Hey! What a wonderful time of day!
1/25. Even though D.W. is a girl, all of the voice actors for D.W. have been boys.
2/25. The theme song is sung by Bob Marley's son, Ziggy Marley.
Hey! What a wonderful time of day.
3/25. Were Arthur and Buster more than just friends?
There are quite a few fan theories out there that speculate about the duo's future romance. This can be neither confirmed nor denied.
4/25. Arthur and D.W. were once made into robots.
In 1998, both Arthur and D.W. were made into Microsoft ActiMates: sophisticated toy dolls who could interact with children, with each other, with certain computer software and the Arthur website, and with the Arthur television show and videos. Microsoft discontinued the ActiMates line shortly before season 5 aired, most possibly due to a lawsuit pertaining to patent infringement.
5/25. It's The second longest running show on PBS, behind only Sesame Street (1969).
6/25. You may have seen Arthur before the show.
Long before the television series, Arthur appeared in a 1983 episode of the PBS show Reading Rainbow (1983) in an animated reading of the book "Arthur's Eyes" narrated by Bill Cosby.
7/25. Arthur and Francine end up marrying.
It is implied through supposed glimpses of the future that Arthur and Francine end up getting married after they grow up. (I always thought that Francine was more into women, but you know...)
8/25. Sometimes, the show f*cks up.
In "Buster and The Daredevils," Arthur and Buster meet Tobey and Slink and the comic book store. They have a conversation. When Tobey says, "He's not a peanut, he's a pecan," the background all of a sudden changes to the park and then back to the comic book store. Oops!
9/25. Arthur has bunny slippers, and his best friend, Buster, has aardvark slippers.
Now that's friendship.
10/25. Arthur's full name is Arthur Timothy Read and D.W.'s full name is Dora Winifred Read.
11/25. The character was born out of a bedtime story.
Brown told the first Arthur story when his son, Tolon, requested a bedtime story about a weird animal." In an interview with Scholastic, Brown said he was thinking alphabetically and aardvark was the first animal that popped into his head. Tolon is now a producer on the series.
Continue this on the next page!
12/25. Some of Arthur's antics are autobiographical.
Brown pulls material from his own time as a third-grader to create Arthurs world. The teachers, the principal, and even the notorious bully Binky Barnes of Lakewood Elementary School are based on real people. Browns younger sister, Kim, travels around the country giving talks about being the real D.W., Arthurs sister.
13/25. Marc Brown hid his kids names in the show.
He recently revealed on the show that if you look carefully, you can see the names of his three kids hidden in the illustrations.
14/25. The show is actually written for grownups, too.
Arthur in the style of South Park, from the episode "The Contest"
It regularly incorporates satirical parodies of adult-oriented topics and references to pop culture, including, but not limited to, parodies of South Park, Jeopardy!, The Sopranos, Beavis and Butt-head, the Indiana Jones adventures films, the James Bond series of films, The Adventures of Tintin, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist, The Jerry Springer Show, Oprah,Law & Order, Charlie Rose, Antiques Roadshow, Mystery!, The Twilight Zone, Alfred Hitchcock's The Birds, Macbeth, and That '70s Show.
15/25. Buster, Francine, and Binky have been voiced by adults.
Though Muffy is the only character whose original voice actress, Melissa Altro, began voicing the character as a child and has continued to provide her voice as an adult (despite the noticeable maturation of her voice in the more recent seasons).
16/25. The color of the Reads' family car changes throughout the show.
Arthur... spicing things up since 1996.
17/25. Sometimes, the show f*cks up even more.
In "D.W.'s Baby", when D.W. is playing with her toy truck on the floor, it's brown, but when she offers it to Baby Kate, it's blue.
18/25. The first season cost more than $12 million to create.
And the show's illustration style has evolved a lot over time.
19/25. There are firm references to Brown's hometown of Erie, Pennsylvania.
Most notably, the local shopping mall in the TV series is called "Mill Creek Mall", a reference to Millcreek Mall.
20/25. This show has some great literature and pop culture drops.
In Buster Baxter and the Letter from the Sea, Buster finds a letter in a bottle and believes that it comes from the lost city of Atlantis. In his return letter, Buster references The Beatles by asking the King of Atlantis, do octopuses really have gardens? (look for it at the 6:21 mark).
21/25. With the exception of one episode, D.W.'s dress is always pinky-purple.
She's also the most badass character on this show. Just sayin'.
22/25. It is the longest-running children's animated series in the U.S.
It's also the third longest current first-run animated series in the U.S., behind The Simpsons (1989) and Family Guy(1999).
23/25. Arthur doesn't shy away from the big things.
The show has been known to address important issues families face such as asthma, dyslexia, cancer, diabetes, and Asperger syndrome.
24/25. There is a Buzzfeed quiz where you can figure out which Arthur character you would be.
Just try not to be Mr. Ratburn.
25/25. Arthur's audience isn't just kids.
Although Arthur is directed primarily toward a child and preteen audience, over the years it has gained a substantial cult following among older viewers. Ahh, nostalgia...
Do you know someone who loves Arthur? Share!
Share by clicking below :)
