Episode of Hey Arnold! Eugene's Bike Season 1 No. in series 1b Written by Steve Viksten

Joe Ansolabehere

Craig Bartlett Directed by Kelly James

Juli Murphy-Hashiguchi Air date October 7, 1996 Chronology Previous Next Downtown as Fruits The Little Pink Book

Eugene's Bike is an episode of Hey Arnold!.

Synopsis

After Arnold accidentally ruins Eugene's new bike, he tries to make it up to him with a day of fun — which turns into a chain of accidents for Eugene.

Plot

Arnold is day dreaming about exploring in the jungle, until Gerald snaps him out of it because they need to get to school. When they arrive, they are greeted by Billy who wants to show them his worm collection. Arnold, disgusted, turns the offer down. They both then meet Sheena, who shown them both her scab that sort of looks like the state of Texas. Gerald announces his disgust to Arnold. Brainy then comes by and offers Arnold some dirty candy, which Arnold turns down. Suddenly, Eugene turns up and is riding a really cool bike which impresses the school playground. Eugene explains it was Flag Day, a holiday where his family exchanges gifts. He says he's finally got his "dream bike", to which Gerald comments that "every dork has his day".

The school bell rings, and the fourth graders head to class. Eugene chains up his bike and heads off, not knowing that the chain has fallen off. Arnold stops by the bike rack to tie his shoelaces, and rests his books on one of the bikes, but suddenly, the bikes begin to tumble in a domino effect, and shoot Eugene's new bike into the street into the path of an oncoming street sweeper. The sweeper destroys the bike, and the students rush back to see what has happened. Eugene sees his bike destroyed, and Arnold tries to apologize to him for what happened, but Eugene doesn't take it very well. Later, the school janitor throws the bike into the garbage, with Eugene begging him not to throw it away. Meanwhile in class, Arnold still feels responsible for what happened. Gerald tells him to forget about it, saying that stuff like that always happens to the "geeky kids". After class, Arnold decides to recover the bike, and spends the evening repairing it for Eugene.

In the morning, Arnold hands the bike back to Eugene, who is grateful for what Arnold has done. Eugene takes it for a test run and sets off down the streets. Just then, Abner comes to Arnold with the bike's brake cable in his mouth. Arnold tries to stop Eugene, but is too late, the bike falls apart, and Eugene crashes into an open car door.

Eugene ends up in hospital, where Arnold comes to visit. However, the visit goes pear shaped when Arnold accidentally launches Eugene around in his hospital bed, and knocks over his hospital door number while leaving, resulting in the doctors mistake Eugene for a kid who needed his tonsils and spleen removed.

Back in his room, Arnold remembers all the times back in kindergarten when Eugene would get bad luck whenever they were playing together. Afterwards, Arnold still believes that "every dork deserves his day", and plans to take Eugene out for a day of non-stop fun.

The next day, Arnold takes Eugene to the baseball game, but not before Eugene falls into an open sewer on the way. At the game, Eugene gets the chance to catch a home-run ball, but it ends up smacking him right between the eyes. Next, they go to the park. All is going well, until Eugene begins to choke on a hot dog. Arnold performs the Heimlich maneuver and saves Eugene's life, however, the chunk of hot dog bounces back and hits Eugene in the eye. They then both go to the river and look through some sightseeing binoculars, but Eugene falls in as the one he used was loose. They finish off with a boat ride down the river, which causes Eugene to be sea-sick.

Arnold is upset because he knew the day was a disaster, but Eugene mentions all the great things that happened, and says it was one of the best days ever while getting on the bus, however, as he is saying that, the bus door slams shut on his arm cast, and drives off. As the bus is leaving, Eugene's Spuds McGee baseball card falls on the ground right in front of Arnold. Arnold calls out for Eugene, but realizes he can't get his attention, and decides that he will give it back to him tomorrow.

Home Media

DVD

Hey Arnold!: Season 1

Hey Arnold!: The Complete Series

Hey Arnold!: The Ultimate Collection

iTunes

Hey Arnold!: Volume 1

Nickelodeon Rewind, Volume 1

Media Attention

Hey Arnold! - Heimlich Maneuver news report

In 2000, this episode received a huge amount of media attention after it was credited for saving the life of a young girl who watched it. Eight-year-old Francesca Valencia learned the Heimlich maneuver from Hey Arnold!, just in time to save a friend who was choking on a jawbreaker that got stuck in her throat.

It all happened when a group of kids were playing handball and sucking on jawbreakers in front of Jessenia Lopez's home. A piece of the hard candy suddenly slipped down the child's throat. She couldn't talk, couldn't breathe, and thought she was going to die.

As several girls ran for help, Francesca remained calm and thought back to the episode on which Arnold did the Heimlich maneuver. Six quick pumps of Jessenia's abdomen forced a gnarled jawbreaker out.