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Author Topic: The Official D.W. and Brain Thread  (Read 323 times)

Crossover Dreamer

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The Official D.W. and Brain Thread
« on: November 06, 2012, 08:12:17 pm »
Have you ever noticed that D.W. and Brain have a lot in common? And when I say they have a lot in common, I mean they have a lot in common.

I first noticed this during the second half of season 2, when Buster was away with his dad. I thought that it was a clever idea, except there were times when I thought that D.W. and Brain were too out-of-character (D.W. was too smart, Brain was too dumb, etc.)

For the first five seasons I thought that the gag of D.W. and Brain having a lot in common was mostly used during the second half of season 2, and that it was a sort of a foreshadowing of D.W. and Brain becoming friends. It wasn't until I spotted a lot of similarities between D.W. and Brain during season 6 that I realized the gag has been used frequently throughout the entire series, even during season 1!

And, believe it or not, two characters having a lot in common is not original to Arthur. I've seen this running gag used on other TV shows like:

Leave It to Beaver (Beaver and June)

Green Acres (Lisa and Eb)

Get Smart (Max and Larabee)

Scooby Doo, Where Are You! (Scooby and Shaggy)

Full House (Michelle and Joey)
"Where's my Prince Charming?!"

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Snowth Woogle

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Re: The Official D.W. and Brain Thread
« Reply #1 on: November 06, 2012, 08:55:30 pm »
Cool, somebody else likes Leave it to Beaver and Green Acres! I LOVE those shows! Beaver and June aside (them being son and mother obviously), the Lisa and Eb thing was really interesting, especially later on when Eb kept refering to her as his mom (and to a lesser extent, Oliver as his dad); I know that's something that started towards the end of the first season of that show, but it was more evident and obvious as the series progressed.
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Crossover Dreamer

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Re: The Official D.W. and Brain Thread
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2012, 12:40:52 am »
Yes, Get Smart and Leave It to Beaver happen to be my two most favorite sitcoms of all time, and Max and Larabee are my two favorite characters on Get Smart while D.W. and Brain are my two favorite characters on Arthur, which is weird because when the show began I thought they were going to be the most annoying characters. Apparently the best way to make the most annoying characters the most likable is to make them have the most in common.

I have actually written haiku about many of the similarities between D.W. and Brain, and Michelle and Joey, and Max and Larabee.

Here are some obvious examples of similarities between D.W. and Brain:

1. Both D.W. and Brain had episodes where they were afraid to go in to the water ("D.W. All Wet" and "Water and The Brain") D.W.'s fear of octopuses started at the aquarium. Arthur hoped that a trip to the aquarium would help Brain get over his fear of the water.

2. In "Arthur's Pet Business," Brain asked Arthur to take care of his frogs. In "So Long, Spanky," D.W. gets a pet toad, Toady. Toady was only her pet for one episode, but he/she appears again in "The Great Sock Mystery."

3. D.W. made a snow sculpture of "The Thinker" in "Arthur and the Crunch Cereal Contest." Brain made a snow sculpture of the Eiffel Tower in "Sue Ellen Moves In."

4. Both D.W. and Brain have beaten Arthur at basketball during season 1 episodes ("D.W. Rides Again" and "The Perfect Brother").

5. D.W. missed swinging a T-ball ("D.W. Flips"); Brain deliberately doesn't swing during a baseball game (Mis-fortune Teller").
"Where's my Prince Charming?!"

Crossover Dreamer

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Re: The Official D.W. and Brain Thread
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2012, 11:31:11 pm »
You may think this is weird, but I think that Arthur will have a flash forward where D.W. and Brain get married, no spin-off necessary. 

Even though in "Kiss and Tell," D.W. wanted James to kiss her, and in "D.W. Unties the Knot" she told Muffy that the groom was "King James," there have been moments that led me toward her marrying Brain.

First of all in "The Perfect Brother," D.W. tells Arthur that she wishes Brain could live there all the time; that was while Brain was reading "Rapunzel."

 Then, in "Kiss and Tell, the man whom she said wasn't Romeo stated that she wasn't Rapunzel, and then D.W. shouted, "Where is my Prince Charming?"

 In "Happy Anniversary," D.W. asks Brain to examine the Tibbles' tin soldier to see if it's really made out of tin because she wanted her parents' 10th anniversary present to be official.

 And finally, at the end of "D.W. unties the Knot," D.W. said that Emily could be her Maid of Honor in twenty years.
"Where's my Prince Charming?!"

Crossover Dreamer

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Re: The Official D.W. and Brain Thread
« Reply #4 on: November 09, 2012, 08:28:25 pm »
If you want to read my "D.W. and Brain Haiku," here's a link to the thread about I posted under ECC's Fan Creations:

http://elwoodcitycentral.createaforum.com/fan-creations/d-w-and-brain-haiku-from-fanfiction/
"Where's my Prince Charming?!"

Crossover Dreamer

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Re: The Official D.W. and Brain Thread
« Reply #5 on: December 29, 2012, 11:24:32 pm »
About six years ago, I made up a game called "Six Degrees of D.W. and Brain." When there was a week of random episodes, I tried to link Monday's to Tuesday's using similarities between D.W. and Brain in six steps or less. I would do the same thing for Tuesday's to Wednesday's, Wednesday's to Thursday's, and Thursday's to Friday's. I haven't bothered playing it lately because they air the newer episodes a lot, and the newer rarely conclude D.W./Brain parallels.

Has anyone here ever counted D.W./Brain parallels? I've lost count at around 400 when season 12 premiered (a real letdown). But what's tricky is that many of them zigzag. Like "D.W.s fear of octopuses, D.W. refusing to take a bath, Brain's fear of the water, D.W. ashamed to admit she can't skate" and "Cora saying that D.W.'s Madame Curie doll is 'baby stuff,' D.W. taking her Blankie everywhere, D.W. having an imaginary pig Snooter which she gave to Nadine, Brain taking his stuffed pig Plato everywhere and giving him to someone."
"Where's my Prince Charming?!"