Reviews

Arthur is one of those shows which almost everyone has heard of. As a kid, I found it interesting how most of the shows I watched (Numberjacks, Peep and the Big Wide World, Charlie and Lola) were mostly unknown by other kids, but Arthur was one of the shows that everyone knew about.

The very first episode of the show gives you the kind of vibe the show will be for its 25 Season runs. Every episode is meant to be educational, but rather than focusing on something specific like math or science or something, Arthur uses its education for teaching kids (and sometimes adults) on how to interact with others in the real world, which is something I feel a lot of shows don't really bother that much to do.

Very few shows have the guts to show the flaws in all of its main characters, which is something I think this show isn't appriciated enough for. Of course, Arthur is the main character, but the show doesn't treat all the other characters like an NPC who only have a life when it's time to be part of the main plot. As the show goes on, it begins to take more advantage out of the other characters and shows us what they get up to, and there are a handful of episodes where Arthur doesn't even appear at all. This is even pointed out by the show itself where, in the routine comedic unrealistic intro scene for a specific episode, the characters even discuss changing the name of the show to one of the other characters, since the show isn't really about just Arthur anymore.

There's an episode called "so funny, I forgot to laugh" which is looked down upon a lot, but I think everyone misses the point of the episode where Arthur takes a joke too far and realizes he's become a bully; The episode isn't just about not bullying- It's about not letting yourself get suckered into your own good reputation. A lot of people, and kids especially, can get used to being praised for their good behavior, and then not know how to react when they're scolded for something; You can start to think everyone around you is turning against you, and you're willing to do anything that avoids having to look at your own flaws, which is exactly what the episode is about. You can't swap Arthur in for one of the bully characters because that would ruin the main moral of the episode- That even nice kids can succumb to becoming a bully and need to be able to recognize that.

Personally, I think most of the episodes that miss the mark are actually in Season 1, which makes sense since the show was finding its feet. (Also, the animation is most notably half-baked in its first season and Only in its first season.) Arthur's Birthday sticks out like a sore thumb to me because I feel they got the message backwards and everything just works out for Arthur because he's the main character, but like I said, the shows starts to feel more three-dimensional as it goes on.

The show also goes out of its way to handle more difficult topics. Not just by adding in characters who are autistic, or blind, but even tackling stuff like dealing with death, divorce, new siblings. And even topics most kids shows would never even think of covering- Like cancer, natural disasters, and most notably, this kids show with a target audience of children from 4-8 literally has an episode (appropriately titled "Bleep") that deals very appropriately with the concept of swear words.

There are a couple times where I feel the show is a bit scary for its younger audience. Whenever one of the characters is worried about something, they often go to sleep and we're treated to a dream sequence that over-exaggerates the problem at hand. An episode that I remember scaring me as a kid was at the very beginning of an episode about how Binky, the main bully character, can't sleep without a nightlight (yeah I know, it's almost as if the characters have more depth than most people think), and the episode opens when Binky being chased by a massive burger and french fries and there are police sirens, and it was all just a little much for my little 5 year old brain.

I think I've covered a lot, so I might as well end the review here. There's so much more I could talk about though, and there are so many episodes that stick out to me as staples in my childhood- But even then, episodes like The Ballad of Buster Baxter and April 9th can't be fully appriciated if you aren't already invested in the characters and their relationships with each other. I feel like I'm almost selling Arthur as an anime now, and who knows, it might be able to pull that format off one day. (I can see it now, coming in 2036, everyone on the internet making memes out of it until the sun burns out.)

This show is incredible- I came to it looking for a show that could actually expose people to Bible Stories in an engaging way instead of just reading them off of an emotionless text- Some of the most well known stories in the Bible, such as the Tower of Babel or Jacob's Ladder, are only a handful of verses long and if you zone out for even half a page you could miss those stories entirely.

Superbook delivered that, just- perhaps in a similar way to the Christian God- not quite in the way I expected. With the exception of Season 1, stories are told in a random order as this show is mostly episodic- Each episode contains 2 kids, Chris, Joy, and their robot friend who you're just supposed to accept is there, Gizmo, stumbling themselves into a relatable modern way problem. Just when they prove they don't know how to handle this problem, Superbook shows up to take them back in time to experience a bible story firsthand, that is in some way related to what they are going through. By the end of each episode, Chris and/or Joy learn a lesson (Gizmo is purely there for Comic Relief), and are taken back home to put their newfound wisdom to good use.

While this is definitely a kids show, a lot of the episodes actually deal with problems adults may come across, especially in the later seasons. The best introduction episode for the show I believe is Season 2, Episode 1, Jonah. Many people know about the story of Jonah and how he was in a fish for 3 days, but Not that many people seem to actually know why he was there. The point of the story isn't for him to be in a fish for three days. The story is actually about learning to forgive people even when you think they don't deserve it.

Similarly, it seems a lot of people know about Joseph's "coat of many colors" but don't seem to know anything else about the story, when the coat is basically the most insignificant part of that story- It represents the moment Joseph's brothers are pushed over the edge, but everything that happens after the coat is wrecked is what the story is really about and it gets pretty brutal.

My favorite episode though is from Season 5, when Joy is questioning if it's even right for her to hang around her non Christian friends, only for Superbook to show her that even Jesus hung around "sinners" to build relationships with them.

There are also plenty of episodes that shake up the status quo a bit which is good fun.

And while Gizmo can be annoying as the comic relief character, Chris and Joy rarely laugh at his quirks which can give you the feeling that it's okay if you don't find him funny- Maybe that doesn't make much sense but I feel it works.

If you're willing to embrace your child self and learn some valuable life lessons that are applicable to both children and adults, give this a watch!

Everyone seems mad that this is a rip off of Squid Game, when I feel like a bunch of what comes out right now could be considered rip offs of Squid Game, when Squid Game in itself is already a premise that Alice in Borderland and Liar Game did first.

The concept of a series of children's Games having a hidden dark twist to them is not something Squid Game started, and it's not something that Only Squid Game should be allowed to use.

This movie was very enjoyable, and while you can predict how the ending will go down fairly early into the movie, I feel it does a good job at making you question your prediction every now and then.

Plus, even if you know which characters are going to make it, the joy in a premise like this should be seeing How they reach it. This entire premise is about learning to think on your feet and outside the box.

I wish this movie was more like Liar Game or Alice in Borderland, with people learning to work together and fight the system instead of letting the system make them think they have to fight each other.

When it comes to actual criticisms that actually have to do with the movie, and not other stuff that the general public apparently likes more, I thought the acting could have been a little better, but the fact that I didn't know a single actor in this entire movie I felt said a lot. I appreciate any movie or show that feels confident enough to not get a famous person into their product to help sell it better. Hopefully some, if not all of these actors impressed someone with their performance and is off to even better things.

Also, I couldn't help but notice that the cast wasn't very diverse. I believe there's only one cast member who isn't white in this whole movie, but I just hope whoever was casting the actors really were picking the best people for the job and not being biased.

I felt the Games were fairly creative and honestly, I would actually love to see a sequel to this. It's not like the people claiming it's just a Squid Game rip off and thus has no value is going to change their minds anyway.

I wish all the people who worked on this movie good luck in future endeavors. It takes a shocking amount of effort to get a movie off the ground, and this was a solid well done job.

I feel bad giving this episode a low score as a 6/10, but in case I need to explain this- a 6/10 Still means its reccomended. 5/10 is average.

I'll start with the positives- The production value is astonishing. If I'm not mistaken from the behind the scenes- I beleieve they tracked down not only the original filming location of Hill Valley, but also the original DeLorian used in the movie, as well as the guy who played Goldie Wilson. Of course I'm not expecting Christopher Loydd and Michael J Fox to be showing up, but I'm Very impressed they managed to accomplish what they did.

The other sets are also extreamly impressive, especially the first set seen meant to replicate Doc's... house? Or garage? I'm sorry, for a movie I've seen countless times, I never actually stopped to think what that first room in the movie is, but the one where Marty blows up the apliphier. (Barely a spoiler since it happens at the very beginning)

But now we get to the negatives.

First off I just want to say that I am more than happy to see Back to the Future be represented in a series covering various movies- Furthermore is the First one covered. (If you don't count Mad Max which is like an Episode 0 I guess?)

But I Do have to say that... Back to the Future is not exactly a: 'Deadly,' movie. It feels weird seeing this as the first/second episode in a series that's literally asking if you could: 'survive,' the movies. All this episode covers is the aforementioned Marty blowing up the apmliphier, and (semi-spoilers even though it only lasts a second and is played off as a joke in the original movie) Doc being struck by lightning. The rest of the episode is just comedically recreating parts of the movie just for the heck of it. Fun to see and all, but when we suddenly cut from comedically and self-awarengly (is that a word?) recreating the climax of the movie to suddenly talking about the brutality of having your skull roasted alive by a lightning strike- It just felt very jarring and tonal whiplash.

Also, and I know they're not meant to be, but the people pretending to be Marty and Doc are very clearly not actors- However that made many parts of the video funny in a so bad it's good way. (The bad acting Peaked when Doc awkwardly turned to the camera to explain the bootstrap paradox. It was such an awkward look, that I had to stop the video and laugh for a couple minutes.)

Finally- And I saved this for last because it isn't as important but it is the Reason I haven't watched a single episode of this series since this one so far after 2 years.

This episode does not understand the time travel used in the movie.

This show has the guts to imply it can scientifically explain how causing time paradoxes can affect you and the universe which is obviously as of now, impossible due to time travel not existing yet.

But also, this video doesn't even understand how time travel works! It claims since you can travel To the future, it must therefore mean that the future exists at the same Time as the present.

What?

The Very First time the DeLorian is ever used in the movie is to explain exactly how that Isn't the case. Travelling to the future is the equivalent of vaporizing yourself and rematrializing at the exact moment you set to travel to.

I remember when I watch Back to the Future with someone who had never seen it before and when Doc shouted he sent Einstein 1 minute into the future, she literally asked:

'Can you get him back?'

Only for it to be explained in the movie afterwards how sending something 1 minute into the future isn't exactly getting rid of it forever. On the contrary, it's getting rid of it for exactly 1 minute.

And ALSO- The episode claims that when Marty returns to 1985, the fact that he didn't stop his past self from going back a 2nd time would create a paradox and blow up the universe.

What?? It would be a paradox if he Did stop his past self, becuase then the whole movie wouldn't have even happened!

Overall- An episode that shows much potential, even if it is finding its feet- An enjoyable watch, but just know that if you're a big fan of Back to the Future and time-travel in general, you might walk away a tad annoyed.