User blog:Scrooge200/Season 11 Review

Season 10 is one I actually liked. Will season 11 continue this trend? Also, see my review index!

Swept Away
Season 11 starts off with a good episode! I like the first part of this episode, it's very fun. Arthur, Buster, and D.W.'s sandcastle is visually cool, particularly in the dream sequence. Plus, this episode is set entirely on the beach, which is a change of pace and adds to the atmosphere. There are some jokes I like, such as D.W. disliking the name "Starfish Enterprise" and consistently referring to it as a princess castle. The ending is what really impressed me. It's slightly sad, with a moral about how while good things won't last forever, you'll still have memories of the great times you had. D.W. keeping the starfish from on top of the castle as a necklace is a nice detail, too.

Germophobia
Watching this episode during the 2020 COVID pandemic (or 2021 now...) certainly puts it in a different light.

It explains that neither extremes are good: being a neat freak makes you overly paranoid and nervous, while being dirty means you'll get sick and spread bad germs. Buster's friends aren't happy with either of these. The visions of the germs are truly scary, with the screen warping around the edges and the creepy giggling noises. It's impressive how the harmonica is symbolized as the climax of Buster's bad hygiene. The pool party is also discussed ahead of time, so you have an idea of what the ending will be, but it isn't too predictable. Other than that, I didn't find this episode very entertaining. It's stressful, particularly in the second half. "Wild rice" is a good joke, at least. Okay.

Arthur Sells Out
Here we get an episode dedicated to making fun of false advertising and lame marketing techniques. Jokes like Arthur putting toy soldiers in a bigger box and advertising them as "new larger size" are good, and there's also a surprising amount of legitimate marketing advice, like using appealing colors and stylized fonts. I agree that Arthur goes too far, but he genuinely makes up for it by buying James a replacement for the broken toy he sold him, even skipping out on buying the Dark Bunny game he wanted. And then there's the amazing reveal that the game is nothing like in the commercial and isn't any good, which is very easy to relate to. With the plot of Muffy pushing Arthur and Buster into more immoral business practices, I feel like this episode comes closer to what "Buster's Green Thumb" was going for. I think there's just enough in this episode that I like for me to call it good.

Also, Arthur doesn't know any celebrities? He's met Yo-Yo Ma, Mr. Rogers, Frank Gehry, Ming Tsai... That definitely seems like something you wouldn't forget. And just later this season, Arthur will have his life adapted into a TV show by Matt Damon.

Mind Your Manners
This episode has elements of both "My Fair Tommy," which is given a nice call-back, and "D.W. the Picky Eater." Here, the Tibbles are both really trying to do something nice for their grandmother. And yet, it doesn't feel out of character. There are great moments like when their grandmother recalls an incident at a restaurant (which isn't unrealistically exaggerated like in "D.W. the Picky Eater"), which they happily look back upon and ask if she wants to go there again, or when Timmy spills his drink and Tommy is quick to retaliate before remembering Molly's advice. The "Extreme Babysitters" opening is also very funny. This isn't a super exciting or memorable episode, but again, there's enough to push it to good.

Buenas Noches, Vicita
I remembered not really liking this episode, but when I watched it for this review, I was surprised how much of it worked for me. Seeing how the characters help Vicita is funny, and my personal favorite part is when Buster tries to hypnotize her, and then ends up falling asleep himself. It's realistic that Vicita doesn't remember the story exactly, and ties into the scenes earlier where she points out plotholes and weird elements in classic fairy tales. Arthur and D.W.'s recreation of The Very Magic Mango Tree is impressive. The character designs and animation look kind of strange, and it fits perfectly with something an 8 year old would draw -- in particular, the jaguar and macaw, since Arthur probably hasn't seen those animals and is drawing them based on Vicita's description. There's also a cool wraparound where we get to see the animals in the regular Arthur art style during Vicita's dream. And honestly, this dream is where the episode kind of goes downhill. It's not very entertaining, besides the "magic papaya" line. Raulito's voice got on my nerves eventually. I do like how Vicita finds the real book and Raulito in the same place once she wakes up, though. It's a logical conclusion. Overall, I'll give this episode a high okay since the dream sequence drags it down a bit.

Prunella Packs It In
I'm not really sure what the purpose of this episode is. When I was a kid watching this show, I wasn't even thinking about middle school, much less college. I guess the more general moral is not to overwork yourself when you have plenty of time. Also, Rubella just disappears from this episode after the beginning. I'd have expected her to be the one to tell Prunella she doesn't have to worry about college, not Marina. The ending also means that Prunella will be fine for college, and it'll be Muffy who struggles, so... that's our resolution? This episode also isn't very funny. I like Prunella's nightmare about clown college and the Czech class, but everything else is kind of dull. I'll go with okay.

Phony Fern
Fern gets a flip phone. Parts of this satire do feel dated, like the giant instruction manual for Fern's phone or Muffy being surprised that she hasn't set a custom ringtone. (Plus, only 157? Maybe that was impressive in 2007...) Muffy excitedly shows Fern such amazing features as... instant messaging and the camera. There's also a quick throwaway where Mr. Ratburn has a folder of "Buster's homework excuses", which I found amusing. The moral to this episode is kind of predictable, and I think it could've done more with its topic. It's okay.

Brain's Shocking Secret
I like how this big plot reveal is shrugged off by Prunella, who already knows and doesn't care in the slightest. Either way, this episode kind of reminds me of "Buster's Best Behavior" and "Buster Takes the Grade." Binky is convinced he's a genius, which feels like it should be funnier than it really is. Him inventing moves in Chess is decent, but taking Brain's nickname for no real reason is a bit stupid. It turns out that Brain was held back in kindergarten because he wasn't emotionally developed, which doesn't seem like much of a reason to me. I'm not sure about this one. I'll go with okay.

Baby Kate and the Imaginary Mystery
I really enjoyed the intro to this episode, it has a lot of good jokes and call-backs. This episode starts pretty fast with the mystery, and I did want to see where it would go. Pal and Nemo's team-up has some funny dialogue. I found the ending very nice, where Kate says that Nadine can be her imaginary friend eventually; I wonder if they'll revisit this in a future episode? Either way, I'll give this one a good rating. This is my favorite Pal and Kate episode since the first one.

Strangers on a Train
I didn't remember this episode very well, but it's always stood out to me. It takes place entirely in a new location, has no important recurring characters other than Sue Ellen, and there's this mystery vibe that's not very common for the show. It reminds me a bit of "Unfinished", and it even uses music from that episode during the montage where Sue Ellen tries to find Betsy. You can kind of see the ending coming ahead of time, but the pacing is good, so I didn't mind. There's some really good artwork in this episode, between the designs of the train cars, the flashback of the train over the decades, the black-and-white film parody at the start, and the montage of Betsy's travels. I found the ghost story a bit unneeded, but since this episode is directly named after an Alfred Hitchcock movie, I guess some horror/suspense element was expected. I enjoyed this episode, and I'll give it a good rating.

The Making of Arthur
The framing device of everyone making videos for Matt Damon is simple, but it leads to a lot of funny jokes. I like Buster's nature documentary and recurring dramatic narration, the disturbing slow motion video of George sneezing, Arthur's stop-motion cooking, Muffy the Umpire Slayer... It also has great lines like D.W.'s "What's an edit and how do we get it out?", the very meme-worthy "You tell Arthur Read that he'll never eat lunch in this town again!", and Buster's summary of video editing: "After hours and hours of work, you're done!" Also, the fact that Arthur canonically exists as a TV show within the show's universe. This episode kind of reminds me of "And Now Let's Talk to Some Kids" with its meta humor, and I like that Matt Damon starts the show with a shot of Arthur walking with Pal right outside the house... It's a good episode.

Dancing Fools
I like how George and Francine really don't want to be there at the start of the episode. There's some minor stuff I liked about the dance class, such as Binky joining and pretending he was forced to do it, or D.W.'s frustration in dancing with the Tibbles. It's hard to sympathize with Muffy here, considering she gets upset that Francine is better than her, despite signing her up for the class somehow. When it gets to things like Binky's alley breakdance to intimidate George, I'm not sure what's going to happen. This episode's not bad, but it doesn't stand out to me. I'll give it an okay rating.

Hic or Treat
I like all the Halloween costumes in this episode: Candy Boy, "the 14th century", and, of course, Frankentist. D.W. has a great description of Arthur as "too Arthur-y." It reminds me of the start of "Fernkenstein's Monster", featuring all the stories that really aren't scary at all. "I'm just sitting here in the tub, not waiting for an octopus!" is also a quote I think about regularly. It's ridiculous, but I love how the Dark Bunny/Mary Moo Cow crossover ends up scaring Arthur instead. It's memorable and a classic Halloween episode, so I'll give it good.

Mr. Alwaysright
I laughed a few times in this episode, like the hat shopping sequences of Buster wearing a graduation hat and a Rastafarian hat, particularly with the Jamaican music in the background. This episode taught me about Czechoslovakia as a kid. "Well, then your OPINION was wrong!" is also a great quote. This episode kind of reminds me of "Buster's Growing Grudge", but Buster's legitimate apology to Brain helps make it better. I noticed that there's a slightly continuity nod to "Spoiled Rotten!" in this one, which confused me because it's later in the season. I do find Buster a bit annoying here, so I'll go with okay.

Rating Counts

 * Great: 0
 * Good: 7
 * Okay: 7
 * Bad: 0
 * Vomitrocious: 0

Season Ranking

 * 1) The Making of Arthur
 * 2) Strangers on a Train
 * 3) Swept Away
 * 4) Baby Kate and the Imaginary Mystery
 * 5) Hic or Treat
 * 6) Mind Your Manners
 * 7) Arthur Sells Out
 * 8) Mr. Alwaysright
 * 9) Buenas Noches, Vicita
 * 10) Dancing Fools
 * 11) Germophobia
 * 12) Brain's Shocking Secret
 * 13) Prunella Packs It In
 * 14) Phony Fern
 * 1) Phony Fern