| Arthur | |
|---|---|
| Season 1 | |
 European DVD cover | |
| No. of episodes | 30 (60 segments) |
| Release | |
| Original network | PBS |
| Original release | October 7 – November 15, 1996 |
| Season chronology | |
The first season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS in the United States from October 7 [1] [ better source needed ] [2] [3] [4] to November 15, 1996, and contains 30 episodes with each episode containing two 11-minute segments, making it the longest season of the show.
According to an October 14, 1997 New York Daily News article, each episode this season reportedly cost around $400,000 to make (or $12 million for the entire season). [5]
Funding for Arthur's first season was provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, PBS viewers, the National Endowment for Children's Educational Television, the Arthur Vining Davis Foundations, and corporate sponsor Libby's Juicy Juice.
| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Written by | Storyboard by | Original air date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1a | 1a | "Arthur's Eyes" | Joe Fallon | Gerry Capelle | October 7, 1996 | |
In the middle of the night, 8-year-old aardvark Arthur Read and his 4-year-old sister, Dora Winifred "D.W." Read, peek into a photo album and see pictures of a younger Arthur without glasses. Not recognizing Arthur without them, D.W. believes that she and Arthur had another brother at one point. Arthur, however, clears this up by telling her that he got them during the second grade (when D.W. was two years old) and why he started wearing glasses. In a flashback, Arthur is shown having trouble with his eyesight, which is why he later got glasses. When Arthur's schoolmates tease him for wearing the glasses, he tries to find ways to avoid wearing them, with disastrous results. But after finding out that Wilbur Rabbit, the actor who plays his favorite hero, Bionic Bunny, wears glasses, Arthur becomes more confident about his own glasses, and the teasing soon stops. | ||||||
| 1b | 1b | "Francine's Bad Hair Day" | Kathy Waugh | Jean Sarô | October 7, 1996 | |
With school picture day coming up, Mary "Muffy" Crosswire decides to make her best friend, Francine Frensky, beautiful by giving her a dress and taking her to a beauty salon for a new hairstyle. Francine is mortified with her new hairstyle, gets teased at school for it, and is disallowed by Muffy to play in a kickball game to make sure she looks nice for her school pictures. Eventually having enough, Francine gets in the Kickball game and wins for her team, getting incredibly dirty afterwards. Despite still being filthy when taking her school photo, Francine likes it and even trades photos with Arthur, much to Muffy's chagrin. | ||||||
| 2a | 2a | "Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn" "Arthur's Teacher Trouble" | Joe Fallon | John Pagan & Norm Roen | October 8, 1996 | |
It's a new school year at Lakewood Elementary School, and Mr. Haney, the principal, is assigning every student their new classroom instructor. Arthur and his friends are horrified when they learn that their third-grade teacher will be the infamous Mr. Nigel Ratburn, who is rumored to be the toughest teacher in the entire school. Worse, one of the students, Prunella Deegan, tells the gang false facts about Mr. Ratburn, such as that he eats nails for breakfast without milk and he sends children to death row if they get an answer wrong, making the kids even more afraid of Mr. Ratburn. After overhearing Mr. Ratburn requesting "boy's heads", Arthur and Buster believe that their teacher is trying to kill them, so they spy on him (along with Francine) to see if he does anything out of the ordinary. It eventually turns out that Mr. Ratburn is actually performing a puppet show, with the boy's head being the head of the puppet. Arthur and Buster are relieved to find out that Mr. Ratburn has a soft side, but they are still anxious of his tough teaching and heavy loads of homework. Note: In other countries, this episode is titled "Arthur's Teacher Trouble." | ||||||
| 2b | 2b | "Arthur's Spelling Trubble" | Joe Fallon | Jean Lajeunesse | October 8, 1996 | |
Mr. Ratburn announces that Lakewood Elementary School is having a spelling bee, and all the students have their own strategies to prepare for it, except for Arthur, who only practices one word (aardvark) from a rap song. Fortunately for Arthur, “aardvark” happens to be the word that Mr. Ratburn asks him to spell, which he does correctly, being the only classmate, other than Alan "The Brain" Powers, to pass and advance to the school's Spellathon. In order to do better, Arthur does a lot more studying to improve his spelling, missing out on fun activities with his friends. At the day of the Spellathon, the Brain is eliminated from the competition after spelling the word "fear" incorrectly. Prunella who won the Spellathon last year, is also eliminated after spelling "preparation" incorrectly. Arthur, however, manages to spell the aforementioned word correctly and win the Spellathon. | ||||||
| 3a | 3a | "D.W. All Wet" | Kathy Waugh | Sylvain Proteau | October 9, 1996 | |
D.W. develops a fear of octopi while on a field trip to the aquarium with her class. At home, to mock D.W. for her fear, Arthur plays a cruel prank on her during her bath and is subsequently sent to his room. The next day, the Reads and Arthur's best friend, Buster Baxter, go to the lakeshore, but D.W., thinking that there might be octopi in the lake, is too scared to swim and Arthur and Buster are forced to play with her on the sand, much to their embarrassment. However, after Arthur teases her by pretending to be under attack by an octopus, D.W. overcomes her fear and learns from the beach's lifeguard that octopi is never found in lakes. At the end of the day, Mrs. Read promises that they will go back to the beach soon. | ||||||
| 3b | 3b | "Buster's Dino Dilemma" | Matt Steinglass | Raymond Lebrun | October 9, 1996 | |
On a class trip to a state park, Buster, with Arthur's help, finds a fossilized dinosaur footprint, but the former is dismayed at the rule that all fossils should be given to the museum and not be kept for the one who found it, so he hides the fossil in order to keep it, to Arthur's dismay. While trying to keep the fossil a secret from everyone, Buster realizes that the guilt of stealing is ruining his life and decides to give it to the museum. The museum curator suggests that the dinosaur who made the footprint may have been a baby Daspletosaurus or an adult Coelosaurus and Buster and Arthur are given the credit for finding it. | ||||||
| 4a | 4a | "D.W.'s Imaginary Friend" | Ken Scarborough | Sylvain Proteau | October 10, 1996 | |
Arthur is annoyed when D.W. creates an imaginary friend named Nadine. When the Reads and Buster plan to go to Wonder World, where a new ride called the "Hurl-a-Whirl" has opened, D.W. plans to take Nadine to the park, worrying Arthur and Buster, fearing that D.W. will embarrass them if she were to bring Nadine along. They attempt to find ways to dissuade D.W. from coming but fails. At the park, Arthur tries ignoring D.W. and Nadine, but D.W. says that Nadine wanted to give him extra tickets for rides, because she wants to be his friend, touching him and accepting her imaginary friend. | ||||||
| 4b | 4b | "Arthur's Lost Library Book" | Joe Fallon | Jean Lajeunesse | October 10, 1996 | |
Arthur is the first to borrow the new Scare-Your-Pants-Off book, The Mysterious Hand, from the Elwood City Library, but he accidentally drops it on his way home. Suspecting his friends to have stolen the book, Arthur recruits Lakewood Elementary's class bully, Shelley "Binky" Barnes, who seemingly doesn't like to read, to help interrogate the possible suspects, including Sue Ellen Armstrong, Francine, and Buster. When it turns out that no one has the book, Arthur is forced to pay for the missing book, but it turns out that Binky found it, being initially unaware of who it belonged to until it turned out that nobody else had Arthur's copy. After Arthur discovers that Binky likes reading books after all, the latter warns him not to tell anyone about it, as he is embarrassed to admit it. | ||||||
| 5a | 5a | "Arthur's Pet Business" | Joe Fallon | Jean Lajeunesse | October 11, 1996 | |
Arthur starts his own pet-sitting business to prove he is responsible enough to get a dog of his own. He ends up getting much more pets to take care of than he bargained for, including his neighbor, Mrs. Wood's evil dog, Perky. When Perky goes missing on the day Mrs. Wood is picking her up, Arthur fears that he is not a good pet owner until he finds that Perky has given birth to a litter of puppies (which indirectly explains why Perky was acting so aggressive). As a reward for taking care of Perky, Arthur is allowed by Mrs. Wood to adopt one of her newborn puppies and pays D.W. the $10 he was given after he had promised to pay her for helping him. | ||||||
| 5b | 5b | "D.W. the Copycat" | Joe Fallon | Stéfanie Gignac | October 11, 1996 | |
After Arthur wishes D.W. would be more like him, D.W. decides to dress like Arthur, follow him around, and do the things he likes to do. While Arthur likes this at first, he is soon fed up, especially when his friends start excluding him because they do not want D.W. around. After D.W.'s own friends refuse to play with her due to her changed attitude, Arthur allows her to change back to her old self, though D.W. hints that it was all a set-up. | ||||||
| 6a | 6a | "Locked in the Library!" | Kathy Waugh | John Flagg | October 14, 1996 | |
Francine is furious at Arthur for a joke he made at her expense, which becomes more of a problem when Mr. Ratburn assigns the two to work together on a weekend project. The next day, they go to the library together in order to do research on their project but lose track of time, getting locked inside during closing time. Realizing that the library won't open again until Monday, Arthur and Francine try to find ways to escape separately. Arthur eventually becomes aggressively worried about Francine's safety and tries to save her, which touches Francine when she finds out and they make up. Later, the Reads and the Frenskys soon come to rescue them, and the duo does a report about the acts of heroism at school the next day, impressing Mr. Ratburn. | ||||||
| 6b | 6b | "Arthur Accused!" | James Greenberg | Jean Sarô | October 14, 1996 | |
Arthur is in charge of helping Lakewood's cafeteria lady, Mrs. Leah MacGrady, with a fundraiser, but when he tries to give the money he raised to her, she is distracted by a phone conversation, so Arthur leaves the money in the kitchen. However, the money mysteriously disappears, and Arthur is falsely accused of stealing it, which prevents him from going to a school picnic as his punishment. Buster, acting as a detective, tries to prove Arthur's innocence before the day of the picnic. When he seemingly fails to find any clues, Buster eventually deduces that Mrs. MacGrady had unknowingly put the quarters into brownie mix, clearing Arthur's name and allowing him to attend the event. | ||||||
| 7a | 7a | "Arthur Goes to Camp" | Rowby Goren | Sylvain Proteau | October 15, 1996 | |
Arthur’s friends attend a summer sleep-away program at Camp Meadowcroak, where everything is a competition between girls and boys. When Meadowcroak's rival camp, Horsewater, plays a spooky prank on them, Arthur convinces everybody to compete together in Meadowcroak's annual scavenger hunt, and they manage to win. | ||||||
| 7b | 7b | "Buster Makes the Grade" | Peter K. Hirsch | Nadja Cozic | October 15, 1996 | |
Buster falls way behind with his schoolwork, and is threatened with repeating third grade if he does not improve. Arthur, Muffy, and Francine tutor him, but he struggles to pay attention. | ||||||
| 8a | 8a | "Arthur's New Puppy" | Joe Fallon | Hana Kukal | October 16, 1996 | |
Following the events of "Arthur's Pet Business," Arthur tries to train his new puppy, Pal, to behave, but Pal ends up making huge messes and causing disturbances around the house. Mr. and Mrs. Read try to sell Pal, making Arthur upset, but they change their minds. | ||||||
| 8b | 8b | "Arthur Bounces Back" | Tom Hertz | John Flagg | October 16, 1996 | |
Arthur wants Moon Boots and tries to get money to buy them. While he cleans his house garage, his neighbor, Mrs. Tibble, comes by and, mistaking it for a yard sale, offers to buy a necklace for the amount of money he needs for his Moon Boots. Arthur regrets this decision when he learns that the necklace is a present for his mother's birthday, so he tries to earn it back. | ||||||
| 9a | 9a | "Arthur Babysits" | Joe Fallon | Gerry Capelle | October 17, 1996 | |
Arthur thinks that babysitting is an easy job until D.W. volunteers him to babysit Mrs. Tibble's two identical twin sons, Tommy Tibble and Timmy Tibble, with a bad reputation of being destructive and evil. After some initial struggles, Arthur gets the twins to behave by telling them a scary story. | ||||||
| 9b | 9b | "Arthur's Cousin Catastrophe" | Terence Taylor | Jean Charles Fink | October 17, 1996 | |
Mr. and Mrs. Read are hosting their annual family reunion. Arthur tries to avoid his enemy cousin, Mo Read, who has bullied him during past reunions, while Mr. and Mrs. Read deal with their eccentric relatives. When a thunderstorm forces the Reads to spend the rest of the party indoors, Arthur learns that Mo has been looking for him to ask if he could give her a piano lesson. | ||||||
| 10a | 10a | "Arthur's Birthday" | Joe Fallon | Stéfanie Gignac | October 18, 1996 | |
Arthur and Muffy have their birthday parties on the same day and neither can postpone. While everyone is frozen with indecision over whose party to attend, Arthur and Francine then work together to merge the two parties into one everyone can enjoy. | ||||||
| 10b | 10b | "Francine Frensky, Superstar" | Joe Fallon | Darren Brereton | October 18, 1996 | |
Feeling sorry for Francine getting the challenging roles in all of Lakewood's class plays, the whole class vouches for her to star as Thomas Edison in the next one. However, they regret their decision when Francine tries to take charge and is very aggressive, leading to heated disputes between her and the entire cast. | ||||||
| 11a | 11a | "Arthur's Baby" | Joe Fallon | Gerry Capelle | October 21, 1996 | |
On baby Kate Read's first birthday, Arthur and D.W. reminisce on what happened before Kate was born. In a flashback, Arthur tries to prepare for his baby sister's arrival. Once Kate finally arrives at the Read’s, Arthur becomes convinced that Kate doesn't like him as she cries hysterically whenever he's near her. However, when D.W. is unsure of what to do when Kate won't stop crying, Arthur manages to burp Kate, earning her respect. | ||||||
| 11b | 11b | "D.W.'s Baby" | Joe Fallon | Gerry Capelle | October 21, 1996 | |
Following the events of the previous episode, D.W. feels jealous of the attention Kate is receiving from the rest of the family and tries everything to get rid of her, but nothing works. Discouraged, D.W. attempts to run away to a nearby island, but when her Grandma Thora informs her of how much Kate needs her, D.W. changes her mind and agrees to be Kate's role model. Note: This episode takes place at the same time as "Arthur's Baby" and is shown from D.W.'s point of view. | ||||||
| 12a | 12a | "Arthur Writes a Story" | Joe Fallon | Gerry Capelle | October 22, 1996 | |
When Arthur is assigned to write a story, he writes about how he got Pal. Afraid that people will find it boring, Arthur begins fictionalizing the events using advice from different people. Once he realizes how strange the story is, he changes it back and learns that the truth is still interesting. | ||||||
| 12b | 12b | "Arthur's Lost Dog" | Joe Fallon | Sylvian Proteau | October 22, 1996 | |
It is Downtown Day in Elwood City and the Reads attend a festival. They pass a clown giving balloons and Kate is crying because she wants one. Nobody but Pal understands the crying Kate wanted a balloon, so Pal runs off to get a balloon for her, but Arthur thinks he is running away from him. | ||||||
| 13a | 13a | "So Long, Spanky" | Peter K. Hirsch | Jean Lajeunesse | October 23, 1996 | |
When D.W.'s pet bird, Spanky, dies, she leaves a can of flowers on his grave after his funeral, but finds a toad in it. The toad constantly follows D.W., but she is annoyed that it will not leave her alone. But when the toad disappears one morning, D.W. realizes that she misses it. Once they reunite, D.W. names the toad, “Toady”. | ||||||
| 13b | 13b | "Buster's New Friend" | Matt Steinglass | Jean Lajeunesse | October 23, 1996 | |
Arthur and Buster work on a project together, but Buster does not have the time for the project or for Arthur, instead talking about his new friend, Mike. When Buster keeps forgetting about him, Arthur decides to end his friendship with Buster, until he learns who Mike really is and Buster apologizes. | ||||||
| 14a | 14a | "Arthur the Wrecker" | Joe Fallon | Stéfanie Gignac | October 24, 1996 | |
Arthur borrows a new computer game from the Brain, but Mrs. Read needs to use her computer for tax season. When Buster visits, Arthur shows him the game, but just as Arthur was about to win, he and Buster fight over the keyboard and accidentally knock it to the floor, causing the monitor to shut down permanently. They, with the Brain's help, try to figure out what is wrong with Mrs. Read's computer before she comes home. | ||||||
| 14b | 14b | "Arthur and the True Francine" | Kathy Waugh | Angus Bungay | October 24, 1996 | |
While playing a game of Truth or Dare with Muffy, Francine recalls the time, back in second grade, they first met and became friends. Muffy lies about cheating on a test, causing Francine to be in detention for a week. When Francine is needed for a crucial softball game, and Muffy's lies finally catch up to her, she finally comes clean, allowing Francine to return to the game. | ||||||
| 15a | 15a | "Arthur's Family Vacation" | Thomas LaPierre | François Brisson | October 25, 1996 | |
Arthur is down in the dumps when he misses his second chance to go to Camp Meadowcroak with Buster since he is going on a road trip with the Reads. They face many mishaps such as their hotel reservation getting cancelled and it rains consistently until the last day of their trip. When Arthur gets back, he is lucky that Buster had an even worse trip than him. | ||||||
| 15b | 15b | "Grandpa Dave's Old Country Farm" | Matt Steinglass | John Pagan & Norm Roen | October 25, 1996 | |
Arthur and D.W. visit their Grandpa, Dave Read, who lives on an old, rundown farm. Grandpa Dave disagrees their help running it, but Arthur and D.W. are concerned by the state of things and try to help him fix up the farm with the help of his friends. | ||||||
| 16a | 16a | "Arthur and the Crunch Cereal Contest" | Peter K. Hirsch | Jean Lajeunesse | October 28, 1996 | |
Arthur is determined to win a year's supply of his favorite breakfast cereal, Crunch, by composing a jingle, but he cannot come up with any ideas. He hears D.W. singing a song about Nadine and copies it. Arthur feels guilty, so he mails the song with D.W.'s name instead of his, and it wins the contest, much to D.W.'s confusion. | ||||||
| 16b | 16b | "D.W. Flips" | Peter K. Hirsch | Gerry Capelle | October 28, 1996 | |
D.W. is jealous of Emily Leduc's performance in their gymnastics class and is determined to become better than her, which endangers her when she climbs on a high balance beam and nearly injures herself. Afterwards, D.W. and Emily apologize to one another and become friends. | ||||||
| 17a | 17a | "Meek for a Week" | Joe Fallon | Jean Charles Fink | October 29, 1996 | |
Annoyed by Francine's attitude, Muffy bets that she can't be nice for a week. Noticing how straining the bet is on Francine, Arthur, Buster, and the Brain try to get her to lose her temper, but Francine manages to keep it under control until the bet is over. | ||||||
| 17b | 17b | "Arthur, World's Greatest Gleeper" | Matt Steinglass | Myron Born | October 29, 1996 | |
When Arthur and Buster are forced to eat lunch with Binky's gang, the Tough Customers, they tell Arthur they think he has never "gleeped" anything, but to impress them, he tells them he has, only to find out later that "gleep" is slang for "steal." Rumors spread about Arthur being a thief, while Binky's gang pressures him into their ranks. | ||||||
| 18a | 18a | "Arthur's Chicken Pox" | Kathy Waugh | Russel Crispin | October 30, 1996 | |
Arthur is looking forward to his family trip to the Elwood City Circus, but he gets an unsettling case of the chicken pox, and is unsure if he will get better in time for the event. When his Grandma, Thora Read, visits to take care of Arthur, D.W. gets jealous of the attention he gets and tries to pretend she has it too. | ||||||
| 18b | 18b | "Sick as a Dog" | Joe Fallon | Jean Charles Fink | October 30, 1996 | |
Arthur is upset when Pal has to stay at the vet's office overnight for being sick. He blames D.W. for this, but when the vet tells him that Pal has been eating too much human food, he has to apologize to D.W. and learn what Pal is and isn't supposed to eat. | ||||||
| 19a | 19a | "D.W. Rides Again" | Joe Fallon | Gerry Capelle | October 31, 1996 | |
D.W. gets a new two-wheel bike for a bike-riding fundraiser after the Tibble twins tease her for her tricycle. She tries to learn to ride it with Arthur's assistance. After several injuries, D.W. gets the hang of riding her bike. | ||||||
| 19b | 19b | "Arthur Makes the Team" | Tom Hertz | Jean Lajeunesse | October 31, 1996 | |
Arthur and his friends try out for the baseball team, and Arthur struggles with catching the ball while Francine is unable to throw accurately. When Francine wishes for her father, Oliver Frensky, to kick Arthur off the team, thinking he is the reason for the team not doing well, he makes Arthur and Francine coach each other to get better. | ||||||
| 20a | 20a | "Arthur's Almost Boring Day" | Joe Fallon | Stefanie Gignac | November 1, 1996 | |
Arthur and his friends are assigned to write about what they do over the weekend, but the rain ruins their plans. Arthur and D.W. bother each other and are sent to Grandma Thora's, where she shows them old home movies and comic books that give Arthur a great idea for his assignment. | ||||||
| 20b | 20b | "The Half-Baked Sale" | Ken Scarborough | Jean Lajeunesse | November 1, 1996 | |
Grandma Thora is oblivious to the fact that she is a poor cook, and when she bakes cookies for a school bake sale, Arthur and D.W. try to stop her bad cooking from ruining the bake sale without hurting her feelings. | ||||||
| 21a | 21a | "Sue Ellen Moves In" | Joe Fallon | Gerry Capelle | November 4, 1996 | |
Rumors circulate about Sue Ellen and her family, who have just moved into the neighborhood. Buster jumps to the false conclusion that they are aliens and tries to expose them, but everyone else learns about how Sue Ellen traveled the world and change their opinions of her. | ||||||
| 21b | 21b | "The Perfect Brother" | Joe Fallon | Stefanie Gignac | November 4, 1996 | |
The Brain spends the weekend with the Reads while his parents visit an ice cream convention. The Brain is neat as two pins, finishes his homework early, and reads to D.W., making Arthur feel under the weather for them. When the Brain invites Arthur over to his house, Arthur learns that he is messy and is just acting polite because he is a guest. | ||||||
| 22a | 22a | "D.W.'s Snow Mystery" | Joe Fallon | Gerry Capelle | November 5, 1996 | |
D.W. keeps a snowball in the freezer from "the best day of her life," but it disappears the next day and D.W. is mortified. Buster and Francine investigate, listening to biased accounts of those present the day the snowball was gone. After several arguments and accusations, D.W. lets the incident go as the first snowfall of the year appears. | ||||||
| 22b | 22b | "Team Trouble" | Joe Fallon | Gerry Capelle | November 5, 1996 | |
Arthur, Buster, and Francine are assigned to do a group project on Ancient Rome. They separately work on a comic book, which ends up being inconsistent and not working due to disagreements. They learn that they have to work together to make a good project. | ||||||
| 23a | 23a | "Bully for Binky" | Joe Fallon | Gerry Capelle | November 6, 1996 | |
Binky nefariously teases Sue Ellen, who demands that he apologize. When he does not, she challenges him to a fight to settle it. He is nervous about it, especially when he finds out she knows Tae Kwon Do, and tries to beat her in music instead. When Sue Ellen is better than him in that as well, Binky accepts that Sue Ellen is tougher than him. | ||||||
| 23b | 23b | "Misfortune Teller" | Joe Fallon | Luc Savoie | November 6, 1996 | |
For her half-birthday, Prunella's older sister, Rubella Deegan, gives her a cootie catcher. Rubella claims that it can tell the future and the answers it gives do come true. Arthur and his friends begin following the advice of the cootie catcher. When the catcher is ruined, they realize that they should not let it control their lives. | ||||||
| 24a | 24a | "Arthur's Tooth" | James Greenberg | Jean Charles Fink | November 7, 1996 | |
Arthur has a loose tooth, but he is the only one in his class that has not lost any of his baby teeth yet. He tries to pull it out to get Francine to quit teasing him, but nothing works. So Arthur learns that people lose their baby teeth at different ages and tells Francine, only for her to accidentally hit him with a ball and finally knock out his tooth. | ||||||
| 24b | 24b | "D.W. Gets Lost" | Joe Fallon | Kevin Currie | November 7, 1996 | |
D.W. wants earrings because Emily has them. Mrs. Read then takes her shopping for earrings the next day, and while at the superstore, they run into Muffy's father, Edward “Ed” Crosswire, who needs to speak with Mrs. Read. All fed up, D.W. wanders off and gets lost in the store. While trying to find her way back, she runs into Emily and sees her earrings have turned her ears green. Upon returning to Mrs. Read, D.W. changes her mind about wanting earrings. | ||||||
| 25a | 25a | "D.W. Thinks Big" | Judy Rothman | Gerry Capelle | November 8, 1996 | |
D.W. wants to help out at her aunt Lucy's wedding, but she is too little to do anything. Arthur is the ring bearer and their rude cousin, Cora, is the flower girl. During the wedding, Cora distracts Arthur, causing him to accidentally throw Aunt Lucy's ring into the organ pipes. Arthur is too big to crawl into the organ and Cora does not want to get dirty. D.W. volunteers and successfully retrieves the ring. As a reward, Aunt Lucy allows D.W. to be both the ring bearer and flower girl. | ||||||
| 25b | 25b | "Arthur Cleans Up" | Matt Steinglass | Jean Charles Fink | November 8, 1996 | |
When Arthur complains about the state of the park, Mr. Read starts a brigade for him and his friends to clean it. Arthur's friends are enraged at him for starting the brigade, despite him trying to explain that it was Mr. Read’s idea, and not his. As a result, Arthur has to do the job himself with only Oliver advising him. However, the next day, Arthur stands up to the Tough Customers when they tease him and orders them to help him clean the park. Arthur's friends decide to help him after overhearing the incident with the Tough Customers. | ||||||
| 26a | 26a | "My Dad, the Garbage Man" | Kathy Waugh | Jean Sarô | November 11, 1996 | |
Mr. Ratburn's class goes on field trips to several of the students' parents at work to learn about careers. Francine is embarrassed by Oliver's job as a garbage man and tries to cover it up by informing her friends that he is in a secret organization and just pretends to be a garbage man for cover. However, Francine eventually decides to admit that Oliver is really a garbage man when everyone sees that he built a playground out of things he found at the dump. | ||||||
| 26b | 26b | "Poor Muffy" | Ken Scarborough | Gerry Capelle | November 11, 1996 | |
Muffy is allergic to the new carpet in her house, so she stays with Francine while the carpeting is being removed. During Muffy's stay, Francine is unable to handle Muffy's spoiled feelings, and Muffy can't deal with the less-than-wealthy condition in which the other Frenskys live. | ||||||
| 27a | 27a | "D.W.'s Blankie" | Tom Hertz | Stéfanie Gignac | November 12, 1996 | |
D.W. loses her favorite blanket, so she enlists Arthur's help to search for it, retracing her steps over the entire Elwood City. D.W. is upset when none of the businesses have her blanket, but when she struggles to sleep without it, Mrs. Read hands it over to D.W., telling her that she washed it. | ||||||
| 27b | 27b | "Arthur's Substitute Teacher Trouble" | Joe Fallon | Nadja Cozic | November 12, 1996 | |
Mr. Ratburn loses his voice and his sister, Ms. Rodentia Ratburn, substitutes for him. She is a kindergarten teacher, and although the class is glad to have some easy work at first, they soon get bored and they realize they miss Mr. Ratburn's tougher classes, so a cured Mr. Ratburn returns early from his week off. | ||||||
| 28a | 28a | "I'm a Poet" | Joe Fallon | Kevin Currie | November 13, 1996 | |
Fern Walters, one of Mr. Ratburn’s students, is the only one in class to enter a poetry contest, which is to be judged by famous poet Jack Prelutsky. The others think poetry is uncool, and start making fun of her. Fern bets them if they cannot write and submit their own poems, they must join the poetry club for a year. In doing so, Fern's friends find writing poetry fun. Guest star: Jack Prelutsky as himself. | ||||||
| 28b | 28b | "The Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club!" | Terence Taylor | Angus Bungay | November 13, 1996 | |
When their favorite series of books is banned from the library by a parental organization who believe scary books are mature for children, Arthur and his friends get together a petition to get them back — all except Muffy that is, as it turns out that Ed and Mrs. Crosswire are the founders of the parental group. Everyone gets a surprise when the books' author arrives to defend her books, and she happens to be Ed's former teacher. | ||||||
| 29a | 29a | "My Club Rules" | Joe Fallon | Gerry Capelle | November 14, 1996 | |
Arthur and his friends create a club to exclude D.W., but neither can agree on the rules. Everyone starts creating their own clubs with strange rules, alienating those who want to join. | ||||||
| 29b | 29b | "Stolen Bike" | Kathy Waugh | Angus Bungay | November 14, 1996 | |
Francine's bike is too small for her, so Oliver finds his old bike, except she is embarrassed by the fact that it is old and rusty. When her friends tease her about the bike, she hides it and pretends it is stolen. The bike then gets thrown out, and when Oliver finds it, broken, they work together on fixing it up. | ||||||
| 30a | 30a | "Arthur's First Sleepover" | Joe Fallon | Jean Lajeunesse | November 15, 1996 | |
Arthur has his first sleepover with Buster and the Brain, even with all the talk of UFOs. D.W. wants to join them so that she can take a picture of a UFO. But the trio keeps declining her, so D.W. plays a prank on them with a flashlight in retaliation, and payback strikes when they surprise her with a fake alien, then tricking her into spotting a fake UFO. | ||||||
| 30b | 30b | "Arthur's New Year's Eve" | Joe Fallon | Darren Brereton | November 15, 1996 | |
Arthur has never stayed up until midnight on New Year's Eve. His friends all have different claims on what happens at midnight, so Arthur tries to stay up until New Year's Eve to find out what occurs. He is dismayed when he sleeps through it, although Grandma Thora reassures him that the following year will be exciting. | ||||||
In Europe, the season was released in full on a 3-disc set by Delta Leisure Group on April 7, 2008. In the US, select episodes were released on compilation VHS and DVD releases from Random House Home Video.
Arthur is an animated television series for children ages 4 to 8, developed by Kathy Waugh for PBS and produced by WGBH. The show is set in the fictional U.S. city of Elwood City and revolves around the lives of Arthur Read, an anthropomorphic aardvark, his friends and family, and their daily interactions with each other.
Mister Rogers' Neighborhood is an American half-hour educational children's television series that ran from 1968 to 2001. It was created and hosted by Fred Rogers. Its original incarnation, the series Misterogers debuted in Canada on October 15, 1962, on CBC Television. In 1966, Rogers moved back to the United States creating Misterogers' Neighborhood, later called Mister Rogers' Neighborhood, on the regional Eastern Educational Television Network. The U.S. national debut of the show occurred on February 19, 1968. It aired on NET and its successor, PBS, until August 31, 2001.
Degrassi High is a Canadian teen drama television series created by Linda Schuyler and Kit Hood. It is the third entry in the Degrassi franchise and the direct continuation of Degrassi Junior High, and was broadcast on the CBC from 6 November 1989 to 18 February 1991.
The second season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS in the United States from October 20, 1997, to April 17, 1998, and contains 20 episodes. This season, like seasons 1 and 3, was released on DVD in Europe only; due to the fact that this was actually two production seasons combined into one long season for US airings, the first ten episodes for this season can be found on the "Series 2" DVD and the last ten can be found on "Series 3."
The 3rd season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS in the United States from November 16, 1998 to January 1, 1999 and contains 15 episodes. This season, like seasons 1 and 2, was released on DVD in Europe only.
The 4th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS in the United States from October 4 to 18, 1999 and contains 10 episodes. It is the last season with Luke Reid voicing Brain. Oliver Grainger has replaced Michael Caloz as D.W. due to Caloz's voice changing after the previous season.
The 5th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS in the United States from September 25 to November 27, 2000, and contains 10 episodes. The special "Arthur's Perfect Christmas" served as the finale to this season. Steven Crowder replaced Luke Reid as Brain. This is the last season where Michael Yarmush voices Arthur due to his voice changing. Starting in season 9, he returns to voice the character Slink, one of the Tough Customers. Yarmush additionally will return to play Arthur one more time in the final episode of the series, "All Grown Up" by voicing the character's adult self. This is also the last season where Ricky Mabe voices Timmy Tibble due to his voice changing as well. Alex Trebek guest starred as Alex Lebek on the season premiere "Arthur and the Big Riddle".
The 6th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS in the United States on September 24 to November 26, 2001 and contains 10 episodes. A shortened version of the remix of the opening theme song, "Believe in Yourself", is played at the ending credits of this season as a promotion for the third music album of the franchise. Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan guest starred on "The Good Sport" as herself. Justin Bradley replaced Michael Yarmush as Arthur, due to him getting too old to keep playing him and this is the only season where he voices him. Executive producer Carol Greenwald and Peter Moss said the reason was because Bradley's voice was too deep and lacked the vocal range of Michael Yarmush. Samuel Holden also replaced Ricky Mabe as Timmy Tibble. This is the last season where Steven Crowder voices Brain. This is also the last season where Oliver Grainger voices D.W. The versions of these episodes with Bradley's voice were distributed in International VHS and DVD home media, and they are still aired on TV in countries outside and in North America.
The 7th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS in the United States from October 8 to November 29, 2002 and contains 10 episodes. The special "Arthur, It's Only Rock 'N' Roll" served as the premiere of this season. Jason Szwimer replaced Oliver Grainger as the voice of D.W. Alex Hood is cast as the new voice of Alan "The Brain" Powers, replacing Steven Crowder. Mark Rendall replaced Justin Bradley as Arthur. This is the last season in which Patricia Rodriguez voices Catherine Frensky, this is also the last season Vanessa Lengies voiced Emily, and this is the final season where Jonathan Koensgen voices Tommy Tibble, and this is the last season in which Mitchell Rothpan voices George Lundgren. The series won a Daytime Emmy in 2003 for Outstanding Sound Mixing - Live Action and Animation.
The 8th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS Kids in the United States from September 15 to December 26, 2003 and contains 10 episodes. This is the last season with Mark Rendall and Patricia Rodriguez voicing Arthur and Sue Ellen Armstrong, respectively, as well as the last season before CINAR, the show's original production company, was rebranded as Cookie Jar Entertainment the following year. Evan Smirnow replaced Mitchell Rothpan as George and this season is the only one in which he voices the character. Alexina Cowan and Sally Taylor-Isherwood also replaced Patricia Rodriguez and Vanessa Lengies as the voices of Catherine and Emily, respectively.
The 9th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS Kids Go! in the United States from December 27, 2004, to April 8, 2005, and contains 10 episodes. Cameron Ansell replaced Mark Rendall as the voice of Arthur, Jessica Kardos replaced Patricia Rodriguez as the voice of Sue Ellen Armstrong, Eleanor Noble Replaced Evan Smirnow as the voice of George, and Paul-Stuart Brown replaced Alex Hood as Brain. However, Brown shared this with Alex Hood who also voiced Brain since season seven. But in Seasons 10 and 11, Brown provides Brain alone. This is also the last season where Alex Hood voices Brain, as well as the first season where Cookie Jar Entertainment produced this series after the CINAR-Cookie Jar rebrand. It produced the series until the end of Season 15, when it merged with DHX Media.
The 10th season of the television series Arthur was originally produced in 2005 and broadcast on PBS Kids Go! in the United States from May 15 to May 26 of 2006 and contains 10 episodes. The DVD set for the season was released in region 1 on March 25, 2008. This included downloadable teaching materials and described video for the visually impaired. The season's guest stars are Édgar Rentería, Mike Timlin, Johnny Damon, and Ming Tsai. This is the last season in which Jason Szwimmer voices D.W. This is the second season of Arthur where the episodes aired in one month, following season 4.
The 11th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS Kids Go! in the United States from June 25 to September 7, 2007 and contains 10 episodes. This is the last season in which Cameron Ansell voices Arthur. Starting in season sixteen, he returns to voice the new character Rafi. Robert Naylor replaced Jason Szwimmer as the voice of D.W. This is also the last season in which Paul-Stuart Brown voices Brain. This is the last season animated by AKOM.
The 12th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS Kids Go! in the United States from October 6, 2008, to April 24, 2009, and contains 20 episodes. The 10 episodes listed below were broadcast as season 12, and the other 10 were broadcast as season 13. This resulted all of season 13 episodes airing in several countries such as Canada and United Kingdom for many months prior the U.S. broadcast. This season was created and originally aired in the 16:9 widescreen format in Non-US markets though still in 480i; in the U.S., they were and continued to be aired in 4:3, with the left and right sides cropped out. The animation was produced by Animation Services HK Ltd. instead of by AKOM. This was also the first season where Michael Hirsh was credited as the executive producer.
The 13th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS Kids Go! in the United States from October 12, 2009 to April 9, 2010 and contains 10 episodes. All episodes from this season aired on several countries outside the U.S., such as CBBC in United Kingdom and TVOKids in Canada, prior to their U.S. air dates.
The 14th season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS Kids Go! in the United States from October 11, 2010 to April 29, 2011, and contains 10 episodes. Season 14 began screening at Israel in late August 2010 and on ABC2 of Australia on September 27, 2010. It has also screened in United Kingdom on CBBC since November 1, 2010. The second half started on Earth Day 2011 and ended the day before the Royal Wedding the next day.
Thomas & Friends: All Engines Go is an animated comedy children's television series developed by Rick Suvalle that premiered on Cartoon Network's Cartoonito block in the United States on September 13, 2021, and on Treehouse in Canada on September 18, 2021. It is produced by Mattel Television and animated by Nelvana.
Arthur by Marc Brown | |
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