Headscratchers / Martha Speaks

When Did Martha Record Her Voice?

• The plot of one episode involves Martha thinking she has uncovered a plot to rob a bank. The group manage to leave a tape recorder in the criminals' hideout to record their plans. They recover it and head off to the police to present their evidence. When they get to the police station and start playing the tape, in the middle of the criminals' discussion (right as they start to explain their plans) the tape is interrupted by Martha practising her singing skills. If they grabbed the tape recorder and headed straight to the police when the heck did Martha have the opportunity to record over the tape?
  • Perhaps the tape recorder malfunctioned and simply didn't record the entire conversation, and Martha's singing was what was on the tape before they used it to get the bad guys. (Haven't seen the episode, so that's total speculation based on the information provided above.)

"Barking" Mad Adoption Methods

• It just bugs me that in "Martha Ain't Nothin' But a Pound Dog," they actually did a good job of portraying an animal shelter, but then got it completely wrong in "Martha's Life of Crime." Can anyone just adopt a dog in a few seconds with no paperwork and without having to pay a thing? And Kazuo simply lets Martha be adopted by a nefarious criminal? No, no, no.
  • Simple, it was being told from Martha's memory and she was a puppy at the time. So either she just didn't remember that part or didn't see it. The only reason she knew Helen's part was because Helen told her about it.

Hi, I'm a Dog...Did You Hear Me?!

• Okay -deep breath- WHY DOES NO ONE MAKE A BIG DEAL ABOUT A TALKING DOG?!
  • Because it's an Unusually Uninteresting Sight.
  • The two recurring villains do. They want to kidnap Martha to become famous.
  • Because most people already know she can talk in the first two episodes.
  • People who don't know her do make a big deal over it or at least show surprise/disbelief

Why Can Only Martha Speak?

• If all it takes to get a dog talking in Martha's world is alphabet soup, why is she the only one?
  • It's not just the alphabet soup. They've said before that Martha is a special case and it doesn't work on other dogs.
  • She's mutant
  • Somethings special with her. The letters end up in her brain somehow (this world has weird physics) but it only works with her for some reason. The theme explains that this was something bizarre.
  • In the pilot, the narrator-scientist guy says something along the lines of "...But don't try giving alphabet soup to your dog. It won't work. This is a cartoon, after all."

Speciesism

• Am I the only one that's bothered by the fact that Carolina seems to be a little racist against dogs?
  • It probably doesn't stick. Today's episode (second segment) featured Carolina waking up one morning to find that she'd turned into a dog overnight (don't ask—the other characters were just as mystified). She will probably be much more understanding towards dogs in the near future.

Down with Digital Devices?

• Is it just me or does it seem like the "Habits" episode is rather negative against video games? When Helen starts to play a video game it's treated as though as if she got hooked on drugs (Everyone tries to stop her, she loses sleep, and her life generally starts to fall apart.). Now I know she was playing it constantly and that's not healthy, but instead of Helen learning to control herself and balance playing video games with everything else in her life it ends with her quitting altogether. And it doesn't help that the person who introduced her to gaming is the resident bully who is the villain in almost every episode he appears in.
  • New Media Are Evil
  • I mean, the show was written in the early 2010s which had alot of hysteria over video games, so it's not entirely farfetched

T.D. in a Pickle

• Isn't T.D. a little out of character in the episode Martha's Pickle? He likes scary things, the scarier the better, but still got too scared to watch the movie. And also "I know when I'm not wanted" seems a little negative for someone like T.D.
  • Maybe he has a limit on how scary something has to be for him to like it.
    • And his limit is sentient pickles?
    • The series makes it clear that T.D. is a weird kid; his sensibilities and behavior often confuse even his closest friends. Sentient pickles could just be the thing that sets him off for some reason.

Wow, What Exactly was Fast?

• This kinda confuses me. When Martha tells Skits to "grow up" in the episode Martha and Skits the next scene is a Time Skip to when he is grown up. Okay, got it. But the one line that sort of throws a spanner in the works (I know it's meant to be Leaning on the Fourth Wall, but still I want a more satisfying explanation) is Martha's line "Wow, that was fast." Normally she's either unaware of the audience and if she has Medium Awareness it's during the The More You Know segments, and then she's flat-out Breaking the Fourth Wall. Even then her remark doesn't make sense because the viewers are the ones seeing the Time Skip, and (as evidenced in flashbacks with Skits as a puppy) not the characters, so what was Martha talking about?
  • Seems pretty clear that she was Leaning on the Fourth Wall.
    • But In-Universe?

Hey, Martha! About Those Two Friends of Yours...Do They Exist?

• So do Big Minnie and the Puppy Tooth Fairy really exist?
  • Big Minnie definitely does; jurys still out on the fairy, who only appears in a dream.

Helen's Extended Family

• Who are Jorge and Mariella's parents? And for the record, who is Carolina's mother and what is her last name?
  • Simply put, nobody knows the answer to any of those questions because it's never addressed. Even in "Martha's Thanksgiving", when the whole family shows up, we don't see Mariella's parents or Carolina's mother, so they're either dead or unreachable.

Danny's Diet

In "Martha's Dirty Habit", Martha makes a deal with Helen's dad Daniel "Danny" Lorraine that if she gives up digging, he will give up snacking. Now, apart from this seeming unnecessary (Danny's in good health and as far as weight goes, he's pretty much a beanpole), in the morning, he goes to make himself a bowl of cereal but when Martha comes in, he hides it and looks awkward. Does that mean that poor Danny was trying to give up eating?

• He stopped snacking to encourage Martha to stop digging with the "I did it, so you can do it, too." method.

They Could've Ducked the Problem

In "Martha's Duck Trouble", Helen is annoyed by Ralph's snoring...but did he have to sleep in Helen's room?