rather hinted but I think it'd be really nice to actually show it in the TV movie and perhaps confirm a homosexual Eugene and I think this would be great since many other cartoons are adding LGBT characters in their shows.

Jfgoofy wrote:

theArnoldWaltz wrote:I can't think of a specific episode right now that I'd like to improve on but there are a few things in the series as a whole I would love to have seen. For one thing, I would have liked canon LGBT+ characters. Mr. Simmons and Eugene are frequently interpreted as gay, but I don't think there was enough evidence to really call it representation. Maybe in a 90s kid show that would have gotten them shut down. It would be cool if it were confirmed in the movie though! They could show Mr. Simmons holding hands with Peter or something. That would be enough for me.

I think it should be confirmed in the movie, we do know that Simmons and Peter are gay but it isn't directly shown, but rather hinted but I think it'd be really nice to actually show it in the TV movie and perhaps confirm a homosexual Eugene and I think this would be great since many other cartoons are adding LGBT characters in their shows.

One of the things that HA! does so well is that it doesn't slap the viewer across the face in showing a social situation outside the norm - it simply is and that's the beautiful part. No character goes OMG PHOEBE AND GERALD ARE FLIRTING or OMG PHOEBE IS MIXED RACE or OMG LILA IS RAISED BY A SINGLE FATHER. We see it, and we accept that such a situation is normal because we are all human. I'm sure the show would do the same with Simmons and making his orientation more clear (though the subtext in getting the point across without alarming the censors was masterfully done).

AlainRacette wrote:

Jfgoofy wrote:

theArnoldWaltz wrote:I can't think of a specific episode right now that I'd like to improve on but there are a few things in the series as a whole I would love to have seen. For one thing, I would have liked canon LGBT+ characters. Mr. Simmons and Eugene are frequently interpreted as gay, but I don't think there was enough evidence to really call it representation. Maybe in a 90s kid show that would have gotten them shut down. It would be cool if it were confirmed in the movie though! They could show Mr. Simmons holding hands with Peter or something. That would be enough for me.

I think it should be confirmed in the movie, we do know that Simmons and Peter are gay but it isn't directly shown, but rather hinted but I think it'd be really nice to actually show it in the TV movie and perhaps confirm a homosexual Eugene and I think this would be great since many other cartoons are adding LGBT characters in their shows.

One of the things that HA! does so well is that it doesn't slap the viewer across the face in showing a social situation outside the norm - it simply is and that's the beautiful part.  No character goes OMG PHOEBE AND GERALD ARE FLIRTING or OMG PHOEBE IS MIXED RACE or OMG LILA IS RAISED BY A SINGLE FATHER.  We see it, and we accept that such a situation is normal because we are all human.  I'm sure the show would do the same with Simmons and making his orientation more clear (though the subtext in getting the point across without alarming the censors was masterfully done).

I really agree with you! I really like the points you make!

AlainRacette wrote:One of the things that HA! does so well is that it doesn't slap the viewer across the face in showing a social situation outside the norm - it simply is and that's the beautiful part.  No character goes OMG PHOEBE AND GERALD ARE FLIRTING or OMG PHOEBE IS MIXED RACE or OMG LILA IS RAISED BY A SINGLE FATHER.  We see it, and we accept that such a situation is normal because we are all human.  I'm sure the show would do the same with Simmons and making his orientation more clear (though the subtext in getting the point across without alarming the censors was masterfully done).

I think that's the nice thing about the show too. That they did put things in there outside the "norm" but didn't force it or make it obnoxious...it was, as you said, just totally there. And it was perfect. I think sometimes things get too...politically fueled and people use everything for their own agendas and feel like they have to be loud and forceful to get their points across, but I liked that the show just expressed things in their simplicity--it's there but it's no big deal--as it should be. I just really love that.

Arnold's Love wrote:

AlainRacette wrote:One of the things that HA! does so well is that it doesn't slap the viewer across the face in showing a social situation outside the norm - it simply is and that's the beautiful part.  No character goes OMG PHOEBE AND GERALD ARE FLIRTING or OMG PHOEBE IS MIXED RACE or OMG LILA IS RAISED BY A SINGLE FATHER.  We see it, and we accept that such a situation is normal because we are all human.  I'm sure the show would do the same with Simmons and making his orientation more clear (though the subtext in getting the point across without alarming the censors was masterfully done).

I think that's the nice thing about the show too.  That they did put things in there outside the "norm" but didn't force it or make it obnoxious...it was, as you said, just totally there.  And it was perfect.  I think sometimes things get too...politically fueled and people use everything for their own agendas and feel like they have to be loud and forceful to get their points across, but I liked that the show just expressed things in their simplicity--it's there but it's no big deal--as it should be. I just really love that.

Agreed. The urbanity of HA (set in a melting pot of the inner-city) gives it a diversity that is considered normal... it would be surprising NOT to see all those different things. A show set in the middle-class, predominantly white suburbs would get old really fast... there was always something new in HA to see.

AlainRacette wrote:

Arnold's Love wrote:

AlainRacette wrote:One of the things that HA! does so well is that it doesn't slap the viewer across the face in showing a social situation outside the norm - it simply is and that's the beautiful part.  No character goes OMG PHOEBE AND GERALD ARE FLIRTING or OMG PHOEBE IS MIXED RACE or OMG LILA IS RAISED BY A SINGLE FATHER.  We see it, and we accept that such a situation is normal because we are all human.  I'm sure the show would do the same with Simmons and making his orientation more clear (though the subtext in getting the point across without alarming the censors was masterfully done).

I think that's the nice thing about the show too.  That they did put things in there outside the "norm" but didn't force it or make it obnoxious...it was, as you said, just totally there.  And it was perfect.  I think sometimes things get too...politically fueled and people use everything for their own agendas and feel like they have to be loud and forceful to get their points across, but I liked that the show just expressed things in their simplicity--it's there but it's no big deal--as it should be. I just really love that.

Agreed.  The urbanity of HA (set in a melting pot of the inner-city) gives it a diversity that is considered normal... it would be surprising NOT to see all those different things.  A show set in the middle-class, predominantly white suburbs would get old really fast... there was always something new in HA to see.

Agreed.
I do feel like I read that Bartlett confirmed that Simmons was homosexual in an interview somewhere, however.

As far as I know he did but he couldn't outright state that fact in a 90s daytime animated kids show - there is no way the censors would have let him. Since he's confirmed for TJM, I wonder how big a role he'll have...

I love "Buses Bikes and Subways", because that title and the episode itself is a spinoff of one of my favorite movies, "Planes Trains & Automobiles", and while I love the way the episode was done, it would have been funnier to see more references from the movie in it, such as:

Harold singing "Messaround" much to Helga's annoyance, as homage to the scene where John Candy's character was singing it while driving recklessly (a homage to this was done in "Ted 2")

Some kind of reference to shower curtain rings, which is what John Candy's character sold in the movie

Helga seeing Harold as the devil, as a homage to the part where they're on the wrong side of the highway in the movie (Family Guy did a homage to this with Brian & Stewie flying a helicopter)

And of course, after Helga yells at Harold for messing everything up, I would have loved it if Harold did the "You wanna hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better, I'm an easy target.. Yea, I talk too much, but I also LISTEN too much.." speech that John Candy did in the movie (this was also referenced on Family Guy, with Peter & Lois)

I just love Planes Trains & Automobiles and I think it would have been funnier to see more references from the movie in that episode, but, I still love the episode nonetheless

BC1096 wrote:I love "Buses Bikes and Subways", because that title and the episode itself is a spinoff of one of my favorite movies, "Planes Trains & Automobiles", and while I love the way the episode was done, it would have been funnier to see more references from the movie in it, such as:

Harold singing "Messaround" much to Helga's annoyance, as homage to the scene where John Candy's character was singing it while driving recklessly (a homage to this was done in "Ted 2")

Some kind of reference to shower curtain rings, which is what John Candy's character sold in the movie

Helga seeing Harold as the devil, as a homage to the part where they're on the wrong side of the highway in the movie (Family Guy did a homage to this with Brian & Stewie flying a helicopter)

And of course, after Helga yells at Harold for messing everything up, I would have loved it if Harold did the "You wanna hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better, I'm an easy target.. Yea, I talk too much, but I also LISTEN too much.." speech that John Candy did in the movie (this was also referenced on Family Guy, with Peter & Lois)

I just love Planes Trains & Automobiles and I think it would have been funnier to see more references from the movie in that episode, but, I still love the episode nonetheless

I wonder how they would have a made a child-friendly version of Steven Martin's epic f-bomb rant LOL

AlainRacette wrote:

BC1096 wrote:I love "Buses Bikes and Subways", because that title and the episode itself is a spinoff of one of my favorite movies, "Planes Trains & Automobiles", and while I love the way the episode was done, it would have been funnier to see more references from the movie in it, such as:

Harold singing "Messaround" much to Helga's annoyance, as homage to the scene where John Candy's character was singing it while driving recklessly (a homage to this was done in "Ted 2")

Some kind of reference to shower curtain rings, which is what John Candy's character sold in the movie

Helga seeing Harold as the devil, as a homage to the part where they're on the wrong side of the highway in the movie (Family Guy did a homage to this with Brian & Stewie flying a helicopter)

And of course, after Helga yells at Harold for messing everything up, I would have loved it if Harold did the "You wanna hurt me? Go right ahead if it makes you feel any better, I'm an easy target.. Yea, I talk too much, but I also LISTEN too much.." speech that John Candy did in the movie (this was also referenced on Family Guy, with Peter & Lois)

I just love Planes Trains & Automobiles and I think it would have been funnier to see more references from the movie in that episode, but, I still love the episode nonetheless

I wonder how they would have a made a child-friendly version of Steven Martin's epic f-bomb rant LOL

I guess they'd probably replace the f***s with frick.

"Frak" would work too, since it doubles as a Battlestar Galactica reference.

I would have LOVED more PTAA refs in that episode! That movie is AMAZING and that episode is tied for my favorite along with The Flood.

Omg yes, the car rental scene... They could have had Harold yelling "YOU'RE MESSING WITH THE WRONG GUY!" haha..