Arthur (animation)/Heartwarming

What a wonderful kind of day, if we can learn to work and play, and get along with each other.

Arthur is an unforgettable show because it talks about love and friendship, how you are never alone when solving big or little problems.

General

 * Mr. Ratburn is a great Reasonable Authority Figure. While he is stern and gives the kids plenty of homework, it'e established that he trusts them to rise to the occasion. One of the season finales, that showed the kids actually missed him as a teacher because he challenged them to fulfill their potential.
 * Some of the friendships between the kids:
 * Arthur and Buster have been friends since preschool. While neither is perfect, and have made their fair share of mistakes, they do what they can to work together.
 * Francine and Arthur are similar. They met in kindergarten, where Francine stuck her lollipop to Arthur's forehead. Arthur says that Francine can be hard to get along with, but she means well and you can count on her.
 * The sibling relationships:
 * Arthur and D.W. may bicker, because that's what happens when you have siblings with a close age gap. Yet if D.W. is in real trouble, Arthur will help her, and D.W. will do her best to return the favor.
 * Catherine and Francine are polar opposites in terms of personality and taste. They also love each other, and Catherine will offer advice if Francine needs it, about life or friends.

Picture Books And Novelizations

 * Arthur's Nose has Arthur consider getting plastic surgery to get less of an aardvark nose. After looking at the options, however, he decides that he's happiest with his nose. Who cares what anyone else thinks?
 * Arthur's Eyes
 * Arthur's teacher is reasonable when Arthur ends up in the girls' bathroom by accident, after trying to go without his glasses. He suggests that if Arthur isn't comfortable having his glasses out all the time, he could keep them in a case like he does.
 * After making fun of Arthur for being a "Four-eyes," Francine apologizes by getting her own glasses without lenses, and wearing them for class photos while standing next to Arthur.
 * During the April Fools talent show, Binky has his eyes set on Arthur to either pummel him or sabotage his act. Francine is shown rehearsing next to Arthur the next day and keeping an eye on him.
 * The Valentine's Day book features Arthur receiving letters from a secret admirer. He wonders if it might be Sue Ellen, the new girl. Turns out it was Francine, who invites him to go with the movies. While Arthur doesn't return her feelings, he does give her chocolate kisses.

Season One

 * "Arthur's Eyes"
 * D.W. wakes up Arthur early in the morning, convinced they have a secret brother. Arthur takes the time to explain that the toddler without glasses is him; as D.W. declares, "You were born with glasses," he reminds her that she was only two years old when he got them.
 * The Reads take Arthur to an optometrist when the school nurse finds out that he can barely read letters on an eye chart. When Arthur screams that he sees "A giant worm!", Dr. Iris realizes that a caterpillar is crawling across the lenses. Without missing a beat, she returns the caterpillar to an office plant. Dr. Iris reassures Arthur that he just needs glasses, and he's been getting headaches because of eye strain.
 * After the exam, Dr. Iris shows Arthur different frames. He tries on a few, and enjoys imagining himself as an airline pilot. Jane keeps complimenting his choices. Then he sees a pair of round glasses on a high shelf; Dr. Iris helps him put them on, and they all realize it's the pair. David calls it, "Very distinguished".
 * Arthur's attempt to attend school without his glasses goes wrong, as he ends up in the girl's bathroom by accident. At night, he mopes in front of the television. Then he learns that Wilbur Rabbit, who plays Bionic Bunny, wears glasses identical to his. Arthur lets it register, before he jumps and cheers.
 * The episode ends with Arthur acing the latest quiz in Mr. Marco's class, and shooting a three-pointer. Mr. Marco had failed him for getting all the questions wrong at the beginning of the episode. Here, he winks at Arthur and praises him for getting all the answers correct.
 * Francine has been making fun of Arthur all episode. She shows that she was inspired to wear glasses, without lenses, after seeing the Bionic Bunny special, and invites Arthur to join her basketball team.
 * "Francine's Bad Hair Day"
 * The episode shows that turnabout is fair play; Arthur will make fun of Francine as much as she makes fun of him. But it shows they'll remain friends regardless.
 * The third-graders cheer on Francine for winning the kickball game against the fourth-graders. Though Buster accidentally runs into her and ruins what would have been an easy out, she quickly recovers, grabs the ball, and tags the runner out before he can hit home plate.
 * Muffy is pretty Innocently Insensitive this episode, but she did sincerely say that Francine could have a pretty school picture.
 * While Flossie is a little condescending towards Francine, she does treat her as a valued customer due to being Muffy's friend and gives her a perm that's in her price range. Francine chooses a hairstyle from the computer that looks "normal" in her words, called a "Prom Queen," and Flossie personally attends to Francine's hair wash, blowdry, and cut.
 * In the end, Arthur says that he likes how Francine's smudged look came out in class photos, with mud on her face from the kickball home run she made at recess. As Muffy walks off in disgust, Arthur asks Francine if she's ready to play more kickball. She responds, "You bet," and runs out the doors with him.
 * "Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn"
 * Brain's mother notices that the kids look troubled and tries to offer them ice-cream on the house. They barely even notice.
 * Mr. Ratburn does a lot of volunteer work outside the classroom. The trio notices when they spend the entire day following him.
 * When Buster and Arthur end up onstage at Mr. Ratburn's puppet show, Mr. Ratburn's puppet remains in character while he whispers for them to get off the stage. He isn't upset at the interruption, letting them watch as he replaces Jack's cracked head. Arthur remarks that he does so much in so little time.
 * "Arthur's Spelling Trubble"
 * Arthur is convinced that he's not going to be the spelling champion this year. To his shock, by sheer luck he and Brain end up being the only kids who don't misspell their words. Arthur confesses to Mr. Ratburn, however, that he didn't study and won't represent the class in the school spelling bee. Mr. Ratburn tells Arthur You Are Better Than You Think You Are, that he knows that Arthur can do it.
 * D.W. volunteers to ferry distractions for Arthur so that he can study. While she's D.W. about it, in that Jane has to bribe her with ice-cream, she is genuinely supportive and whistles for him at the spelling bee.

Season Two

 * "Arthur and Mr. Rogers"
 * Mr. Rogers being a guest-star on this show, especially since it was a few years before his passing. He remains patient with Arthur's Zany Scheme of hiding him from his friends, and comforts him when the news gets wind of the secret.
 * Mr. Rogers sings D.W. to sleep with a lullaby. Buster also listens with a wistful expression.
 * After all the mockery Binky did all episode, saying Mr. Rogers is for babies, he actually stammers on seeing him and asks for his autograph.
 * "Draw!"
 * Fern reveals that she likes Mr. Ratburn's puppet show. Becomes a Tear Jerker when Francine makes fun of her, leaving Fern to run off in tears.
 * Arthur tells Francine that she needs to apologize to Fern for hurting her feelings. He later says that maybe Fern's revenge cartoon scheme is going too far when seeing Francine eating lunch alone sullenly.
 * Ms McGrady stages a "prank" with the kids, inviting them to pour green gloop on Francine when she comes to the fortunetelling camp. This allows the kids to overhear that Francine is genuinely upset about the cartoons, and she admits that it was wrong of her to make fun of Fern. They decide not to pour the gloop and make up with her. After they leave, Ms. McGrady reveals the "gloop" was actually balloons and streamers.

Season Three

 * "Buster's Back"
 * Arthur is so happy when Bitsy calls and says Buster is landing soon, that he bikes through the town spreading the news.
 * After all the drama and internal conflict Arthur had, fearing that Buster would change too much, Buster says that he wants to sit down and play checkers with his best friend.

Season Four

 * "D.W.'s Library Card"
 * While D.W. goes This Is Gonna Suck on learning that she has to write her full name to get a library card, and "Dora Winifred Read" is quite a mouthful compared to "D.W." which she can write, she commits to completing the task. Miss Turner even praises her handwriting when she finally writes her name on the card.

Specials

 * "Arthur's Perfect Christmas"