I’m continuing the trend of showcasing ethnicity in cartoons by highlighting a couple of prominent Asian-American cartoon characters. This is, of course, not the whole spectrum of Asian characters in cartoons, but it’s just enough to whet your palette.

Main cast of "The Amazing Chan and the Chan Clan"

The majority of the main cast of "Avatar: The Last Airbender"

Hadji, "Jonny Quest"/"The Real Adventures of Jonny Quest"

majority of the main cast of "Jackie Chan Adventures"

Samurai Jack, "Samurai Jack"

Samurai/Winddragon, "Superfriends," "Justice League Unlimited"

Jubilation Lee (Jubilee), "X-Men: The Animated Series," "X-Men: Evolution"

Omi, Kimiko, and others from "Xiaolin Showdown"

Russell, "Up"

Gi, "Captain Planet"

Quick Kick, "G.I. Joe"

Tricia Takanawa, "Family Guy"

Phoebe Heyerdahl, "Hey Arnold!"

PHOTO: ‘Dinosaur Train’ Creator/Writer/Director Craig Bartlett speaks during the Cable portion of the 2009 Summer Television Critics Association Press Tour at the Ritz-Carlton Huntington Hotel on August 2, 2009 in Pasadena, California.

More Hey Arnold goodness is here at moniqueblog! You might recall that I recently interviewed Hey Arnold!‘s music man Jim Lang. Now, the creator of Hey Arnold!, Craig Bartlett, has been gracious enough to provide insight into his creative style, the vision behind his new PBS show, “Dinosaur Train”, and how Seattle and the grunge movement influenced Arnold and co.’s sensibilities.

Moniqueblog-How did you become interested in drawing?

Craig Bartlett-It was something I was always pretty good at, as long as I could remember. My parents encouraged me, my grandmother always gave me pencils and drawing tablets for christmas, so I felt that it was my “thing” from the very start.

Before you worked on Hey Arnold, you worked on Rugrats, Jim Henson projects, Ren and Stimpy,and wrote Arnold comic strips for Simpsons Illustrated. What was it like working on these projects?

All those jobs were fun to do in their own way — they were all an introduction to Hollywood and TV production, and each place had a different approach. I got a lot out of comparing their styles, and when I got the chance to do Hey Arnold! I tried to take the best production styles from each job I had done.

While doing research for the interview, I read that you worked on Mystery Lodge at Knott’s Berry Farm. What was working on that project like, especially since it included so many multi-media elements?

All the jobs I did for Bob Rogers were like that – he works in formats and venues that are different from regular film and TV. His jobs usually involved travel to exotic locations – Mystery Lodge meant doing research flying up to the north end of Vancouver Island in Canada, which is a really beautiful place, like where I grew up in Washington, but even more pristine and remote. I grew up on the Swinomish Indian Reservation, and the Kwakwalla-speaking Indians of Canada had similar but way deeper traditions, more connected to their past. And Bob’s jobs usually involve an installation part, where I would stay at the site every day and put the media into the show space, which in the case of Mystery Lodge was going to Knott’s every day, and that was weird and fun, a very Southern California setting.

How did you come up with the story for Party Wagon?

I really like history in general, and the history of the settling of the American West in particular — I was always fascinated with the Oregon Trail, how people often ran away from their past lives and reinvented themselves out West. Party Wagon was my first movie after Hey Arnold! and I wanted to get all that crammed into a coming-of-age story… the main character Randy starts out in Maine, and ends up in the Pacific Northwest, which is what my ancestors did. Only in Party Wagon, it’s way goofier, and meant to be a comedy. I really hoped that Cartoon Network would let me make a series of it, but they weren’t into it at all after Linda Simensky left, it was kind of an orphaned project.

What is the idea behind Dinosaur Train?

I’ve wanted to make Dinosaur Train since my son Matt was 3 or 4, and playing with tons of dinosaurs and piles of trains simultaneously. I’d see him putting his dinosaurs onto his trains and making up little adventures for them, so I told my wife, “If I made a show that put dinosaurs on a train, I’d have all 4-year-olds at hello!” And all these years later, I finally did, and it’s working like nuts. I’m just glad I got it made before someone else thought of it!

Most children’s shows that feature animals doing unrealistic or human things do not explain to children that animals don’t actually behave this way. Do you feel that Dinosaur Train-due to the inclusion of Mr. Disclaimer,  Dr. Scott Sampson, and realistic dinosaur drawings-makes your children’s show unique among others?

I know that when we set out to make it, we knew that we’d be trying to give real information about what paleontologists know or hypothesize about dinosaurs — like their size, the way they moved, and their behavior, but we’d also have them riding trains and speaking English and singing and dancing and lots of other crazy non-scientific behavior, so we decided to have “Mr. Disclaimer” say the bad news (like dinosaurs did not play Dinoball) and Dr. Scott concentrate on the enthusiastic, fun parts, after every episode.

I read that you were born in Seattle, Washington. It might be stereotypical of me to ask this, but since Seattle is seen by many as a mecca for alternative culture (and Arnold’s flannel-looking plaid shirt), did the alternative mindset influence you at any point during the inception and development of Hey Arnold? Or, I guess a better question would be: how did Seattle influence you as you created Hey Arnold! ?

Oh, I’m very much a son of Seattle. I’m used to the gloomy weather and the fresh air that smells like the sea and wearing layers of flannel and digging the funky old buildings. I can certainly relate to poor Kurt Cobain and his growing up a punk in Aberdeen, Washington. I went to high school in another little grungy town called Anacortes, and it was a town where you got your ass kicked for dressing weird and acting arty, so I found the whole grunge movement very easy to relate to. So I wanted “Hey Arnold!” to have a little bit of that vibe.

When designing the characters, what prompted you to give some of them head shapes based on objects?

Matt Groening [creator of The Simpsons] told me early on that you should design your characters to be easily recognized from far away or in silhouette. So I’ve kept that in mind, especially on Hey Arnold! I tried to base their heads on simple geometric shapes.

The stories featured on Hey Arnold always have some level of maturity not seen in children’s animation often. There are many episodes I could cite to back up my opinion, but the Christmas special is one that stands out the most in mind at the present. I think for me, HA! left a void in Nickelodeon’s programming for shows with well-crafted storytelling; lately, the only show that was on Nick to have mature storytelling was Avatar: The Last Airbender. How do you go about constructing your stories?

Thanks, I love the Christmas special, too. We really wanted to tell true stories about how it feels to be a kid — not necessarily true in the factual sense but true to our feelings, our emotions. And we used real kids for the voices because that felt more emotionally authentic. We (the writers) all felt like childhood is tough, that we all grow up feeling alienated, that almost no one understands us, that even the “cool” kids feel that way inside. Arnold is really wise, though, and a really good kid. So it’s kind of romantic and idealized. I guess we just wanted to make the stories as entertaining as we could. Also, I never wanted to make really “cartoony” shows – our storytelling was more realistic than the stuff Nick is making now.

A few of the most intriguing characters on HA! is Helga and her family. What prompted you to create Helga, her family, and their various hiccups (Bob’s parental neglect, Miriam’s inferred alcoholism, Olga’s incessant perfection)?

The more the Pataki family is over-the-top bad, the more the audience will sympathize with Helga. Since she is so mean, so hard on Arnold, we really wanted to make her home life horrible, so the audience could forgive her, and get on her side. I think that Helga gets a lot of “instant karma” payback for her actions – she will hatch and evil plan, and it backfires, for our amusement. She gets her bad habits from Big Bob, I think.

Just as interesting are Arnold’s grandparents and the tenants in the Sunset Arms. What were the inspirations behind those characters?

We wanted Arnold to be the calm center of his universe, with these wacky characters all around him. He has no parents, he’s an only kid in a boarding house of adults, so we made all the adults ridiculous, like little children emotionally, so Arnold would seem like the wisest and “together” character in the whole place. I really like the grandparents – they were such a gas to write for. Dan Castellaneta was like a secret weapon – he was my favorite actor of all, maybe after Franny Smith. They were like super-granparents, with all kinds of special talents, huge back stories… they pretend to be goofy but deep down are very wise and smart and have Arnold’s back… they are my dream grandparents.

Curly is the one character that both made me laugh and scared me simultaneously, and I mean that as a compliment What was the inspiration behind him?

I knew a couple kids like Curly, who sat silently in the back and then, under pressure, revealed that they were completely nuts. Paranoid, crazy, conspiracy-theorists. Once we wrote a couple Curly episodes, he was a great kid to have around. He’s a lot of kids’ favorite. Like Helga says, “Watch out for the quiet ones.”

There are still legions of HA! fans who regularly re-watch the show  and still wish they could’ve seen your proposed Jungle Movie and The Patakis. What have your experiences with your fans been like? Also, if everything worked out just right and the planets were in alignment, would you ever consider relaunching Hey Arnold! and/or try relaunching The Jungle Movie and The Patakis?

The fans are great, but I’m sorry to say that their hopes of a revived series and a Jungle Movie and The Patakis are pretty much impossible dreams. Nick doesn’t really have anything to do with me – I’ve been out on my own, making a living on whatever else I can come up with, for lo these nearly 10 years now.  I’ve also tried going in to meet with Nick execs, and pitched other ideas, and none have gone anywhere. So I’m pretty much over it, y’know? But I’m really glad that Hey Arnold! has fans, and I’m moved that it really mattered to so many people. I know that people really love Helga and Arnold and the rest of the gang, and it’s very gratifying.

Any final thoughts?

I feel very lucky that I found this career here in L.A. I grew up training to be an artist, but I segued over to animation, and especially writing for animation, and this role of storyteller has suited me very well. I have the right constitution for this kind of work: I get along well with others, I can collaborate with large groups (essential for TV-making) and I can watch my stuff over and over and still laugh at all the right spots, which some people cannot. Because, like Kurt Cobain says, I am “easily amused.” I really like my job.▪

I think it’s safe to say that practically every kid growing up in the 1990s watched “Hey Arnold” on Nickelodeon. During-and after-its run on Nick, it has been hailed as a success in storytelling and still has fans who (im)patiently await its return. I had a chance to converse with Jim Lang, the composer for the show.

Moniqueblog-When did you first realize you wanted to have a career in music?

Jim Lang-I started playing in bands in Junior High School.  But I started doing theater then too, and pursued both throughout High School. When it came time to go to college, I went to Northwestern University to study theater. I left Northwestern to take a job with the Chicago Free Street Theater, and while I was in that company I became music director. From that point on I did more and more music, and eventually moved to Los Angeles.

MB-In doing research for the interview, I read on your website that you once played with musical greats like Todd Rundgren, The Four Tops, Smokey Robinson, and The Pointer Sisters. What was it like to work with these musicians?

JL-I have been really fortunate to play alongside some extraordinary folks. It has become a commonplace to say that one is “blessed” by these associations, but really that is the way it feels to me. Making music with others yields these extraordinary moments of deep connection to something larger- a groove, an audience, one other person, the whole universe- And those moments stick with me and nourish me constantly. I also have to say that for every memorable moment in big venues with the famous artists I have worked with there have been a multitude of times with not-so-famous folk in not-so-glamorous joints that were every bit as cool and memorable.

MB-A large chunk of my childhood consisted of watching Nickelodeon and Saturday morning cartoons, so much of your music from Lloyd in Space, Hey Arnold, and Hey Arnold-The Movie has had a large impact on me on as kid growing up in the ’90s. Have you had many fans write to you or tell you stories similar to mine? If so, how does that make you feel?

JL-A few years ago as the Hey Arnold! generation began to percolate through the internet and the url for my website went up on a few of the HeyA fansites, I began to get quite a lot of correspondence from fans of the show. It is wonderful to hear that people think of the world of the show as a welcoming and familiar place, and that the music touched them. That is what I hope for when I write for picture, but it isn’t often that I get the kind of direct feedback from people that I have from Hey Arnold. And I am really touched by the fact that not a few of the people I hear from are studying music themselves and cite the score from the show as an early influence. That is wonderful.

MB-What was the main idea behind the music you created for Lloyd in Space? How was the music for this show different than the music created for Hey Arnold ?

JL-The creators of the show, Paul Germain and Joe Ansolebehere, had gotten some music ideas from Disney, among which was an album called The Moog Cookbook- a bunch of pop tunes done entirely on retro synthesizers. We all thought this was a cool jumping-off place, and I did as much over-the-top synthesizer knob twisting as I could in every episode. It is perfect cartoon instrumentation- bendy and stretchy and kinetic.
MB-What was the inspiration behind the theme song for “Hey Arnold”?

JL-I actually wrote the melody in the late 70s. I always though it would make a great Dunkin Donuts commercial, but I was too chicken to play it for my friend Donnie Rosenberg, whose father started Dunkin Donuts in Boston. Years later when the executives at Nick began groaning out loud when Craig and I sang them our original idea (which eventually got used as a promo: “Arnold! You crazy cat!”) I knew I had to come up with a catchy alternative, and that melody just popped back into my head. Recycling.
MB-Many characters on the show had their own theme music, like Helga, for instance. How did you come up with her theme?

JL-I tried to get inside Helga’s head when she was having those private ecstatic moments where she allowed her self to just let her overwhelming love for Arnold flow. In every story that featured Helga there was what we came to call a “Helga Moment” where she would do that. And Frannie (Francesca Smith who played Helga) had such a perfect way of doing it, so syrupy and with a beautiful little shuddering sigh at the end… the violin was the perfect voice and the music pretty much wrote itself. And of course, every time we did the bit she would get interrupted unceremoniously, usually by some off screen mouth breathing from Brainy.

“Helga on the Couch”, an example of “Helga’s Love Theme” in play (and it’s one of the best “Hey Arnold” episodes. The full theme is in the end credits)

MB-Which character’s theme was the most fun to make and why? By the same token, which character’s theme was the hardest to make and why?

JL-They were all fun to make because, like the Helga theme, they grew out of scenes in the show that featured the character.  There were a few strong themes, notably for Arnold and Helga and Grandpa, but there were also themes for the city and certain emotions that recur a lot through the course of the show. One piece that was wicked hard was the marching band music in “Runaway Float” where the marching band gets run down by Big Bob’s float. I just about had a heart attack when I read that script. We didn’t exactly have a budget to hire a marching band, let alone crush and replace all their instruments!  I can’t remember exactly how I faked the sounds of the instruments getting crushed, but I do remember I made the cue play faster and more out of tune as the float bore down on the band and they marched faster and faster and finally fled in terror.

MB-The “Hey Arnold Christmas Special” was pretty memorable to me, both in terms of the story and the music. What was the inspiration behind the music created for the special?

JL-The actor who played Mr Hyunh on the show is Vietnamese, and the story of his journey from Vietnam to the US has a great deal in common with the story in the script. So starting right there the special had big emotional resonance for everyone who worked on the show. Add to that a really terrific script and great performances from all the actors and you have a really powerful piece.  With all of those elements are working together, the music practically wrote itself. It was really a joy to write that score and the Christmas special is right near the top of my list of favorite episodes. Another note:  the wonderful wood flute performances of Mai’s [Mr. Hyunh's daughter] theme were by a superb musician, Jon Clarke, who was well loved by every composer who ever wrote for him because he played with such tremendous emotion and made the notes on the page come alive so beautifully. He has since passed away and is sorely missed.

MB-What were some of the best and worst parts about working on the music for “Hey Arnold-The Movie”?

JL-The hardest part of that whole project for everyone on the crew was trying to make something that was written and animated to be shown on television look and sound like it was always intended for theatrical release. I can’t remember how far along we were in production on The Neighborhood.  My recollection is that the voices and animation were already mostly done when Nick and Paramount decided that they would release it as a feature-length movie. Animation is a complicated process and there are a number of technical and story decisions made all along the way that fall one way or the other  depending on what the final product is going to be. We all had our hands full trying to bring the production values up to something that looked like a movie.
For my part I used the same music I had written for the story in its TV incarnation, but I decided to pay to record about 20 minutes of music with a real orchestra instead of just using the synthesizer orchestra we used for the weekly episodes. It ate my entire paycheck for the whole project to pay for the musicians. Boy did it sound good, though!

MB-As you probably already know, Craig Bartlett wanted to create another “Hey Arnold” movie- now known to everyone online as “The Jungle Movie”-where Arnold goes to Central America in search of his parents. He also wanted to create a spin-off featuring Helga and her family called “The Patakis”. Both of these ideas were never greenlit by Nickelodeon. How did you feel when “The Jungle Movie” and the spin-off “The Patakis” weren’t greenlit?

JL-We were all disappointed- the prospect of continuing to collaborate with the great crew Craig had assembled for Hey Arnold! was a really cheery one, and the initial drawings and storyboards for the jungle movie looked fantastic. “The Patakis” also looked very funny, although there was far less development time put into that concept than the jungle movie. But the thought of following Helga and her family into Helga’s goth future still makes me laugh.

MB-If Bartlett’s “Hey Arnold” Jungle Movie came to fruition, in what direction would you take the movie’s score? Also, in what direction would you take the music for, “The Patakis”?

JL-Big adventure for the Jungle Movie. You can get the idea if you listen to the score for “The Journal,” although I was never happy with the way much of that score turned out. And The Patakis? I think some kind of heavy metal shredder music for Helga- married to updated versions of Big Bob’s Beepers theme and Helga’s mother’s Leave-it-to-Beaver sitcom score.

MB-What can your fans expect from you now? In other words, what projects are you currently working on?

JL-I’ve been away from TV since Lloyd wrapped, getting back to my live action composing- doing some Independent films. Although I did do three animated DVD features (“Unstable Fables”) for Henson/Weinsteins. I hope to get another chance to work with Craig in the future.  Meanwhile I’m doing more studio work and playing with some fun bands including a great LA soul-jazz collective called Build An Ark.  Our album “Love” is just out. Also made a really fun album of elctro-acoustic music with my good friend Patrick Gleeson call “Jazz Criminal” If you’re interested that is available from CD baby.  You can check it out on MySpace Music too.

MB-Any final thoughts?

JL-Just this: HUGE THANKS and shout outs to all of the Hey Arnold fans for all the great emails and love.  It’s a good feeling to know that the show lives on in your hearts.  It is certainly one of my favorite projects, ever! ▪

You can visit Jim Lang’s website at knobworld.com.