Postcards from Buster (episode)

This article is about the Arthur episode. You may be looking for the spin-off series.

"Postcards from Buster"
Season/Series:	8
Number in season:	6
Original Airdate:	December 22, 2003 December 24, 2007
Credits
Written by:	Peter K. Hirsch
Storyboard by:	Jeremy O'Neill
Episodes
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Read transcript

"Postcards from Buster" is the sixth episode in the eighth season of Arthur. It is a two-part episode.

Summary

Buster is going to New York to meet his dad, and the Reads are going with him.

Plot

Buster is about to start his travel with his dad, and Buster is convinced that his mother is going to miss him. Meanwhile, D.W. wants to see "Unicornucopia", a one-star rated play showing in New York City, so she tries to save money through every way possible.

After Buster is finally convinced that his mother won't miss him as much as he thought and that he won't have to worry about her, he decides to go to N.Y.C. with Arthur anyway. While D.W. and her parents go to see the play, Arthur and Buster explore New York City with Bo. First, they go to Chinatown, but the car gets towed since Bo was parked illegally. Then, they go to El Barrio and meet up with subway break dancers and a sidewalk chalk artist. Then they try to meet Los Viajeros at "The Point", a children's recreation center in the Bronx, but they get lost. They ask some girls if they know the way to "The Point" which they do find, but don't meet up with Los Viajeros because they aren't there. Suddenly, Arthur realizes that he was supposed to see "Unicornucopia" with his family, so Bo takes him and Buster to the building where the play is performing, but Arthur ends up missing the play entirely. But this ends up being a good thing, because the play wasn't even that good (not even D.W., who's obsessed with horses and unicorns, liked it).

In the end, Arthur thanks Buster and Bo for a good time, because of how much of New York City they were able to explore.

Characters

• Buster Baxter
• Arthur Read
• D.W. Read
• Bo Baxter
• David Read
• Jane Read
• Chinese Baker (live action)
• Break Dancers (live action)
• Dr. De La Vega (live action)
• Boy at "La Fonda Boricua" (live action)
• Sharay (live action)
• Jasmine (live action)
• Bitzi Baxter
• Thora Read
• Nadine Flumberghast
• Ramón Molina
• Kate Read(cameo)
• Pal(cameo)
• Otis(cameo)
• Unknown Male Adult Rabbit (Number 3)(cameo)
• Unknown Female Adult Rabbit (Number 4)(cameo)

Trivia

• The Chinese baker shows Buster zongzi, the Chinese version of tamales. They are traditionally wrapped in bamboo leaves.
• Bo Baxter and the boys change subway trains at Grand Central Station.
• D.W. and her parents visit Central Park and plan to go to the Museum of Natural History.
• Bo Baxter and the boys have to leave the train at El Barrio, also known as Spanish Harlem or East Harlem.
• The restaurant La Fonda Boricua is at 169 East 106th Street.
• In La Fonda Boricua, Buster is shown pasteles, the Puerto Rican version of tamales.
• D.W. and her parents have lunch at the Hotel Metropole.
• Valencia Bakery is at 801 Edgewater Road.
• The Point is a youth center at 940 Garrison Avenue.
• This is the first episode in which Arthur meets Mr. Baxter in person.
• The May May Gourmet Chinese Bakery restaurant that Arthur, Buster, and Bo visit closed in late 2007, almost four years after this episode aired.
• This episode does not feature an And Now a Word from Us Kids segment at all.
• Bo's hairstyle looks different in this episode compared to the Postcards from Buster series, where he has much more hair.
• This is the pilot episode of the Postcards from Buster series, which premiered the following year. The main gimmick of the series, like this episode, is the scenes being filmed with Buster's camrecorder feature live-action scenes, with real live-action people in them.
• D.W. catches Arthur eavesdropping, but she mispronounces it "ear dropping" when she meant to say "eavesdropping".

Cultural references

• This is the second real world city the Reads travel to, the first being Washington D.C. in "D.W. Goes to Washington".
• The famous sights from D.W.'s postcards are supposed to be the Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center and the Statue of Liberty.
• D.W.'s imagination sequence about living in a hotel refers to the book series, "Eloise".

Errors

"We will notlet Arthur eat.I must eat!"

• The "video" section of the Arthur website contains many closed-captioning errors, a common issue with episodes from early seasons of the show. This is likely because the video player combines the main closed captioning track with a secondary track in which the dialogue is simplified for easier readability among children under 8. This is the only post-Season 7 episode to have this feature:
  • Arthur's mother is first referred to as "ARne)."
  • When static appears, the captions read "This phoneis [sic] not good. (static buzzing)"
  • D.W. suggests putting Arthur on a diet. The captions "We will notlet Arthur eat.I must eat!" [sic] appear.
• The aircraft model changed several times, in animation, it shows Boeing 727, when take off it changed to McDonnel Douglas DC-10 , but in live action footage, it's Airbus A320.
• Bo tells Buster to point his camcorder out the window to get a shot of the plane taking off. However, FAA regulations at the time required that personal electronic devices be turned off during taxi, takeoff and landing.

Production notes

• This episode has never been aired on UK television.^{[citation needed]}

Episode connections

• This was the second time Bitzi Baxter cries. The first time was "Buster Makes the Grade."
• When Buster says "We're lost!" is similar to the episode Lost! where Arthur is the one who is lost, but it's Arthur, Buster and Bo who get lost, not just Arthur alone.

Gallery

Promotional images

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  Buster and Arthur on the subway

Screenshots

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