Sadly, this is an evergreen part of the post, though I wish it wasn’t The Disney remake. Specifically, Disney has taken an animated movie and decided to remake it in live-action form and whatever 2019 The Lion King was.

         I could write about how a remake was bad, like totally bad, but that probably has been done and also be like beating a dead goat. (what?)  I’d like this blog to do things that stand out somewhat, just because. This time, I’m making the case for a good Disney remake. Funny enough, it’s not a remake of an animated film turned live-action. It’s a remake of a live-action/ animation hybrid into live action/animation hybrid. (Though, I’m here for a Disney live-action turned into animation remake)

         Pete’s Dragon is a 1977 Disney movie that seemed to take a long time for Disney to even think about putting together in concept in the first place.  It’s not a bad film either, that’s also me having a soft spot for 1970’s Disney live-action movies in general. (Like Freaky Friday) This film is pretty fun and a charming musical. It also has Helen Reddy so yes, The original movie did make money, but it didn’t seem to be big in the Disney canon. It is kind of a surprise they wanted to remake it, but they did.

         In 2013, Disney announced they were going remake this movie. There was going to be some differences to the original film. One thing, it wasn’t going to be a musical – Disney, minus Disney Channel, wasn’t into the whole musical thing, and we really don’t get musicals in theatrical movies anymore. (Though, yes, Disney did take High School Musical and put a film version in theaters with the third film) This is kind of a remake in the sense that the title was taken and there’s a boy named Pete and there is a dragon, but all the rest was going to different , making a new story.  That’s interesting.

       The movie  is written by David Lowery and Toby Halbrooks. Lowery also directed. The duo worked on indie films. Sometimes even together. Funny enough, Lowery had been asked to work on remakes before, but turned them down, but something made him want to jump at  the chance. Disney seemed to want make a remake but in mostly name only. The movie changes from it’s original, beyond not being a musical, by having the movie not take place pre-depression era or in New England. Instead, it’s the Pacific Northwest and maybe the 70’s or 80’s but leaving space to not feel hooked to a time.  There still would be Pete and a dragon (duh).   (Source)

           To note on that, I’m big remake person, in general. There can be ways or something that can hook me into one, but that’s something that has to work for me. The concept of it being something different from the original is something interesting. That also makes it hard because that can also be something that can be a turn off , so even that depends. Though, I do have to note that doesn’t take away the original existence – unless they somehow wipe it out. (odd statement)

         Pete’s Dragon, the remake, came out in 2016.  Which is also interesting that’s the same year The Jungle Book remake came out.  Disney was going for some theme. That one came out first, just like how Jungle Book came out before Pete’s Dragon. (Time is a  cube)  I will not be doing any comparisons to the 1977 film  because that’d be unnecessary, but I will remark on surface similarities- like having a boy named Pete. (duh)

           The movie starts and you can already tell, something bad is going to happen. It’s parents in a station wagon with their young boy, Pete, and yeah oh no no. (Might as well just stick a sign on the screen the yelling THIS IS GOING TO NOT GO WELL, THERE WILL BE DEATH)  Pete, who is 5, in this starter is learning to read and is reading a book about a puppy named Elliot. (I’m going  to mention that someone on Wikipedia thinks the movie starts in 1977, which would be a good touch and a fun Easter egg)  Remember that.

 

            Having writers who worked in indie films before this, can be seen in the core of the film. Actually, if you strip away the Disney logo at the start, it wouldn’t feel out of place to think of it not as a Disney film. The movie starts quiet and gentle as it builds up to the bad thing that’s going to happen and start the story.

         Pete asks his parents what ‘adventure’ is (alright, there is a part of this movie that’s being too on the nose, calm down).  Anyway, Bambi gets revenge, a deer runs in front  of their station wagon and that apparently causes them to swerve to death. (I’d hope a Live-action Bambi movie, would have Bambi going on a revenge mission and takes out people in their cars) Three things: 1) Cutting to the deer as it seems to be watching in delight of it’s murder is something, 2) 70’s station wagon crash kills parents, but young boy in only a lap belt, because 1970’s car is alive, 3) I’m going to assume Pete knows what death is. Just going to assume that.

 

 

        This movie was filmed New Zealand, instead of the actual Pacific Northwest, the actor for young Pete was Levi Alexander who is from New Zealand.  Being filmed in New Zealand but not in PNW is not a knock against the movie, just found that an interesting tidbit.

           Anyway, little Pete is then surrounded by wolves. (Hey Wolves, don’t eat the boy, there’s a deer I need you to talk too). I would say the wolves seem a little to excited to want to eat a human boy there, like one licked its chops. The cinematography for the movie is good, it’s well done.  This part is dark, because it’s almost night and dark because well there’s danger right there as Pete could possibly die. The only thing that might take away from the urgency is that it’s called Pete’s Dragon and that probably means he’s not going to be wolf food at like 4 minutes in.  (unless… [don’t you start])

 

 

            In speaking of Pete’s Dragon, the dragon shows up and scares off the wolves.  (Hey we got Pete and the dragon in under 5 minutes, good work!)  I like Pete’s question to the dragon, asking it if it was going to eat him, expecting an answer.  He didn’t ask the wolves that, but I guess they made their intentions clearer.

         The original film, the dragon was animated like an animated movie at the time, but put into live action. Since this modern times, we have technology.  So yes, computer generated dragon. Which to bring up “The Jungle Book” 2016 that movie also was using computer animals as it was all animated except of Mogwai and you can see Disney is working some tech here, that would probably lead into a 2019 film of some Lion sort thing going on.  Also fuzzy dragon. I like the idea of it being fuzzy, it’s different, and kind of gives him a more friendly vibe that fits for a movie where the dragon won’t be wiping out Seattle. (You can read the reason why he’s fuzzy here and that’s good reason)

 

 

           The part where the dragon [I’m holding off on using his name to remark on it later] stretches out it’s paw? paw? for Pete to get on in a trust moment was nice too.  Let’s see we got Pete, and the dragon so roll the title card. (I was wondering what movie this was)

            The movie skips ahead six years.  That’s where you can join us after the jump. 

             Robert Redford is in this movie he talks about the legend of a dragon and how he saw one to some children.  They also have Bryce Dallas Howard, who plays his daughter. The casting in this movie is well done around.  Oakes Fegley does a wonderful job as the main character, Pete, he becomes the character after the skip.  Oona Laurence also performs her role well and to be the first human child Pete has interacted with in probably 6 years.

                The movie has an aesthetic there’s a warm feeling to how it feels and also uses its setting of fake PNW  to  a good effect. The forest is beautiful.  This is not the loud bright colors to bring attention kind of movie, but not dark and cold feeling either. The lightning gives warmth. It’s presenting a story to you but not too fast, and giving it an ease to what it wants to present. Though, the transitions between scenes do fell very indie movie where its kind of just guiding you through the story.

 

 

            We see Pete now,  and I will to note that Disney somehow ended up having 3 ferial boys being raised by animals movies in a span of  10 months The Good Dinosaur [a movie I do like] , the 2016 Jungle Book and this.  Each of the three movies have a difference to them, and this one doesn’t have talking animals not even the dragon.  There’s real bear (I mean real in the sense it’s not a bear that’s mystical creature) and real forest, the only strange and oft thing is the dragon. The movie is presenting a realisticness with its fiction.

        You do have to accept that a child ended up being raised alright in a forest, with only long hair, some dirt, still having some clothing, and not infected with something  as just matter of fact. It’s a movie with a dragon.  Yes, I’ll mention now the dragon is called Elliot. Which was the name in the original movie and the movie hinted at his name since it was the puppy’s name in the book.

 

       Pete also has his humanity still in him, well portrayed with him still in a 5-year-old mindset at times  and with some animalistic tendencies (mostly dragon). Like I said, I love Elliot’s design, and the idea to go with a more dog like dragon in how he acts and being fuzzy presents a uniqueness and does a fun job.

              There’s a forest ranger named Grace (how on the nose, played by Bryce Dallas Howard) who Pete spots in the forest and watches from a distance. He finds her compass and grabs it. (Pete’s thievery)

           I have to point out that the plot is a simple one, which simple isn’t bad. You can do simple and be bad, you can do simple and be great, this one fall in the great part more than anything else. There’s a story of environmentalism in this because the forest is under threat.

          Natalie (Oona Laurence) , who happens to be the daughter a lumber mill owner named Jack (Wes Bentley) who is dating Ranger Grace, sees Pete and follows after him, he runs because random girl. The interaction is a human detached from knowing all humans. It’s also interesting to note he thought he was five, because time was lost to him. ( I do wonder did anyone wonder if the couple in the car had a kid or?)   Grace tries to talk to Pete but he is also a bit nervous to even communicate with her. She also sees her compass on him, He does end up falling.

                 The movie has Jack and his brother named Gavin (Karl Urban) who work together. For the environmental message Jack wants his brother to think it out because clearing out a forest might not be good for future business.  I do like that subtleness in a way where it’s not making someone the big bad evil person to do it. (It’s always funny though when a corporation movie makes  corporation bad) They both have good reasons in the stance, and Gavin  isn’t just trying to be an evil forest hater. (that’s a thing)

            Elliot has powers apparently, where he can  be invisible, I think that fits with the idea of seeing, believing, and faith  that this movie wants to present. The idea is that Pete will say he has a dragon and others will think it’s him being a child and telling  fantasy story, or coping thing when they find out more about him. The lumber jacks end up seeing him and caused them to ruin in fear like cowards.

             Grace takes him in, she does a good job of trying to understand the boy, give compassion and be a motherly figure.  Natalie provides a way to help him get used to being with people or something.  This movie does do that thing I sometimes find oft, by having Natalie act a little more a mature and more than 11-years-old, but I guess it’s away to contrast with Pete’s nativity and lack of not being around anyone for 6 years.

            The soundtrack to the movie is interesting. It even used a 60’s folk song.   They also use “It’s a Good Day” because why not?

            This movie’s tone is melancholy  with wonder inserted in. There are moments or joy, but it’s not a fully joyful. Pete is not an disturbingly happy child and the situation of being orphaned is treated with weight and with some realism.  While there’s some funny moments and even funny dragon moments.

                Gavin shows up to talk to Jack about well he saw a dragon.  Jack doesn’t think there’s a dragon because dragon. (I would believe him.)   I like in that when Elliot]t sees Pete being comfortable with the family, and he doesn’t know that Pete has a goal in wanting to find him again, that you can see his expressions in how he feels.  In some movies this misunderstanding could be annoying, but here it works because dragon.  And that really means that his not being human means he can’t really do something human like show up and ask Elliot about what’s going on or find out.  Also sad dragon moment, thanks a lot movie – for the pain.

 

              Redford’s character, Conrad, comes back into the plot. Grace wonders how Pete lived in the forest for 6 years without showing any signs of not falling apart. (odd terming) Conrad says he saw a dragon many years ago for real. He says that people didn’t believe him, but found the magic of the situation to be special. Again the idea of being open to believing in something  and wanting to tell her that he’s not going to force it but he wants her to open up to the idea.

            Pete leads, Grace, Natalie, and Conrad to show them where he’s been living for 6 years and to find to Elliott. They get to meet him. Gavin shows up with others to tranquilize Elliott. This movie, in a sense, doesn’t have a villain in the vain of just being evil. Here, the villain is the misunderstanding of humans that Gavin represents. He doesn’t even know what he wants to do with it, but he does want to profit from it.  Something that was shown with his character with him going too fast and hard on the forest.

[I get spoiler-y here, so you can skip a bit to the next bracket if you’d like]

[Out of there now]

             In my case, I started here to say that I think this a good movie on it’s own and a good remake. This is not a post to say that all the remakes are good or it’s good thing or anything of that sort. I think this movie got lost in the shuffle, and maybe it not being over exposed is a good thing.

        This is a movie that presents a simple story and does a good job at doing it. It feels sincere and interesting, not just a Disney movie using a name from the past for reasons.  It’s a warm movie with whimsy, but not forced, not over the top.  I also like it follows some elements of the original, like not being set in a current time, but in the past, but still feeling a bit timeless in how it presents itself.

      I like how it does use CGI but that’s not over used and overly the focus, it blends a CGI dragon for a real forest with real trees, real birds, real sounds, real atmosphere and something functional about that. It’s even interesting to notice  in the fun facts about the movie that Pete’s actor grew his hair out for the movie, that he and Natalie’s actor did their own stunts, that the touches of the  movie present a realism that work with the mix of magic. It’s like it’s mimicking its story: a mix of realism and magic.

        I loved this movie when it came out and even do so now.  It’s paints a good story. It’s not a paced paced movie, it takes its time where it needs to, but not being to slow where it feels mundane. The gentleness of it and heart make it work, but doesn’t fell syrupy and gagging-ly sweet.

        To be negative, I do think Gavin’s role for the movie was a bit out of tune. He’s not crazy villain, but his goals are typical of many antagonists. I don’t even mean whole thing, like I can understand his view on why thinks the logging business needs to be quick, and where he has to understand that’s not a good thing. The lust for getting Elliot seems random where he has to get him and even states he doesn’t even know what his plan here was. The writing does redeem him a  bit where he at least cares about his brother.

        The movie doesn’t do anything like brand new, but it does it’s concept well and it’s enjoyable.

    The casting was well done like there was a magic touch to finding actors. The characterization ,out of Gavin, is well done. Grace plays a great role in being a great motherly figure able to work with Pete and listening to him. While she can be skeptical of the boy essentially saying he was raised by a dragon, she keeps an open mind. They could have easily made her fully closed and unwilling until she had to be proved wrong, but they chose, wisely not to.  She’s not even Natalie’s mother, and wasn’t a step mother, though, it really doesn’t add to the story, but her and Natalie’s bond felt very close and caring, I forgot she wasn’t the mother.  In fact, Jack, the father, was kind of just there and it would feel  more like he was the coming in step father more than anything else.

            The movie splits with childhood innocence of Pete, the open to ideas but mature Natalie, the cynical and clinical world of adults like Grace, Jack and Gavin, and the willingness to challenge and believe in something like Conrad.  No one ,besides Gavin, felt one note, and even Gavin did have more to him, he was written kind of weird.

            I do feel bad that Jack kind of doesn’t have much of  role, because he had nuggets in the story, like he understood his brother’s side and Grace’s side on the issue. He mostly fills a role to connect characters to characters.

                Elliot, is a character, can’t forget him.  A dragon that doesn’t talk all the emotion in the character is well done. You see how how he’s feeling, happy, sad, angry, it’s well done. He was a fun character. The CGI is pretty good and the route of having a fuzzy dragons is pretty nice.  It’s kind of a good way to show a different perception.  He’s big but friendly and that’s not something one would expect, and it’s about those misunderstandings that work well.   I want to hug him myself. (TFW no fuzzy dragon to hug)

                It’s also a comfy movie like you are sitting by the fire and being told a story, there’s a lot of value to it.  It’s not perfect, but it’s not bad, I think it’s really good.

       That’s it for now,  tune in next time when we write about how Live-Action “Cars” where the cars are played by humans was a great artistic art piece done by Disney, even if it’s still terrifying.

         While it would seem I did a look at a PSA video about Charlie Brown and teeth cleaning, this one is a different one. There are two.  It’s Dental Flossophy, Charlie Brown is a sequel to the previous one called “Tooth Brushing” and it came out in 1980.  This is a 5 minute look that takes place the next day, because they forgot to floss or something.   I am stretching my PSA line here, as this is also more an educational instructional film  and not something that aired on TV. 

            We get the basic explanation of what plaque is and what happens when you don’t floss. Then Lucy has Charlie Brown come with her.  Snoopy is here and there is a random moment of Snoopy and Woodstock shenanigans. Back in the bathroom, Charlie Brown and Lucy go through the steps of getting ready to floss with piece by piece instruction.  Getting a close up of Peanuts hands, you’ll see they have five fingers, though that always depended on what they needed to show.  We also get a show of human-teeth Snoopy, which is somewhat scary. 

  As I’ve been doing the looks at “Oh Yeah! Cartoons” the main rule I put was to not look do ones that became series, but here I present a special Edition.  This one is a look at the eight episodes that were under the title “ChalkZone” which eventually did become a series.  Does that mean I’ll be doing this with others that became series? Probably not, but they are always under consideration. The main goal was to talk about ones that were interesting but didn’t make it to series,  guessing on how they could have been as series or if they could have been.  And a fun look to through a trove of something different.   

        ChalkZone’s concept wasn’t a very new idea, there were few different ideas from different countries that happened to use a the idea of using a writing instrument  with some power to it.  There’s media like the cartoon short series from Poland. “Zaczarowany ołówek”  about a boy who uses a magic pencil that an materialize things he draws.   There’s “Penny Crayon” a British series about a girl name Penny who uses magic crayons.  Also from the UK there was “Simon in the Land of Chalk Drawings” which has a boy who has chalk that is magic.   In fact, in that series Simon even goes into a land of chalk drawings.  Some people even think that “ChalkZone” is fully based off that but it has been denied.  I will also mention the book “Harold and the Purple Crayon” which also has the concept.   With all that, there’s alot of fun and charm to ChalkZone because this is a concept that works well and why many have done that. It is funny because I think around this time, many schools were moving towards dry-erase boards, and where’s my dry erase world series? 

            ChalkZone  was created by Bill Burnett and Larry Huber.  Those names I’ve mentioned before in our “Oh Yeah! Cartoons” series of posts.  Burnett co-created “Slap T. Pooch in What is Funny?”, “Jelly’s Day” , “Hobart”, “Tutu the Superina”[The only one I haven’t covered yet as of this post being made] , “Enchanted Adventures”.  He solo-created “The Feelers”.  If anyone was going to get a series from Oh Yeah! it should have been him he was trying.  The very first Oh yeah!  all 3 segments have  him as a co-creator, including the one called “ChalkZone”.   Huber is also all over , he created “APEX Cartoon Props & Novelties” and “The Man with No Nose”, but it seems that “ChalkZone” was his main focus a little more.  

            With that, we have eight shorts so let’s get started.  

         Yeah the very first short is called “ChalkZone”. Yes it’s one word. (Spell check hates this)   There’s a young boy named Rudy Tabootie who is really good at drawing and yes voiced by E.G Daily, so he sounds like Tommy Pickles. He gets his money taken by cliché bully type C , this one named  “Reggie” Bullnerd. (With a name like that) . Rudy takes out his frustration by drawing the bully on the chalk board in a picture calling him Bully-Nerd.  The teacher named Mr. Wilter who isn’t the most useful teacher and of course things Rudy was bullying the bully because sure.  Rudy has to stay behind and do the Bart Simpson and write on the chalk board the “I will not…” thing. 

From Season 2, Episode 4a

From Season 2, Episode 12a 

           Chalkzone has a character this a parody of Queen Latifha named Queen Rapsheeba.  That’s what you need to know.  Snap has a crush on her and wants to see her play where she’s playing Rapunzel, and yes Rap…pun-zel is the pronunciation. Then a storm cloud shows up and Snap pleads to Rudy to stop the dangerous cloud.  Penny tells Rudy draw a big fan to blow the big cloud away that works. I’m sure we’ll not see that thing again. 

           Since it’s one of the lucky things featured on “Oh Yeah! Cartoons” to become a series.  It was actually the first thing to become one.   Looking at the “Oh Yeah!” season 2 episodes for ChalkZone it looks like a completed fleshed out thing, versus the conceptual feel of the season 1 episodes then I mentioned a quite few of these segments were reused in the final show.  That also might be because this was actually was approved as series before 2000.  Then the show after some delay and a lot of delay premiered in 2002. The very first episode presents the first short with a wrap around of new material to present the first short as a flashback.  

The Cold Opening:  It’s mostly D.W being a picky eater as she goes through the food that was brought in an judging it. She also really doesn’t like spinach. 

The Episode:  She continues saying what foods she doesn’t like.. Then they go to a restaurant and finds out that her salad is spinach and rages.   Her mom used her full name. Her mom tells her no more restaurants for her until she learns something. Arthur is happy until his Grandma says she’ll be find doing a home dinner for her birthday , if D.W can’t go. (why?) Arthur is right. He decides he’ll have to find a way for her to not be picky , at least enough to be able to go the restaurant he wants to go to. 

More after the episode. 

The Cold Opening: Woah, this is a children’s show.  Also, Arthur apparently is surprised that Buster is called brave when Buster is a coward. Something is happening help. 

The Episode:  Arthur and Buster are playing in the park with some toys. Then they see two cool kids who are doing some cool skateboard tricks, cool like.  The duo are impressed and want Toby and Slink to teach them how to do it.  On PBS the cool kids wear helmets and pads, so you should too. 

           Slink and Toby are having fun with Buster they make him do more embarrassing things.  They have Buster kiss Francine which was a choice.  Arthur tells Buster that he shouldn’t let them do this to him and Buster decides that he’s going to quit this.  Slink and Toby tell him they were just about to teach him some tricks. 

            The Cold Opening: Arthur talks about how sometimes when kids first meet they have a hard time getting along.  We get a flashback of Muffy and Prunella acting out American politics. But they are good friends now. Binky and the Brain get along too, apparently. But nothing was like when they all met Sue Ellen. 

        The Episode: Sue Ellen , as I’ve mentioned in the very first episode of Arthur post, was kind of there in the background this one is here to bring her in as an origin story.  Anyway, the kids see that someone is moving in a house. They wonder if there’s a kid and this leaves Buster and Arthur to snoop and peak, but they apparently end up thinking that the new family is invisible because the TV turned on without them seeing anyone. (Alex’s remote in Home Alone 3 would mess them up) 

         Buster’s mom tells Buster she wants to interview the new family for the newspaper. That is either a clue or really slow small news town. Arthur wants to be more rational before spreading a rumor that invisible people are amongst them.  They find that the people there aren’t invisible, though Buster doesn’t think they can just switch.  Prunella tells them that her sister with unfortunate name of Rubella (never realized that) said that the new family had to move.  They have alot of statues and painting and Prunella thinks they are a family of art thieves.  (If an eight year can just steal the Mona Lisa, she should be allowed to keep it.) 

Episode 21b: The Perfect Brother

    The Cold Open: Arthur says he likes having friends over. He goes through examples like Buster eats all the food and Francine messes up the house. Those are good reasons. Then he’s like he wishes his friends could just live there, uh oh.  

      The Episode: Arthur is such a good friend that he doesn’t know that (the) Brain’s real name is Allen until memory recall set in.  This is the first episode to mention that so… I guess the viewers weren’t good friends. Arthur is excited his friend is coming over to stay for the weekend.  He thinks about the fun things he and Brain can do during the weekend, acting like brothers. (I wonder what could go wrong?)  D.W doesn’t like the idea because it will be like having two Arthurs around. (Would watch) 

The Cold Opening: Mary Moo Cow is the running program that D.W loves to watch a lot in the series. It also causes the tension between her and Arthur as this is a family with one TV set.  D.W loves the show so much she knows when it’s on instinctually. This is also when kid shows would be on at a consistent time.  

The Episode:  Mary Moo Cow is coming to town, to the mall. D,W wants to see her. She goes to see the cow but then finds out the news  Mary’s event has been canceled.  D.W comes home and she goes to watch the show on TV.  She finds out that this is the last episode of Mary Moo Cow.  Bold for a children’s show to announce it’s over.  Arthur joyfully tells her it’s over.   Mrs. Read tells D.W that’s what eventually happens to all TV shows (even this one!) they get canceled. Everything does, except for “America’s Funniest Home Videos” will out live all of Earth. I’m also guessing the idea of reruns doesn’t pop up here.

Fun fact: the kids’ segment was replaced by having the folks from the new “Zoom” series that first premiered on PBS in 1999, this episode is from 2000. 

more after the jump 

The Cold Opening: We see how close Buster and his Mom are, it’s actually a charming thing you see in this series through out.  But in this episode Buster’s Mom , Bitzi, gets a boyfriend. BB gets a BF. 

The Episode:  I like how it starts with  a Bionic Bunny plot where an alien pretends to be a little girl to trick the bunny. That’s a twist.  Then Buster’s mom gets a call and she giggles like a school girl.  I like how Muffy is correct in saying that Buster’s Mom has a boyfriend, Muffy knows too much.  Buster gets an A and that makes Buster think that Mr. Ratburn is his mom’s BF. (funny) 

  

         No, not a declarative statement there.  The Simpsons does have a lot of episodes about the theme of love,  not many of them take place on or around Valentine’s Day. Here we do have one and a famous on at that. It’s from season 4, and it’s episode 15, under the name “I love Lisa”. 

The Cold Open:  Arthur talks about change and how sometimes it can be strange. Change can be an improvement and how he seemingly enjoyed D.W acting like a cat.  Which is a strange thing to say. What happens if someone changes too much? 

The Episode: Arthur gets paired with Muffy to do an assignment on animals. (what’d the show mean by that?) That means Arthur gets to spend time on Muffy’s yacht (not listening to rock) looking for whales. He was bored,  but Prunella and Jenna are impressed and want to know about Muffy’s yacht and details. They think Arthur is lucky and something sparks in him because of that.  Arthur is easily swayed. 

            Arthur’s lunch falls on the ground, but still in the bag, but what we really learned is that Muffy wastes food.  Arthur drops a book and Arthur repeats what Muffy said  earlier because the book is dirty now he won’t pick it up and repeats her line of vomitrocious. ( A word that should have made into the public use and been used like how we use Simpsons words)  Brain is surprised because Arthur loves books.  Binky and Brain show up return the book, but Arthur thinks Binky wants an autograph and yeah.  

Episode 3b: Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurous 

        The Cold Open:  Arthur says that some people just have to do things themselves but Brain doesn’t like it and he keeps making Arthur re do it. Then he decides to do it himself…ohhhh.  

      The Episode:   Here’s a fun thing, this episode is related to the last episode. What that means is that the events of the last episode are happening during this episode. The report is brought back up and Arthur and Muffy are mentioned as team members. Then there’s Brain getting paired up with Sue Ellen. (Are these shipping episodes?)  So this one is about these two instead. Francine warns Sue Ellen, that Brain likes to do everything himself.  We never got to see the Francine and Buster plot go fully. 

            The Cold Opening: Arthur says that there are some people who love being in the spotlight, while Francine freaks out and Arthur says that’s Francine.  Who apparently then faints as others cheer speech.

        The Episode: Arthur, Francine, Muffy, and Buster go near the creek and find dead fish. Francine’s dad explains that some lawn stuff can get into the creek and cause fish death. Francine takes this personally.  Buster, Arthur, and Francine make a film to warn people about the problem. The acting is better than a lot of films. The parks department wants one of them make speech for the Earth Day thing. Muffy decides that she can do it. Arthur and Buster pick Francine and she accepts.  

More after the jump 

The Cold Opening: Ladonna says after a blizzard is fun(after some correction from Arthur) and how much fun snow can be. There’s a fun charm to Ladonna saying the most random stuff you can do after a blizzard and then Arthur quietly correcting her. The reason is she never has been a blizzard or a snow storm before. 

The Episode: Arthur and Buster go ride their bikes and get annoyed by the old snow being around. Ladonna is excited because she never has seen a blizzard before.  Also I’m wondering does the show snow what blizzard means? I’m trying to figure out if Ladonna has never seen a snow storm before or hasn’t seen a big one.  But also, a blizzard isn’t just snow it’s a mixture of winds and low visibility. I’m over thinking. Anyway, that didn’t happen, once again proving-from a past snow themed Arthur episode- that Elwood City media sucks. 

         

         We dip into season 18 which first came out in 2014. That means time is a scary thing.  I start with the very first episode pairs from this season which aired in October of that year. 

    The Cold Opening: Help! I think Arthur is being held hostage, he’s looking right into our souls and says  “D.W. is perfect, she never does anything wrong.” I’m scared whoever has Arthur please let him go, how much do you want? Then it cuts to D.W doing something wrong and her Dad asking her who ate the chocolate eclairs, D.W denies it and says Pal did, and the parents laugh because her face is covered in chocolate.  Arthur then compares D.W to George Washington.  DW never gets blamed for anything, except this one time.  I’m concerned and scared, please help Arthur. 

        The Episode:  D.W and Bud are bored and their busy father suggests they play a game.  They do, they play games. The thing to notice is that Bud keeps winning the games and D.W’s face is giving me the sense that she is not happy about this. She makes up a game called throw the hat and throws Bud’s hat.  I will note that it is interesting (hello readers from the season 1 premiere episode post) that Bud is seemingly the only “Arthur” male kid with hair.  Make one think. Anyway, throw the hat, Bud throws his hat next and it goes around. Then D.W ends up throwing it again and kills a mechanical frog and says to Bud “Look what you made me Do”. I’d like to think that Taylor Swift was watching this episode when she thought up the title to her 2017 song of the same name. Not really, I don’t really think that. 

            Bud, wanting to do the right thing, thinks they should tell her PA,  D.W imagines that her PA will just say “You’re in Trouble.” I  think the slightest things scare her. Instead, she decides to hide it so he won’t think it was broken.  That’s not the best plan, now is it? Is it? No!? Anyway, Bud wants his hat back, but guess where his hat is?  (You don’t have to guess)  Well it’s way up there and they aren’t way up there. Uh-oh.  Bud wants D.W to ask her PA if he can reach it down. [Yeah, I’m using Bud’s terms , because I can] D.W takes a bold approach to make  sure her father won’t be mad about the frog, by destroying the other stuff in the room too! 

             This episode is kind of funny in how it just escalates D.W’s problem by how much of a mess she gets into.  It’s even funnier because her father wasn’t too bothered about the old frog thing she broke in the first place, so she probably would have been told to be more careful and not throw things in the house, but everything else is messier because she decided to hide stuff. Bud is fun in this episode, he was right.   It’s not a bad episode, very simple, but not bad.  

More after the jump

     The Episode: There’s  a new ride called the Buzzard. This one has Arthur and Ladonna along with their siblings so that’s different. Bud and D.W swear to ride it despite Ladonna saying it’s big and scary. Then again, they find out that they might be too short for the ride. (Couldn’t Bud just un curl his ears?) Funny to see Emily here, and not really being close friends with D.W. anymore, she’s just kind of background character like.  Bud seems be the replacement.  The duo try waffles and scrunchies but that doesn’t work. This episode also has lore as we find out that Bud’s middle name is Tucker.  Doesn’t have anything to do with anything but yeah. 

That’s it for now, tune in next time when you are tall enough to read the next post. Or cheat to read, either way.