nickelodeon – My Geek Wisdom

“Disco? With myself? Outrageous!”

From: The Fairly Oddparents

Genre: Television, Cartoons

Who said it?: Jorgen Von Strangle

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from the Nickelodeon animated series, The Fairly Oddparents. The show features Timmy Turner who gets into various adventures because he has two fairy godparents, Wanda and Cosmo, who can grant his every wish. And these wishes usually backfires, leading to Timmy to un-wish whatever it was to return everything to its status quo.

The quote comes from the episode entitled “The Secret Origin of Denzel Cronker!” Denzel Cronker is one of Timmy Turner’s teachers who is obsessed with proving the existence of fairies. Deciding to figure out why Cronker is so mean, Timmy wishes to travel back to the past to find out. They eventually travel back to the 70’s and inadvertently cause a young Cronker to reveal that he had fairy godparents then. As revealing the existence of fairies is against the rules, the head fairy, Jorgen Von Strangle, erases every person’s memory and forbids Timmy, Wanda and Cosmo from trying to fix this. Jorgen then meets up with his 70’s counterpart and delivers the quote before the two versions dance.

Geek wisdom: It’s nice to be alone with yourself sometimes. While it’s good to be with company, there’s nothing wrong with enjoying the quiet solitude of having some fun by yourself as well.

“Many things that seems threatening in the dark become welcoming when we shine light on them.”

From: The Legend of Korra

Genre: Television and Cartoons

Who said it?: Iroh

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from The Legend of Korra. The sequel to Avatar: The Last Airbender, this Nickelodeon takes place some time after the events of the original series as a new Avatar, a water tribe girl named Korra, inherits the title.

The quote comes from the episode “A New Spiritual Age,” which was the 10th episode of the 2nd season. Korra is trapped in the Spirit Realm and is overwhelmed by her new surroundings. She is rescued by the spirit of Iroh (now voiced by Greg Baldwin) and the aged mentor helps Korra in finding a way to find her friend. He directs her to bring a bird she accidentally injured to her home atop a scary looking mountain. When Korra tells him she’s afraid, Iroh points to the bird and reminds her how she was afraid of it, too. This is when he delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: Things that are unknown and unfamiliar to us can be scary and off-putting. It will remain that way until we actually put the time to understand them. We have to remain open or else we will always be prejudiced to these things just because we don’t understand what they are.

“…I hope you will think like a mad genius.”

From: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Genre: Television and Cartoons

Who said it?: King Bumi

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from Avatar: The Last Airbender, a cartoon series that aired on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The story follows the adventures of Aang, the titular “last airbender,” to learn how to control, or “bend,” the four primal elements of air, water, earth and fire in order to become the Avatar.

The quote comes from the the first season episode entitled “The King of Omashu.” Aang and his friends travel to the town of Omashu. They accidentally cause some property damage when Aang relives a past experience he had with his friend Bumi. They are arrested and the King of Omashu declares Aang should go through several trials to prove his worthiness of being the Avatar. During the third and final trial, the King asks Aang to guess what his name is. Aang figures out the King is Bumi, his old friend. King Bumi acknowledges Aang will have to go through a lot to even get to a point he’s able to face the Fire Lord. However, when he does, he hopes he’s ready and delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: Sometimes, thinking out of the box is a good idea. Not going with other people’s ideas and coming up with your own might me much more creative than anyone else can think up.

“Pride is not the opposite of shame, but its source.”

From: Avatar: The Last Airbender

Genre: Television and Cartoons

Who said it?: General Iroh

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from Avatar: The Last Airbender, a cartoon series that aired on Nickelodeon from 2005 to 2008. The story follows the adventures of AAng, the titular “last airbender,” to learn how to control, or “bend,” the four primal elements of air, water, earth and fire in order to become the Avatar.

The quote comes from the episode “Bitter Work.” General Iroh (voiced by Makoto “Mako” Iwamatsu), the uncle of Prince Zuko, who comes from the Fire Nation. Iroh decides to teach his nephew the art of lightning bending. Zuko is unable to learn it and gets frustrated. Iroh explains that his shame at himself is causing the anger that is stopping him from creating lightning. Zuko rebutts that he is actually still very proud. This is when Iroh delivers the quote.

Geek wisdom: Being too proud of oneself leads to overconfidence and can lead you to make disastrous errors. But being too prideful can also lead to not learning from those mistakes. Learn to own up to your mistakes and remember that you’re not perfect.

“Imagination!”

From: Spongebob Squarepants

Genre: Cartoons

Who said it?: Spongebob Squarepants

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from the hit Nickelodeon cartoon, Spongebob Squarepants. As the theme song tells you, Spongebob Squarepants live in a pineapple under the sea. But even though he lives by himself (with his pet snail, Gary) and does a lot of adult stuff, he still has a childlike innocence inside him as the quote will attest.

The quote comes from the episode entitled, Idiot Box. Spongebob and his close friend Patrick Starr order a large television. However, they throw out the TV and keep the box instead. When their stuck up neighbor goes to ask the two why they’re just keeping the box, Spongebob states they don’t need the television before gesturing with his hands, making a rainbow appear, and delivering the quote.

Oh, and just in case Nickelodeon takes down the clip, here’s a moving image of the quote in question…

Geek wisdom: Yes, imagination can indeed lead to beautiful things and it seems to be that a lot of people are losing their ability to envision new things and instead just focus on the harsh reality of life. But imagination is important as this is how we come up with new innovations and ideas.

Don’t look down on your imagination. You never know if using it will lead you to envision better things in life.

“You’re so hurtful!”

From: The Amanda Show / Moody’s Point

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Misty

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from the Nickelodeon show The Amanda Show. The Amanda Show started in 1999 and was a sketch comedy show much like in the vein of Saturday Night Live and even Nickelodeon’s own All That. In fact, the show is named after Amanda Bynes, who also starred in All That when she was much younger.

As The Amanda Show was a sketch comedy show, there were some recurring skits. One of them was Moody’s Point, a parody of teen dramas of the time. One of the characters in Moody’s Point is a girl named Misty, a rather homely girl who is incredibly sensitive and delivers the quote because of her fragile ego.

On a side note, this isn’t Misty’s only “catch phrase.” Her other one is “What’s that supposed to mean” and is usually uttered because of the same reason.

Geek wisdom: Thin skinned people have difficulty taking any criticism. If we are that way and take any constructive feedback and just tell the critic that we feel offended, then we cannot grow and improve. While there are some people who will try to hate on you, you should always be ready to listen to both good and bad feedback as we can learn from them both.

“I’m ready! I’m ready! I’m ready!”

From: Spongebob Squarepants

Genre: Cartoons, Television

Who said it?: Spongebob Squarepants

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from a certain creature who lives in a pineapple under the sea, Spongebob Squarepants. One of Nickelodeon’s most popular cartoons, Spongebob Squarepants features the titular character who gets into different crazy adventures in Bikini Bottom (and sometimes outside the town).

The quote actually comes from the very first episode of the series, “Help Wanted.” Spongebob Squarepants notices that his favorite restaurant, The Krusty Krab, is looking for a new fry cook. As this is his dream job, Spongebob marches out, incessantly saying the quote.

Geek wisdom: When opportunity knocks, we always have to be prepared to answer it. We have to always be ready, or, at the least, psyche ourselves up to the point that we feel that we are ready to tackle any problems that may come our way.

“Who loves orange soda?”

From: Kenan and Kel

Genre: Television

Who said it?: Kenan Thompson and Kel Kimble

The story behind the quote: This week’s quote comes from Kenan and Kel, a live action sitcom on Nickelodeon that came out during the mid-90s. The show focuses on two teenage boys. Kenan Rockmore (played by Kenan Thompson) is a generally good-natured kid but dreams of getting rich quick. His best friend, Kel Kimble (played by Kel Mitchell) is energetic but rather dim-witted. Each episode has Kenan trying to cook up some get rich scheme with the assistance of Kel but they manage to bungle it up at the end.

The quote is actually one of the catchphrases of the show. Essentially, Kel really enjoys the fizzy, artificially flavored citrus drink and is not ashamed to let everyone know about it.

Geek wisdom: Life can be extremely tough nowadays, with problems popping up here and there. So, sometimes, it would be a great idea to escape the pressure of everyday life and just enjoy the better things life has to offer. There’s nothing wrong with indulging the some of the comforts in life.

“No sir. I don’t like it.”

From: The Ren & Stimpy Show

Genre: Cartoons, Television

Who said it?: Mr. Horse

The story behind the quote: The quote comes from the 90’s Nickelodeon cartoon The Ren & Stimpy Show. Ren is frail Chihuahua who is prone to violent outbursts. He’s usually accompanied by Stimpy, a dim-witted and cheerful cat. Although targeted at kids (it is a cartoon after all), the show became controversial because they would show some adult humor which would go over children’s heads.

The quote comes from one of the supporting cast, Mr. Horse. The quote is actually Mr. Horse’s catchphrase of sorts. Generally, whenever Mr. Horse is asked to give his opinion about anything, he would express his negative feelings regarding it.

Geek wisdom: You can’t always be agreeable with everything and/or everyone. Each of us has his own opinions regarding various topics. However, even though something goes against popular opinion, that doesn’t mean that person’s viewpoint is invalid.

We like and dislike things to different degrees. We have to be tolerant with how other people feel on certain topics.