Arthur: DW the Copy Cat / Arthur's Knee

Arthur  PBS 

      I decided to dip back into another of this blog's interesting mainstays the PBS animated series "Arthur" unless you are  in different country than a show from America by PBS station WGBH in Boston that airs on a channel in your country. We getting pedantic. Anyway, we started doing Arthur talk during the 20th anniversary and have dipped into a few specials as well, so now we take another dip into some episodes.
 

    I'm going to follow the model we did during the 20th. Meaning a random 11 minute episode from 2 different seasons and talk about them.  So here we start with Season 1 with episode 5b called "D.W the Copycat" which first came out partnered with "Arthur's Pet Business" on October 11th, 1996.

     Arthur and DW Read as older brother and younger sister have this dynamic of sometimes  being at odds with each other. There are times where Arthur is annoyed by his sister and rants about her to his friends to their 'delight'. There are times where she is even shown to be annoying either that or this show works through Arthur's perceptions.(Make your own fan theories here)  Though there have times they have been shown caring for each other.  This is an early episode and takes us through a dynamic between the two.
   
   First off the monologue (the part where Arthur talks to us) : Arthur sees DW coloring in his book and then tells us he wonders what life would be like if D.W was different.  So he imagines if she was like his friend, The Brain, or like Bionic Bunny,  or a donkey. (What?)  This is the part where we don't question how this world of animal people works in the first place.

Out of context this is strange, in context this is strange/ Copyright WGBH 

    Now the episode :   Arthur groans that he is bored.  His mother suggests that he should play with D.W. So he decides that he is desperate. He tries but he finds her babyish. She yells at him that he doesn't want to do anything with her anymore and he says that she  does boring things and she should be more interesting , like him.  This gives DW an idea, she starts copying Arthur.  She even starts doing things he likes.  Arthur at first ,kind of likes this but then she goes a little excessive.  She then dresses like Arthur. (It's getting creepy)  He starts to notice that she is copying him (takes him a while). She also wears fake glasses now.  He tells his parents that it's annoying. He overheard his friends saying don't invite him to Muffy's house after school  because of Arthur Jr. (his sister) might tag along. (Mean)  His parents say he should deal with it. He tells her that she should stop copying her and she goes long with it? Was this some elaborate plan?  What happened?!

Rule 63? /Copyright WGBH 

    They are about 4 years apart in age and they have their interests, their may have been a time where they spent time together a lot more but as age has caused a drift as Arthur gets older. D.W just wanted to spend time with her older brother but, he doesn't like her interests. What I am also getting  from this episode was that she was also kind of tricking him. Where the part he says that he finds her boring probably bothered her. (Doesn't look a head at other episodes) Maybe they'll try to get along more later.

   More after the Jump
     Now to season 2. We look at episode 44b or Season 2 episode 14b. This one aired on April 9th (oh my) , 1998.  "Arthur's Knee" is paired with "Sue Ellen's Lost Diary".

          Arthur learns what's worse getting in trouble for doing something he shouldn't have done , or dying?  Wait that got dark.


  Monologue:  Arthur's heart talks to us (this is weird show) and it introduces Arthur's other organs.  But he's missing an organ (what?)  yes, they don't know where his brain  went.

       The episode : Arthur and his friend ,"The Brain" are trying to make a chariot for a project. They need to get a new wheel.  So, Arthur has to go the dump to find a new wheel, D.W says that their parents said they aren't allowed to go there.  He takes D.W with him (to dump her?)  and he goes through the trash pile and finds a wheel but then his leg gets cut on the way back up. He loses the wheel too. (almost as if this was a stupid thing to do.)    D,W wants to tell their parents but, Arthur says don't tell because he doesn't want to get in trouble for going to the forbidden dump.  D.W says Arthur should really tell his parents about this cut. She starts to worry about Arthur and has to grapple with breaking her promise.  She tells "The Brian"and every time yelps in pain she gets more worried. Even implies that he could die. "The Brian" goes all  "Cells at Work" on us and tells Arthur about how body cells work and about infections.  I like the imagery being like Roman guard walls.  D.W tells Arthur to tell their parents. So, we go the doctor who does doctor stuff.  Arthur's mother tells him she is proud he told the truth but he's in trouble for going to the dump.  So, it ends with D.W spending time with him.

This part will melt you/Copyright WGBH 

       D.W is the star of this episode really, she really care about Arthur with her deep concern that this cut is more than just one you can put a bandage on.  The idea that Arthur would fear retribution for doing something he shouldn't have done that makes it relatable. D.W had the hard part of trying to keep a promise or do something she felt was right. I like that, plus it teaches people about your body defense system so that's good.

  Funny enough. I  had all the episodes of season 1(minus the one I did already) same with season 2 run through a randomize and funny that these two come together. They show Arthur and D.W's relationship  in different ways.  D.W wanting to be with her brother  and her being concerned about him because she does care. 

  Tune in next time, when we ban Lima beans.