Arthur (animation)/Headscratchers

''This page is for the cartoon. See Arthur (film)/Headscratchers for the live-action film.''


 * In the first season (at least), Muffy had these odd front teeth (kind of like a hippo). Where'd they go? I guess they thought she looked better without them (which, in all honesty, she does).
 * This was an animation error. They also had white-colored tongues. Both of which were fixed after season one.
 * I wouldn't say it was an animation error. Muffy had those teeth in the Arthur storybooks, from 1982 (Muffy's first appearance "The True Francine") until around the time the show first premiered. She even has them in some of the early Arthur-related merchandise and toys as well. Despite this, there were some season one episodes where Muffy's teeth didn't show. For example, in "Meek For a Week", Muffy looked as she does in the later seasons, but in the very next episode "Arthur, World's Greatest Gleeper", she had her front teeth again.
 * They decided it looked smoother without them. Or they nixed them because the animators were too lazy to draw two little bumps.
 * I just always assumed that those were her baby teeth. Either that or InvisAlign really works wonders.
 * In "Spoiled Rotten", Muffy sneaks back into the school to recover the jacket she put into the donations bin. When she reenters the school, it is completely dark in the hallways, as all the lights are out. Normal schools leave their lights on after-hours, and it is revealed that Francine turned the lights out. Why is that necessary?
 * Most schools, at least all the ones I went to, have these weird light switches that need a special key to turn them on or off, to prevent students from playing with the lights. I guess Francine somehow had access to one of the keys, or maybe their school is cheap and just has ordinary switches. But yeah, most schools leave their lights on at all hours. That whole scene was basically a setup to show how smart and clever Francine is.
 * How come all the anthropomorphic animal characters are tailless except Nadine?
 * Obviously tail-docking has become the norm, not unlike circumcision and shaving.
 * Because Nadine is an imaginary friend that D.W. made up. If D.W. wanted Nadine to have a tail, she will.
 * This has to do with their Medium Awareness, but how do their ears work? When DW went to the doctor for her ears, they checked her actual ears. In another episode from the same season or so, when they wanted to block out their hearing they put their hands on the sides of their heads...where there are no ears.
 * I just noticed this: Why is it that Arthur can't close his eyes, only his pupils?
 * Well, that is kind of typical of cartoony characters with glasses.
 * Why do the kids keep believing Prunella and Rubella no matter how many times they're proven wrong? This is especially idiotic with Prunella, since she uses the same tricks as Rubella and always believes her.
 * I think that it has something to do with the fact that they're both older (yet still relatable), so the kids probably think that it's easier to go to them with their problems rather than ask their parents about what's bothering them. Especially since most of the time they go to Prunella because she's been in similar situations before (like when they were all worried about having Mr. Ratburn as a teacher). I think that the basics of it is simply, in their minds, older=wiser.
 * Why is Nadine so much smarter than D.W. when she's a product of her mind?
 * I don't think that it's a matter of "smarter", but what course of actions and decisions D.W. wants to make. I think that when D.W.'s talking to Nadine, it's just a way of weighing the pros and cons of what she can do and contemplating the situations at hand, and D.W.'s just too impulsive to go for the more sound ideas. Also, notice how Nadine is naturally quiet and meek against D.W.'s loud and brash personality. It's not that Nadine is smarter, it's that D.W. doesn't want to listen to that part of her psyche at the moment. She knows that the Nadine part of herself is right, but she's too stubborn to admit it.
 * Why does Elwood City, which has a population of nearly 80,000 people, have a volunteer fire department? Volunteer fire departments are more common in rural, unincorporated areas, and not within larger towns. It's not like Elwood is strapped for revenue either, as evidenced by the top-notch school system and other amenities.
 * Indeed, VFDs are more common in rural areas, but they are not unheard of in larger towns and cities. I grew up in a town of 50,000 people, and we operated a VFD as well as a paid one.
 * This has bugged me for a while now... Why is it the Frenskys live in such a small apartment? What job does her mom have? Is she a homemaker?
 * Yes, she's a homemaker. They probably could live in a house, but the show tries to have kids in lots of different situations to show realism. They go from a "mom+ dad-Christian-household" family to a "single-parent-apartment" family.
 * And I imagine a garbageman's salary isn't exactly luxurious.
 * Actually, garbagemen don't pull in half bad of a salary, especially for a job that doesn't require post secondary. Maybe not enough to move into a larger apartment with two kids and a spouse who doesn't work, but still not half bad.
 * In the episode about cell phones: WHERE DID MUFFY'S BIG BROTHER COME FROM?
 * I watched this episode with the very well-off kid I babysit and asked the same question. The five-year-old matter-of-factly replied that Muffy's brother obviously went to boarding school, just like her older brother and sister did. Makes sense to me.
 * In the Christmas special from back in 2000, right next to Muffy's oversized stocking was one that said 'Chip.' I guess the writers finally put him in after so many seasons...
 * He's been acknowledged since the book series, he appeared in Muffy's family portrait in Arthur goes to Camp. Which means he's been around just as long as the Brain had since he that was also his first appearance.
 * The third episode ("Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn") show them going into 3rd Grade. What grade were they in in "Francine's Bad Hair Day", the episode before?
 * The episodes are not shown in chronological order, so they were in the 3rd grade. I remember they put an episode about a blizzard, in between a swimming episode and an episode set in autumn.
 * If you're talking about the ones where they have Mr. Marco instead of Mr. Ratburn, 2nd grade.
 * "Arthur's Eyes". What grade was he in when he got the glasses? Mr. Morris (and Arthur and co. not looking that different) suggest it was 2nd Grade, but... why was DW making baby sounds (the same as Kate, I might add)? She would have been about 3, meaning she should be able to talk a LITTLE BIT (and, it's DW, she talks a lot).
 * There is probably a trope for this, but I don't know for certain. Sometimes when TV shows are just beginning, all the facts aren't set in stone. It would only be later when they come to definite conclusions that would remain for the rest of the series. Sue Ellen was shown in Arthur's 2nd grade flashback, because it wasn't yet decided that she would transfer to his show in the middle of the third grade.
 * Early Installment Weirdness is the trope you're looking for. Francine tends to act jarringly out of character in those early episodes as well.
 * It's also a lot easier to use stock baby noises than it is to dub fairly unimportant dialogue. D.W. wasn't exactly critical to the plot in that episode. She also stays 4 in every episode after her birthday, where she turns 5, so I'd chalk it up to Negative Continuity if cheap isn't a satisfactory answer.
 * Didn't Arthur says she was two when he got glasses? But that doesn't make sense, so he probably meant in the baby pictures.
 * In "Arthur The Wrecker," it appears that the writers back then had no grasp on technology. Let's look at this: the computer's keyboard is wireless. The mouse is on a wire attached to the keyboard. The keyboard gets knocked off the desk, at least five feet away, and the computer turns off and they can't turn it back on. This pretty much shows that whoever thought this up has never used a computer before.
 * Arthur's Punch. Why did the episode act like this was the single most horrible thing anyone has ever done? Hell, even Binky, the residential Jerkass With a Heart of Gold scolded at him for doing this. I mean, sure, I get the message of "don't punch people", but I completely understood why Arthur did it.
 * Arthur is supposed to represent the nice guy, er, kid, on the block; you wouldn't picture someone like him punching his own sister (which, as you said, was justified). I guess the constant scolding was because punching girls isn't exactly PC nowadays. What I dislike about this episode is that D.W. didn't get punished for breaking the plane (I'm sure there is a trope for this), and when Binky punched Arthur, Arthur's father was like "this is how D.W. feels", as opposed to contacting Binky's mother. Its an obvious setup to a (broken?) Aesop.
 * Yeah, but it's not exactly uncommon for kids, even "nice" ones, to get into physical fights with their siblings, which is another thing that made the episode a bit jarring. Francine has a lot of rivalry with her sister and most of the time we see them together, they're fighting. I have a hard time believing they never tried to hit each other.
 * IT makes me wonder if the writers never had siblings - or even went to school. Why would kids see that as a What the Hell, Hero?? Most kids would have taken Arthur's side. Heck, when we were shown it at school, it was an almost overwhelming consensus that yes, Arthur overreacted, but D.W. was asking for it. (You could spot those who were only children - because they were the ones who weren't on Arthur's side.)
 * one thing that always bugged me was the fact that D.W. never got visibly punished for destroying Arthur's plane. He specifically told her, numerous times, not to touch his stuff. She flat out destroys something he probably paid for with his own money. And because he punches her, she gets away with it? Other than my parents (With my bitch of an older sister who'd intentionally provoke me into doing something irrational just so she could hog the computer or the TV and taunt me.), why on earth would you just "overlook" D.W destroying Arthur's property?
 * Why is the Tibble Twins' grandmother such a pushover? She views the twins as if they are angels, despite their actions proving otherwise. (The episode "Attack of the Turbo Tibbles" comes to mind; on top of the twins being allowed to wear/mimic the Power Rangers knock-off, I don't recall the twins receiving any punishment whatsoever for sending D.W. to the hospital.)
 * In the lice episode why didn't they get lice in their fur?
 * In "To Eat Or Not To Eat": The Big Boss Bars were revealed to not only to have a chemical in them that makes them about as addictive as real life drugs but to also have radioactive materials in the damn things! Why the hell would the FDA allow the bars to be sold publicly without any type of restrictions or warnings!?
 * For that matter, why would the FDA allow them to be sold in the first place? If the owner of the company himself panicked and ran when asked to eat one (presumably because of the apparent toxicity of the bars) and was subsequently jailed for distributing the bars, one would think that the FDA would have intervened early on.
 * How are Binky's parents oblivious to his bullying and other bad actions? He's gotten in trouble so often surely they must have been called at least once.
 * Why does all-dressed pizza never cross their minds in "Desert Island Dish"?
 * I myself was thinking of a stew with milk (dairy), meat (protein), tomatoes (fruit) and carrots (vegetables) with bread chunks inside (grains).
 * Where are all the birds and mammals? Every single one of the main characters and extras is an anthropomorphic mammal.  What gives?