Arthur (animation)/YMMV

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • Adaptation Displacement and Adaptation Expansion: S1's "Buster's Dino Dilemma" is actually one of the book titles. Some episodes are expansions and bifurcations of stories from the books. "Arthur's Teacher Trouble" was split into two S1 episodes: "Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn" and "Arthur's Spelling Trubble". S1's "Arthur's Baby" gets a POV Sequel, "D.W.'s Baby."
    • The show also mentions at the end that Arthur books can be found at your local library, at least.
    • This displacement even extends over to the Living Books titles—some people think that the games were based off the show, despite predating the show by several years.
  • Anvilicious: Averted for most of the series, played straight in the newest episodes. Those who grew up with the series have understandably been crying They Changed It, Now It Sucks.
    • The theme song is anvilicious.
  • Non Sequitur Scene: A bear and a chicken making out in "I'm a Poet". Apart from it being an imaginary and non-canon scene it's completely unexplained.
  • Creator's Pet: The Tibble Twins as of late. D.W. could possibly be this as well.
    • Or Pal and Baby Kate due to the amount of focus episodes they've gotten.
    • George in episodes focused on him, especially when he has Wally with him.
  • Depending on the Writer: Some episodes have D.W so bratty to the point of unlikability, while others have her as a more realistic (and funny) little sister character.
    • It has gotten to a point that fans are able to predict the quality of a story of a new episode just by looking at the name of the writer on the episode title card.
  • Designated Villain: In Arthur and his friends' imaginations, Mr Ratburn is often made into one.
    • Arthur, at least in D.W.'s imagination and fantasies. His friends would also often be categorized.
      • Even her own parents and her best friend Emily have been shown as villains in D.W.'s imagination occasionally.
  • Ear Worm: Most of the songs in S3's "Arthur's Almost Live Not Real Music Festival", some of which don't even have a tune! Is it any surprise that the episode spawned a CD release?
    • Also Art Garfunkel's performances in S3's "The Ballad of Buster Baxter".
    • Uh, the theme song, anyone? Just looking at the lyrics at the top of this page are enough to get it stuck.
    • "A-A-R-D-V-A-R-K!" Who know spelling "Aardvark" could be so catchy?
    • "Having fun isn't hard when you've got a library card!"
      • "And don't forget the Dewey Decimal System is your friend!"
      • "WHO'S DEWEY!?"
    • "JEKYLL - JEKYLL - HYDE! JEKYLL - HYDE! HYDE! JEKYLL!"
      • "I want some Ice Cream, Chocolate would be good!"
      • "Just a little Hoooomework, tonight, tonight (That's a lot of homework!)"
      • That song could qualify as Nightmare Fuel in my opinion. It use to give me nightmares!
      • God damn you all for getting those stuck in my head after having forgotten about them for the better part of a decade.
    • Crazy Bus, Crazy Bus, riding on the Crazy Bus...
    • Ooh-wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee-ooh-wee!
    • "The best word I know is F-U-N, F-U-N spells fun..."
    • The remix of the intro.
  • Funny Aneurysm Moment: S2's "Binky Barnes, Art Expert" has Arthur and Buster trying to convince Binky not to go to school by telling him that the school was destroyed in a fire. It's Played for Laughs, since Binky can see the school from his house. 5 seasons later in S7's "April 9th"...
    • In the first season Francine traps Buster in an airtight lightbulb costume for the Thomas Edison play. Years later, we find out Buster has asthma...
    • "Grandpa Dave's Old Country Farm" oozes with irony. The episode is about how great life at the farm is, how things have gotten out of hand, and how Grandpa needs more help as he's getting older. He even mentions how long the farm has been in his family. Once he's diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease, he has to move closer to Arthur, effectively ditching that farm. Arthur is forced to admit that things aren't the same.
  • Genius Bonus: One episode has an Imagine Spot with a One Million BC version of Arthur's family - and they look like actual aardvarks (flat-nosed, pointy-eared).
    • Bailey gives Ed Crosswire a copy of Samuel Beckett's Endgame for his birthday. Endgame details the life of an Old Retainer who is desperate to leave his demanding master, but is constantly prevented from doing so. Perhaps Bailey is Hint Dropping.
    • At the beginning of one episode, an unidentified alvarezsaur appears. It's pretty accurate, except maybe for the fact that its tail is too short.
  • Harsher in Hindsight: In S1's "Arthur Cleans Up", Arthur complained about the state of a city park by claiming "the oceans are full of oil." Fast forward to late Summer 2010...
  • Hilarious in Hindsight: S5's "Arthur and the Big Riddle" had Arthur appearing on an in-universe game show, Riddle Quest. His opponent was a contestant who had been winning repeatedly for weeks, in vein of Jeopardy's rule on returning champions. In contrast, the actual Jeopardy show had a five-day limit on returning champions. A few years later, that limit was removed and along came Ken Jennings, who won 74 straight games in a row and over 3 million dollars.
    • S7's "Prunella Sees the Light" has Prunella telling Muffy, "Marina's blind, not in a wheelchair." 6 seasons later, S13's "The Wheel Deal" introduces Lydia Fox, a fan-created character in a wheelchair.
    • "Buster's New Friend" has D.W. comment that "maybe Buster doesn't like Bionic Bunny anymore." As of "Buster Gets Real", that's totally true.
    • S2's "Play it Again D.W." has D.W. obsessing over the song Crazy Bus. It is catchy, but it drives Arthur crazy. In 2005, a Venezuelan video game called Crazy Bus was released, and it's best known for the title screen music, which is both catchy and extremely obnoxious.
    • The episode "That's a Baby Show!" features Arthur accidentally tuning into a Teletubbies Expy called "Love Ducks" and becoming a closeted fan of the show, going to great lengths to avoid anyone finding out he enjoys it. Fast forward to early 2011, and young men across the nation are beginning to relate quite a bit.
  • Karma Houdini: D.W. wantonly destroys Arthur's plane after he told her numerous times not to touch it. Because he punched her, she doesn't get in trouble at all.
  • Memetic Mutation: Arthur is a very popular subject for YouTube Poop, especially S4's "Arthur's Big Hit."
  • Most Annoying Sound: Crazy Bus! Crazy Bus! Riding on a Crazy Bus! Riding up! Riding down! Driven by a funny clown! Once you hear it, you can't unhear it.
  • Periphery Demographic: Massive and vocal, especially in the older seasons of the program. Even currently, though, the program maintains a large number of fans who theoretically should have "outgrown" the program a long time ago, or whom have never been in its target audience in the first place during the time that it's been airing.
  • The Problem with Licensed Games: Played straight with the Game Boy Color title, Arthur's Absolutely Fun Day, which is described by many as excruciatingly painful to play. The PlayStation title, Arthur: Ready To Race was at least decent, and the PC/Mac titles (particularly the Living Books titles) avert this completely as many children who grew up in the late '80s and '90s were introduced to Arthur by means of the Living Books titles.
  • Puppy Love: The early seasons were rather notable for constant obvious Arthur/Francine pairings, as well as other character pairings. They, however, likely won't go all the way. They're only in 3rd grade, after all.
  • The Scrappy: D.W., but Muffy could also qualify on specific occasions.
    • On the cast and crew side, Dietrich Smith, one of the show's writers. Certain fans have complained that the quality of his stories aren't up to par and that he botches certain characterizations badly.
  • Seasonal Rot: Debatable. S5 is considered a low point by many longtime fans, though.
  • Unintentionally Unsympathetic: In S4's Arthur's Big Hit, D.W. goes and fools with Arthur's model plane that he spent a long time working on, and breaks it. In response, he punches her, and it's played out as a Kick the Dog moment. Which would be alright, if it weren't for the fact that D.W. was acting really smart-alecky at the moment of the punch. And she invokes You Blockhead, claiming it's "not her fault" that Arthur made a plane that can't fly. Umm...

D.W.: If it could break the sound barrier, falling out of a window shouldn't be able to break it!

    • Added to that is the fact that Arthur repeatedly told her not to touch it, meaning that she is fully aware that she is fooling with something she has absolutely no right whatsoever to touch, and that she shows no remorse whatsoever for her actions.
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