Three people live in our household, none under the age of 12, yet we still record several episodes per week of PBS’ Arthur.
Image: PBSKids.org
And lest you doubt the geek credentials of Marc Brown’s bookworm aardvark-who-doesn’t-look-anything-like-an-aardvark, I point only to this: Neil Gaiman is making a guest appearance (fifth item down at the link), which he recorded on Monday, according to his Twitter feed.
Neil Gaiman in Elwood City. “With luck,” the Coraline author blogged a couple weeks back, “it’ll have kids all over the world making their own little graphic novels, and will usher in the dawn of a new golden age of comics and creativity.”
Gaiman’s visit, though, is just the latest in a list of great Arthur shout-outs to geek culture and fandom, which to my way of thinking makes it perfect for sowing those seeds early.
So here are ten more points that prove Arthur is nothing short of a Geeklet Icon.
1. Let’s start with more of those guest voices: Arthur’s had a bunch of these, and one of the things I think makes them awesome is that more often than not, the visitors are playing themselves, which can introduce parents and kids alike to new faces and ideas. Architect Frank Gehry’s been on the show, as has kinetic sculpture artist Arthur Ganson, and Jeopardy! host Alex Trebek. (Renamed “Alex Lebek” in the Arthur episode, for some reason.)
2. The value of reading is a huge underlying message: Arthur and his friends go to the library a lot. They did an entire musical episode which included a song and dance the benefits of a library card and another using The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde to illustrate the addictive power of books. Oh, and Arthur’s last name is, in fact, Read.
3. It’s super-meta. The characters have more than once broken the fourth wall to take control of the show, and in one particularly brilliant episode called “The Contest,” they managed to parody not only Arthur itself, but also South Park, Dexter’s Laboratory, and Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist.
4. Obligatory Star Wars reference made for no reason whatsoever: Arthur’s friend Buster, having gone away for the summer with his dad, appears over Arthur’s shoulder as a robed figure, translucent and sparkly. “Use the Force, Arthur,” he intones – and then he admits he has no idea what it means, but that he “thought it would be funny.”
5. Lucasfilm call-out number two: In an episode about misconceptions regarding the life of his Turkish pen pal, Arthur is sadly misinformed by the comic-book adventures of Illinois Jack and the Caravan of Horrors, complete with a couple brief Raiders of the Lost Ark send-ups.
Image: PBSKids.org
6. What literary phenomenon keeps the kids of Elwood City stampeding back to the bookstore? That would be the tales of the boy wizard who’s the star of Henry Screever and the Cabbage of Mayhem, and the related Brick of Wonders and Knights of the Bouillabaisse.
7. Arthur and Buster are huge fans of comic-book hero “Bionic Bunny,” a great nod to Batman, right down to his sinister-toned TV spinoff Dark Bunny.
8. Brain: Arthur’s super-smart friend (Real name: Alan) who’s always there with a detailed scientific explanation and a winning school project at the ready. He also happily loans Arthur his books on spline extrusion and the Copernican universe model.
9. Arthur and his friends have an oft-stated fondness for clearly-cheesy-but-fun-anyway horror and sci-fi action movies like Carpet of Doom and 5000 Explosions and a Supernova.
10. Fleeting, subtle, and genius: There’s an episode in which Arthur’s friend Francine displays a swallow and then a coconut, explaining that the former had been carrying the latter. (She does not specify whether it is an African or European swallow.) Best Monty Python reference in a kids’ show ever.
