Arthur (animation)/Nightmare Fuel


 * For a kid's show, the series can be overripe with some pretty traumatizing examples. Being a slice-of-life cartoon (albeit using anthropomorphic animals) about the lives of young children, Arthur had a few moments that did a good job of depicting the dark sides of children's overactive imaginations.

Season One
"Arthur: I just realized something. Francine: What? Arthur: Today's Saturday, which means...the library will be closed until... Both: MONDAY!!! (echoes)"
 * "Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn"
 * The silhouette of Mr. Ratburn as Arthur explains why he has a reputation is pretty creepy. It makes him look like a monster.
 * It turns out that Mr. Ratburn is not a bad guy, just overly strict. Even so, some of the rumors that Prunella tells Arthur. and his friends are creepy:
 * "He eats nails for breakfast, without milk." Cut to an Imagine Spot of Mr. Ratburn eating nails from a cereal box, and spitting out a screw.
 * Prunella claims that Mr. Ratburn puts failing students on death row. Arthur imagines being locked in a dungeon, forced to do equations and dictionary memorization forever.
 * Apparently he's also a vampire with hypnotic powers. Buster thinks about a class set in a castle, where Ratburn emerges from a castle and compels the students to say, "We don't like recess."
 * Arthur and Buster overhear Ratburn trying to order boy heads over the phone. When the person can't help, he says he'll get them himself. They scream and hide behind Francine, who happened to be walking by and says that vampires don't take heads. They spy on Mr. Ratburn going to a hardware store, and picking up a saw. Arthur and Buster clutch their necks as Francine wonders aloud why he needs that. (They find out later that Mr. Ratburn was talking about puppet heads and hand-carving them, but it is still eerie.)
 * "Buster's Dino Dilemma": Buster smuggles a footprint fossil out of the paleontological dig and museum, after finding out the kids can't keep the fossils from Ranger Ruth. He insists to Arthur that they don't tell anyone, hides it in a bag of marbles in a shoebox in his closet, and refuses to take it out and look at it. Arthur aptly points out that there's no fun if they can't even look at it, and Mr. Ratburn makes Buster faint in class when he talks about how rare dinosaur footprints are. Cue a nightmare that Buster has of Ranger Ruth busting him with the "fossil police," having made Arthur talk by tickling him. Ranger Ruth in the nightmare accuses Buster of hiding a dinosaur in his room; as he stammers that's impossible, they all hear a roaring. Cue a giant T-Rex busting out of his closet and roaring in Buster's face.
 * "Grandpa Dave's Country Farm" has the Cold Open of Arthur looking over photos from vacations gone wrong. Arthur picks up one from when they went into dark caverns. While Jane remarks they can barely see, David realizes D.W.'s not with them. D.W. got separated from the group, fell off a ledge, and dangles while calling for help.
 * The sudden appearance of the giant alien (which was really just a prank by Arthur and Buster) in DW's window in "Arthur's First Sleepover."
 * The episode "Arthur's Lost Library Book." Arthur loses a library book and has a series of disturbing nightmares as a result of his guilt, including one where a giant arm forcibly pries him out of his bed and drags him to the library to be punished for losing the book.
 * The episode "Locked In The Library" has plenty of disturbing imagery from Arthur's fear when he and Francine are trapped overnight in the library.
 * Hell, imagine being shut in without food or contact for possibly two days. Francine herself admits, as part of her report with Arthur, that it was really scary.


 * Francine also points out their parents will be worried sick. Arthur thinks that D.W. would take the opportunity to steal his room, but it turns out she was worried as well. Their parents are sensible, though; they knew the kids were going to the library and called Miss Turner to ask if she could help them check the building. Far from being angry the way D.W. is, they're just relieved the kids are okay.
 * At one point, Arthur gets so hungry that he resorts to eating a magazine picture of a roast chicken. Francine finds the food in the staff lounge, and shares it with Arthur when he came running and searching for her, but still! Miss Turner apologizes to Arthur and Francine for letting them get locked in, saying she's unsure how this happened.


 * "D.W.'s Baby"
 * A scene in Kate's debut episode where she is crying in the middle of the night, keeping D.W. up. The close-up on her face, combined with Kate's crying being reverberated is just disturbing.
 * After a few nights of having Kate in her room and failing to get rid of her, D.W. takes off with some clothes in her dollhouse to live on an island. She only says, "Goodbye, Arthur" after asking him what the nearest island to their house is. It's a good thing she went to Grandma Thora's, since Thora humors her but convinces her to go home.

Season Two

 * "Go To Your Room, D.W."
 * D.W. has an Imagine Spot of running away to Grandma Thora's. Nadine reminds her that she's not allowed to cross the street alone. Description Cut to the two viewing busy traffic on a row. It's Adult Fear.
 * Heck, that D.W. considered climbing out the second story via the drainpipe. She's not a good climber, meaning it's likely she would fall. Nadine puts the kibosh on that by pointing out how far the drainpipe is from D.W.'s window.
 * One episode that dabbles in the nightmare fuel particularly is "Night Fright", which deals with Binky confronting some of his long-repressed nightmares.
 * After a rainy school day, the kids are waiting to be picked up as it gets dark. Binky taunts Arthur about where his parents are, since he and Arthur are the last ones waiting. Arthur explains they're driving from Aunt Lucy's house, which is pretty far from Elwood City. Binky says if they don't come, Arthur will have to spend the night at school alone. It at first seems to be that way, especially when Mrs. Barnes tells Arthur they're taking him in for the night because his parents had car trouble while leaving his aunt's house.
 * The monstrous hamburgers, attacking fries, and giant lips on a billboard are freaky enough, but probably the most terrifying moment in the episode was where Binky dreams he's trapped inside his nightlight, while his friends gather around to mock his nightmarish plight. The nightlight is shaped like a clown, by the way.

"Arthur: Calling people names can be dangerous to their health."
 * "Arthur's Underwear"
 * After laughing at Binky all day for his pants ripping in class, Arthur has a nightmare where he ends up late to school...and forgot to wear his pants. This goes on with different variants, from amoeba to Bionic Bunny.
 * Buster attempts to help Arthur with some hypnotism, while they're doing laundry at a laundromat. It seems to work, as Arthur in his dream realizes that his pants are still on, and jumps for joy. Then his pants rip off, develop angry eyes and teeth, and start following him. There is some Mood Whiplash as Dream!Buster remarks that maybe the pants need more fabric softener and less starch.
 * Arthur's panic attack in the cafeteria. He begged Buster not to tell anyone about his nightmares, and Buster promised. When Francine and Muffy make fun of Arthur about his pants, and Brain reveals he has some books about dreams to help him, Arthur runs to Buster and says wake him up because he's having a nightmare. He freaks out when Buster admits "I only told a few people" and yells at him because it was supposed to be a secret, ending up ripping his pants and showing his underwear while flailing around. While Binky rescues Arthur and gets him to Miss McGrady, Buster is extremely apologetic that he caused the panic attack, and the whole situation.
 * "Lost!":
 * In the picture book at least, Arthur had Buster with him when his little adventure happened. Here, Arthur is completely alone until the waitress helps him.
 * The Cold Open has Jane, David, and D.W. finding out that Arthur never showed up at his swimming lesson. Jane and David ignore D.W.'s histrionics that Arthur might have run away; David calls the police and Jane says she'll dial the bus company. When D.W. wants to help by telling the neighbors, Jane orders her in a stern voice, "Stay where you are, D.W.! I don't need two lost children!" You can feel the Adult Fear dripping off the entire family.
 * Arthur tells Francine and Buster that he has to take the grown-up bus. He doesn't think it's a big deal, while they go Oh Crap. Both have creepy tales about buses:
 * Buster tells a story about a bus driver who refuses to let a kid off the bus and randomly morphs into a disgusting-looking squid monster. All the passengers turn into squid monsters, and the bus flies off as a spaceship. Francine says this one is ridiculous because it was a movie on television.
 * Francine warns Arthur to make sure he has enough money. She heard a kid on the bus didn't have enough, and the driver wouldn't let him off, even after forty years. The bus driver gives an Evil Laugh when the kid says the extra money was in his other pants. Arthur is freaked out by this one.
 * Arthur gets lost after he falls asleep on the bus. He misses his stop and ends up at the edge of town. Being too shy to ask the driver for help, he gets off and realizes he doesn't know where to walk home, and he doesn't even have enough for a second fare. The waitress who rode with him tells him to explain to Sam the driver what happened; Sam as soon as he hears Arthur's explanation is reasonable, saying his "folks" must be worried and personally driving him to the Read house after dialing in that he found the kid.
 * The episode "DW's Name Game" features Arthur melting after D.W. calls him "the ultimate insult" in a dream of hers. Even D.W. is horrified, stopping him from going down the drain with her cow mug and calling out for help.

Season Three

 * "Buster's Back": the Cold Open has Arthur dreaming that Buster is returning from space. When Buster lands on Earth, however, his body develops all the powers from the Fantastic Four, complete with one of his feet bursting into flame. He talks casually about flying through cosmic rays.
 * "D.W. All Fired Up":
 * D.W.'s class prepares to have a fire drill, and D.W. gets the idea in her head that they're going to set the school on fire. This freaks her out so much that she tests the smoke detectors late at night, and has a nightmare about getting trapped at school while the Tibbles are excited.
 * D.W. attempts to feign sick the next day, and refuses to go inside the school building the next. After a few days of doing fire drills at home, D.W. is still nervous when she has the courage to go to school. The music is tense as she watches the clock, and remembers that she can't read time.
 * When the drill happens, everyone else starts panicking while D.W. remains calm and asks where the fire is as she stays in line. Tommy freezes, screams, "SMOKE! I SMELL SMOKE! I CAN'T BREATHE!" He starts having a panic attack, coughing and gasping. D.W. goes to him, reassures him there's no smoke, and gets him outside with the class. Ms. Morgan goes over to Tommy and coaxes him to breathe.
 * "Attack of the Turbo Tibbles": When the twins become obsessed with a violent cartoon, to the point where they dress as the characters and act out episodes and harass D.W. and Emily, Arthur advises D.W. to stand her ground and tell them they're annoying everyone. D.W. tries, telling Tommy and Timmy during a playdate at the Tibbles house. In response, Timmy pushes a swing while imagining it's a laser cannon. The swing hits D.W. on the month; she crumples on the ground and starts crying. Emily goes to her, reacts with an Oh Crap and screams, "Blood! Mrs. Tibble, D.W.'s mouth is bleeding! I THINK IT'S BROKEN!" before running to get Mrs. Tibble. The boys look at each other before running off, and Tommy admits that he's worried D.W. might be dying. Even though it turns out she's okay, her mouth needed stitches at the ER. As D.W. has to tell the Tibbles, she got hurt because life isn't a "dumb cartoon".
 * Courtesy of "Arthur's Almost-Not-Real Music Festival": "JEKYLL - JEKYLL - HYDE! JEKYLL - HYDE! HYDE! JEKYLL!" View it here: []
 * For context, Brain sings about how he checked out The Adventures of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde from the library. Even though the book it short, it gives him a nightmare about him being Dr. Jekyll and turning into an evil green version of himself. The potion is played out as a drug addiction, where even after he tosses it away in a dream, he changes into Mr. Hyde.
 * In that same song, if you were to pause it after the Brain drinks the formula at the beginning at the right time, HIS HEAD LOOKS LIKE GIANT WORMS OR OCTOPUS TENTACLES OR SOMETHING!
 * The way the song ends. Brain checks the dates on the back of the book and sees it's overdue. He goes to return it at the library, and Miss Turner asks if he's returning. He responds, "I thought, and I said no." Cue a Jump Scare where he becomes Hyde again, says, "Renew" and laughs evilly while fading away with the book. Sleep tight.


 * "What Scared Sue Ellen?": This whole episode, really:
 * Sue Ellen is established to have Nerves of Steel; nothing scares her, not even horror movies. She takes a walk through the woods, however, and hears an eerie sound. It does freak her out. She reads about if it could be a Baba Yaga, and has a nightmare about Baba Yaga chasing her through the woods. When Sue Ellen seems to wake up, Baba Yaga is outside her window! She realizes it's another nightmare, but the paranoia.
 * When Sue Ellen shows her friends the spot where she heard the sound, they all freak out. Binky attempts to shout at whatever it is to go away, only to start screaming as well. They run away in a panic.
 * The Adult Fear: Perky was stuck under a tree, trapped by the roots, for a few days. She was making the weird sounds while howling for help. When the kids get a maintenance man and Mrs. Wood, Mrs. Wood thanks the group. She says it could have been for longer, and she doesn't want to think about what might have happened to Percy.
 * "Clarissa Is Cracked": Mr. Ratburn hosts a puppet show of Rapunzel. The kids gasp when Rapunzel's head falls off after she tries letting down her hair for the prince. Seeing their faces and that Rapunzel is broken, Mr. Ratburn quickly announces an intermission to fix her. D.W., being D.W., admits that it was Actually Pretty Funny once she gets over the shock.
 * "Francine and the Feline": After Francine's family adopts a stray kitten that stole Mr. Frensky's lunch at the dump, Arthur imagines her becoming a Crazy Cat Lady, literally. She has dozens of cats, and her face suddenly has the button nose and whiskers. Arthur screams at the thought.
 * "The Long, Dull Winter": The Cold Open shows time slowing down to the point that a bird is frozen in mid-flight.

Season Six

 * The giant purple orange, also a part of one of Binky's dreams from the episode "Rhyme For Your Life."
 * The Gainax Ending of The Boy Who Cried Comet would've probably caused nightmares with a few of the fans as well.

Season Seven

 * "April 9th"
 * Heck, the entire school fire and the aftermath. Especially when Mr. Ratburn is about to give a test, sniffs the air, and says "What's that smell?"
 * Mr. Morris breaks his leg because he stayed behind to close the teacher's lounge, the source of the fire, rather than evacuate with everyone else. His leg gets broken so badly that he has to retire.
 * Arthur was shaken up because his dad was in the school lounge, catering a breakfast, and he was worried he'd get killed. After the students and teachers evacuate, Arthur realizes that his dad isn't among them. He asks the firefighter where David is, and says that he wants to go into the school. She holds him back, saying it's better to let the professionals find his father. Just then, other firefighters come out with David, who's covered in soot and coughing. They treat him for smoke inhalation, as Arthur hugs him.
 * The giant squid in Arthur's nightmare, that grabs David at the aquarium as he serves pirate customers. David screams for help, as the squid starts drowning them. Arthur tries to go save his dad, but the pirates hold him back.
 * Arthur finally admits to his dad, who is late for an aquarium gig, that he's scared by screaming "But what if something happens at the aquarium?!" as he tries faking a sore throat. David pauses mis-sushi preparation, and kneels by his son. He then relates that something similar happened to Grandma Thora, that she was in a car accident when David was Arthur's age. David admits he was also scared she would go out one day and never return, so he knows exactly how his son feels.
 * Binky develops a fear of fires after seeing the blaze in the teacher's lounge. At first he acts like the Jerkass he was in season one by stealing food from his classmates and laughing at how "scared" they were after he sets off the fire alarm. Then when they return to Lakewood, he sees Mr. Haney in the renovated teacher's lounge trying out a new recliner. Binky has an Imagine Spot of the fire burning Mr. Haney alive, and runs out screaming.
 * Mr. Fresky has Adult Fear when he sees Binky playing hooky, putting away litter. He asks why Binky is not in school, and shows sympathy when Binky breaks down crying, saying that he's too scared to go back to school. Mr. Frensky relates that when he saw his first fire, he couldn't sleep for weeks. It is a traumatic situation.

Season Thirteen

 * If you have Asperger's Syndrome, Carl's panic attack in "When Carl Met George" might bring back unpleasant memories...


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