Arthur Season 16 Episode 1

This episode was really awful. I could tell right away that something was wrong. First the animation was terrible, the way they moved looked like some kind of computer animation. and I felt like the charecters were drawn sloppily too. I also believe that they changed Arthur's voice again. The new charecter they added to the show i felt was irratating by the way she talked.(if it were up to me i would have never added her.)The only thing that didn't change was the music. This was the only episode that I couldn't finish watching because it was that horrific. Hopefully PBS doesn't turn me into a liar about this show and fixes the flaws in the future episodes, or else I will have to say my childhood has been killed tonight.

It killed my childhood.



From the poor animation

To the terrible story line

Future episodes contradict past episodes too.



In this one, they made a contradiction that the store owner doesn't know anyone in the clothes shop.

They ruined Mr. Rathburn's approach on kids

Killed off wheelchair girl from season 15.



In future ones, Kate's storyline gets reset.



Just god need to make the stories about kids problems.... not random ones like DW getting married.

I just got home from school and all I have to say is this:



UGH...



WHAT.. AN.. EYESORE...



(this review pretty much sums up how I feel about this episode as well as Arthur's entire Season 16. DON'T GET ME WRONG: the content is classic Arthur, but I CAN'T ENJOY them on count of the distracting animation even though I want to)



If this animation is the best 9 Story Entertainment can do for this EMMY AWARD winning classic that is STILL one of my favorite cartoons, they have no business doing it, period!!



If they can afford to feature figures like Alex Trebek, Frank Gehry, Matt Damon, Fred Rogers, Lance Armstrong, and the like, THEY CAN AFFORD BETTER ANIMATION THAN THIS TRASH!



Let's liken flash/ToonBoom and hand-drawn animation to an acoustic guitar versus an electric for a moment. Both sound great - when played by musicians who know the instruments and the sound they want to achieve. However, you don't try to turn a heavy metal band with electric guitars into acoustic without repercussions, though!!! Yes, some acoustic versions of songs or passages call for it, and that's OK. But be that as it may: EACH INSTRUMENT HAS ITS OWN SOUND and there's a time and a place for either.



>>> SAME GOES WITH FLASH VS HAND DRAWN!!!



YES, BOTH CAN LOOK GREAT, when done by people who KNOW the look they want to achieve for the final product, and know the tool's strengths/limitations inside-out from the start.



However! Most flash is used because *it's cheap* or *they can*, to cut corners, or as a substitute for hand-drawn when it isn't appropriate, and those mentalities are why MOST FLASH is TRASH, INCLUDING THIS. I would have had absolutely no problem with them using it to cut costs if flash/toonboom's style FIT Arthur's, but it sadly DOESN'T...



Compare the above to using flash as the RIGHT TOOL for the job (and it CAN be a good tool indeed!) and it being used to create ORIGINAL works from the ground up (not trying to copy someone else's or replicate another work). The results SPEAK volumes (Look at MLP:FIM, Johnny Test, Foster's Home, Mucha Lucha, or Happy Tree Friends for example)...



>>> FLASH IS ITS OWN DISTINCT STYLE even when done right either way we look at it. Flash/toonboom seems to want to draw shapes and animate things in straight lines, angles, or a grid and seems to want to "correct things", and that's why characters look off-model and movement is stiff and awkward, puppet like. Flash/ToonBoom also just doesn't do any justice to those imperfect pencil lines, intricate details, wide color palate, brush strokes, and the range of motion Arthur's style has - IT JUST DOESN'T: that's it, that's all, and I have even talked to animators who've said the same thing BTW.



DON'T GET ME WRONG:



I SERIOUSLY WANTED to enjoy "Read and Flumberghast" for example as I admire the creativity they put into it (and it's my favorite episode of this season along with "Night of the Tibble") as well as the rest the season. I can't though because the characters looked like bobblehead dolls with those jerky "string puppet" like tweening motions, along with over-saturated colors, dark, uniformly thick lines around everything, nothing drawn out (including facial features and eyes), hair not moving with motion/wind, etc. Movements were stiff, awkward and distracting, and characters looked like hollow, lifeless, off-model empty shells of themselves, LIKE EVERYTHING WAS MADE FROM CARDBOARD and they took no pride in it. Even the sesond half of this season was more or less the same.



Nadine's tail looked like they just pinned it on outside her dress like Eeyore the donkey's in one scene, and then under her dress in the next, among a plethora of others.



The plot, storyline, music, and creative juices were all classic Arthur and were DEFINITELY THERE, but the animation is A WET BLANKET TO WHATEVER POTENTIAL the episodes could've had,



CONCLUSION:



This show was a work of art before this crud showed up...



But now it's like a chair with a broken leg, and the animation is that broken leg. The plot, storylines, and creativity are the other legs, but you still can't sit down comfortably even if it can hold you up (unless you like sideways rocking chairs and staying on your toes, LOL).



Flash plainly took the heart and SOUL of this show and gutted it and now it does nothing but AGGRAVATE my depression...



Overall, this episode and the entire season looks like a fandub on GoAnimate dot com's website, and they should have stuck with traditional animation's style. We don't care anymore whether the production is here or abroad next time around. Just do it right, please, however long it takes (and the wait would be well worth it)!



NEVER AGAIN PBS!!! Never again...

I hope this is just a fluke (I REALLY DO!), and come season 17 THEY GET THEIR A-GAME ON AND IT ISN'T A REPEAT OF THIS DISASTER.



Season 16's animation IS THE ONLY REAL GRIPE I have against this otherwise great show right now!!!

i dont get everyboadys hatred too this episode, the animation is a little stiff but its a great episode, full of adventure and the new character lodanna is great fits the show very well