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The ECDC was quite an effort, at its peak it had reviews for almost all of episodes for the first seven seasons of Arthur. I recently decided to pull out the archives from a computer I had in storage and start posting some of the content, since the website’s been long-offline.
Welcome to the The Elwood City Downtown Core. This is a wiki website for the show "Arthur". Thanks to everybody at PBS & CINAR Studios. According to all known laws of aviation, there is no way a bee should be able to fly. Its wings are too small to get its fat little body off the ground.
- Setting
- Production
- Cast and Characters
- Episodes
- Franchise
- Reception
Arthur Read, the series's titular character, is an anthropomorphic eight-year-old brown aardvark who lives in the fictional town of Elwood City. He is a third-grade student at Lakewood Elementary School. Arthur's family includes two home-working parents, his father David (a chef) and his mother Jane (an accountant), his two younger sisters, Dora Wi...
In 1994, Marc Brown was approached by WGBH and PBS about the possibility of adapting the Arthur books into a television series. Brown was reluctant at first to become a part of a medium for which he had little respect, but soon agreed when he learned that the objective of the television series would be to use the powerful medium of television to pr...
Characters
(Clockwise from upper left): The Brain, Binky, Sue Ellen, Francine, Muffy, Buster, Prunella, George, Arthur, Baby Kate Main article: List of Arthur characters Arthur's immediate family is the focus of the series, with most episodes involving Arthur, his younger sister D.W., their parents David and Jane, baby Kate and their dog Pal. Arthur's closest friends include Buster, Francine, Muffy, Binky and the Brain, with Sue Ellen, Fern and George as frequent supporting characters. D.W. often spends...
Voice cast
Unlike most animated television series, Arthurshowcases a wide range of voice actors. Arthur, D.W., Brain, and the Tibble Twins have each had several different actors throughout the seasons due to the producers employing young males for these parts. The resulting effects of voice changes have been particularly criticized by viewers.
Celebrity guests
1. Jack Prelutsky – As himself on the episode "I'm a Poet". 2. Fred Rogers – Mr. Rogers appears as himself in a surprise visit to Elwood City. 3. Art Garfunkel – Garfunkel appears as "the singing moose" in the episode "The Ballad of Buster Baxter." 4. Yo-Yo Ma – Ma appears as Redman's rival. 5. Joshua Redman – Redman appears as himself as Francine's uncle. 6. Alex Trebek – Trebek appears as "Alex Lebek" on the episode when Arthur is on a game show. 7. Michelle Kwan – Kwan appears as herself w...
Each episode of Arthur runs for half an hour. Episodes usually consist of two completely self-contained 11-minute stories. The episodes start off with one of the characters (usually Arthur) speaking towards the audience about a situation within the story followed by the title card. The episodes are separated by a one- to two-minute live-action inte...
Television
In addition to the television series, the Arthur franchise has spawned three-hour-long movies, which are often run on PBS during pledge drives. The latest, Arthur's Missing Pal, was produced by Mainframe Entertainment and is the first animated Arthur project to make use of three-dimensional computer-generated imagery. . Arthur's success has also led to the spin-off series, Postcards From Buster. Postcards from Busterpremiered on October 11, 2004 with several returning characters, and aired it...
Website
The website http://pbskids.org/arthur has been given a rating of 5/5 stars at website Common Sense Media, and has been advised for viewers 5 and up. The site described the show as being, "One of the Internet's best offerings for kids." It however advised that "there are links to PBS sponsors...but other than that, there is no commercial marketing to kids." The review added, "The games are actually teaching your kids something...[for example] The Music Box...combines music and learning, so muc...
Music albums
Main article: Arthur TV soundtracks Arthur has released three music albums. The first album, Arthur and Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD, contained songs that were played throughout the TV series and original songs for the album. The second album, Arthur's Perfect Christmas, contained songs that were played during the television movie of the same title. The third album, Arthur's Really Rockin' Music Mix, contained only original songs, including a remix of the theme song which was pl...
Awards
The series has been acknowledged with the George Foster Peabody Award and four Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Children's Animated Program. In 2002, TV Guide ranked Arthur Read No. 26 on its list of the "50 Greatest Cartoon Characters of All Time."The show has also won a BAFTA and was nominated for 17 Daytime Emmys.
Critical response
A review at MommyPRconcluded by saying "My boys were able to preview "The Wheel Deal", "The Buster Report", "Falafelosophy" and "The Great Lint Rush". As soon as my boys were finished with these episodses (sic) they begged to watch them again!" Dad of Divas' Reviewsexplained that Executive Producer Jacqui Deegan said of the 14th season: About.com gave the show a rating of 4.5 stars. The series described Arthur's assets: The review continued by citing many ways in which children could extract...
In popular culture
The Brain, Francine and Arthur animated in the style of South Park, from the episode "The Contest" Arthur regularly incorporates parodies of and references to pop culture, including, but not limited to, South Park, Jeopardy!, The Waltons, The Sopranos, Beavis and Butt-head, the Indiana Jones adventures films, the James Bond series of films, The Adventures of Tintin, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, The Jerry Springer Show, Oprah, Law & Order, Charlie Rose, Antiques Roadshow, Mystery!, The Tw...
Elwood City's Exploratorium science museum has a large display that shows how lungs work. It's a large clear plastic torso with a working human respiratory system visible inside. The head and face of the model, although being made of clear plastic, are obviously based on Francine.
(ORIGINAL AIRDATE: August 6, 2021)It's a bit of ECL Origins this time around as Will talks with Dave Patman (aka sweatyhorse78), the creator and administrato...
Listen to ECL Presents: Dave Patman (Elwood City Downtown Core) and 328 more episodes by Elwood City Limits Podcast, free! No signup or install needed. Elwood City Limits Episode 203: "The cops!".
