User blog:Scrooge200/Season 1 Review

Note: This review is in progress.

I am going to try to review each season of Arthur, starting with Season 1. I remembered this season being terrible, so let's see if that's still the case. I will rate each episode on a scale from Vomitrocious, Bad, Okay, Good, Great. At the end, I'll count up how many of each there are in the season, and give it a rating. I may end up splitting my blog into parts if there are too many episodes to cover in one.

I have currently reviewed 38/60 episodes in Season 1.

Arthur's Eyes
I like this episode's intro. It's funny, particularly the line "you were born with glasses!" Besides some lazy animation, such as when Buster dribbles the basketball and Jenna stares dead-eyed in the background, and when Mr. Marco hands back the tests and all the students just stare with their mouths wide open, the first half is the episode is solid. There's a cool sequence with Arthur trying on different glasses.

But after Arthur returns to school, the episode goes down the drain. He snaps at Binky for commenting "you look different" and asking if he got a haircut. The entire class makes fun of Arthur, but Buster defends him by telling Francine that some people need them to see. In the very next scene, Buster makes fun of Arthur in the cafeteria! He does a complete 180 in ten seconds, and never even apologizes.

Arthur gets home and decides to "lose" his glasses. Couldn't he just leave them at home or bring them to school and not wear them? Anyways, he slingshots them, and they bounce off power lines and land neatly in his bedroom through the window. After a few more contrived attempts to get rid of them, he brings them to school and decides to lose them on the way.

Somehow, the entire school comes to see when he enters the wrong bathroom, and he accepts that he'll need to wear his glasses. He sees Wilbur Rabbit on TV, who wears glasses to read a script. Even though they are most likely reading glasses, Arthur goes to school confident about his glasses, not at all bothered by the teasing. He tells everyone that Wilbur Rabbit wears glasses, and everyone starts to accept that he wears them. Even Francine gets a pair of fake "movie star glasses."

While the first half of Arthur's Eyes, besides the part with Buster, is okay, the second half is badly written. Arthur's glasses always coming back to him is lazy and unrealistic. Then there's the moral: just because a celebrity does something, you're cool for doing it too? And nobody ever apologizes for teasing Arthur, not even Francine.

I give Arthur's Eyes a bad rating. Not a good way to start off the show.

Francine's Bad Hair Day
And the very second episode of the show barely involves Arthur and doesn't include D.W.! I like how this episode shows off Francine's sporty personality right at the start. I think it's kind of weird that all the girls hang out in the bathroom for casual discussion. Francine's daydream of using her hair to play sports is pretty funny, and I like how Francine joins in the kickball game and is still satisfied with her picture.

Arthur and Buster are waaaaay too out of character in the middle. This is the first time we see Arthur being a jerk, and he acts this way surprisingly often in the first few seasons. I don't like how the episode treats Muffy like a bad person, even though she just wants Francine to look nice. All her effort is wasted and she isn't happy with her picture.

As shown by my Arthur's Eyes review above, it's easier to write about something you do or don't like than something unremarkable and average. And that's how I'd describe Francine's Bad Hair Day: average. Or on my rating scale, okay.

Arthur's Teacher Trouble/Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn
Ratburn. Ratburn. Ratburn. Ratburn. Ratburn. Ratburn. Anyways, this episode has two titles. Maybe they thought that Season 1 had too many "Arthur's X Trouble" titles, or maybe they wanted to clear up confusion with Arthur's Substitute Teacher Trouble.

This episode is really funny. There are moments like Francine saying that "boy heads" probably refers to rotten heads of lettuce, "horrifying scary danger," the jokes during the puppet show, Arthur and Buster getting sprayed by water after they enter the wrong tent, and Mr. Ratburn eating nails for breakfast without milk. (I guess he's tough enough to enter the Salty Spitoon.) Even the misunderstanding plot is good because everything makes sense in the end. I really like the moment near the end where Arthur and Buster learn to appreciate Mr. Ratburn and everything he does.

Besides some bad animation with the screaming and the overly long "Ratburn" joke, I can't think of anything bad to say about this episode. I'd consider this episode great. Wow, and this early in the show, too!

Arthur's Spelling Trubble
There's a fun sequence with all the characters studying differently, and it's a great way to show off their different personalities, especially so early in the show. The AARDVARK rap is catchy, but who writes a song that consists of only the word "AARDVARK" spelled out and how would Arthur find it? I like how Mr. Ratburn and Arthur's family, even D.W., are supportive of him. This episode isn't as funny as the previous one, but it does have some moments: "Abbey Road" in Arthur's dictionary is a good one.

This episode would be o-k-a-y okay, but it has just enough nice parts for me to call it g-o-o-d good. This season is turning out better than I remembered.

D.W. All Wet
Well, better up until now. This episode starts with an annoying freak-out from D.W. The aquarium scenes are fine, but they don't do a good job of explaining why D.W. is afraid of octopi. Is it because they're big? Is she afraid of being grabbed by them? I don't entirely understand. Then we get some scenes of Arthur being a jerk. And when D.W. is at the beach, she starts seeing everyone as octopi for some reason. At the beach, Buster is surprisingly grumpy ("I am never coming to the beach with you again!") and he and Arthur get laughed at for playing with D.W... why? D.W. rushes out to save Arthur at the end, but nobody's in any actual danger and we know that there aren't going to be any octopi. And at the end, wow, she actually likes the beach. While this isn't the worst episode to use this ending, it's still a bad one. Not quite vomitrocious, but definitely not good, either.

Buster's Dino Dilemma
Buster gets a one-time dinosaur obsession and is suddenly an expert on the subject. He knows when the different time periods are, screeches at Arthur for misidentifying a fossil, and uses words no third grader would know to describe the process of how fossils are made. He's even called a genius by the park staff... Whatever, I'll accept it for the plot.

The first half of this episode is entirely dinosaur facts. Nothing funny, nothing very interesting, just paleontology lessons. Then Buster decides to take a fossil home, even though he was just explained why they don't let people do that. He does feel guilty about it, even trying to pawn it off on Arthur, but in the end, he gets rewarded for it! What, is he so much of a "genius" that stealing an insanely rare, million year-old fossil is perfectly fine? He gets in more trouble for stealing from a drugstore than a museum!

This episode is boring and the moral of not taking important things and obeying rules is completely broken by the ending. The moral is bad, and the episode in general is as well.

D.W.'s Imaginary Friend
Arthur is a jerk and doesn't want D.W. to go on the ride for fear that she'll embarrass him. Uh, okay. Why would he be responsible for anything she does? And they treat having an imaginary friend like some strange concept that nobody's ever heard of, even though it's perfectly fine and lots of kids do it. And when they get to the amusement park, Arthur whines that D.W. wants to go back and get Nadine, but then he whines even more when she supposedly in there and they don't have to go back home. While Arthur is nice to D.W. near the end, it's only after she does something nice for him. It's not like he realizes that he did anything wrong. This episode has a strange emphasis on gross-out humor with the barf bags constantly being brought up. While Nadine may be imaginary, this episode sadly isn't. It's a bad episode.

Arthur's Lost Library Book
This episode could've been a lot better. I like the pre-title card scene, but the beginning of the episode is long and not very interesting. It takes a while to get to the suspects part, and the three suspects are debunked very quickly. Arthur's nightmare is pretty creepy, but all his stock screams make it more funny than scary. The twist that Binky took the book is interesting, and I liked it. Overall, this episode is okay and there isn't a lot to say about it. I'm just glad that we ended the bad episode chain.

Arthur's Pet Business
I used to not like this episode, but now I think it's just okay. This is the most infamous use of Season 1's exaggeration, with the absurd amount of pets in the Read house. It doesn't bother me as much now, because it does help prove the point that Arthur is being super responsible, taking care of a dozen pets at once plus Perky. And the ending, which implies that Arthur actually will pay D.W. the money she owes, was pretty nice. I don't have a lot to say about episodes as average as these.

D.W. the Copycat
Arthur is really mean to D.W. at the beginning. Then D.W. starts forcing herself to like everything Arthur likes, and there are a few wholesome moments, but still some insults from Arthur. It's episodes like these that make me not like him. The plot of Arthur's friends not including him because they don't want D.W. around goes nowhere. I didn't know if this episode was a high bad or a low okay, but for now, I'll settle with okay.

Locked in the Library!
This episode's humor is a lot more visual and less dialogue-focused. Francine's face after dialing the phone, her and Arthur's faces when they scream "MONDAY!" Arthur falling face-first into a pizza, Arthur eating a page out of a cookbook, the part where they build book staircases... Most of these jokes are funny, though, so it doesn't matter too much. My favorite joke is dialogue, though: Francine asking why anyone would need a book on escaping a library unless they were already in a library.

This episode isn't just funny, either. I love the atmosphere; if you told me that the writers actually did spend the night in an abandoned library to make this episode, I wouldn't question it. Humor, good character interactions, and atmosphere make this episode good. It isn't great because the beginning is long and it has a downer ending: Arthur and Francine have to do their report after all, and Arthur and Buster are mad at Francine.

Arthur Accused!
This entire mystery plot wouldn't have started is Buster hadn't mentioned that he spent all his birthday money playing pinball. I do like the mystery part, although I would've liked it more if Buster investigated the school's students. The episode is very light on humor, having only one joke I can think of, which wasn't very funny. Buster's detective narration is done better in Binky Rules, To Eat or Not to Eat, Binky's 'A' Game, The Case of the Girl with the Long Face... This episode doesn't do much wrong, but it could've done a lot better. And that solves the mystery of why I think this episode is okay, no quarters involved.

Arthur Goes to Camp
This episode is stupid. None of the jokes were funny. The boys vs. girls plot didn't really do much for me. I do like the scavenger hunt scene and how everyone works together to win, but the rest of the episode isn't very good. The skunk scene has to be the worst part. I wanted to call this episode bad, but it didn't bother me that much. Arthur Goes to Camp is okay, if a little cliche.

Buster Makes the Grade
This is an interesting plot, and I care about what's happening because the consequences are severe if Buster doesn't pass. I like how all of Buster's friends try to help him study, but I don't like all the scenes where they do; the "safe" one is annoying and Buster being tied to a tree is too weird. Buster's friends giving up on him after he cheats is kind of mean. The animation and voice acting in this episode isn't as good as other episodes in the season. Buster may get a B+, but I give Buster Makes the Grade an okay. I expected to have a stronger opinion on this episode.

Arthur's New Puppy
There's only one joke in this episode that isn't toilet humor. This episode is entirely Pal destroying things and pee jokes. D.W. thinks Pal isn't smart, but any dog that can unlock the door and jump that high probably has superpowers or something. The conclusion is rushed, as we just get a montage for the part of Arthur and Pal training, then his parents overreacting when Pal can do things like sit. There are a few wholesome moments near the end, but this episode is forgettable and average. I give it another okay. Thankfully, the Pal and Kate episodes starting with The Secret Life of Dogs and Babies are more... interesting. Is that a good thing or a bad thing? We'll find out in my Season 6 review!

Arthur Bounces Back
This is one of the episodes I distinctly remembered hating. Does my opinion hold up? Let's see.

The beginning of the episode is annoying. Arthur wants Moon Boots, bugs his parents, and tries to get them from Thora. Then he sets up increasingly ridiculous booths and is rude to D.W. After he cleans out the garage to get some actually deserved money, he sells his parents' necklace to Mrs. Tibble and buys his dumb boots. He even hides them from his parents! After David tells him what the necklace is, he gets it back, while still keeping his Moon Boots. We are never shown if he returned them.

This episode sends off a really bad moral. It is absolutely devoid of humor and I can't find any jokes. This episode gets no points for originality, because this exact plot is repeated in Arthur Read: Super Saver, Buster's Sweet Success, I Owe You One, and a few other episodes that are of the same quality as Arthur Bounces Back. It makes me mad, but not mad enough to call it vomitrocious. Bad it is.

Arthur Babysits
It surprised me how nice Arthur is in this episode. He's a good babysitter, too, even with the Tibbles. The Tibbles are way more hyperactive in this episode than they usually are in the series, destroying the entire house. This episode is forgettable, and I think it's just okay. Definitely a higher okay episode, and if it had a little more going for it, I'd call it good.

Arthur's Cousin Catastrophe
Am I supposed to laugh at Arthur being physically hurt and embarrassed? Because that's not funny. This is a strange episode, featuring Arthur's extended family members who reappear in Arthur's Birthday, the very next episode, before disappearing from the show entirely. And most of this episode is just Arthur running around the reunion while we get random scenes with all these characters. The ending of this episode makes no sense. It may be weird, but it's kind of okay. Not good, but not bad either. This season is having a lot of okay episodes so far.

Arthur's Birthday
Arthur and his family are really nice in this episode. Arthur is completely fine with D.W. wanting to use his invitations, and she even reminds him to take them to school. It's really wholesome, and I kind of wish we got to see more of this. I love how the episode ends, too, with the boys and girls teaming up to give Muffy a great party. This episode has some funny lines, like "where's Ohio?" and "blow square breaths."

Buster being the one to scream "who needs girls?" is out of character. Francine also acts pretty weird in this episode, wanting to play spin the bottle with Arthur. Still, this episode is good. It's about time!

Francine Frensky, Superstar
I don't know if I'm supposed to side with Arthur and everyone or Francine here. Francine's behavior is justified to an extent; she gets a good role in the play after three cruddy ones, and she's actually studying and putting effort into the play. Yes, she should've put airholes in Buster's costume (and this part is worse after we learn he has asthma), but her other complaints about Arthur not entirely wearing his costume and Sue Ellen's needing a small thing are valid. She does insult them, which isn't very nice, but what's meaner is when everyone goes and ruins the play! And then they make Francine apologize? Yes, the play is done right at the end, but none of the play's actors ever realize that what they did is wrong. This is a bad episode.

Arthur's Baby
Is it bad that Binky handles getting a baby sister better than Arthur? Arthur only wants a baby if (1) he can make it do his homework (the baby's expression implies that Arthur is not treating it well) or (2) he can use it for his own monetary gain. Arthur's friends mock him for something that is out of his control. How would they know about babies, anyways? Only Francine and Muffy have siblings, and they're way older. Arthur thinks Kate hates her, but honestly, am I really supposed to feel bad for him? There's a cute moment near the end, but it doesn't save this bad episode.

D.W.'s Baby
This episode is probably the least interesting one yet. It's boring. There's an entire sequence that's just recycled animations and voice lines from the previous episode. D.W. trying to get rid of Kate is okay, but we know none of her attempts are going to work. The episode's ending is fine. I don't have too much to say about this one. It's just okay.

Arthur Writes a Story
Most of this episode's humor is just random, unexplained moments. These were too weird for me and weren't funny. I only really started enjoying the story once the country song was added; that pushed it into "so ridiculous it's funny" territory for me. Arthur is needlessly rude to D.W. once again this season. I do like Arthur's motivation and how he just wants people to like his story. Did I like this story? Kind of. It's okay.

Arthur's Lost Dog
This is one of the episodes that takes place in a parallel universe where everyone's an idiot. At least, that's the only explanation I can come up with as to why everyone is so stupid here. "I guess we'll never know what was bothering her!" Well, what about the comedy in this episode? There's more stupid humor, like everyone thinking that the bank is going to give away money, and Arthur "blech!"ing at random dogs. None of this is funny. Pal is the only one unaffected by everyone's rampant stupidity, and once again, he has superpowers or something. This episode would be way better if it was post-The Secret Life of Dogs and Babies, because if it was, that would save it from being vomitrocious! This episode has no redeeming qualities!

So Long, Spanky
The death episode already? Spanky's death doesn't have much of an impact because they're a one-off with only two minutes of time on-screen. The episode shifts focus pretty early to D.W. and Toady. D.W. is sympathetic in this episode, because Spanky's death isn't her fault. The scenes with D.W. and Toady get kind of repetitive, since it always ends with Toady being chased away. The preschool scene with Toady is waaaay too wacky for the episode; we go from dealing with the death of a pet to some silly umbrella-floating toad? I do like the ending and how D.W. keeps Toady after all, and I kind of wish she appeared in more episodes. Anyways, this episode is just okay. So long, So Long, Spanky.

Buster's New Friend
"Maybe Buster doesn't like Bionic Bunny anymore." D.W. is right on the money with that guess. Later, Muffy suggests "giving him [Buster] The Silent Treatment," which Francine thinks is pretty harsh. This episode has a few voice acting mistakes: for example, when Arthur says "Something must have happened!" he sounds worried, but he looks annoyed or angry. Maybe Yarmush wasn't given context for that line, or maybe the animators/voice actors miscommunicated. This is minor and doesn't affect the rating, but I wanted to point it out.

Besides those bits, this episode is proto-Besties. Am I supposed to side with rude Arthur and his friends, or Buster? Oh, how dare Buster not include Arthur in everything he does? He can't have more than one friend! Arthur is an idiot in this episode, especially towards the end. For some reason, he doesn't think that people can have friends older than them. What a bad episode.

Arthur the Wrecker
Every joke in this episode just makes me mad. Things like Arthur getting a hand cramp and Arthur and Buster forcing Brain to fix their computer are not funny and just frustrate me. This episode shows that the writers have never seen a computer in their life, especially with the mouse being connected to the keyboard. The ending is really cringey. This episode is just vomitrocious. I can't stand it.

Arthur and the True Francine
Buster is rude to girls again. I don't entirely get how the test thing happened, but it was implied that Muffy cheated. I don't like that they only choose to apologize so Francine can win for them; they only want Francine because she's a good player and not because Muffy actually feels sorry, which really cheapens the apology. Muffy's blatant lies are kind of amusing, but this episode is still only okay.

Arthur's Family Vacation
As D.W. says, "Arthur, this is not funny!" And that's what I think of this episode: not funny. As someone who has gone on many terrible family vacations (including one last month at the time of this writing, which was probably the worst yet), I don't like this episode. Ah, nothing like some traumatic memories to go with my terrible episode. It's insanely predictable and cliche. Just a series of contrived coincidences. Why can't there be a family vacation episode of anything where something good happens? Oh, but wait, Arthur actually did have fun in the end. Because he had one day of fun things, like... a dangerous safari and seeing a scary movie? How does that redeem his entire atrocious vacation? It's episodes like these that make me wonder why people consider Seasons 1-5 to be the high point of the show. This episode is bad, but not vomitrocious because, like my family vacations have taught me, things can always get worse.

Grandpa Dave's Old Country Farm
This is a really mediocre episode. I don't have a lot to say about it. It's odd, slow, and boring. Okay it is.

Arthur and the Crunch Cereal Contest
D.W.'s "letters in alphabet soup" line was funny, and so was Binky calling a composer "some old dead dude." And that's it for the positives. Arthur is incredibly unlikable here. He forces everyone to eat his stupid cereal, screeches at people for playing music, and acts surprisingly rude to Buster after he suggests than he should take a break. And after D.W. sings a song about him as a joke, he starts assaulting her with snowballs! What the heck? And this is the character I'm supposed to be rooting for? Bad episode.

D.W. Flips
I didn't think the whole "D.W. always quits her lessons" thing was necessary, and I don't like the parts with Jane. D.W. imposed the entire conflict on herself by continually doing stupid things and getting jealous of Emily. Emily herself is kind of weird in this episode, since she's never depicted as Ms. Perfect again. She and D.W. become friends at the end of the episode, so that's nice. This episode is kind of mundane and not very interesting. It's the first to focus entirely on D.W. and her preschool friends, which becomes a recurring theme throughout the series. While some of those are better, D.W. Flips stays at an okay rating.

Meek for a Week
''Meek for a week! Meek for a week! Meek for a week!'' Ah, that song is great. But this isn't about the song, it's about its inspiration: the episode. I like this episode. It has a lot of funny moments, like Francine being impressed by the durability of brick, her insulting Muffy, and her walking on her hands. There's also the amazing scene of Francine's head popping off and landing in some kid's lawn. I don't like how Arthur and his friends intentionally try to make Francine mad, but the rest of the episode is funny enough that I can excuse it. For the first time since Arthur's Birthday, we've got a good episode!

Arthur, World's Greatest Gleeper
I like the intro to this episode. I don't like the other parts as much, though. Arthur being a part of the Tough Customers is surprising and a nice temporary change, but my biggest problem with this episode is that "gleep" isn't even a real word. It's not a word at all. Couldn't they just have said "steal" instead of making up a fake word? Or is this just something that they said back when mice were connected to keyboards and they had jokes about messenger? I like the parts with Mrs. MacGrady, but this episode is still okay at best.

Arthur's Chicken Pox
I completely forgot that this was the next episode. It's pretty fitting, considering that I'm sick right now. And I have been for the past week. That's why I had to temporarily stop this review.

I don't know how I'm supposed to feel about D.W. in this episode. She is pretty excited about the circus, and it's understandable that she gets jealous of Arthur and even fakes it, but in the end, she does get chicken pox and doesn't care about the circus anymore. I think it's pretty rude of Jane and David to laugh at D.W., and Thora not caring about D.W. was mean, too. This episode doesn't really stand out, and I didn't feel amused or angry while watching it. It's okay.

Sick as a Dog
Is this episode supposed to be serious? You have things like Arthur's ridiculous nightmare, his... "buzzing" when D.W. reminds him of Spanky dying, Pal flossing at the end, and Arthur inflicting the whole plot upon himself by feeding Pal old Halloween candy. The moral is fine, but I don't like how D.W. is blamed for doing nothing; that's a common problem with this season. Sick as a Dog doesn't make me feel sick, but it doesn't make me feel good either. It's okay.

D.W. Rides Again
This episode takes quite a bit of time to get started and doesn't really have time to conclude. D.W. spends half the episode wanting a bike, then she gets one, learns that her training is useless and she can't use training wheels, then trains and enters the bike-a-thon. I don't like how Francine, Buster, and Brain are quickly rushed out of the plot. This episode is another okay one, and I wouldn't really want to watch it again.

Arthur Makes the Team
Francine isn't even very mean here. Arthur has been way worse earlier in the season. Thankfully, we don't go full-on Francine Frensky, Superstar here and instead Francine helps Arthur. This episode is unmemorable and didn't really hold my interest. It reminded me a little bit of Arthur's Spelling Trubble, but if it was just a little better, I'd rate it good. For now, it's okay.

Season Notes

 * There's a running gag of bad things happening to Mr. Haney. These jokes are kind of hard to laugh at now that his voice actor is deceased.
 * Voice lines from the intro are used in the episodes. This includes Arthur's "hey!" in Arthur's Spelling Trubble, his gasp after he falls off the letters used in Arthur's Eyes, and many stock screams in Arthur's Lost Library Book.
 * Brain&mdash;sorry, I mean "The Brain," as the show calls him before Season 7, is pretty out of character when compared to later in the series. He expresses desire to do less homework and has a messy room.
 * Bitzi is shown to be ridiculously overprotective of Buster. Surprisingly, she isn't in Buster's Dino Dilemma, but she is starting from Arthur Accused! I'm glad that they toned this down later, because it's really annoying.

Rating Counts

 * Great: 1
 * Good: 4
 * Okay: 21
 * Bad: 10
 * Vomitrocious: 2