The Lookback: My Smurfy Valentine

The Flashback Valentine's Day 

       I think this is the first time I've done something Smurfs related (though I may be off) but I think it's time both ways.  There is a Valentine's Day episode of the 1980's TV series called "The Smurfs" that ran from 1981-1989 on NBC (in the United States). This is the 4th Smurfs special that came out over all related to the 1980's series and it aired on February 13th, 1983.

Let's take a look at this special. 

          So the smurfs like Valentines' Day because of course they do and Cupid is real because of course he is.  friendship.   Smurfette wants to have a true Valentine love and asks Cupid like Santa, to grant her wish.  Gargamel is continuing his plans to capture smurfs because that's what he does.  Since this show is called "Smurfs" you know he can't kill the smurfs (until the series finale I guess then have at it)  they play a prank on him with an exploding valentine.  Cupid tries to make Garagamel fall in love (with whom?)  but he says that Garg's heart is hard and only someone like him would make him fall in live. (Lady Garagamel?)  G-mel finds  Smurffette's letter to Cupid and is going to use that to his advance.   Anyway a witch named Chlorhydris is looking for a cat ,but needs a cat to fulfill a prophecy.  She already knows Garagamel has a cat.

meow/ Copyright H&B 

    Smurfette gets a letter back from her "true love" ( gee, I wonder who could have sent that) and it says get ready in 1 hour and meet him.  When she does and gets captured by Garagamel because of course.  It's not just an average Valentine's day there's also a total eclipse of the sun that is going to happen. (Turn around bright eyes)  That fits in with the witch, Chlorhydris, plans too.  The other smurfs figure out Smurfette was taken by Garagamel. Meanwhile, the witch lady wants Gargamel's cat, Azrael, and is offering gold  and since he likes gold he doesn't mind the offer.

I'm Cupid/ Copyright H&B 

    Guess what his cat is the right cat (who knew?!)  Also Garagamel doesn't get his gold and thrown into the a dungeon with the cats the witch rejected. Her wish is to make a world without love. (woah no love. Garagamel gets out and wants to stop the witch and make a wish to have the smurfs.  Smurfette runs into Cupid and tells him what Chlorhydris wants to do with her wish.  He reunites her with the other smurfs and they work to stop the plan.
           

aww tru love/ Copyright H&B 

          The eclipse starts and cupid stops the plan by making Chlorhydris and Garagmel fall in love and Smurfette makes a wish to have everybody go back to where they belong.

True love/ Copyright H&B 

           It's smurfy fun of a special. I think  it's interesting to show Valentine's day more than just romantic love. I think it's kind of clunky because it felt they like mashed up some plots together and made the special. I thought it was going to be Garagmel was trying his normal get the smurfs plot then it turned into here's a witch she wants to get rid of love.  Random eclipse going on there , it kind of works out in the end though.   

  That does it from us tune in next time we wonder What is love? Baby Don't Hurt me because what is love anyway? 

      

Now a Look A Charlie Brown Valentine

Peanuts   Valentines' Day

 
     Much like the Christmas special, the Valentine's Day special gets a sequel too!  They went with the classic naming scheme of  A Charlie Brown Valentine instead of  something something, Charlie Brown.   This special came out in 2002, and was one of the first new specials to air with the new network of Peanuts rights , ABC, and it was the first special to premiere on TV after Charles Schulz death.    ABC usually pairs it with the broadcast of "Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown" to fill their hour.


      Unlike, the last special this one has less of  dower tone to it. (That doesn't mean that Be My Valentine is a bad special)  It focuses more on the other big thing in the Charlie Brown love world his love for The Little Red Haired girl , so I'm typing LRHG again.


   It doesn't start with that plot though. It has some vignettes to start us off  like Snoopy writing Valentines on his typewriter in the middle of the night. Peppermint Patty wondering about Valentines, and Snoopy and Lucy with romance story talk,  with Sally added in for fun. It takes up the first 3 minutes and 30 seconds before the titles.

    Charlie Brown's focus is LRHG and spending scenes focusing on her.  Marcie and Charlie Brown shippers unite!  This special has something for you yes Marcie wants to give Charles a Valentine because she does like him. (This has been mentioned before in the comics and other specials.)  She goes to Charles' house and asks him if she likes him and  he doesn't give her answer that works. Peppermint Patty also gives Chuck a Valentine (this is for the Charlie Brown x Peppermint Patty shippers out there).

Love is in the air /Copyright Peanuts 

     Lucy and Schroeder do their classic segment. Charlie Brown practices giving his Valentine to LRHG  but mailed it anonymously instead because of course.  Charlie Brown  buys a cheap box of chocolates for LRHG. More Lucy and Schroeder stuff, and Sally trying to give things to Linus.  This special has a Eudora appearance too!  My main point is this special seems to have a mixture of vignettes with a kind of center plot with Charlie Brown talking constantly about the Little Red Haired Girl.    I do question how Charlie Brown can fit in a mail box.

Lucy knows the market /Copyright Peanuts 

      Charlie Brown tires to call the LRHG and ends up getting Marcie (shipping mood explodes)  and Peppermint Patty is there and he ends up going on to a dance with Peppermint Patty. (woah double ship)  Charlie still hopes can he score a dance with LRHG.  He didn't get to dance with her. He get to dance with Peppermint Patty and Marcie (ship away!)

Interesting design for LRHG /Copyright Peanuts 

     This is an alright special it feels like they stuck together a lot of short things but they kind of made it feel like a cohesive plot. I guess it's because there is so much materiel of Charlie Brown dreaming of the Little Red-Haired girl.  It's not a match to the original but it was a fine one.

The Loud House : Home of the Fave/ Hero Today, Gone Tomorrow

The Loud House Nickelodeon 

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         This is going to be it for our Loud House looks for a while , time for us to mozy on to some other things. (If you reading this some time in the future then thank you for visiting, and also dis regard this part of the post, thankyou)

          It's taken us awhile to get the plot of "Who's the favorite", I mean they kind of maybe not really did touch on this idea in "Ties that Bind" so it's here again. But instead of one of the kids going and wondering who the parents' favorite is it's something else instead.

  This is "Home of the Fave"

               Lynn Sr. takes Luan and Lola out shopping with him and the episode shows another strong bond that Lynn has with Luan by them and their love of jokes. Lola doesn't seem to be enjoying this and Lynn notices this. He jumps to one conclusion and thinks that Lola believes that he favors Luan over her.  That sets up our plot for the rest of the episode. (Catalyst powers activate, why did I just write that? I quit.)

aww young Lynn Sr/ Copyright Viacom 

         So he does the logical step and does spends time with Lola (in a dress) and it's nice sweet and fun montage. So that's the episode everything is solved Lola doesn't ---- what oh there's more of the episode left.  Lola takes a nap and Lynn Sr. runs into Lynn Jr. and he ends up thinking that Lynn Jr. now might think he favors Lola over her so, he does the logical step and spends time with her. Montage time, and now he thinks Luna thinks that he favors Lynn Jr over her so he does the logical step and spends time with her. Montage time.  (Some guy who works above me for this blog just for this part so I can do this bit:  Umm can we hurry this up and stop repeating ourselves?)
             

Reading is fun/ Copyright Viacom 

 
      So the same thing happens with different Loud kids from Lana to Z (or Lucy  in this case). Then Luan says that he made her favorite dinner and gets paranoid and makes all their favorite foods (at least for this episode). Also Rita quit this episode.   He decides not to sit with any kid so they don't think he favors them then acts more paranoid. (Some guy again : You're doing it again)  Eventually he screams and runs out of the house. (Never to be seen again)  He tells his kids that he was worried about them seeing him as playing favorites. He finds out that none of kids think that he favors them and they know  he loves them then a huh. Oh Rita's back, and now the pets conspire maybe he plays favorites with them.

       A fine episode. Lynn Sr. really cares about his kids and loves them equally so he really hopes they know that and it was sweet. It was nice to see him doing some bonding, it must be hard with all those kids to do that sometimes.  I'm glad it wasn't an episode that it could have been with them fighting over who the favorite is or something. A nice way of taking a familiar plot and doing something different with it.  I gave this episode 80% out of 100. (8/10 for those non mathy people)
 
   After the jump there's more.

TVLOOKFALL 2019 : What's New, What's Renewed, What's Ended?

TVLOOKFALL 2019 ABC  CBS CW  FOX  NBC 

It's our annual list of network TV moves either shows being renewed or canceled /ending. Also what's new? For disclosure, we are going to count reboot or one of those shows that are returning after ending as new , just to keep this list consistent.

Also to be determined is our list for shows that haven't been officially given a status so, it's constantly changing. (red font shows are shows that have moved to or are summer series meaning they are in a different rule)  This is list will be updated to check back often check the date stamp below, to show when we last updated it.  Save the link too.

Last Update: May 15th  at 8:20am MT

ABC

Renewed

America's Funniest Home Videos (2 seasons)

American Idol

Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D
American Housewife
The Bachelor

Bachelor in Paradise
Black-ish
Bless this Mess

The Conners
Dancing With the Stars
Fresh off the Boat

Grey's Anatomy  (2 seasons) 

How to Get Away with Murder 

Modern Family (for final season)
The Goldbergs

The Good Doctor 

A Million Little Things
The Rookie
Schooled 

Shark Tank
Single Parents
Station 19

New Series 
 Don't
For Life
 Mixed-ish
United We Fall

Reality/Summer shows  (Determined in their own time) 

Celebrity Family Feud (Summer Series) 

Child Support 

The Gong Show

Grand Hotel

Match Game 

The Proposal 

To Tell the Truth (Summer series) 

Canceled 
The Alec Baldwin  Show
The Fix
For The People
The Kids Are Alright
Speechless
Splitting Up Together 

Take Two 

Whiskey Cavalier

CBS 

Renewed 
60 Minutes
48 Hours
The Amazing Race
Blue Bloods

 Big Brother 

Bull
Celebrity Big Brother 

Criminal Minds (final season) 

FBI 

God Friended Me
Hawaii Five -0
Madam Secretary (ending after season 6) 

MacGyver
Magnum P.I
Man with a Plan 

Mom (2 Seasons)
NCIS

NCIS: Los Angeles 

NCIS: New Orleans 

The Neighborhood
Ransom  (summer series)
SEAL Team
Survivor
SWAT
Young Sheldon  (2 Seasons) 
Undercover Boos 

New Series 
All Rise
Broke
Bob Hearts Abishola
Carol's Second Act
Evil
FBI: Most Wanted
Tommy
The Unicorn

Summer and reality series (Determined in their own time) 

Blood & Treasure 

Instinct 

Canceled 

The Big Bang Theory
The Code

Code Black 

Elementary
Fam
Happy Together

Life in Pieces 

Murphy Brown
The Red Line

Salvation

CW 

Renewed 
The 100
All American 

Arrow  (For Final season) 

Black Lightning 

Burden of Truth 

Charmed

DC's Legends of Tomorrow 

Dynasty 

The Flash
In the Dark 

Legacies 

The Outpost

Penn &Teller :Fool US
Roswell, New Mexico 

Riverdale 

Supergirl 

Supernatural  (Ending after season 15) 

Whose Line is it Anyway? 

New Series 
Batwoman
Nancy Drew
Katy Keene

Canceled 
Crazy Ex-Girlfriend 

I-zombie 

Jane the Virgin 

FOX

Renewed 
9-1-1
Beat Shazam (summer series)
Bob's Burgers

Empire  (Ending after season 6) 

Family Guy
Gordon Ramsay's 24 hours to Hell and Back
Hell's Kitchen
Last Man Standing 

The Masked Singer
Masterchef
Masterchef Junior
The Orville
The Resident 

The Simpsons (2 seasons) 

So You Think  You Can Dance

New Series
Bless the Hearts (animated)
Deputy
Duncanville (animated)
The Great North (Animated)
Next
Outmatched
Prodigal Son
90210 (August) 

Canceled 
The Cool Kids
The Gifted 

Gotham
Lethal Weapon
Love Connection

The Passage 
Proven Innocent
Rel

Star

NBC

Renewed 
America's Got Talent : The Champions
American Ninja Warrior

The Blacklist
Blindspot (final season) 

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Chicago Fire 

Chicago Med

Chicago P.D

Ellen's Game of Games
Good Girls 

The Good Place
Law and Order SVU
Little Big Shots
Manifest 

New Amsterdam
Superstore
This is Us (3 seasons)
The Voice 

Will & Grace
World of Dance

New Series 
 Bluff City Law
Council of Dads
Indebted
The Kenan Show
Lincoln
Perfect Harmony
 Sunnyside 

Probaly Canceled 
Abby's

A.P Bio

The Enemy Within
The Village 

Summer/Reality Series (TBD) 

America's Got Talent

Genius Junior 

Making It 

The InBetween 

The Titan Games 

Canceled 
I Feel Bad

Marlon 

Midnight, Texas

Reveire 

Trial &Error 

Something about "Be My Valentine, Charlie Brown"

Peanuts  Valentines' Day

      Sometimes things don't have happy endings that can be wrapped up with happiness.
 
    "Be my Valentine, Charlie Brown" is the 13th Peanuts special in cannon. It first aired on January 28th 1975. In order of holiday specials it came 9 years after the Christmas special, 8 years after the Halloween special, a little over year after the Thanksgiving special and months after the Easter special.   Peanuts the comics and some other specials have dealt with the theme of love before as well.

             It starts even with Charlie Brown waiting by his mailbox for Valentines to pour in. Linus feels that his teacher "likes" him and also this special puts Sally and Linus in the same class because reasons.  Linus has fallen in love ,innocently enough, with his teacher Ms.Othmar. Thus our main two plots are set.  Lucy and Schroeder also have their parts in this , of course Lucy wants Schroeder to "notice" her.  We already know that this special won't  change their status quo.  Linus decides to buy large heart shaped box of candy for his teacher and this is an expensive.   Violet says that it's not a good idea to fall in love with your teacher. (We know where this special is going already, thank you very much Violet.)  Sally who has a large crush on Linus finds that he has bought that large heart-shaped box of candy. Her idea is to get him something now.

You don't have mail/ Copyright Peanuts 

         


   Now that the plots are set, this special does need to fill in that run time and some humor before we all get crushed. (get it?)   Snoopy's puppet show is fun.  The whole sequence  is fun to see Snoopy do this one dog puppet show and also just get Lucy wet, muddy, hit with garbage, hit by puppets, and wetted again. There's also a fun Valentine making segment which also shows us Charlie Brown being a good older brother to Sally, and of course Snoopy is not an average dog and can craft things like  a witch.

Lucy are you alright? / Copyright Peanuts 

      Now it's time for pain.  It's equally sad to see that Charlie Brown made people Valentines only where he doesn't get any from anyone. Also they had to use some stock characters hence Peppermint Patty, Franklin , Marcie showing up in the shots.   It's crushing to see Charlie Brown  hoping so well, and he even tells Schroeder he has a suit case  to hold in all his Valentines. Meanwhile, Sally gets crushed because that box of candy isn't for her.   I also love how there's scene where Sally reads this really long poem on a candy heart.  (You can watch here) Violet notices that Charlie Brown didn't get a Valentine and she asks some others if they sent him one.   Linus also gets his heart crushed when he finds out the love we know couldn't be done anyway is not requited because the teacher already has a boyfriend.  He's not happy and ends up throwing the candy in a rage piece by piece into a water way. (They added in Snoopy eating the chocolate to lighten it)  The mood you can feel, it's depressing and you kind of feel for Linus.  Poor Charlie Brown takes out his anger as well.

      The next day, the girls decide to give Charlie Brown some Valentines (reused ones). I would say their hearts were kind of in the right space. Schroeder's defense of  Charlie Brown is great, I loved it  even though , CB kind of messes up by being desperate.    As I wrote above  Sometimes things don't have happy endings that can be wrapped up with happiness.    It does end with Charlie Brown being optomisic though because that's who he is and always strives that next time will be better.  The credits in this special is cool too because Snoopy does puppets of the people featured in them.

         Much like "The Great Pumpkin" the first airing of the episode resulted in people sending in Valentine's for ole  Charlie Brown.
 
     It's kind of a dower special that doesn't make it bad and the comedy moments know when to be placed to keep from being a drag.  They did a good job of  showing the viewers the sad part of love that many would experience at some point. Charlie Brown's eternal optimism continues through this whole special where you do feel quite bad for him and makes you hope the best for him. Also, we also know that Linus' love wasn't going to be requited and you know what going to happen at the end but it's innocent and makes you feel for the guy when he's throwing those chocolates in frustration in the water. (Also, I want the chocolate) 

 That's our look, tune in next time when we tell you not to give dogs chocolate.

The Loud House : Predict Ability/ Driving Ambition

The Loud House Nickelodeon 


      Two things : since they are doing a week of new episodes for the Loud House( meaning four) and since I want to even out the amount of season 3 posts that I have compared to Seasons 1 and two I decided to do a look at the episodes from the week put together. (If you reading this in the future then hello, disregard this part)


   As I've noted before Season 3 seems to be having a different formula a little where it focuses on other non Lincoln characters from the show but this episode goes back to him and I mean not him and Clyde (who is in this episode) but him exactly. Let's to this episode    I start with an episode called "Predict Ability" get it?

   
        It starts in the morning.  Lisa apparently knows when Lincoln goes to bathroom which is mildly unsettling , he goes at 7:03 AM every morning. (what?)  Then it's breakfast and apparently Lincoln eats the same thing for breakfast every morning,  a breakfast burrito, (this episode is in it's own world isn't it? He's had cereal before and other things, help!) which his father already new he had. (Also Lincoln, chew with your mouth closed!) He's also last into the van for the drive to school. The other girls wonder why he is always the last one out of the house and Lola even wonders how that could be when he puts on an orange polo shirt everyday. (Uhhhh says the girl who wears the same thing everyday stop doing this me show, stop trying to break the illusion it hurts!)   I think Lincoln is talking to us when he wonders maybe its just his family knowing him well. ( Also he doesn't talk to us much this season was it something we did?) 
         

      At school it continues.  Lincoln always picks his best friend Clyde for partnering (because best friends)  and Lincoln always has an excuse for the ropes in gym class. Later at bed, Lincoln has a nightmare where floating heads think he's boring. Lincoln then turns old and he screams to wake up. (I'm calling my lawyer, that scared me)  Lincoln decides that he won't be predictable anymore.  (Well I saw that coming)   So he wakes up at 6:03 AM (Just in time to watch infomercials on WGN America)  he goes to the bathroom early, decides to  have something different for breakfast. Then he tries on some new clothes, from the hand-me-down box.  So first hipster look Lincoln.   He then decides to work with Stella (Me doing these episodes out of order sometimes doesn't help) which causes Clyde to worry.  Lincoln climbs the ropes instead of not , causing Clyde to lose it again. (This episode is getting dark)  Then he decides to wake up early but let everyone use the bathroom a head of him,even though he has to go. The day before he comes a hipster, this time he's gone corporate wearing a suit and brief case. He also walked to school.  Also, more Clyde slowly loosing sanity.  Lincoln them commits a war crime by eating sushi with syrup on it.  More random clothes changes.

Lincoln grants Greenbay Packers their wish in 2020/Copyright Viacom 

       He's run out of clothes  because Louds only have one box ? Also, how did he fit Lana's overalls and did he wear everything in the box?

Did he wear that? /Copyright Viacom 

      Another nightmare.  He dreams he's trying be unpredictable  where he does strange things by taking off his head  then throwing himself into a volcano. (So series finale?)  His friends wonder the next day what Lincoln is going to wear this day, while Clyde looks like he's close to losing all grips of reality.  He tells everyone that everyone should live with him being boring  but they say he's notb boring. (Because that was always going to be how this episode ends unless they were changing up the show and it gets dark.) Also did Lori say she wears the same shorts everyday? Like the same ones or the same kind because what?  Anyway it ends alright is fine now.

help!  / Copyright Viacom 

    Something this show is good at doing is taking a plot line that's been used before many times and following it but still doing something charming.  Lincoln feels that doing things on routine would make people think he's boring. He seemed to worry about being boring and people not wanting to be around him anymore. Many can relate to that in a way. It's also interesting to note that most of the build up was in Lincoln's head  and not from anyone telling him he's boring.  I like how the ending points out that everyone has something they do on routine  and also , that it's not bad to get out of a rout and try new things too.    A nice episode indeed. I give  80% out 100.


more after the jump

It's a Lookback, Charlie Brown: You're in Love, Charlie Brown

Peanuts 

      So, it's almost Valentine's day and since our lookbacks can't look at holiday themed specials (we have something else for that) why not look at love? Anyway, this special rounds out our look at the 1960's non holiday specials meaning we are done with the 1960's.   "You're in Love, Charlie Brown" came out not in the summer of love but in late spring of 1967, June 12, 1967.  It aired on CBS (Charlie Brown's sister's network).

          This was the first Peanuts special where adults were given the trombone thing . It was nominated for an Emmy along with "He's your Dog,Charlie Brown" . See why Charlie Brown is in love.

          Charlie Brown is miserable and says that nobody likes him. (Maybe because he complains all the time, and maybe Linus likes you.)  Charlie Brown wants to have lunch with the little red haired girl  but he says his stomach gets all knotted up and doesn't know what's wrong.(For the rest of this post we are going to short hand the Little Red Haired Girl as  LRHG alright?)  Linus tells him the title of the special.

                                     You're not wearing gloves, Charlie Brown/ Copyright Peanuts


           The theme song has lyrics, nice.  In class , Charlie Brown thinks about the LRHG instead of focusing on his work.  It's almost the last day of school. Anyway, Chuck has to do assignment and reads his note out instead of report.    Linus tells C.B at recess that he should just talk to the LRHG but Chuck is Chuck and that means he's not going to do this very well.  Charlie Brown asks Linus to start a conversation. (This doesn't go well in future cases and in this case either.)
           

Don't roll your face at me Charlie Brown/ Copyright Peanuts 

 
   Also, Linus and Lucy are in the same class this special, she doesn't really talk this special so that's nice (so far) , the teacher calls him again and he screws that up because he really needs to focus.  Now it's lunchtime and he gets to eat outside, cool.  He thinks  nobody likes him again, but Linus does so. (maybe Chuck is an idiot.) Lucy does get a moment when she gets annoyed that Charlie Brown mentions that he gets nervous  around pretty faces. She also mentions the Christmas queen from "A Charlie Brown Christmas"  Linus defends Charlie Brown but most innocently ,and he reveals to the mean girls that Charlie is in love.

Those are love eyes/ Copyright Peanuts 

     Charlie Brown starts thinking about LRHG's hands (what?) and laments that he'll never get to hold hands with her.  Sally is graduating from Kindergarten and Charlie Brown doesn't like the idea of kindergarten graduations.  We get a Schroeder and Lucy scene and she asks what if they got married. Schroeder has multiple pianos and Beethoven busts too.

He buys this stuff at Costco / Copyright Peanuts 

      Lucy does her doctoring and starts ranting about men. (She later started a blog)  This is the first special with Peppermint Patty appearing in it as well.  She's going to help with his baseball team but he tells her that his real problem is a girl in class.  Peppermint decides to help and talks to Lucille thinking that Charlie Brown meant her. She sets up a meeting for them.  (I ship it)  Charlie Brown says that he is going to do his mission tomorrow. His plans get a little messed up and he has to sneak into school.   Gets in trouble.  He has one chance to talk to the LRHG   but fails to , but ends up with a note that says "I like you, Charlie Brown"-- Signed, the Little Red Haired Girl (it's a family name).
 

Her last name is girl?/ Copyright Peanuts 

.

           The animation in this special is what I want to talk about .  The 60's peanuts specials after the first two really got into interesting style groove and this one is really nice.  I like how they made sound effects have onomatopoeic words coming out. The coloring is really well done and I love how it feels like a late spring/early summer time.

         This is great special as well the pay off being that Charlie Brown does get acknowledged by the Little Red Haired girl. He's classic Chuck he's just wanting to the girl to notice him but is too nervous to talk to her.  Peppermint Patty's first showing up was so nice too she really did try to help Chuck even though she innocently messes it up, same with Linus defending Charlie Brown when Lucy and Violet  were making fun of Charlie Brown, even though he kind of  makes it worse it was without intentionally wanting to cause do such a thing.  This is a well done special that I really enjoyed.


  That's our lookback  Tune in next time, when Charlie Brown and Lucy become a couple in college, who would have seen that coming?

Arthur: Season 20 and Season 21 : Buster's Second Chance / Francine and the Soccer Spy

Arthur  PBS 


       Back during the 20th anniversary set of posts I did back in 2016, I stopped at season 19 because season 20 hadn't premiered yet, it was to start the month after I was doing the post.  Over that time , season 21 also premiered.   There are also the noted reaction by some to say , "Arthur is still running and has new episodes?" to that answer yes.  Also the show will at least be running to a season 25.

  Let's start with season 20.


   Season 20 ran from October 2016 to June 2017. Somethings to note about this season: Arthur seasons got shorter over time  but,this one was the shortest producing  7 half hours.  The animation studio also changed, again, leaving 9-Story and WGBH went with another Canadian studio, Oasis Animation.   D.W's voice actor changed again (for those that don't know Arthur's sister is voiced by males) , and Arthur's voice actor also changed again. (because they use male children for his voice too).

       We are looking at the first episode of the season with the first half 1a called "Buster's Second Chance"  which premiered on October 10th,2016.

 

 
 Monologue : Arthur says that Buster has always been his best friend, and flashback to when they first met. Then a montage of them doing best friends stuff. Yep Best Friends until this week. What hold on what?

   Episode:  Buster is unhappy that the Brain won  the statewide science competition because the report was Brain finding types of bacteria in the drinking fountain. Buster says he knew there was something strange about that fountain.   Arthur tells him everyone knew the water tasted like feet (what?)  and that Brain was the only one to go study it.   Buster gives a  backstory on his not studying.  He was brought to a pre-school for "brainy kids" he stuck a marble up his nose and not where it was supposed to go. If he didn't try to outsmart the test he says, then his life could have been different.

       Buster says he would have just as smart as The Brian. Arthur suggests time travel but, not really. Buster reads time travel comics and fall asleep , guess where this episode is going?  He sees a passage way that sends him back in time. Back to the time  with the marble.  Where he impresses the teacher with magic and puts the marble in the right spot.  He wakes up and finds out that he is a genius now.   (Also all smart people wear glasses in Buster's mind, apparently)

Hmm , what?/ Copyright WGBH 

    Buster's life is different because he wears glasses and goes to a different school in the mornings and the other one he normally goes to in the afternoon. He tries to wave at Arthur but I don't think he's friends with him in this alternate universe.  Apparently, because Buster is smart now and didn't meet Arthur, Arthur has become a gang-leader (kind of joking) but he does become the leader of the tough customers.  His nickname is Specs. (get it because he wears glasses)  Buster goes to find Arthur and doesn't know where he went then finds him at the comic book store. Buster finds out that since he went to the fancy pre-school he never met Arthur at the park and they didn't become friends. (How does Buster know Arthur? Well it's a dream don't question it)

EEEEEEH/ Copyright WGBH 

 

       Arthur ended up being a tough customer.  Buster jumps out of a time warp (he wakes up) and everything is back to normal.

      I guess this episode's  moral is that a different paths in life result in different results, they kind of did this idea before in this series. The other is at the end where Buster decides to study something to prove  a point and do it with his best friend.  It's a fun episode where you see some of the outlandishness of Buster's fantasy.