Olga Comes Home

Helga's smart, talented, popular sister Olga is home for Spring Break from college, where Helga has to live in the shadow of her overachievements - until a B+ on Olga's report card (which was an A until Helga changed it), her first non-A since second grade, sends her into a deep depression Written by Steve Viksten Storyboard Direction by Stark Howell Animation Direction by Larry Leichliter Storyboard Artist: Tricia Garcia Cast: Arnold - Toran Caudell Helga - Francesca Marie Smith Big Bob Pataki - Maurice LaMarche Miriam Pataki - Kath Soucie Miss Slovak - Tress MacNeille Olga - Nika Futterman     * One of the photos of Olga in Miss Slovak's class is in front of P.S. 193; it appears as if Olga had something to do with its construction, as she appears to be standing in front of a drawing of it     * Miss Slovak has gray hair in this story; it's brown in other stories (but fans of The Simpsons know there's nothing new about a teacher's hair changing color; Lisa's teacher has had brown, blue, and red hair)     * When Miss Slovak writes Olga's name on the blackboard, she uses her left hand, but she writes it to her right (actually, quite a few cartoon characters write on chalkboards left-handed, so their bodies won't be in front of what they've just written)     * Up to this point, none of the scenes in Arnold's class had ever shown Stinky at any of the desks     * If there is a real Wellington College somewhere in North America, it does a very good job of hiding itself (the other reference to "Wellington": it's Rhonda's middle name, but that's not mentioned until the second season)     * In "Spelling Bee", young Olga has one eyebrow (like Big Bob and Helga still do), but now Olga is eyebrowless (like Miriam)     * When Helga and Olga are shown together the first time, Helga appears to be a lot shorter than she usually is (although she is slouching slightly); Helga appears to be much taller, or Olga much shorter, in the final scene     * Music lesson: the piece Olga is playing sounds like it's from the first movement of the Brandenburg Concerto No. 3 in G Major by Bach (which wasn't written for piano, so the arrangement may be off slightly)     * Looks Like Lisa Simpson Was Here: One of the things on the lunch menu is "Vegetarian Fish and Chips" (and, like Lisa, Olga is "an overachiever and proud of it")     * Helga tells Arnold "catfish are jumpin' and the cotton is high", which is almost a line from Porgy and Bess (the actual line, from the song "Summertime", is "fish are jumpin'..."), which was originally written as an opera, but then was converted to a musical; nowadays, it is almost always done as an opera     * Between you and me, straight A's are not that big of a deal; in my pre-college years, 12 of the 13 report cards I got had at least one B (or worse...), but it never hurt me any (of course, this is from someone in his mid-30s who not only still watches cartoons on TV but freeze-frames through them...)

Sally's Comet

Arnold and Gerald plan to see Sally's Comet, which only appears once every 70 years, but how can they do it if the city lights are too bright to be able to see even the stars? Written by Joseph Purdy Storyboard Direction by Dan Povenmire Animation Direction by Howie Parkins Storyboard Artist: Sherm Cohen Cast: Arnold - Toran Caudell Gerald - Jamil W. Smith Helga - Francesca Marie Smith Harold - Justin Shenkarow Stinky - Christopher P. Walberg Grandpa - Dan Castellaneta Harvey - Lou Rawls Oskar, Caesar (listening to Gerald's speech) (both uncredited) - Steve Viksten Radio DJ - Craig Bartlett Uncredited: Young Phil, Grandpa's father     * This is the first time Grandpa's first name (Phil) is used     * The tube list the Sunset Arms address as 4040 Vineland, but in "Magic Show" and "Abner Come Home" it's 4040 Vine Street     * Obviously, Sally's Comet is named similarly to Halley's comet (Halley rhymes with Sally - "HAL-lee", not "HAY-lee"), which also appears every 70 years or so (it's actually closer to 80)     * The telescope is larger than the tube it came in, and there was certainly no room for the tripod     * I know the price of cereal is high, but the telescope is rather good for 50 boxtops     * When Arnold sends the boxtops, the stamp (or at least the space for it) is on the upper left corner of the envelope     * MJZZ ("M-Jazz") is located somewhere around 900 on the AM dial     * Astronomy lessons:           o "Where does Sally's comet go?" It orbits the Sun, just like Earth does, but its orbit is very long and quite "thin"           o Comets that are that bright appear for more than one night           o If a comet is close enough to streak by, start worrying!           o The brightest comets can be seen even with all of those lights; that's one of the reasons they're such a big deal     * When Arnold rips off one of the boxtops, the box has a ragged edge which suddenly turns into a smooth edge     * When Gerald gives his speech on the street, Monkeyman is one of the people listening to it

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