[DVD Review] Hey Arnold! The Ultimate Collection

Hey Arnold! The Ultimate Collection is now available on DVD! With a great selection of bonus features, and every episode and movie of the series now available together in a massive 18 disk collection, if you’re a fan of the series, you are going to want to check out this set!

The Series

If you were a child of the 90’s, you probably grew up with Nickelodeon, with shows like Rugrats, Ah! Real Monsters, The Wild Thornberrys, and of course, Hey Arnold! I didn’t grow up with cable, but I did have grandparents who had cable, and it was always the highlight of our visits to get to click through the myriad of channels that they had that we could only dream of watching back home. Except there wasn’t a whole lot of channel surfing, because there were really only a couple channels that interested me and my brothers, one of which was Nickelodeon. Having only 5 channels at home, meant that we would be practically glued to the television at my grandparents house, trying to make up for six months of TV watching in one weekend.

Of all the shows we watched while we were there, only a handful really stuck in my memory, and of those, only a few were because I loved the show. Hey Arnold! was definitely one that stuck in my head, but it was actually more because I was kind of perplexed by it than that the stories really stuck with me. I was definitely way too young to grasp the social commentary going on within the show, and instead, the main thing that stuck with me was the character designs, and I always wondered why all the characters were shaped so differently, especially Arnold himself, who, as anyone who even remotely remembers the show will recall, had a head shaped like a football. I think I was thinking way too deeply about things, but I just really didn’t understand why everyone was shaped so differently, even his own family members. Why did he end up shaped like a football, while even his grandparents were relatively human shaped? It was just one of the many confusing things in my youth.

Anyway, my odd childhood musings are probably not why you are here, you are here to learn about the brand new Hey Arnold! DVD set, The Ultimate Collection, so let’s get into it!

The Set

This set is full of so much content that the bonus features are really just the icing on the cake. This set contains every episode from the original run of the series, as well as both the 2002 and 2017 feature films! But if that’s not quite enough, there are also some essential bonus features included in this set that you are not going to want to miss!

Hey Arnold! The Pilot
In 1993, a pilot for the series was made, but the public wouldn’t get to see it until three years later when it was released as a short in front of the theatrical release of Harriet the Spy. The short was apparently later released on VHS in 1997, but aside from some bootleg copies floating around the internet, there hasn’t really been an easy way to see this short since.

Original Claymation Short: Hey Arnold Escapes From Church
Almost a decade before the show itself debuted, there were a small handful or stop-motion animated shorts created featuring the characters. The very first one from 1988, Hey Arnold Escapes from Church, is included in this set.

Drawing Arnold
This is a short featurette from creator Craig Bartlett, explaining how he draws Arnold, so that kids can follow along.

Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie: Table Read
This is another short featurette, this time with some behind the scenes footage of a table read featuring the cast of The Jungle Movie.

Unboxing the Original Jungle Movie Development Art
For those that may not know, Hey Arnold! The Jungle Movie, originally began development back in 1998, and was cancelled in the early 2000’s. This featurette follows the creators as they unbox some of the original art made back in the early days of the film’s development.

A Letter from Craig Bartlett
This is kind of an unofficial bonus feature, but I thought it was worth mentioning nonetheless, the set also includes a physical letter from the creator of Hey Arnold! thanking the fans, and explaining what went in to the making of the set.

Final Thoughts

All in all, this set is a must own for fans of Hey Arnold! If you were a casual fan who hasn’t ever watched the series all the way through, (Like me) This set is the perfect way to catch up. And if you are a massive fan who doesn’t yet own the episodes, this set in a must buy.

Purchase

• Hey Arnold! The Ultimate Collection | Amazon