Aliens Invade Hey Arnold! 👽 5 Minute Episode 'Arnold's Halloween' - Nicktoons
Arnold's Halloween is the Halloween episode of the Nickelodeon animated series Hey Arnold!, in the show's second season. It was the last episode produced for the show's second season, but was the season's seventh episode to air. It is an animated spoof of the real-life panic caused by Orson Welles' 1938 reading of The War of the Worlds on The Mercury Theatre of the Air, with the character of Douglas Caine being voiced by Maurice LaMarche doing his impression of Welles.
Synopsis[]
The episode opens on Arnold and Gerald watching The Z-Files at the Sunset Arms, and the episode ending on a massive cliff-hanger. Grandpa enters, and discusses with the boarders who will dress as what at their Halloween party this year, leading to Mr. Hyunh and Ernie arguing over who will be Frankenstein (the monster, that is). Arnold asks his Grandpa if he and Gerald can help out with the party this year, but Grandpa tells him that they're just kids. Wanting to prove they can scare the adults, Arnold and Gerald formulate a plan to scare the boarders during the party.
Meanwhile, Big Bob is playing cards and watching UFO Tonight with Mr. Green and Harvey, and is telling them his alien abduction story, which they dismiss, and Helga has evidently heard many times before. However, it gives her the idea of having the P.S. 118 fourth-grade class dress up as aliens for their group Halloween costumes.
The next day, Helga reveals the plan the next day and, despite other ideas being thrown around, has the final say. Helga asks Arnold and Gerald if they want to join in. Arnold tells her they have other plans, but also tells the group to stop by his house's party. He tells Gerald it will be perfect for their prank, but neglects to tell the others what is planned.
On Halloween night, Helga is dressed in her alien costume, and attempts to show it to Bob, who is preoccupied with The Wheel. Meanwhile, the boarders and their guests are enjoying the party, although the angry, bored and grumpy trick-or-treaters aren't, just as Grandpa Phil is handing out earthworms and cockroaches (just to prank them). On the roof, Arnold and Gerald are setting up a phonograph to change Gerald's voice, and various props for visual and sound effects, in order to simulate an alien invasion.
They intercept the boarding house radio, and scare the living daylights out of all inside, convincing them that aliens are invading. All the while, Stinky is prepared with lights set up on the water tower (in order to make it appear as a UFO), and turns them on when he gets a signal from Arnold and Gerald. Unknown to them, an operative of UFO Tonight picks up the signal in a van, and reports back to the host, Douglas Cain, who airs it live on television. He also gets footage of the kids coming to the door. Grandpa tries to dismiss it as a prank, but once Helga and crew arrive, the boarders think they are real aliens and chase them with weapons. All of this is caught on camera and the city goes into a panic.
As the chaos ensues, Grandpa is packing the Packard to leave town, when Arnold and Gerald arrive, unaware of what is happening. The two explain their whole plan and Grandpa is impressed with their work. However, when Grandpa asks how they got Douglas Cain involved, Arnold and Gerald realize what happened and ask what happened to their classmates. Just then they see them being chased by a mob and they decide that they have to save the kids.
Elsewhere, Bob gears up to take down the aliens, as does Grandma, while the kids try to explain they they're just kids. Unfortunately, Harold, who was tasked with buying makeup, purchased a kind they couldn't remove. They're chased to the water tower, and Bob, Grandpa, Arnold and Gerald, and the UFO Tonight crew are headed in that direction as well. Arnold and Gerald try to explain the prank, but the people in the street are either unable or unwilling to listen to them.
Bob, accompanied by Marty and Harvey, encounter Principal Wartz, who is prepared with candies for the aliens, and they pull him into the Hummer. When the kids reach the water tower at the top of the hill, they run into Stinky and tell him what's going on. Stinky inadvertently reveals Arnold's plan and a furious Helga attacks him. The other groups arrive, and Bob sets up an explosive catapult, and goes to confront the "alien leader" (Helga), and attempts to wring her neck. Arnold tries to stop him, and Harvey fires the catapult into the water tower, which bursts and washes off the makeup. Bob apologizes to his daughter and gets fed up with Cain's broadcasting. As they all leave, Arnold tells Grandpa he'll never do a prank like that again, but Grandpa is proud of Arnold's prank. Grandma turns the water tower lights back on, and cackling into the night as she wishes everyone a Happy Halloween.
Availability[]
The episode made its home video debut on the NickToons: Halloween DVD, released by Paramount Home Entertainment on August 26, 2003. It was then included on Amazon.com's Hey Arnold!: Season 2 manufacture-on-demand DVD set, released on August 29, 2008.
When the Hey Arnold! video rights were given to Shout! Factory, the episode was included in the Hey Arnold!: Season 2, Part 2 DVD set, first released on March 20, 2012, and later repackaged as part of Shout!'s Hey Arnold!: The Complete Series set on November 11, 2014. Shout! Factory also included on their Nickelodeon compilation DVD Out of the Vault Halloween Collection, released on September 1, 2015.
Following the show's video rights returning to Paramount in 2018, the special was again included on Paramount's Hey Arnold!: The Ultimate Collection box set (which was essentially a rerelease of Shout! Factory's Complete Series set, but with the addition of the two Hey Arnold! movies and new bonus features), released on November 20, 2018.
Cast[]
| Voice actor | Character |
|---|---|
| Phillip Van Dyke | Arnold Shortman |
| Jamil W. Smith | Gerald Johanssen |
| Francesca Marie Smith | Helga Pataki |
| Anndi L. McAfee | Phoebe Heyerdahl |
| Justin Shenkarow | Harold Berman |
| Christopher Walberg | Stinky |
| Adam Wylie | Curly |
| Steven Vikstein | Oskar Kokoshka Smitty |
| Mary Scheer | Suzie |
| Dom Irrera | Ernie Potts |
| Baoan Coleman | Mr. Hyunh |
| Lou Rawls | Harvey |
| Maurice LaMarche | Douglas Cain Big Bob Pataki |
| Dan Castellaneta | Grandpa Phil |
| Tress MacNeille | Grandma |
| Kath E. Soucie | Miriam Pataki |
| David Wohl | Principal Wartz |
| James Keane | Marty Green EBN Announcer |
See also[]
- "Treehouse of Horror XVII" (another Halloween special spoofing The War of the Worlds)