MovieChat Forums > Doug (1991) Discussion > Doug Can't Dance/Doug Gets Busted: The R...

Doug Can't Dance/Doug Gets Busted: The REAL first-aired episode

posted 13 years ago by vnisanian2001
6 replies | jump to latest

It turns out that the real first aired episode of the Nickelodeon series was "Doug Can't Dance" (the original 1990 pilot)/"Doug Gets Busted". This is all according to Nick Sayer featured in this website (emphasis mine):

http://www.rugratonline.com/nt91gr.htm

Doug: I liked this one. It was relatively well drawn in a light-line, watercolor style. Jim Jenkins is the principal artist, as far as I could tell. "Doug Can't Dance" and "Doug Gets Busted" were the premiere stories. The show seemed a bit short to me - with only two stories and a bunch of adds. There was a hiden moral in each one, but they didn't pound the viewer over the head with it as is current fashion. Doug looks like it's made for a junior-high age level.

And there you have it. I still consider "Doug Bags a Neematoad" the true beginning of the series, though.

[–] jptf2 13 years ago

Yeah, I always suspected as much from the animation and the fact that in Doug Can't Dance, he starts off with, "Dear Diary" rather than "Dear Journal." I'm glad they made that change.

What's funny in Doug Can't Dance is in that scene where Skeeter is trying to teach Doug how to dance, that's basically one of Fred Newman's main acts--the beat boxing/dancing thing. There's even a video up of him doing it back in the 80's.

[–] Evolution-X 13 years ago

Don't forget that Roger's goons were different than Boomer, Ned, and Willie. I remember that one of those guys had glasses.

All I need is one mic...

[–] vnisanian2001 13 years ago

Although Billy west was the better Doug and Roger, his performance was terrible in the pilot, especially whenever he voiced Roger. Thankfully, he very much improved his performance for the actual series.

[–] jptf2 13 years ago

Well, in "Doug Can't Dance," you mean. The show really smoothed out for "Doug Gets Busted"...I think Doug Can't Dance was actually the test pilot they made for Nickelodeon, and they then extended it to make it an actual episode.

[–] vnisanian2001 13 years ago

Having watched a lot of nickelodeon Doug, I noticed that Billy west had four different voices for his Doug and roger characters: his pilot episode voice, his season 1 voice, his season 2 voice, and his season 3/4 voice. I felt it was in season 3 that he fully perfected his voice for both characters.

[–] jptf2 13 years ago

Yeah, there are some subtle differences in the way he voiced Doug in 1, 2, and 3/4. I haven't noticed as much with Roger, but I'll have to pay careful attention next time I watch.

I've always gotten the sense Roger was easier for Billy West to voice based on the samples he does during interviews/conventions and the like. He seems to struggle to recapture the voice he did for Doug.