When we did special posts about Arthur , it apparently started something of a trend of Arthur being written about here on this blog. I guess it would be apt to write about a special and a recent one too. (Guess We will call it a look now) It was an hour long special that PBS aired on Memorial day as a week to kick off a week of new episodes where they were rounding up season 20's (yes season 20) final episodes.
To screw with continuity or something it's D.W's birthday again but this time they felt it was thing to celebrate with an hour long special.
It starts with D.W getting cake she tries to blow out the candles but some of them decide not to cooperate. The Tibble twins decide to "help" blow out the candles and of course they blew some cake in her face. DW starts telling us (the audience , oh great she can see you) and it flashes back to her waking up and yes she's turning 5. (retconning there eh, Arthur?) She thinks that birthdays should be sunny and she envisions the sun singing. (I am hiding in the corner now) When she looks out the window she notices something , (guess what?) it's raining. (Theory :some other person also has their birthday on the same day and really wanted rain.) D.W had been dropping hints on a toy she really wanted for her birthday. A singing puffin toy that teaches kids the alphabet (puffin, finally a different bird on TV, take that penguins) When she gets her presents she doesn't get the puffin.
What would you like for your birthday D.W? / Copyright WGBH
She's also is un happy that Emily came in a fancier dress and bigger tiara , Bud keeps winning the games they play ,and the Tibbles being themselves. The cake was wrong too. To summarize : Birthday not going to D.W 's liking. D.W suggests they play hide and seek. She decides to hide under the stairs. She was taking with her imaginary friend Nadine, who brings up something important -- This show is called Arthur where the heck is Arthur? We are 7 minutes in well, thanks to Nadine she lets the show transition to Arthur.
Arthur and his friends are at a trip at the Planetarium , he is happy to be missing his sister's birthday party. He explains that D.W's birthdays make him miserable since he has to do everything she says. (It's awkward when she asks him to kill for her.) Ledonna asks is he going to something for her anyway. He got her a card, one that says "To the world's best little Brother" (oops). Arthur also has not gotten her a present.
Back to D.W , nobody has found D.W yet, she thinks they stopped looking. Nadine got her a present : a ticket to a place called Ukubonga (bless you) . DW decides to go there , how to get their you ask? Why magic of course. (Of Course!)
Tickets non refundable / copyright WGBH
D.W heads to Ukubonga and she lands on an Island filled with monsters (of course!) and they look like people she knows , the ones at her party. D.W apparently is the chosen one (always have to have one in a movie) and she is made their queen. Since she is queen they have to listen her. She and monsters party all day. (Also there's a song )
The look familiar/ copyright WGBH
Back at the party , her friends are still looking for her. (No one ever thinks to look under the stairs do they?) It's apparently a new day in Ukubonga and D.W is happy that she keeps winning and the monsters do whatever she wants. Meanwhile , they mention that there's another monster on island called Ruthra (coughs) he's the meanest rudest monster on the island. DW wants to see him anyway. So they capture him. The captured Ruthra doesn't to be with D.W or do anything she says so D.W torture him with a song. (Well that got dark)
RUTHRA -cough cough /copyright WGBH
The other monsters suggest things to do him , but D.W stops them and says that he's interesting because he doesn't do what she says. D.W stops the torture song and tells Ruthra that she gets tired of people doing everything she says. Ruthra agrees and he flashes back to the time he used to be king. Oh yeah his flashback is Arthur , incase the name didn't give you a clue. On his 5th birthday he hid under the same stairs and ended up in Ukubonga too. He says he loved the island and getting everything we wanted but he bored and quit being king. Ruthra also explains that you can leave the island. (this got dark quick) D.W says she is going to go home and taking Ruthra with her. Ruthra helps her escape but he gets stuck on the island .
Meanwhile Arthur's plot line is after the Jump.
Arthur fell asleep at the planetarium and when he awakes he and his friends apparently got stuck in a warm hole and jumped ahead 4 years to the date. (I hate when that happens) This means Arthur and friends who were there are still 8 years old and everyone else out there is 4 years older. The town has changed a little bit ,but still looks pretty much the same. Arthur goes home and is greeted by baby sister, Kate, who is now of course 4 years old. because time. She's wearing D.W's old clothes because reasons. Since 5+4 is 9 , D.W is turning 9 and she's out with her friends because it's still her birthday. Even his dog got older. D.W doesn't go by D.W anymore she now goes by Dora. Apparently D.W's room is Arthur's room .( Arthur's parents weren't expecting him back where they?)
Kate is wearing D.W's clothes but their parents have new clothes hmmm/ copyright WGBH.
Arthur and Kate play games with each other when D.W shows up and she looks different ---including the wearing of glasses. D.W would not be in the same class with Arthur because she's skipped a year. Arthur and D.W talk to each other for while and he seems to be alright. (What could go wrong?)
D.W has changed also glasses are in the family / copyright WGBH
It's the next day now , and Arthur slept in Kate's room because I really think his parents weren't expecting him back. Kate wakes him up. He goes downstairs where Buster is eating breakfast with D.W. She tells them that bowling is retro and she's going to the hover -park. Arthur and Buster join her to see what this future thing is. It's a like a skateboard park but you ride on a board and air makes you hover. D.W says she has to leave because she has tons of homework, but lets him and Buster use her pass. When he gets home he sees her and her friend laughing.
He feels left out that she doesn't want to do anything with him or need him. While Kate remarks that no one wants to be with her . He decides to talk to D.W and apologize for not being the best older brother. She accepts it ,and Arthur thinks something is resolved, but then he asks her if she would like to spend time with him after school tomorrow, but she brushes him away. Still feeling bad decides to play with Kate when she asks him. Then he is woken up by Buster.
Now we can combine the two plots again for the conclusion.
Arthur leaves the planetarium (yes all that was a dream) to get D.W a present but from his dream he remembers that she wanted the puffin toy. Apparently D.W's thing was also dream ,maybe I am not sure. She also hasn't been found. Arthur comes home and sees her friends sitting down after looking for her. He kind of figures where she would be. He goes under the stairs and gives her , her present and the messed up card. He tells her that he likes her and she says the same. They decide to stay under the stairs for a little.
That's the special , honestly Arthur might need his own tag here on the blog. My review : The last 4 minutes made me tear up a little. D.W's plotline had her finding out that having everything going her way might be fun at first but then it gets a bit much. Arthur's plotline where he pretty much is placed in D.W's shoes is interesting , he learns that maybe he should be more willing to spend time with D.W, not all time sure, but more. I like the way Kate and Arthur are placed in the same ground where D.W doesn't want to spend time as much with both of them. Arthur couldn't really get older D.W to spend more time with him, so he learns from what he feels were his mistakes and plays with Kate.
The flow of the special is not bad , I broke it up in this post but the special does transition between the two evenly. The first fourteen minutes of build up isn't too long it sets up our story very well and it's not rushed or too slow where you feel like hey get to something already! The Island is bright and colorful and the monsters seem to also hearken to the book "Where the Wild things are". The future is futuristic but not too futuristic where it makes on sense, since things don't change that much in 4 years ascetically. The joke about the phone lands because those do change alot. Really the change happens in people and infrastructure work takes longer. It did fit in with the show always trying to feel timeless but still modern. 9 Year old D.W works well because of course she's not going to be like 4 year old D.W and would get tired of her nickname or grow to except her real name and tastes do change.
It is always nice to see that while Arthur and D.W do fight sometimes they do care for each other and this series has always been consistent on that. Another thing to note yes, D.W did turn 5 before in the show , back in season 3 with D.W's perfect wish, so yeah they did it again.
Tune in next time when we get sucked in a wormhole and start writing about things 4 years later.
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We may do more Arthur stuff soon, if you have an episode you think we should do, you can comment below, email us : mychiller@gmx.com tell us on our facebook , twitter, or Google plus that info is here.
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