"Doug's Last Birthday" is the first episode from the Disney version of Doug.
Synopsis[]
In the Disney series premiere, Doug's fears about the changes that are happening in life make him think about canceling his birthday party. The summer is coming to a close and Doug is delivering invitations for his 12th birthday party to all his friends. While he goes all around town, he discovers that Bluffington (as well as his friends) have been through changes. The Honker Burger is changed into a French restaurant called Chez Honque, Roger is rich, The Beets are breaking up, a new school is being built, Connie has lost weight, Patti is being home schooled in the mornings and Doug needs a haircut. So many things have changed that it makes Doug sick of changes, so he cancels his birthday. But, later, Judy makes him realize that changes make us different, and Doug reinstates his party just in time for some shocking news from Mrs. Funnie.
Trivia[]
- This episode appears to retcon certain episodes from the original Nickelodeon Doug series. It is mentioned here that Doug's 11th birthday occurred right around the time the Funnies moved to Bluffington. This would imply that the entirety of the original Doug series took place in under a single year, despite there being no mention of Doug's birthday in its first episode, "Doug Bags a Neematoad". Furthermore, the Nickelodeon episode "Doug vs. the Klotzoid Zombies" was stated to take place exactly one year after "Doug Bags a Neematoad", as it ended with the gang throwing a party celebrating the one-year anniversary of when Doug moved to Bluffington. Also, Doug's birthday was previously celebrated in the episode "Doug's Birthday Present" near the end of the Nickelodeon series, which would mean he was not already 11 years old when he moved to Bluffington (additionally, that episode was set during the school year and not around August 22nd, which is Doug's birthday according to this episode).
Cultural References[]
- One of the haircut simulations Mr. Sweeney shows Doug makes him resemble Charlie Brown from Peanuts. Doug responds with the character's catchphrase, "Good grief".
- Doug's baby photo depicts him in a diaper with yellow tapes similar to Rugrats. This is due to the franchise originally debuting on Nickelodeon before Disney bought Jumbo Productions.
- Doug's old friends, Arthur and Buster, are drawn to resemble the characters with the same names from Marc Brown's Arthur books.