Season 1 Episode 4b

The early Joe Fallon is usually spectacular, but I found in "Arthur's Lost Library Book" it was just meh. That is to say, starting with the cold open, I could have never guessed the dark and mysterious atmosphere that would be casted upon the viewer throughout the episode. I love how bright the open is, and it really brings out all of the amazing qualities that a local public library has. Watching this made me want to visit the library right then, and I know that this opening got more kids going to their library. Now getting into the actual episode, we start out with a mysterious hand reaching in that acts as the narrator throughout the episode. This is a great added touch, and I think that it is great that the narration is clearly done by D.W.! Arthur starts out the episode by taking out as many library books as he could. Which I thought was great, because I always took out my limit of library books. Then Arthur picks the new Scare Your Pants Off book as his final book, which has a long waitlist. The biggest part that I did not like about this episode was the fact that you could see that it was Binky who picked up Arthur's book that he dropped. This kind of ruined the whole story and didn't bring the suspenseful atmosphere that was created by D.W. and the hand narrating. Despite this, there was some pretty good parts throughout this episode. Binky was the best-written and voiced part, as usual, in this episode. Just the way that he tries to get people to confess is great! Then when it looks like the book is lost, we get some very strange dream sequences that really freak me out. I always like the dream sequences in Arthur and how absurd some of them are. The episode ends in kind of a dull way, as Binky had the book the whole time and just didn't tell Arthur. Despite it being a rather boring ending, we do get to see some more character establishment from Binky. He is seen as the kind of bully who doesn't like to read or do activities that others do. The ending was also great as it revealed that D.W. was the narrator all along. Overall not a super episode, but just ok. It does have some really good parts and adds ons which makes it above average. Not to mention that it is a classic episode.

By Nicholas DeMarco (AKA Bigpickleman)

Arthur's Pet Buisness

Season 1 Episode 5a

Another fantastic, classic episode. For this review, I watched this episode twice, and I have to say it became a lot more enjoyable with the second watch. The episode pretty much chronicles Arthur trying to prove himself worthy and responsible enough so he can get a puppy. He does so by opening up a pet care/ watching business. Personally, I love this being put in the episode because it shows kids that you have to take matters into your own hands to get what you want. This is something that young kids today don't do enough of. Arthur does everything right in caring for Mrs. Woods' dog, Perky. Until the last day when Arthur loses Perky! Also, I have to add, I love the little side story or subplot in this, where D.W. is trying to swindle money away from Arthur. It pretty much carries on throughout the entire story, but I found it so funny. Then when Arthur starts to get so many pets to take care of, the Read residence starts to devolve into chaos. Which I thoroughly enjoy chaotic and crazy parts in episodes. My only problem with this episode was that the ending felt a little rushed. It was all so sudden and felt like such a short period from when Mrs. Woods' said she was coming to when they found Perky. But other than that the episode was great! Some great lines were included in this ending as well. Such as when D.W. runs up to Mrs. Woods and says "Hi Mrs. Woods! Arthur lost your dog." I always laugh at this line as D.W. says it so perfectly. Then there is also Dad Read's "I feel sorry for the world" line. Also, we can't forget how this is the story of how Arthur gets Pal! I thought this one such a great introduction to one of the series most lovable characters. Overall, a great classic Arthur episode that is a must-watch.

By Nicholas DeMarco

Arthur Goes to Camp

Season 1 Episode 7a

Ahh, summer camp, the time-honored tradition of parents dumping their kids somewhere each day (or in this case for an entire week) and the kids often being less than happy about it. While I did plenty of basketball camps when I was in my pre-teens/early teens, I never did those sleepaway camps with all the stuff in nature. But I do know that there are lots of those camps up in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania, so it would make sense that maybe this was inspired by something Marc Brown was a part of when he was a young kid.

The names “Camp Meadowcroak” and “Camp Horsewater” are very clever and a good play on words with something (When I wrote this, “Meadowcreek” was suggested for me by the computer). Although none of the Horsewater kids are named, a few of the Tough Customers are at that camp, including Molly and that brown dog who is unnamed. But the Meadowcroak kids at first are occupied with the boys vs. girls rivalry, which Binky prepared for despite his first prank attempt failing miserably on the bus and the girls getting win after win at the camp. As we see, however, it is the Horsewater Tough Customers who are antagonizing their younger counterparts.

It is weird though how Meadowcroak and Horsewater compete against each other in the scavenger hunt despite the obvious age difference. Not the fairest competition there by any stretch. But while Horsewater had the physical might, Arthur and the Meadowcroak kids had the mental edge with their plan. You would have to be REALLY gullible to believe that Brain dressed in a fur coat (where one can still see his legs and he’s still standing upright) is an actual bear, and Horsewater fell for it big time. It also was good writing that the postcard, which Arthur wasn’t too thrilled about bringing to camp and writing to his parents all the time, was the item that won the scavenger hunt for him and the rest of the Meadowcroak kids. As Ashley Tisdale sings in the first High School Musical, they arrived because they stuck together.

By Guthrie Edson

Buster Makes the Grade

Season 1 Episode 7b

The open to this is clever, with Arthur speaking in literal terms to describe Buster’s habits. For him, staying on top of his work means sleeping on a pile of books, and bouncing ideas off friends involves…doing just that. That’s not a recipe for success in Mr. Ratburn’s class, as Buster will soon find out, as could anyone from watching the show. With that being said though, it seems crazy to me that Mr. Ratburn didn’t offer Buster any help and just threatened to hold him back (and called both his mom and grandmother in, to boot). Threatening to hold kids back without actually trying to help them succeed is just wrong, and it shouldn’t be on a third grader to figure that out on their own. Buster clearly had issues focusing on the work, something not even tying him to a tree can fix.

With all that being said, Arthur’s friends could’ve just left Buster on his own to fend for himself, but they did what friends should do–help him out. It is kind of ironic that while Binky is talking about the benefits of a tutor, he’s doing so while at the arcade, and when it’s his turn to help Buster study, he does probably the least effective thing of anyone–tying him to a tree and reading to him. Even methods that seemed like they would work, like using candies to teach division and getting outside to study, didn’t work, but that’s not the fault of Buster’s friends–they are not professional tutors, which is what he needed. While Buster does eventually pull it together and cram the night before, that may be sending the wrong message about cramming (I never pulled an all-nighter in college and I’m very proud of that).

And also, it should never have come to where he needed a certain grade on the year-end test to make it to fourth grade, because Mr. Ratburn and other people at the school should’ve been there for him when he started struggling, not when he was in danger of being held back.

By Guthrie Edson

Arthur's Baby / D.W.'s Baby

Season 1 Episode 11a & 11b

Another one of the classic books made into an episode, actually two episodes if you see it that way, so I’m combining two episode reviews into one. The main thing I gather from watching this episode afew times is the theme of D.W. being over-eager about a big event while Arthur (or another main character) being kind of mum about it all, seemingly indifferent. I wouldn’t blame Arthur either, especially with his friends trying to make him dread the baby even more (some real good friends there) and D.W. constantly doing things like putting a diaper on his toys as Mrs. Read’s pregnancy progresses. And also, big changes can be difficult to navigate, although Arthur kind of learns that the hard way at first (but again, D.W. turning everything into a rivalry between the two of them doesn’t help one bit).

In D.W.’s Baby, I like how it incorporates some parts of Arthur’s Baby at first to set the scene but shows that scene of Arthur burping Kate to get her to stop crying from D.W.’s perspective, which is kind of the beginning of things coming back down to earth for her. I would say that the moral of this story is “a good deed never goes unpunished” about this episode, but she never seems to be actually helping anything here. That said, I think that her parents could’ve given her a role to play, like Mrs. Barnes gives Binky in “Big Brother Binky” so she can feel like she’s a part of this life-changing event for her family and not have to resort to nearly running away. That scene still makes me emotional today, and I want to take a moment to say that Grandma Thora is the GOAT for talking D.W. out of that and putting things in perspective for her, as she does so many times throughout the series.

For the first episode in the series about a major life event in the immediate family, I think it fits the bill more than adequately, and does a good job of capturing the wide range of emotions that change can bring.

By Guthrie Edson

Arthur the Wrecker

Season 1 Episode 14a

“Arthur the Wrecker” is definitely a step up from Arthur’s Computer Adventure, as the book was titled. I like where Arthur was going in the open, but I’m sorry, a computer or window, two replaceable objects, being broken is not on the same level as the Sphinx, Greek statues, or the Liberty Bell, all historical landmarks, being broken. I know that feeling of getting the new Madden/FIFA/NBA 2K game but having to wait for the whole school day to play it, and especially after you get it, you want to play it with every free second you have. The writing in this episode is brilliant in that it portrays that feeling very accurately, especially the concept of time just completely going out the window as Arthur tries to find the “thing.”

Despite Arthur’s excitement for Deep, Dark Sea, which I totally understand, I find it hard to fully back him in this one. I’m surprised his parents didn’t give him any pushback for totally wolfing down his dinner before going to play or been more aggressive in getting Arthur to do something else on the weekends while Mrs. Read was working. With that said, I give Arthur credit for accepting his punishment, but if I had heard my mom playing the game late at night that she punished me for playing, I would’ve been pissed. Moral of the story: moderation from the screen goes for everyone, even for Mrs. Read (if I were her, I would want to do something off the screen after looking at spreadsheets all day).

Also, I’d be willing to bet that “the thing” was probably a prize package of Deep Dark Sea merch or something else relatively underwhelming, making it not worth the hassle to try and find it.

By Guthrie Edson

Arthur and the True Francine

Season 1 Episode 14b
This is one of a couple episodes in Season 1, the other notable one being “Arthur’s Eyes” where we go back to second grade and Mr. Marco’s class. Before the flashback to second grade though, we see the true Muffy, who tells the lie that she’s never told a lie right off the bat (and knows it too when Francine calls her out on it), in some good foreshadowing of what will ultimately happen. There’s a saying that you don’t get a second chance to make a first impression, and by showing a lengthy video of her family history (which Mr. Marco thankfully puts a stop to), she shows us that she has lots of pride for herself and the family name, but not much else.

How the kids initially didn’t see through Muffy’s elaborate lies is kind of mind-boggling, especially how Muffy describes her previous exploits in softball (and then promptly holds the bat the wrong way when it’s time to actually play in the game). But that’s secondary to her getting Francine in trouble for cheating, when actually it was Muffy who had the very cavalier attitude towards studying for the math quiz. As the rapper Nas says in his 1999 hit “Hate Me Now,” “It’s a thin line between paper and hate, friends and snakes…” and before Muffy gets Francine in

trouble, the two of them are becoming good friends. Even after, Muffy still tries stuff like buying presents for Francine. Even though Muffy does the right thing in the end, it’s not before she does things that would be considered red flags in a relationship.

To me, this episode serves as a cautionary tale for more reasons than one. First, one shouldn’t cheat on tests (in one’s first month at a new school, to boot), and second, exactly what Nas said.


By Guthrie Edson

Arthur's Family Vacation

Season 1 Episode 15a

To me, this is one of the top 5 episodes of all time, if not the best, because everyone’s had an experience like this on vacation. Starting with one or both parents having an explicit vision of what they want the trip to be like, in this case Mr. Read having his heart set on a lobster dinner right from the get-go, which everyone is going to like. One or all of the kids are not completely on board with the trip, in this case Arthur, who finally learned to like summer camp only to have to go on the family vacation. And D.W. is looking forward to spending some quality time with her new inflatable shark named Sharky on the trip, making for a classic Read family getaway and keeping with the theme of Arthur being mum and indifferent about something where one or more other family members are excited.

What unfolds goes to show that sometimes when things don’t go to plan, it’s just as well and it can be a memorable vacation anyhow. Let’s be honest, I would’ve hated to be in that car on the way to the beach, with the many delays along the way and awful rest stop food, but imagine being able to tell your friends back home that you went to something as unique as a cow festival or jungle cruise (the former you just happened to see an ad for in the newspaper you were using to swat flies in your ratty motel room, no less). Ultimately, they got their nice weather and beach day, and as it turns out, Arthur didn’t miss a ton at camp. For the relatability and iconic moments of the episode, this gets a perfect score in my book.

By Guthrie Edson

Grandpa Dave's Old Country Farm

Season 1 Episode 15b

This is a fitting second half to the doubleheader with “Arthur’s Family Vacation” starting it off, as it covers a different type of vacation: a week at Grandpa Dave’s. While we don’t know exactly what it’s modeled after, his farm looks like it could be in the Poconos somewhere, possibly modeled after some place where Marc Brown spent summers as a kid. In other shows I’ve seen the prospect of a week at Grandpa’s be leveraged as punishment for kids acting up, but Arthur and D.W. take this in stride and seem to be excited about it. I think they appreciate getting away from the hustle and bustle of Elwood City to where one can swim in the lake, go on hikes, and enjoy the county fair. But as we see, they didn’t do a ton of that on this trip.

The main idea of the episode is that grandparents often need support with a lot of things. When Grandpa Dave inherited that family farm, he probably was much younger and could maintain the place without much help. But now that he’s older, the farm has clearly fallen into disrepair, and one of the most glaring signs of that was the henhouse breaking down, which caused him to put the chickens in a guestroom. It is interesting how that was what caused Arthur and D.W. to want to help rebuild the henhouse, but I would not have wanted to sleep in the same room as a bunch of chickens. Sometimes, it can be hard to accept that you can’t keep something maintained alone, and clearly Grandpa Dave had that stubbornness about him. His friend Ed knew that better than anyone else, it seemed.

While Arthur and D.W. definitely shouldn’t have felt like they had to work during their vacation, it ultimately helped Grandpa Dave realize that he couldn’t do it all on his own. D.W. reminding him of that was big in making him realize that the family farm meant that it was in their whole family, and they were right in wanting to help maintain the place, undoubtedly so that future generations could be proud of it. Also, every senior citizen should have a friend like Ed in their lives.

By Guthrie Edson

D.W. Flips!

Season 1 Episode 16b

First of all, I may be in the minority here, but I think Mrs. Read is a bit too harsh at the beginning when D.W. expresses her desire to learn gymnastics, presumably to be like the Magnificent Seven, who led the USA to glory at the 1996 Olympics gymnastics all-around, in the year that this episode aired. In my book, you can’t fault anyone for wanting to try something new, especially someone that age. Maybe with violin, tee ball or ballet, the instruction wasn’t up to par with what it should be so that she could be set up for success in those things (like with tee ball–did nobody work on her swing with her before a game?). You can tell that Mrs. Read is heavily stewing over her mind about whether to sign D.W. up for gymnastics or not before she ultimately says yes. To be fair, D.W. did practice this time, unlike those other activities, but not without causing a ruckus in the grocery store and at home.

Needless to say, there are a lot of issues with the class and the way it was run. If that was indeed Mrs. Morgan serving as the instructor (it sure looks like her, but we never see her addressed as such), she should’ve known the kids and how they got along from the classroom, thus being able to anticipate any problems. A lot of what went on could have been avoided if Mrs. Morgan had put a lid on Emily trying to show off and the Tibbles egging her on. If she had taken steps to prevent that, D.W. probably wouldn’t have tried to get up on the balance beam, to try and one-up Emily! Also, why weren’t they being supervised at the time when D.W. tried to go on the balance beam? I’m sure Mrs. Morgan would’ve been found negligent had D.W. been hurt.

This episode has its moments for sure, but I think it serves as a precautionary tale more than anything else. Especially that instructors in a class should know how their kids act to avoid any problems and shouldn’t leave them unsupervised when there is dangerous equipment in the gym.

By Guthrie Edson

D.W. Thinks Big

Season 1 Episode 25a

It’s wedding day in Elwood City as Aunt Lucy is getting set to tie the knot. Just like in “Arthur’s Baby,” we see everyone else (except Cousin Cora of course) a bit more subdued with their enthusiasm about a big life event, while D.W. is more excited than the rest, even going as far as marrying the toaster and blender. But that excitement is not rewarded with an actual role of note in the wedding. And on top of that, Arthur, Cora and everyone else kind of rubs that in, albeit kind of subtly. Again, we see in “Big Brother Binky” that Mrs. Barnes gives Binky a role in the build-up to their trip to China–the Reads don’t do that for D.W. here.

Wedding day itself is one that nobody involved will ever forget. D.W. crashing the wedding photo was a funny moment, especially when she asks to be involved next time Aunt Lucy gets married (also, Arthur Holden as the voice of the photographer makes it funnier–sometimes if I have the episode on in the background, I think it’s Mr. Ratburn moonlighting as the photographer). During the procession, Cora doesn’t just toss the flowers at the crowd: she pelts the audience with them, which is very on brand. But also I can’t think about what threw Arthur off so much so that caused him to launch the wedding ring up and into the organ pipe–that had some serious hangtime before it went very precisely down the pipe. Grandpa Dave getting his fingers stuck in the pipes is also very on brand, but you have to hand it to D.W. for going in there with all those spiders and dust to get it. And Arthur was a very good brother in letting D.W. carry the ring once the ceremony got started again.

Everyone goes home happy–except Cora, of course. Kind of what she deserves for rubbing it in earlier, but it’s not like she was being 100% relieved of her flower girl duties. Still, D.W. got what she wanted, which was being a part of her aunt’s big day. When everyone looks back on this wedding years down the road, that is the part of it they’ll remember the most.

By Guthrie Edson

Arthur Cleans Up

Season 1 Episode 25b

The main plotline of this episode may be that Mr. Read gets Arthur involved with something, but really, it’s a commentary on the issue of climate change and keeping the Earth healthy. While the genesis of Arthur’s idea is that World’s End Park is becoming littered too much, we mustn’t forget that climate change is being made worse by corporations and politicians that are beholden to those corporations. That said, local communities can do their part in keeping the earth clean and that’s what Mr. Read challenges Arthur to do here. It’s clear that nobody had thought about the ramifications of littering in the park, so large-scale community action was needed here.

I would be unmoved at the prospect of joining something called the “Kids Clean-Up Brigade,” so it’s kind of hard to blame Arthur for not being super gung-ho about that. That said, my town has a “Village Preservation Society” which focuses on sustainability and keeping the city clean, and something along those lines sound way more appealing to join. As we see later in this season with “My Dad, the Garbage Man,” however, once Arthur gets a tour of the sanitation department from Mr. Frensky, he gets a much greater idea of what it’s all about, that sanitation is way more than just driving a garbage truck around once a week.

But the most important part of this is that it takes a village to keep it clean. Arthur couldn’t keep the park completely clean on his own, as the simulation that he saw at the sanitation department saw–he needed a team of volunteers. And also we see the consequences of so much trash getting littered on pets, as Pal almost chokes, thanks to the Tough Customers intentionally deciding to litter. Watching that in the year 2022, it totally feels like a metaphor for how large corporations’ actions of waste and abuse (and politicians’ inaction at stopping that) can literally choke people. Eventually, the rest of the crew decides to pitch in, and for their sake, hopefully this “Kids Clean-Up Brigade” will turn into something with a better name, like the aforementioned “Village

By Guthrie Edson

My Dad, the Garbage Man

Season 1 Episode 26a

A field trip to different my friends’ parents’ places of work is something I wish I could’ve done when I was younger. While many of my classmates’ parents worked for the government or large national nonprofits and thus in more traditional office settings (which wouldn’t make for the most exciting field trip), some did have cool jobs that would’ve been fun to see behind the scenes of. My dad, for instance, did web strategy for the Smithsonian museums for many years, which were a mainstay in field trips when I was younger, so whenever we went there, it kind of was his place of work (even though his office wasn’t at the museums, per se). This is the first time Mr. Ratburn’s class does something like this, the second coming in “Citizen Frensky.”

I definitely think that the way Francine tries to hide what her dad does reflects how those jobs are seen as dirty, gross, and undesirable (take Muffy complaining about her shoes getting dirty the second they got to the dump–you’re at a dump, for crying out loud). But really, the dump is the coolest part of this entire field trip. At Crosswire Motors, Mr. Crosswire shows them a slow day in the showroom and eavesdrops on his associates trying to rip customers off. The ice cream shop might have seemed exciting to the kids at first and it kind of was, but clearly Mr. Ratburn wasn’t so gung-ho about the ice cream flavor that bore his name. At the dump though, Mr. Frensky does a great job of making it fun for the kids and showing them how trash can be put to good use, like making playgrounds and ball pits (although Buster thinking that Mr. Frensky is a secret FBI agent is funny). My first grade class took a trip to the dump (or the “I-66 Transfer Station” to give it its official name) and they also talked to us there about sustainability and how things are made out of garbage.

Another episode where everyone goes home happy, especially Francine, who goes from being skeptical to being on board with her dad’s important work.

By Guthrie Edson

The Scare Your Pants Off Club

Season 1 Episode 28b

This episode feels more important now than ever before, with the wave of local and state governments banning certain books from libraries and classrooms. Although this is a children’s book series that turns out to be harmless (and this ban came from a weird place to begin with, which we’ll get into), banning any books sets a bad precedent, whether it’s the 1619 Project, Maus, Catcher in the Rye or the Scare Your Pants Off Club. Or even the Arthur books, as one Florida school district is aiming to do, for no apparent reason other than that they can. As evidenced by Arthur wolfing down his breakfast at the start of the episode, kids want to read these books!

“Parents Against Weird Stories” definitely was inspired by a Season 2 episode of The Simpsons from 1990 where Marge tries (albeit unsuccessfully) to get The Itchy & Scratchy Show yanked off the air because of its goriness, which causes Maggie to hit Homer on the head with a mallet. Marge creates a group to protest the network, and is successful at first in making the cartoons less violent, but ultimately admits the hypocrisy of being against Itchy & Scratchy Show but in favor of Michelangelo’s David being exhibited in Springfield. As we find out, PAWS came about because Muffy was unable to sleep because she ate too much Haassen-Pfeffer ice cream her dad had bought, and she blamed it on the books.

But the other parallel to real life is how Muffy’s hypocrisy comes through, when Mrs. DePoe comes to the library and Muffy reveals that she owned all the Scare Your Pants Off Club books. Just like one Nebraska state representative who voted for an abortion and gender-affirming healthcare in his state, but then went to a Lizzo concert that same day in Omaha. The way Mrs. DePoe (or McWord) shames Mr. Crosswire into allowing the books to be put back in the library is very well written, but unfortunately most of the politicians in favor of book bans have no such shame. Moral of the story is that book banning is a slippery slope towards fascism, and eating large amounts of ice cream before bed is inevitably going to keep you awake at night.

By Guthrie Edson

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