Das Subway/Trivia

Episode

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General[]

First appearance of minor characters Hillary, Blind Man and Grubby.
First appearance of the Avon movie theater.
According to Grandma, she is a former police officer. Whether or not this is true is unknown.
The film Killer Vegetables From Space lasts two hours.
One of the people who leaves the movie theater is similar to Ernie Potts, except for the abundant hair.
Helga reveals that she hates rats.
On one side of the payphone a name and number are written: "Jeanette 555-6480".
The subway has some Spanish signs for "Caution" (Cuidado) and "Door" (Puerto).
- The correct word for "door" however is "puerta", as "puerto" translates back to "dock" or "port".
Inside the subway there is an ad for "Budnick Seminars: 555-1111".
As Grandma gears up to rescue Arnold a gun reloading can be heard, but no gun is actually seen.
Sid, Rhonda, Eugene and Stinky do not appear in this episode.

Mark Hamill and Kevin Michael Richardson guest-starred in this episode.
Next to the pay phone is a sign for the "Tucker Railroad"; Tuck Tucker was one of the episode's directors.
The psychologist is credited as "Dr. Lipman". Rachel Lipman is a story editor. The psychologist is also voiced by Tony Jay, who played a similar role as Dr. Werner Lipschitz, in another Nickelodeon series, Rugrats.

The episode title is derived from the 1981 German film Das Boot ("The Boat" in English). The claustrophobic confines of the subway mirror the claustrophobic nature of the submarine in the aforementioned film.
The film that Arnold and his friends exit at the beginning of the episode, Killer Vegetables from Space, is a parody of horror B-movies such as Plan 9 From Outer Space.
The "Let's All Hold Hands Here On The Subway" song bears a striking resemblance to the "We're Sending Our Love Down The Well" song from the Season 3 episode of The Simpsons titled "Radio Bart".
- At the time, Hey Arnold! creator Craig Bartlett was married to Simpsons creator Matt Groening's sister Lisa.
- "We're Sending Our Love Down The Well" itself is a parody of 1985 charity song "We Are the World".

As Grandma descends into the subways tunnels, she scares a rat off by hissing at it. In Hey Arnold! The Movie, she repeats this act while escaping from prison.

The basic premise about being trapped in a stalled subway car was also used in The Odd Couple episode "The Subway Story", the Full House episode "Subterranean Graduation Blues", and the Boy Meets World episode "Train of Fools". The latter even features a similar scene with the protagonists losing their balance and falling forward when the train breaks down with a grinding halt.
Arnold, Gerald, Phoebe, and Harold saw a film called Killer Vegetables From Space three years before the Cartoon Network series The Powerpuff Girls aired an episode involving evil Broccoli space aliens invading Townsville. Ironically, Arnold and company expressed dismay about the film two years before The Powerpuff Girls, which was in fact even more family-oriented than Hey Arnold, debuted. Unlike The Powerpuff Girls, Hey Arnold! at times would use humor from stuff like animal droppings and feature more outrageous scenarios like owning a Pig in an urbanized city.
Despite the episode being set in a subway, it contains features similar to that of the light rail transit. This is most likely inspired by the MAX Light Rail in Portland, Oregon, as Portland, where Craig Bartlett also lived during his youth, is one of the inspirations for Hillwood.