Doug/Headscratchers

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Who names a kid Cleopatra Dirtbike?
      • 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.
    • Who names a kid "Mosquito?"
      • It's a family name.
        • That just brings up more questions. What kind of sick demented family has "Mosquito" as a family name passed down through multiple generations? Also, are names like "Leech", "Aphid", and "Ringworm" family names as well?
          • Perhaps Skeeter's family is of Native American descent -- instead of African-American as commonly speculated -- hence the insect-related family name. This could also explain his uncle's surname Freebird.
  • 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
    • Well, Doug is the new kid. Unlike Roger (who knows what to say to keep himself out of the worst of trouble... most of the time) or the other kids Mr. Bone hardly knows him at all, so of course he doesn't trust him. He hasn't earned it yet.
      • I'd chalk it up to Unreliable Narrator 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.)
  • Why name the movie "Doug's First Movie?" They probably thought they'd have others, but it's never wise to name a movie such things no matter how popular the source-series is because it may backfire.
    • 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.
  • So in "Doug's First Movie," how it possible at Mr. Bluff has his own private army who can just break into random people's houses... without a warrant?
    • Maybe the movie takes place in Indiana in mid to late 2011.
  • 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?
    • It's established in the second season Doug's lived in Bluffington for over a year when they hold his anniversary party. It's possible the school got a new principal in the time span.
  • Whenever Doug has one of those daydreams that involves him as Quailman/ Race Canyon/ Smash Adams and it involves the antagonist of his real life being the antagonist in that dream (mostly Roger) I wonder what does goes on in the real world when Doug has those dreams, does he just stand there staring into space? That would be awkward if he did this and the people around him notices this.
    • This is brought up in the movie. Skeeter says just stands there staring.
    • I think it was also commented on a few times in the show. One of the other characters would notice he had randomly stopped moving and was staring off into space; so they would start waving their hand in front of his face while speaking to him to snap him out of it.
  • What is it with everyone LITERALLY having different colors?
    • I heard that it's a spoof on how ethnically diverse cartoons were at the time. That, or some kind of artistic statement.
    • It's an artistic choice. The creator of the show based it off his drawings he made when he was a kid when he didn't always have flesh-colored crayons/pencils/whatever and had to use other colors.
  • Was it ever explained what happened to Rodger's dad? Why did they feel the need to have this episode?
  • 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.