Written by Craig Bartlett and Antionette Stella
Directed by Larry Leichliter and Tuck Tucker
Storyboard Directors: Sherm Cohen, Tuck Tucker
Animation Director: Christine Kolosov
Storyboard Artists: Tim Parsons, Chris Robertson, Caesar Martinez, Jay Lender
(Only the "Written by" and "Directed By" credits appeared in the opening)
Cast:
Arnold - Phillip Van Dyke
Gerald - Jamil Smith
Helga - Francesca Marie Smith
Stinky - Christopher Walberg
Eugene (uncredited) - Ben Diskin
Baby Arnold - Rusty Flood
Arnold's father - Craig Bartlett
Arnold's mother - Antoinette Stella
Grandpa - Dan Castellaneta
Grandma - Tress MacNeille
Big Bob Pataki - Maurice LaMarche
Miriam Pataki - Kath E. Soucie
Mr. Simmons - Dan Butler
Eduardo - Stephen Viksten
* "Why was this episode delayed?" My best guess is that when Nickelodeon decided to have the planned Hey Arnold! movie focus on Arnold's parents, they wanted to make this episode the "lead-in" to the second movie, the way the Rugrats episode where Didi finds out she's pregnant was first shown days before The Rugrats Movie (where she gave birth) premiered. For whatever reason (it could have been some combination of (a) the fact that it had already been shown in other countries a number of times and (b) the show's staff voted it as their favorite episode), Nickelodeon decided to turn it into a Mother's Day / Father's Day episode (this is the first episode of any Nicktoon to have two days associated with it, even though the episode itself has nothing to do with either holiday other than involving parents). Note that Nickelodeon has been showing this as a "regular" episode since its first USA broadcast.
* I assume from the way Grandpa tells the story that he's Arnold's father's father. (If he was Arnold's mother's father, he probably would have told how Arnold's mother was examining ruins when his father stumbled down that hill, rather than how Arnold's father was delivering medicine when he first saw his mother.)
* Now we know what Arnold saw in Ruth: she has the same melon-shaped head as his mother.
* The flyer Mr. Simmons hands out says "PARENTS DAY" on it, but it's always referred to as "Parents Tournament Weekend".
* In the crowd or competing, we see the following parents (besides Helga's, of course): Brainy's parents, Curly's parents, Eugene's father, Gerald's parents, Harold's parents, Lila's father, Lorenzo and his mother, Nadine's parents, Phoebe's parents, Rhonda's parents, Sid's parents, Stinky's father, and Sheena's parents.
* Patty and her parents are in the crowd when Grandma almost falls off the wall - but isn't this limited to fourth graders?
* Quite a few parents both look like their child: Brainy's (both have Brainy's grin/overbite), Curly's (both wear glasses like Curly's), Rhonda's, and Sid's (both have long noses like Sid).
* On the other hand, Eugene's father looks a little like Chuckie's father on Rugrats, Sheena's mother looks like Grandpa (well, Grandpa wearing a lot of long brown hair), and...
* Yet Another Question You Didn't Know You Wanted Answered: "Nadine is black but has blonde hair - does she have mixed-race parents?" Apparently, yes (in the words of Jerry Seinfeid, "not that there's anything wrong with that"); assuming she's standing in front of her parents, her father is white (with blonde hair) and her mother black. (I say "apparently" because you never see Nadine competing - however, you see the three of them together in "Stinky's Pumpkin".)
* Speaking of the crowd, in the first picture, when everyone is shown from behind, that could be Eugene's mother at the far right of the front row (which would match the woman we see in "Eugene's Birthday").
* ...but Eugene is standing next to her - and then he's carrying in the torch from the other side of the park.
* In the first scene where she's shown, Harold's mother is a brunette, but after that she has her normal brownish hair color.
* Speaking of changing hair color, Grandma has dark hair in the scenes with young Arnold, but in "Girl Trouble" and "The Old Building", she used to be a blonde.
* If the music in the last dream scene (between the two days of the event) sounds familiar, it's because it sounds like "Look Up" from the first-season episode "The List".
* Before the egg toss, Mr. Simmons says that Arnold's and Phoebe's families are tied for second, and Gerald's family was third; usually (but not always), if there is a two-way tie for second, the next place is fourth, as there are three that are ahead of that place. (In the Olympics, for example, if there is a tie for second, two silver medals are awarded, but no bronze medals.)
* In the egg toss, both of Gerald's parents had egg on them, but it appeared as if a team was out when just one of them dropped an egg - and, presumably, each team consisted of one kid and one adult.
* Usually, catching an egg with anything other than your hands is illegal in an egg toss.
* In the scene where Arnold's parents leave for the last time, Grandma's hair is dark at first, then it becomes purplish-gray.
* I realize it's "SuperGrandma" against Miriam the bull-rider, but usually women aren't expected to climb walls in obstacle courses. (Back when The Superstars had a women's competition, the obstacle course did have a wall, but there were bars that the competitors climbed up rather than having to use a rope.) Pardon me for giving what sounds like a sexist reason, but "most women just aren't strong enough".
* How are Lila and her father (or, for that matter, Stinky and his father) supposed to compete in any event that requires both parents (like the obstacle course and the relay race)? (This would have been a good time for Olga to show up...)
* Did you ask "why bother having a race if it ends with two competitors jousting each other, so it doesn't matter who gets there first"? I did, until I realized that whoever got their "jousting stick" first could attack their opponent without worrying about being hit back.
* Mr. Simmons says that Arnold's and Helga's families were the first to compete in the last event, but that means they were the only ones to compete in it, so how did Phoebe's family win?
* No wonder they won, though; at the beginning of the second day, you can see the three of them limbering up where everybody else is just standing around.
* In the tricycle section of the last event, the chinpiece of Helga's helmet kept switching colors
* How can Arnold find his parents? Well, there are two ways to start; one, he might still have the map he had when Eduardo showed up (although Arnold's parents might have taken it with them), and two, Eduardo would know where they went, if Arnold can find him after all these years.
* There's one thing I don't understand: Arnold's parents lived somewhere before they left Arnold with Grandpa. What happened to all of their stuff - like, say, Arnold's father's diplomas (Grandpa said he was a doctor) - which would have answered a lot of Arnold's questions as to who his parents were?
* I have a copy of the episode as it was broadcast on ITV in the United Kingdom, and that version is missing something; the part of the "flashback" where Arnold's father and Eduardo are in the avalanche, and Arnold's mother acts as their doctor. Someone in the UK told me that the Nick UK version includes this scene, however, so the ITV version could have been cut for time purposes or because someone felt the scene was too violent. (I've since been told that ITV is notorious for cutting Hey Arnold! episodes for whatever reasons.)
Click on the image to see a larger version, as well as a list of which parents are where