Arthur - Where is the Show Going?

[Drtooth]

I rewatched the old Ocean Zone episode again, and I really have to say, it was styill terrible. Very generic, any gang of kids could have been used in that story. There wasn't even the loosest understanding of characters (no one had a microcosm of a personality), and Ratburn's random appearance/explained joke version of the opening theme song gag comes off clumsy and... well... something creepy As he wasn't there before. But they managed to remember he liked tests (which is more than I can say for anyone else in the episode).

Luckily the guy's writing got better, and he made much better episodes with deeper understanding of the characters that blends in completely with the show... but Ocean Zone's one of my least favorite episodes... right up there with the Postcards from Buster pilot, That stupid one where his mother's his secret admirer, and In My Africa.

 

[Mo Frackle]

Slightly OT, but a few of the Arthur background cues have popped up on youtube. I always loved these tunes, even as a kid. They're so catchy, and being able to hear them uncut is great. I sure hope more show up soon.

 

[D'Snowth]

AWESOME!
Though I don't remember ever hearing the saxophone overtone in Cue #2.

 

[D'Snowth]

I'm assuming PBS has fallen back into their old pattern, because they've been playing nothing but bad/poor episodes for WEEKS on in now... I'm just going to have to assume they rarely play good episodes anymore because they're older, and they probably have this mentality that "older" = "dated".

 

[Drtooth]

I'm assuming PBS has fallen back into their old pattern, because they've been playing nothing but bad/poor episodes for WEEKS on in now... I'm just going to have to assume they rarely play good episodes anymore because they're older, and they probably have this mentality that "older" = "dated".

Sesame Street doesn't play anything past the past 2 years. We should consider ourselves lucky we even get Arthur episodes, sometimes from the first season occasionally.

Really. Sesame Street is the ONLY show that doesn't show episodes older than 2 years.

I've also sort of noticed a couple things. Whoever wrote a couple current episodes with Dark Bunny in them manages to put in very obscure references to the Dark Knight.

Remember the episode where Buster becomes a magician, and Arthur gets the idea to humiliate him from watching the villains in an episode, and the large Joker style cat has a sidekick that talks with a very stilted speech pattern? That's the EXACT delivery the 1960's Filmation animated Batman cartoon gave their version of The Riddler.

This one I admit is grasping at Straws... but Buster Baxter: Lounge Lizard features a Dark Bunnymobile commercial with a jingle that sounds suspiciously like the most obscure Batman song I know of...

(the opening one).

Heck, even in the first episode he appeared "That's a Baby Show" the concept was a thinly veiled parody of Batman TAS, including a sound-a-like version of the theme song. And the comment about how he lives in a city that's "Always night."

 

[D'Snowth]

Is anyone besides me a little bothered by how newer characters are looking less and less in-universe stylized, and more and more humanish? I mean take Buster's dad for example, pre-PFB he pretty much looked more or less like an adult version of Buster, but then once PFB came into play, he looked like a creepy albino man with rabbit ears protruding un-naturally from the top of his head.

 

[Oscarfan]

Sesame Street doesn't play anything past the past 2 years. We should consider ourselves lucky we even get Arthur episodes, sometimes from the first season occasionally.

Really. Sesame Street is the ONLY show that doesn't show episodes older than 2 years.

That's probably because each season is so different from the next, I guess they don't want to confuse kids with the format and such.

 

[Sgt Floyd]

Is anyone besides me a little bothered by how newer characters are looking less and less in-universe stylized, and more and more humanish? I mean take Buster's dad for example, pre-PFB he pretty much looked more or less like an adult version of Buster, but then once PFB came into play, he looked like a creepy albino man with rabbit ears protruding un-naturally from the top of his head.

I think they are a bit more guilty of that with guest stars. Honestly, I can't think of any "new" characters that look overly human

 

[Hubert]

I think they are a bit more guilty of that with guest stars. Honestly, I can't think of any "new" characters that look overly human

I do agree there. I don't really notice any that look too overly human. Though I do think that some don't look as Arthur-like as they should. Lydia Fox, for example, is someone that just doesn't seem to have the Arthur style to her.

 

[Drtooth]

That's probably because each season is so different from the next, I guess they don't want to confuse kids with the format and such.

That's the problem exactly. Not to mention the HD digital switch, even though they inconsistently use older footage in full frame. Arthur has the luxury of not having to screw up it format too mcuh, even though the animation looks very different season to season.

Also... I noticed something. You know that newer episode where Arthur gets upset about Dark Bunny over the DB Max Energy Drink?

They accidentally predicted this...