History Headscratchers / Doug

*** I'd chalk it up to UnreliableNarrator plus Doug being, well, eleven. XD At that age kids tend to be rather self-focused and paranoid, and from Doug's point of view it could actually seem like Mr. Bone has it out for him. It wouldn't be the first time he's thought "I'm the only one" about something. (Thinking he was the only one who covered his eyes during the monster movie, or the only one who didn't like how he looked in his bathing suit at the pool party.)

* According to the episode "Doug's Cartoon", Principal Buttsavitch took a vacation during the school year... HOW THE (bleep) IS THIS POSSIBLE!?! And the worst part is Doug claims he's never seen what he looks like so it must've been gone for almost the entire year. Now this is a School Principal who doesn't seem to give a flying rat's (bleep) about his job. If anything they should make Vice Principal Bone the new Principal since he seems to call all the shots while Buttsavitch is away but for some reason they didn't.

* Does Doug have Autism, because this Troper assumes so as he showed signs of it in "Doug's Lost Weekend"... come to think of it his constant daydreams might also be a sign.

* Perhaps Skeeter is not African-American as very often suggested, but Native American. That would explain why Mosquito is a "family name," and why he has an uncle with the last name Freebird.

* The episode where Doug accidentally knocks down Patti's old childhood home. He does this by throwing a rock at it. [[FridgeLogic Um, how the hell was that possible? Assuming we're not in the Dragon Ball universe, or in another universe of super-humans, how could an ordinary kid like Doug bring down an entire house by throwing a rock at it?!]]

** I think it was also commented on a few times in the show. One of the other characters would notice he had randomly stopped moving and was staring off into space, and started waving their hand in front of his face while speaking to him to snap him out of it.

* The episode where Doug accidentally knocks down Patti's old childhood home. He does this by throwing a rock at it. [[FridgeLogic Um, how the hell was that possible? Assuming we're not in the Dragon Ball universe, or in another universe of super-humans, how could an ordinary kid like Doug ''bring down an entire house by throwing a rock at it?!'']]

* The episode where Doug accidentally knocks down Patti's old childhood home. He does this by throwing a rock at it. [[FridgeLogic Um, how the hell was that possible? Assuming we're not in the DragonBall universe, or in another universe of super-humans, how could an ordinary kid like Doug ''bring down an entire house by throwing a rock at it?!'']]

** It's an artistic choice. The creator of the show based it off his drawings he made when he was a kid when he didn't always have flesh-colored crayons/pencils/whatever and had to use other colors.

** I heard that it's a spoof on how ethnically diverse cartoons were at the time. That, or some kind of artistic statement.

* What is it with everyone LITERALLY having different colors?

** This is brought up in the movie. Skeeter says just stands there staring.

* Whenever Doug has one of those daydreams that involves him as Quailman/ Race Canyon/ Smash Adams and it involves the antagonist of his real life being the antagonist in that dream (mostly Roger) I wonder what does goes on in the real world when Doug has those dreams, does he just stand there staring into space? That would be awkward if he did this and the people around him notices this.

** It's established in the second season Doug's lived in Bluffington for over a year when they hold his anniversary party. It's possible the school got a new principal in the time span.

* The final episode of the Nickelodeon run has Doug realizing he's never met the school principal. However in one of the earliest episodes Doug Gets Busted, Doug DOES go to the principal's office (to get an award for his science project). Who did he meet if not Principal Buttsavage? Or did the writers just forget Doug had previously been to the Principal?

* So in "Doug's First Movie," how it possible at Mr. Bluff has his own private army who can just break into random people's houses... without a warrant?

** It worked for Pokemon. The creators of the Doug movie probably just thought the film would be more popular and that they'd get to make others. Guess they just overestimated the popularity of the source material. The movie was originally going to be direct-to-video, but changed that. When a direct-to-theaters movie doesn't do well, it's less likely to get a sequel. Direct-to-video, though, it doesn't take that much to be considered successful enough for another.

** It worked for Pokemon. The creators of the Doug movie probably just thought the film would be more popular and that they'd get to make others. Guess they just overestimated the popularity of the source material.

* Why name the movie "Doug's First Movie?" They probably thought they'd have others, but it's never wise to name a movie such things no matter how popular the source-series is because it may backfire.

* Am I the only one who thinks "Doug en Vogue" was a ridiculous episode? Let's look at the facts: These kids go to school with Doug every day, they hang out at the Honker Burger frequently, they've all been to each other's birthday parties. They've seen Doug in that same sweatervest, shorts and t-shirt ensemble since the day he moved to Bluffington. Then some big TV star wears the same outfit and suddenly they ''forget'' this and assume he's copycatting the TV star. Do these kids have some form of selective amnesia or what?
** Probably so..
*** Thy're kids (supposedly arould eleven or twelve). Kids are stupid.
**** Most, if not all the episodes as I recall, were supposed to have some kind of moral to the story. In this case it was probably individuality or how quickly fads come and go in their futility.

* I'm not going to lie, I absolutely hate this show. The creators' approach to showing multiculturalism is to have Doug, a pretty generic white (okay, pink) kid, alongside people with all kinds of bizarre skin colors--blue, purple, green, whatever--but still with more or less "white" accents. What the hell? There aren't any black people in Doug's universe, or east- or south-Asians or Hispanics? It's like they're implying that [[UnfortunateImplications non-whites are space aliens]] or something. Also, on a completely different note, why is everyone in Doug's universe obsessed with beets?
** IIRC, there were some brown-skinned characters as well. As for the second question: Why is everyone in Doug's universe obsessed wth beets? Chalk it up to cultural crazies. I mean, look at our world for God's sake. 1990s, it was ''Pokemon'', and now it's ''Twilight'' and other vampire-related books, movies, TV shows, etc.
*** I always thought the beets things was a Bluffington thing, some towns just have their thing they're crazy about.
*** I figured it was a subtle way of promoting good eating habits.
*** Those at least have plots (some more so than others). Come on, ''beets?'' As for the first point, the only one I remember ever seeing who had a non-white but non-freakish skin color was the girl Doug had a crush on. So okay, two. That still leaves dozens of others.
**** That girl was a major character, though. I believe you guys are looking ''way'' too deep into this. It's the first time I ever mention someone complaining about perceived racism in ''freaking'' Doug. You know what bugs ''me''? The idea that if a specific race/gender/religious mindset is absent in a work of fiction, that work is [[SarcasmMode so obviously racist and inconsiderate]] about the non-represented group, right? Dude, no one ever complains when white kids are nowhere to be seen on FatAlbert or when males barely show up in shows directed at adult women...
***** There's enough shows where those two groups are over-represented; thus, the complainer would look like a royal idiot.
****** It doesn't make a difference. The fact that they may have more prominence in fiction doesn't indicate that excluding other gender/race groups in any media makes it racist. Shows aimed at 1 group will obviously focus on said race/gender, it's only natural. If you don't have a problem with the absence of men on works aimed at women, why would you complain about the opposite? That would be a DoubleStandard. I used gender as a mere example; this can apply with races as well.
** I remember hearing the creator saying that the color used didn't represent their race, but rather their personality.
*** Skeeter has some serious depression issues to work out, then.
* As a non-American this troper is always completely stunned what people from the States manage to twist into an alleged underlying racist message. Give me a break, it's ''Doug''!
* The attitude of the other characters in "Doug's in the money" made me scratch my head. I mean I ''know'' the moral is suppose to be "doing good is it's own reward" but it looks like lost a lot more then the money when he turned it in. I.E. his fellow students respect. Roger being [[{{Jerkass}} Roger]] made sense but they made it seem like ''no one'' would've turned in the
money to even the police. While message was good, the way it
was sent wasn't.

* Is it just me or did the way Patti dumped Guy Graham in Dougs1stMovie seem a little bit of an OutOfCharacterMoment? I don't know, but that scene never settled well with me. I mean, maybe it's just a case of ProtagonistCenteredMorality but I thought it seemed a bit undeserving! Guy didn't really do anything that bad, he didn't even know [[StockNessMonster Herman]] was [[GentleGiant friendly]] and had an actual personality. Plus, Patti didn't even have time to grow close Herman until seconds before the breakup. Common knowledge proves that all monsters are considered vicious, so maybe Guy just believed that Herman was harmful. Did he do it to gain popularity? Sure, it's [[ItsAllAboutMe GUY]], everyone is aware of the perks you get from doing supposably good deeds, even SuperMan himself! But did he realize what he was killing had a heart? Doubtful..at least until when he actually met him! I mean, it's no different than killing a killer bee or [[BuffyTheVampireSlayer Buffy]] killing vampires! Maybe Mr. Bluff knew Herman was good and didn't tell Guy, but I think Guy's too much of a JerkWithAHeartOfGold and way to [[ThePollyanna cheerful]] to ever do something like that! I mean, YourMilageMayVary but I don't think he deserved such a harsh breakup, tossing him in the lake like might be CrowningMomentOfAwesome to others but to me Patti was about to step foot on the MoralEventHorizon. He even walked away politely once he realized [[CoolLoser Doug]] was the [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy one she really wanted]]. If you ask me, Guy is just [[HarmlessVillain misunderstood]].
* His reaction to Dougs heartfelt goodbye is "All this fuss over a big stinky lizard, i'm outta here. you comin or what?" not to mention taking what he thought was a dangerous monster into the middle of a crowded dance where it could hurt someone. Guy may normally be an Anti-Villan but in this case he really did deserve that break-up.