Arthur - Where is the Show Going?

[Drtooth]

Okay. I caught a couple I missed this week and one that hasn't aired yet, so I'll try to be brief here.

Whip, Mix, Blend was actually better than I thought it would be. I really liked how the rest of the Stuffed Custards came together to help Rattles through the episode. The bit with James was predictable, but hilarious. And the Vanderloo kids were mercifully the same age as Rattles, so there weren't a couple annoying little kids running around. Though I really hope we don't see too much more of them.

Staycation was also much more fun than I thought it would be. It...it felt like it could have been an older Arthur episode. Sure, it was a bit like the episode where Mom and Dad were sick, but the events being more chaotic in a short period of time made it different enough. Loved D.W.'s carelessness with the seeds. You could tell what was coming, and it was just the matter of when and how screwed up.

The Pageant Pickle was pretty good, I guess. There seems to have been a nice little jab at how juvenile and repetitive these school plays usually are. I loved how David said "You should have seen the pageant I was in when I was a kid. It was awful!" And he was talking about the exact one D.W. was performing. You really could tell the other kids didn't like it.

But this has been boiling up since I saw it. Some Assembly Required is just...terrible. One of the worst episodes I've seen as of late. I wasn't expecting it to be good, but it was even worse than I thought. The synopsis suggested that the episode would have been about all the different possibilities playing with a box could bring. But instead they settled for the most banal thing possible. Wacky space adventure. Kinda hypocritical for an episode essentially whining about how "them darn kids tudday ain't gots no imadjinations!" Couldn't they imagine something better than a lame space tropefest? The episode felt like a poor imitation of both Muppet Babies and Rugrats. Now, I know Arthur is a kid's show, but it's not a little kid's show. It's a 5-9 year old series, but this felt like something pandering to the 4 and younger set. I swear. These D.W. and Bud episodes are getting as unwelcome as a Pal and Kate episode.

 

[D'Snowth]

I've been thinking about "Crazy Bus," and how you don't ever hear it anymore, because it would mean they would have to pay royalty to Joe Fallon for using it as he wrote the song, yet he walked away from the show after Season 5. It really has me wondering about what would happen if the earlier seasons ever saw DVD releases: would any uses of the song have to be replaced? Maybe with the Mary Moo Cow theme? If that's the case, then there'd be a lot of post-production editing and dubbing that would have to be done to remove references to D.W. actually playing the song, like Arthur complaining there's no such word as balloony . . . "Play it Again, D.W." would be a particular headache, as that whole episode was about D.W.'s obsession with the song.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well, it's official: 9 Story is out.

Yep, the show's switching animation houses again, only this time, they're switching back to the same animation company that handled Seasons 14 and 15 (not sure that's a good thing) - and instead of them supplying them with just pre-production animation like they did for Seasons 14 and 15, they're handling the entire animation production of the show, from pre to post. So there's a strong possibility that Seasons 20 and 21 will be traditionally animated again as opposed to Flash.

I'll admit that 9 Story has definitely improved noticeably since Season 16: there's still stiffness to the movements, and the character designs still have a cold and impersonal look to them (well, except for Beulah McInerney - somehow her Flash design was actually an improvement), but the overall animation has gotten a little more fluid and natural. I'm sure they would have gotten even better had they carried on with the show for the next couple of seasons, but I guess that won't be happening.

 

[mr3urious]

Well, it's official: 9 Story is out.

Yep, the show's switching animation houses again, only this time, they're switching back to the same animation company that handled Seasons 14 and 15 (not sure that's a good thing) - and instead of them supplying them with just pre-production animation like they did for Seasons 14 and 15, they're handling the entire animation production of the show, from pre to post. So there's a strong possibility that Seasons 20 and 21 will be traditionally animated again as opposed to Flash.

Citation needed, please. If this were true, it would certainly be interesting.

 

[D'Snowth]

Ask and ye shall receive:

http://www.awn.com/news/oasis-animation-tapped-new-seasons-arthur

 

[Drtooth]

I'll admit that 9 Story has definitely improved noticeably since Season 16: there's still stiffness to the movements, and the character designs still have a cold and impersonal look to them (well, except for Beulah McInerney - somehow her Flash design was actually an improvement), but the overall animation has gotten a little more fluid and natural. I'm sure they would have gotten even better had they carried on with the show for the next couple of seasons, but I guess that won't be happening.

They still managed to let in some of their usual mistakes in recent episodes. They're still using the wrong Muffy profile model that has her nostrils coming out of her upper lip. I don't know if they're really getting better or I'm just getting used to it more. There are things that still annoy me about 9 Story's production. Ears move. Buster, sure, I get that, but when any of the Read family's ears flop around, it looks awful. Meanwhile, Francine's hair must be made out of plastic. Or that's some good hair spray. Either way. Some stuff that should be stiff isn't and stuff that should move doesn't. That's what she said.

Anyway, it gives light on the "Last Day" episode. While I'm sure WGBH would have tried for future seasons (though you wonder how necessary they are), it sounds like 9 Story's contract was up. So as a just in case situation, they wrote a series fauxnalie if they couldn't find anything cheaper or better or if 9 Story would raise their price if they had to renew the contract.

 

[D'Snowth]

Anyway, it gives light on the "Last Day" episode. While I'm sure WGBH would have tried for future seasons (though you wonder how necessary they are), it sounds like 9 Story's contract was up. So as a just in case situation, they wrote a series fauxnalie if they couldn't find anything cheaper or better or if 9 Story would raise their price if they had to renew the contract.

Greg Bailey told me that ARTHUR is usually renewed on a season-to-season basis anyway (usually in this case, two seasons at a time, as 18 and 19 were done at the same time, which probably explains why the airing of new episodes have been so off this past year by mixing 18 and 19 episodes) and that they never know the show's fate until they have their annual story meeting in the summer - this more than likely explains why a number of their season finales have a series fauxnale feel to them in case they don't get renewed (remember how we were all talking about "The Best Day Ever" felt like it was the end?)

 

[Drtooth]

If "Best Day Ever" was the series' last episode, it would have been a HUGE disappointment. Especially considered the episode it was paired with. Both losers. A preachy and clumsily handled aesop and a clip show.

It feels like even though it's renewed season to season, they doubted that either they'd get season 20 or that they'd have to renegotiate animation contracts. I would imagine 9 Story would have bumped their prices up for the series, so that's probably why they went backwards with Oasis.

Even if it's still Flash or Toon Boom Harmony or whatever they use that utilizes more computer ready animation, I really hope to see something that's the perfect mix of fluid, but not too fluid. Sometimes disproportionate things being more fluid than others really makes the stiffness of a show stick out (like the aforementioned ears).

So whatever we can expect in the new seasons, I really hope we have more Arthur and his friends stories and much much less D.W. and friends stories. They're really starting to shape up to seem like they're part of a younger kid spinoff, and the D.W. and Bud episodes seem to skew to the youngest of viewers. Not to mention, even if they are audience suggested, they're painful overused kiddy cartoon cliches. Too short to ride a roller coaster? Check. Playing pretend spacemen with a box? Check. They're this close to finding a treasure map that leads to a genie unironically. I thought the show was supposed to be about everyday kid's struggles and life lessons. And while we're on the subject, yeah. Same deal with Baby Kate episodes. Though, thankfully, we haven't had too many of them lately. The one we did have was stupid as heck, though. The thing with the dog show where they were complaining about how the snooty dog was cheating, so they retaliate by cheating too, making them just as bad but no one points this out?

I can't remember where I brought it up in this thread, but I was at this author's focus thing with Marc Brown and he was talking about how he rejected all these earlier deals to make a cartoon series based on the books because they were pretty much generic 1980's kids cartoons. It's a shame, really, that Baby Kate and some recent D.W. episodes have embraced 1980's generic kiddy cartoon-ness. Though, heh, I did like the episodes with Mr. Toad that were basically the writers telling little kids "HEY! Our capitalist system is screwed up."

 

[D'Snowth]

Marc seems to be very particular about how he wants the show to be handled; as I understand it, that's why Joe Fallon ended up leaving after Season 5, they apparently didn't see eye-to-eye on the direction the show was heading in (I think Marc felt Joe was steering the show too much into a DOUG-esque comedy). Shame though, because it's almost universally agreed (I say "almost" because I do know one fan who actually hates his writing because of the way he made Francine meaner and more of a bully) that Joe Fallon was as much of the voice of the show as Jon Stone was to SST in the beginning.

 

[D'Snowth]

Apparently a few Season 1 episodes will be making a triumphant return next month, so I guess those reports that Season 1 had been permanently retired from rotation were either an unsubstaintiated rumor, or maybe PBS has changed its mind, I don't know. I noticed "Arthur's Cousin Catastrophe" is slated to air next month - this ought to make people happy, as Cousin Mo is another one of those minor characters who seems to have tons of fans, much like Maria.

As for Oasis producing and animating 14 episodes has me a little confused. Why 14? Is that a misprint or typo? Or have the number of episodes per season been reduced? Or is it even possible that 9 Story already animated at least six episodes before they made the switch to Oasis (like how Fred Wolf did half a season of the Chipmunks in the 80s)?