Arthur - Where is the Show Going?

[Muppet Master]

Slight correction: Ladonna is the "Cousin Oliver" of ARTHUR of which you speak, Lydia is the wheelchair-bound girl.

Oh ya, sorry Ladonna, as for Lydia, I thought she was actually an enjoyable character, too bad she didn't appear much.

 

[Drtooth]

Ladonna, I'd say is more of the Poochie of the show, considering how she was introduced. I'm glad the writers slowly toned her down and made her more approachable as a character. But the fact she never freaking shut up in her first episode really wasn't the way to go to introduce a character.

Sigh...

Arthur and Buster never got to go to the fireworks factory.

 

[D'Snowth]

OMG, another Season 1 episode on today! Interestingly enough, "Arthur Goes to Camp" was the first episode of the show I ever saw, but this was before my PBS actually aired the show regularly (usually for special occasions like pledge drives, or summer filler).

Interesting, yet odd bit of trivia: the cartoon version of "Arthur Goes to Camp" was actually written by a former LAUGH-IN writer.

It still strikes me odd that Brain is written more like a nerd than a smartypants with his massive comic book collection that's never mentioned again.

 

[Mo Frackle]

If memory serves, the book version of "Arthur Goes to Camp" mentioned Brain's love for either comics or trading cards... Can't remember. I believe the character made his debut in the book, as well.

 

[D'Snowth]

I suppose it's a case of Early Installment Weirdness and Characterization Marches On.

Another example of odd, early Brain was the episode, which title escapes me because I rarely ever saw it on TV, where Brain was sleeping over at Arthur's house, and he was all neat, polite, and well-behaved, but we saw that at his own house, he's actually quite a slob. And, again, like the comic books and trading cards (I remember he collected baseball cards in "Arthur's First Sleepover"), it's never mentioned or showed ever again. Then again, characters like Brain are usually depicted as being compulsive neat freaks who are OCD about cleanliness and organization - Double D from EEE is another example. Dexter is another subversion, however, there was that one episode where he hated washing his hands and taking baths, so he had himself laminated so dirt and grime would just slide off of him.

 

[Pig'sSaysAdios]

I saw the episode today. It was pretty odd to watch, I guess because I haven't seen the first season in a long time. It was so quiet and awkward, I guess because it was slightly slower paced than future episodes. It's kind of frustrating that PBS or whoever's in charge of DVD/streaming releases, makes it so hard to find older episodes anywhere. The show is 20 years old this year, now would be the perfect time to make the first few seasons available in some way.

 

[D'Snowth]

It seems almost sadistic that "The Short, Quick Summer" aired Friday, considering school started back for kids early this year. I can remember as a kid it seemed like no sooner did summer vacation start then everybody had to start reminded us and rubbing it in that school would start back again soon enough anyway. It seemed like school kept starting back earlier and earlier every year when I was in school, but I can't remember it ever starting back this early (kids already went back last Monday).

 

[Drtooth]

It still strikes me odd that Brain is written more like a nerd than a smartypants with his massive comic book collection that's never mentioned again.

If memory serves me, as this was one that if I didn't own I took out of the library an awful lot as a kid, Brain was actually introduced in the book Arthur goes to Camp. He had that huge collection of comics he carried with him in the original source material, and it did tie into the girls pranking the boys with the comics' swamp creature.

 

[D'Snowth]

Apparently, they're holding a contest for a fan cover of the theme song; Buster himself has even gone on Twitter to tell us about it:

https://twitter.com/ArthurRead/status/766024451859312640?lang=en

 

[D'Snowth]

The number of episodes per season is being dropped from ten to seven. Not sure how they plan on spread that odd number of episodes out over time.