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Topics - Snowth Woogle

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16
Episodes / Arthur's Knee
« on: March 23, 2013, 08:27:25 pm »
I was watching this episode on tape the other day. As a kid, and even still to this day, it always struck me that this episode was kind of "dark" compared to the rest of the series, though I have to wonder if it was intentional, to sort of send the message of why not to disobey your parents when they tell you not to go somewhere: the whole scene at the dump played out in a rather unnerving manner, between the troublesome music scoring that was used, D.W.'s constant wailing in fear for her brother, and Arthur's near blood-curdling scream as he cut his knee. Even their arrival home seemed to play up a slight "dark" tone as well, between Arthur and D.W. basically sneaking into their own home, and Arthur's moaning every time he moved his knee, which caused D.W. to gasp in worry.

I also have to wonder though, looking at it as an adult, if perhaps the lima bean can aspect might have been exaggerated just a bit; I'm all too familiar with how sharp the edge of can lids can be, but would Arthur bumping his knee up against do as much damage as it did? I mean considering he was wearing his blue jeans, and denim seems to be a rather study and durable fabric. I'm not saying it's entirely impossible, I've had to wade my way through briars and thorns before while wearing long pants and I still had pin-hole punctures in my skin, but I wonder if a thicker and stronger fabric like denim wouldn't have at least spared Arthur that much damage to his knee.

I will say this though, I LOVE the intro with all of Arthur's various different organs, all wearing his glasses and evetrything.

17
Episodes / What DO You Call a Moose with Four Antlers?
« on: March 18, 2013, 05:17:59 pm »
In "Binky Barnes, Art Expert', Buster reads this from a joke book, but we never hear the punch line... so what, exactly, DO you call a moose with four antlers?

18
Series Discussion / Favorite Title Cards
« on: February 06, 2013, 11:39:08 pm »
Which of the classic title cards used throughout the series are your favorites?

Two of my favorites are always the popular swimming one, and the one that seemed to be phased out after the first couple of seasons or so where a freak thunderstorm pops up while Arthur grabs an umbrella.

Maybe either Earwig or Dark Bunny could shed some more insight with us: WERE there certain title cards that tended to be used more often than others? Were there any that were eventually phased out? I seem to recall one with Binky and his bubble gum popping being used pretty much for just one season. And why have the title cards been replaced altogether with dialogue-less previews of the episodes we're about to see?

19
Fan Creations / Some of My Poops
« on: January 13, 2013, 11:21:16 pm »
I do YouTube Poops from time to time, and usually, whenever I do Poops, nothing is off-limits... not even Arthur... here are some of my Arthur-related Poops:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6HJ38FzyZhs
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I7TsPh6Xruc
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_oKHZ7vN4pE
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MnwJDetv33s
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MsH3agERB4o

Admittedly, the last one did NOT turn out the way it was supposed to, I really need to redo it some time.

20
Merchandise / Arthur's Perfect Christmas on DVD
« on: January 11, 2013, 10:55:27 pm »
I noticed at Walmart today, they had Arthur's Perfect Christmas on DVD.

I didn't get it, but I thought I'd mention it to every body else in case they're interested.

21
Episodes / Older Episode Theories
« on: December 29, 2012, 04:08:09 pm »
As noted here before, there seems to be a pattern regarding episode broadcasts in that it seems like PBS spends anywhere between six and eight weeks playing more current/recent episodes, then maybe a week's worth of older episodes (two if we're lucky); or, instead, will have one week where newer and older episodes switch every other day. On a similar token, another forum member (I forget whom) mentioned that they of these said earlier episodes, Season One gets the jilted the most.

Any way, I've done some thinking, perhaps too much thinking, and I believe I may have come up with a list of theories as to why older episodes are rarely shown any more; see if you agree with any of them.

----

1. They're too "dated". I think Season One would be the biggest offender of this, there are hardly any computers, hardly any cell phones (though in "Arthur, World's Greatest Gleeper", Muffy accuses Arthur of gleeping her "cellULAR phone", which is pretty bulky), TVs are still relatively small and boxy, among other things. Pop-culture references would be outdated too, therefore, little kids probably wouldn't understand them.
2. Voice inconsistencies. Since like 2005 or so, the kids have had almost steady and consist-sounding voice changes (despite both Arthur and D.W. being too high for their characters), they probably think little kids are going to be confused as to why Arthur and D.W., and certain other characters sound one way one day, and another way the next. Binky, especially, had a much deeper and kind of deadpan-sounding voice in Season One.
3. Character continunity. Again, I think Binky is the biggest example of this one - throughout the entire first season, and occasionally up until "Arthur's Big Hit", he was THE school bully, all the kids avoided him and ran away from him, he came across as mean and pushy... it would probably be odd for kids to see him as a bully that every one runs away from in one episode, then see him as nice and one of the gang in another. Brain, too, is more nerdy (big comic book collector), and much more sloppy and unorganized (hates cleaning his room), which seems odd for his character today. Both Fern and George are background characters who rarely ever spoke (Fern moreso since she's far more outgoing than she used to be, while George is still shy and withdrawn), among others.
4. It may even be a case like with the Old School DVD volumes of Sesame Street, where they probably feel the older episodes are "for nostalgia", and "may not meet the educational needs of today's preschool children". Just a thought.

Those are some of my theories, what do you guys think?

22
Episodes / April 9th
« on: December 19, 2012, 11:25:14 am »
I'm assuming the reason why this episode is seemingly randomly being aired today is in response to the devastating school shooting up in Connecticut?

23
Characters / Brain and Cookie Monster
« on: December 04, 2012, 12:57:13 pm »
I noticed ECC has been kind of dead as of late, so I thought I'd try to liven things up again with an observation I've had:

There's a couple of mild similarities between Brain and Cookie Monster: for one thing, both of them started out with "the" as part of their names, particularly in the earlier episodes of their respective series, which was later dropped ("THE Brain" and "THE Cookie Monster"). Also, there were a few little unusual traits of their characters that were later dropped as well; for example, although Brain was always the smartest and most intelligent kid in school, he was also something of a big comic book collector, as well as a slob - a couple of traits that seem really unusual for him in hindsight. Similarly, although Cookie Monster always had an insatiable appetite for cookies, he also had a tendancy to eat ANYTHING - even trying to eat other characters.

24
Characters / Were the Frensky's Supposed to be "Less Fortunate"?
« on: November 24, 2012, 11:02:42 pm »
I'm not suggesting that Francine and her family are poor by any means, but I do wonder if they were meant to be depicted as not quite as well off as others in Elwood City... it seems to be rather subtly suggested at times: their apartment is typical of lower-income housing (I've lived in apartments like theirs before, they're usually really low rent, in seedy neighborhoods, not to say Elwood City has any seedy neighborhoods), one episode deals with Francine not wanting to be seen riding her dad's old bicycle since they can't afford to get her a new one, it's a little more in the open when Muffy moves in with them temporarily (though, it's probably more artistic license to contrast Muffy being accustomed to her wealthy lifestyle, and having to adjust to the Frensky's not as rich lifestyle).

25
Series Discussion / Sloppy Sixes
« on: November 23, 2012, 04:35:01 pm »
In "Arthur's First Sleepover", Buster pulls out a deck of playing cards, and suggests they play a round of "Sloppy Sixes", but he never finishes explaining the object of the game because he misunderstood what Arthur meant when he asked "What's that?"

Is Sloppy Sixes an actual card game? I've never been certain, most people think it was made up for the dialogue instead of something else, like say, Crazy Eights.

26
Series Discussion / The Read House
« on: November 23, 2012, 04:31:50 pm »
I've been wondering, I know sometimes attentive fans of shows and such will create maps and layouts of sets and such, has anyone ever tried to map out the floorplan of the Read house?

The layout of their house tends to confuse me from time to time, mostly, I keep getting the living room and den mixed up, as well it seems like on rare occasions, the bathroom and the master bedroom seem to switch places. Another little detail I've noticed is that when one walks into the bathroom, the bath tub is immediately to your right, however, the layout of the hallway indicates that spot in the room is too narrow to even fit a bath tub there.

In "Arthur's First Sleepover", whenever characters step out the back door, from the inside it looks like it would be the front door.

Slightly OT, they seem to have a really nice and spacious house, I wonder what it would look like in the real world.

27
Arthur on the Web / Hilarious Arthur Fan Dub on YouTube!
« on: November 15, 2012, 10:40:44 pm »
I just remembered this, sometimes fan dubs are pretty stupid, but THIS one of "The Half-Baked Sale" is absolutely, freakin' HILARIOUS!

I won't embed it on this forum since it IS adult (and I'm unsure about ECC's censorship rules), so I'll just hotlink it, and again, This. Is. HILARIOUS!

www . youtube . com / watch?v=gGlx3QyP4XQ (obviously, just remove the spaces)

And if either Hubert or Sarge had been following my old Vampire Girl webcomic, now you'll know where I stole a couple of jokes from...  ;D

28
Episodes / What Was the First Episode You Saw?
« on: November 10, 2012, 02:35:36 pm »
I've been meaning to start this thread for a little while now, but exactly what it says on the tin.

Anyshoe, "Arthur Goes to Camp" was the first episode I ever saw, even though it wasn't the full episode: this was back in the spring of 1998, back when my PBS didn't play the show regularly (that wouldn't eventually happen until late 2000), and I had a tape recording some PBS shows for me while I was in school, and towards the end of that specific recording was the beginning of "Arthur Goes to Camp" (the recording stopped on the bus as Sue Ellen looks out the window and asks, "Is that our camp?") Later that summer, both "Binky Barnes, Art Expert; Arthur's Lucky Pencil" and "Sue Ellen's Lost Diary; Arthur's Knee" came on, so I decided to tape them as well, because I remembered liking what I saw (and because I enjoyed the books when I was even younger).

Usually, Arthur was reserved for pledge drives, but occasionally, they would air an episode at random, it wasn't until after the summer pledge drive of 2000 that Arthur was added to the regular lineup at 4:30 in the afternoon (later bumped up to 4:00 a few years back).

29
Characters / Couples
« on: November 06, 2012, 09:06:59 pm »
I'm asking for it with this thread (having been in the Alvin and The Chipmunks fandom, canon shippers and mixed shippers go to war with each other over such subject matter), but I have noticed that a number of Arthur fans like to try and figure out which of the characters eventually hook up with each other when they get older. I've noticed most people tend to think Arthur and Francine will get together, and I can see that kind of, aside from the episode that played with that idea ("Arthur and the Square Dance"), it does seem like once in a while, Francine will tease Arthur a little in a way girls seem to do when they like a boy.

What are your thoughts on potential couples? Here's what I see:

On the subject of Francine, if not Arthur, I could see her questioning her orientation, so to speak, and possibly having hidden feelings for Muffy (their shared daydream in "Arthur and the True Francine" where they think of themselves as literally a match made in Heaven is enough to tickle your mind in that department). If Muffy ever found out, though, she would probably be repulsed.

I can definitely see Binky and Sue Ellen getting together in the future... their friendship seems to be rather unique, I think it dates back to "Bully for Binky"; "Sue Ellen's Lost Diary" seems to play with the idea as well, but overall, they just seem to have these little "moments" throughout the series, like notice whenever something involves the gang, Sue Ellen usually seeks out Binky first.

Brain and Fern seem like they could make an interesting pair with them both being the smarter students in their class.

Alex and Maria?

30
Series Discussion / Buh!
« on: October 31, 2012, 12:44:02 pm »
Here it is Halloween, and they're NOT playing "Buster's Breathless; The Fright Stuff" today? They've been doing that for YEARS, and now they stop and play another episode from a much later season instead? Dude, dat ain't kewl!  >:(

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