Hey Arnold! the complete series available on DVD at Walmart

If you watched Nickelodeon in the mid to late 90’s you probably saw some of Hey Arnold!  The exclamation mark at the end is intentional and this cartoon is aimed at the demo that loves what Nick does-with a hipster West Side Story style beginning.  Arnold, the football headed fourth grader is back on DVD with the complete series now available at Walmart.

I missed the show when it aired on Nickelodeon.  It was just after Ren & Stimpy ended and my cable love affair with cartoons had paused.   Watching Hey Arnold! now I realize that it wouldn’t have appealed to me then.  Now I get it because of how relevant it is to children, with just a pinch hipster and throwback elements for the parents watching.

Arnold lives with his grandparents in the big city and has a unique set of friends, various animal, school life, urban legends or young love. At first glance, Hey Arnold! appears to be a mildly clever show.  However, its creator Craig Bartlett cut his animation teeth on material that explains why, even I could identify and enjoy it now.  After Hey Arnold! Barlett went on to create Dinosaur Train, which is one of our 4 year olds favorite shows.

Bartlett started working on the character of Arnold when he was working on Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.  That was my show, but more on that in another post. It was initially conceived as a claymation series  and then in 1996 it was transformed from claymation to cell animation.  Arnold also appeared in the Simpsons Illustrated magazine when it first came out and Barlett is the brother- in- law of Matt Groening.

Our 4 year old likes Hey Arnold! and this was his first time watching it.  I like the introduction and he likes a variety of the characters, but especially Arnold.  The packaging of the DVDs are impressive, bigger than expected and obviously done with care.  For 16 discs worth of entertainment for only $29.00 it’s a good bargain too.

We received a copy of the DVDs for review purposes.  All thoughts are our own.  Our head is not football shaped, but we really are big fans of Pee-Wee’s Playhouse and Matt Groening.