Arthur - Where is the Show Going?

[Muppy]

Anyone remember Little Lulu on HBO? It was also produced by Cinar and had some of the same voices, such as Tubby sounding like Binky, Lulu sounding like a younger version of Francine's mother, Annie sounding like the first D.W., one of the West Side Boys sounding like Arthur imitating Grover, and I'm pretty sure there was one episode where an antique salesman sounded like Ed Crosswire.

Little Lulu used to be on (the now defunct) Teletoon Retro and I thought the same thing. Then one day I check the credits of both shows, and it turned out that they were voiced by the same people. Weird, because I don't think they even aired in the same decade, but maybe Little Lulu was dubbed. :/ idk

 

[D'Snowth]

Little Lulu - or more specifically, THE LITTLE LULU SHOW, which was produced by Cinar - was in production from 1995 to 1998 I believe, so yeah, it was the same decade.

However, I do believe you may also be thinking of an anime version of Little Lulu from the 70s, which title translates into LITTLE LULU AND HER LITTLE FRIENDS, which was dubbed into English, however the voices were completely different as you can hear:

 

[Drtooth]

This one is the one he's talking about.

There's some episodes, too. Gotta check them out sometime.

The Anime has such a lousy dub. There was no attempt to sound like the original characters, with Lulu getting such a strange voice.

 

[D'Snowth]

Little Lulu used to be on (the now defunct) Teletoon Retro

Why's Teletoon Retro now defunct? They supposedly were airing the 80s Alvin and the Chipmunks series - it hasn't aired in the U.S. since the Turn of the Millennium.

 

[Muppy]

Why's Teletoon Retro now defunct? They supposedly were airing the 80s Alvin and the Chipmunks series - it hasn't aired in the U.S. since the Turn of the Millennium.

Last September, there was a whole bunch of channel switches and replacements, one of those being Teletoon Retro being replaced with Cartoon Network. Corus Entertainment (the company that owns the rights to practically every children's channel) acquired licenses to have a Canadian Disney Channel AND Cartoon Network, but to broadcast those channels, it meant getting rid of other channels under the Corus name.

A couple shows like The Flintstones were moved over to the main Teletoon channel, but others like Alvin and the Chipmunks didn't make the cut. It's a shame too, because I used to watch it all the time on Retro.

Canadian television is weird. Disney Channel shows used to be broadcasted on Family Channel, but since September, Family Channel has been airing exclusive content almost all day. Same thing with Teletoon. That was the only place to watch CN shows. I can also say the same thing with YTV. YTV is basically the Canadian Nickelodeon. Even when we got a real Canadian Nickelodeon, they didn't air any Nicktoons. The only time to watch a Nicktoon (not even current ones, but why should I complain about that ) is at 3 am in the morning when they show Ren & Stimpy, Angry Beavers and Rugrats back to back. Then we get a couple hours of Canadian programming (because it's the law ...) and then back to 8 hours of iCarly, with some Drake & Josh, maybe some Sam & Cat, and a dash of Big Time Rush for good measure ...

Even "baby" channels, are different here in Canada. Treehouse used to be the only channel to get real children's programs, but again it was mostly Canadian stuff, with a couple Nick Jr. shows thrown in. There is also CBC kids, and TVO kids but those are just blocks on basic channels.

I could go on and on about TV here in Canada and why it's crazy but I think I'll save that for a different thread lol

 

[D'Snowth]

Ah, missed a pivotal Season 2 episode today because I'm still not used to the new time.

 

[D'Snowth]

After seeing "Love Notes for Muffy" again today, I once again found myself wondering why Drtooth never did a YTP or deviantion of this:

ARTHUR: Brain? Are you okay? You're acting kind of weird today.
BRAIN: (Beat) Am I!? AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! AHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!

 

[D'Snowth]

It just now occured to me that if there's one service these Flash seasons have done for the show is bringing back all three of the show's prominent disabled characters and expanding them by adding more depth to them. Well, except for Carl: he was just kind of there at the end of the kite flying episode, but aside from that, both Marina and Lydia made comebacks after disappearing for a number of years - though in Lydia's case, I understand that the writers were wanting to do more with her since her initial episode, but couldn't think of any good scenarios or plots for her. That's the main misfortune about the disabled characters: their disabilities are gravely limiting in terms of what kind of stories you can write for them, and there's only so many "look what so-and-so can do in spite of their disability" or "so-and-so being disabled doesn't mean they're completely helpless" scenarios you can put them in before they start becoming tools.

 

[Drtooth]

That's the main misfortune about the disabled characters: their disabilities are gravely limiting in terms of what kind of stories you can write for them, and there's only so many "look what so-and-so can do in spite of their disability" or "so-and-so being disabled doesn't mean they're completely helpless" scenarios you can put them in before they start becoming tools.

I haven't seen the yet to be aired "Carl's Concerto" episode, so I don't know what the deal with that one is.

But yeah, writing for anything that isn't an able bodied white, straight male basically is catch 22. Any character depth and flaws will be seen by someone as negative, and if the writers don't add any of those things out of that exact fear, you get one dimensional, forgettable characters that are just there.

I've spoken before on the subject of the "wheelchair kid" integration of the late 90's in kid's shows. They all got it wrong except for Extreme Ghostbusters. They made the character engaging and weren't afraid to show him being at a disadvantage. The character felt an awful lot more genuine than the token crippled kids that were just there. Still baffled by the one in Dragon Tales.

I feel for the most part, Arthur has done solid work with Carl. I feel they did a great service with Marina that episode Prunella was too worried about her blindness to treat her the same as anyone else. I also agree that Lydia is a great character for them to use, but they just can't find a good enough reason to put her in an episode without her coming off as either "that wheelchair kid" or "easily could have been any other character." I really think there should be more between her and Brain, and give her the same kind of friend relationship that George shares with Carl.

 

[mr3urious]

I've spoken before on the subject of the "wheelchair kid" integration of the late 90's in kid's shows. They all got it wrong except for Extreme Ghostbusters. They made the character engaging and weren't afraid to show him being at a disadvantage. The character felt an awful lot more genuine than the token crippled kids that were just there. Still baffled by the one in Dragon Tales.

And what about Pelswick? Kid goes through the exact same problems as able-bodied kids, and he handles them as well as they do.