History Headscratchers / Doug

*** They called in Doug because Chalky was the "perfect," straight A student/overachiever, so it was assumed there was no way he would ever cheat. Doug was more of a B student (though a brilliant writer for his age).

*** They called in Doug because Chalky was the "perfect," straight A student/overachiever, so it was assumed there was no way he would ever cheat. Doug was more of a B student.

*** Since Mr. Bone continues to antagonize Doug then that must mean Doug will never earn that trust? Downer ending much?

* In "Doug Door to Door", how exactly did a cement truck end up pouring cement into the Booster Bar mixture? Even worse, how did it go undetected for so long when Doug and Mr. Swirly were able to spot it in less than a minute? Is the staff of Mr. Swirly's factory really that lethally incompetent, or could a deep-seated hostility towards Mr. Swirly have led the factory workers to such a blatant act of sabotage?

*** Because it's a cartoon. It's a cartoon visual gag, just like "the straw that broke the camel's back" visuals, which is a gag which also made an appearance in the show ("Doug's Big Catch," when Mr. Dink loads up his boat with all this heavy equipment, it somehow stays afloat, and then he asks Doug for his keys, and this sends the boat plummeting to the bottom). If you're familiar with cartoons, you should be familiar with cartoon physics. Watch a lot of Wile E. Coyote vs. the Road Runner if you want lessons...you'll see how this stuff works. "Doug," despite generally being grounded in reality, is still a cartoon; it's not meant to be 100% realistic/identical to the real world. It's the real world with a twist. If it were meant to be identical to the real world, they would have just done it live action and saved boatloads of money.

*** Because it's a cartoon. It's a cartoon visual gag, just like "the straw that broke the camel's back" visuals, which is a gag which also made an appearance in the show ("Doug's Big Catch," when Mr. Dink loads up his boat with all this heavy equipment, it somehow stays afloat, and then he asks Doug for his keys, and this sends the boat plummeting to the bottom). If you're familiar with cartoons, you should be familiar with cartoon physics. Watch a lot of Wile E. Coyote vs. the Road Runner if you want lessons...you'll see how this stuff works.

*** I don't now where you're getting this from. Mr. Bone was never keeping his eye on Doug unless Doug did something to get his attention, whether it was Roger framing him for stealing the yodeling trophy, Doug trying to skip photo swap day and holding everything up, Doug drawing a controversial cartoon making fun of the cafeteria food which became popular among the student body, etc.

** Maybe the movie takes place in Indiana in mid to late 2011.

* In "Doug's Lost Weekend", Doug wins a brand-new video game system that's the equivalent of a {{SNES}}, which makes sense, as this episode aired in 1992. When he and Skeeter are setting it up, however, they have to use a screwdriver and actually screw some of the components into the back of their TV. That's the way one would set up something like an Atari 2600, which is about 15 years older than the system Doug and Skeeter have. Systems of the early 1990s often connected to a TV via component cables or an RF switch, the latter of which you'd have to attach it to your TV the way you would with a coaxial cable, but it isn't complicated and wouldn't require a screwdriver. Is the thing supposed to be an oddly-designed new retro system of some sort?
* Either that or the writers weren't familiar with video games.

***** I'd chalk it up to UnreliableNarrator plus Doug being, well, eleven. 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.)

** Arguably Doug ''and'' Skeeter but they did everything they could to try and get him an new one but in the end, they made it up to him and his big barbecue wasn't ruined at all.

** 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.

*** Doug's rock throwing started an domino effect, much like Rube Goldberg's contraptions.

*** Doug's rock throwing started an domino effect, much like Rube Goldberg's contractions.

* 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.

* 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.

*** Doug's mom mistook Doug's Christmas wishlist (which included a dirtbike) for a list of baby names and Judy (Doug's melodramatic sister) wanted to name the baby Cleopatra.

* 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?

** You'd also think he'd do worse in school if he were an undiagnosed autistic or even asperger's, but it's stated that his grades are perfectly fine.

* You're not the only one. Another thing that bugged me was a part of the series as a whole: Mr. Bone. Somehow as the plot goes, the assistant principle always seems to be keeping his eye on Doug and only Doug, for whatever odd reason. Not many others except Roger, the token bully. Why Doug? Did something happen on the first day of school to make him get singled out? Or are we listening to an Unreliable Narrator, since the episodes are all pretty much flashbacks from his journal? Never made sense much. x3

**** Since Mr. Bone continues to antagonize Doug then that must mean Doug will never earn that trust, downer ending much?
***** 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.)

* Who broke Mr. Dink's brand new grill and ruined his big barberque?