'I Think It's a Better Movie Than it Would Have Been in the First Place' Says Craig Bartlett of 'Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie'

After a 15-year hiatus, Hey Arnold! is back in movie feature form—Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie—which will propel Arnold’s long lived quest to find his parents. As Mr. Simmons’ class journeys to San Lorenzo, Central America—the last place where Arnold’s parents were seen—the kids undergo the field trip adventure of a lifetime. They soon find themselves entangled in the jungle perils and must all rely on Arnold’s leadership and the sound teachings of teamwork in order to escape. Will the kids make it out alive? Will Arnold find his parents? Will Helga finally admit her love for Arnold?

Growing up, the characterization of Helga Pataki was always one that resonated with me. Like me, Helga has many strong layers and feelings: she's compassionate and tender, opinionated and self-aware, aggressive and thoughtful. She has moments of insecurity as well as super inventive and brilliant moments where you see her unconventional beauty come into full fruition. In essence, she is casually misunderstood and learns to escape the world via pen and pad.

At the core, Hey Arnold! has always provided reassurance and clarity and opened up conversations about identity, which have proven to be invaluable in the later years.

The original voice of Arnold, Lane Toran, is now playing Che, alongside other originals, Anndi McAfee (Phoebe), Olivia Hack (Rhonda), Francesca Marie Smith (Helga), and creator, Craig Bartlett who have joined me in a discussion about the upcoming film to be released November 24 at 7pm (ET/PT).

We gabbed about not having Hey Arnold! swag when the show aired in the 90s. In fact, I came to the interview dressed in a T-shirt with a hand drawn illustration of Arnold. “It’s Craig approved,” they all agreed. Lucky for me because I’m no artist.

To what extent is it helpful to approach a continuation or a sequel movie almost 15 years later?

Anndi McAfee: [It was a question of] can we recreate that magic? Arnold was just the right time with the right people. We don't have to necessarily recreate the characters or the magic. We have a new sort of sense of the characters and we can create a different type of magic. I had to get it back into my muscle memory and hunch the shoulders a bit but...

Olivia Hack: For me, when I read the script, because [at first] you’re nervous. Because this is so fan driven, you want to do right by the fans, so for me, I really wanted to get the voice right. Because we do have the Internet now and people are harsh. But that was the good thing about releasing the trailer at San Diego Comic Con, we had 99% positive response rate.

Craig Bartlett: In our original plan, we were just going to continue straight through from episode to episode then movie to movie. In a way, cartoon times sort of stand still, and we thought, wow, it’s been 15 years. Fans have grown up, and the new audience doesn’t know anything about it. The show was always about a mythical childhood, anyway. A nostalgic take on urban life. All the kids [in the show] have this amazing freedom. Arnold has that room where he can climb up the little ladder and down the fire escape to meet his friends in the middle of the night and go on some adventure. You know? Real kids aren’t living like that. Already, you’re in a mythical, timeless place, and so I said, let’s not ruin that. Let’s update it but be very careful about it. We gave Rhonda a cell phone to take to the jungle, and not the other kids. There are some adults on the trip, too. Mr. Simmons, Olga, and so those people are set up in this kind of now time. It seemed true enough and contemporary enough.

There were times when I despaired of ever getting to do this, and I thought, well, I'll move on. I've created other shows since then. I thought, this is the way it goes. You get your opportunity and take as much advantage of it as you can. Maybe it will go this far or that far. [But] that's not for us to even know. I feel like 15 years later, we got to make a better version and it's because 15 years later we have way more interaction with adult fans who loved it and have things to say about it. And so, I think it's a better movie than it would have been in the first place. Even the improved technology makes it better: 9x16, high-def, big screen treatment.

When we made the first movie, that was actually meant to be a TV movie and the network really liked it and said, let's do a film finish on it and release it in theaters. We did a video to film transfer and it didn't come out that great. It was ok, but it wasn't as high-def as other movies that were coming out then like a Pixar film or a Disney film. In fact, we came out against Lilo and Stitch and got clobbered. So it's lovely to me, in the present, making this high-def 9x16 movie anyway that is totally theater-ready. They can take it down to the local cinema, and it would look terrific. And that's a terrific advantage that we didn't have then. I guess it's just fate. I still had access to my old friends I had worked with in the first place, [and] had a new generation of fantastic artists who were fans of the show. What a potent combo.

Many people who had grown up on the show became professionals, and that same phenomenon happened at Nickelodeon. There are many people who work there (ages 25-35) and they say, how about those 90s shows we loved? Can't we do more of that? And so, it really helps to bring it back. That's partly responsible for why we're sitting here now.

Francesca Marie Smith: The luxury of looking back on what was so meaningful and hearing from the fans as well, but for me personally, having grown up and gone to college and spent a fair amount of time studying entertainment history. It all of a sudden became a much more meaningful process to see what the show had become for people [and] to hear their perspectives on it. I haven't really been acting since the show ended. I auditioned a little bit but I didn't really push hard at it because I had such a special experience with Hey Arnold! [that] my heart wasn't really into finding a second best. And even just these conversations. I never did press [interviews] and stuff like this when we were on the show the first time. There just wasn't the same level of analysis and interest. So now we're talking about it with people who are in this process with us and who really have an interest in how the show turns out.

Craig: It's more sharpened focus than we felt in the first place. The only responsibility I felt making it in the first place was the responsibility of making kid's content and making it powerful. I still didn't know how powerful. Carolyn Frankie wrote about the top ten shows adults should watch. She was describing how Helga's job was to tell the audience how great Arnold is because if Arnold was telling you how great he is, you would not like him. Arnold instead is this quiet boy who's modest and never talks about that stuff. Helga does all the talking for him. I was telling my exec from the first season—who was like who's this Arnold guy?—that Helga would explain it, the audience will get it and the kids will soak it all up like a sponge. [And] What validation for someone making content to see it, absorb it as a child, go to college and then, now, write a good analysis about it years later...

Francesca: I saw something where someone said that Helga's really the star of Hey Arnold! because the show isn’t called Arnold, it's called Hey Arnold!, and Helga’s the one who says that. And partially for ego reasons, I like that argument [laughter].

On reuniting with the classic series...

Olivia: We were not assured that we were going to reprise our roles. We had to audition. It’s a new generation of people who don’t know us so they wanted us to come in to see how we perform and how we take direction. The [characters] are one year older and we didn’t know whether they’d address technology. Bob’s Beepers is still around. He’s going through some hard times, but he’s still in the business. The cell phone is central to the plot line and it’s done in the right way. It’s not overdone.

Anndi: It’s acknowledging that technology wise, we are not in the 90s. We’re going to be realistic about where we are but also remain timeless, still focusing on people, stories, and characters. All the core... I was surprised by Phoebe’s new look. When I saw her [new illustration], I was shocked.

Stoop kid's afraid to leave his stoop is a classic line from the show. The episode really deals with stepping out on faith, trust, and believing in greatness outside of your doorstep, literally. For each of you, what classic line or episode still sticks with you now?

Olivia: My favorite episode is the Vietnam episode, because my God, we are a kid’s cartoon and we’re teaching kids about the Vietnam War.

Lane Toran: That’s my favorite, too.

Olivia: And Craig really, really fought to get that episode through. All of Hey Arnold! is basically like an after school special. Chocolate Boy, is a drug addict, Helga’s mom is an alcoholic. There’s episodes where Arnold gets mugged, there’s deep, dark undertones, and that’s special and unique, and I think that’s why Hey Arnold! resonates with kids watching at home saying, ‘that’s me.’

Anndi: When Helga and Phoebe had those tender moments and Helga was like, you are special, beautiful, important, smart. For me, I didn’t have a lot of girlfriends growing up, and to have that friendship and those moments, that was really special. And the fact that Francesca and I did other shows together. We grew up together in this industry.

Lane: I love the episode with Lock Jaw. And the Christmas episode is so touching, too.

If your characters were your age, what would they be doing? Who are they and how do they make their way through life in 2017?

Lane: Arnold would be an animal activist, fighting for world peace, for sure.

Olivia: Rhonda is a Park Avenue princess somewhere running a Fortune 500 company.

Anndi: I think Phoebe would get into some sort of start-up scene. I think she gets more confident as she gets older [and] she still has no need to be the center of attention. I think she’d be programming apps that change the world.

See below for a sneak peek clip, The Legend of Arnold:

Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie will premiere on Nickelodeon, Fri., Nov. 24, at 7 p.m. (ET/PT).