The sixth season of the television series Arthur was originally broadcast on PBS in the United States on September 24 to November 26, 2001 and contains 10 episodes.[1] A shortened version of the remix of the opening theme song, "Believe in Yourself", is played at the ending credits of this season as a promotion for the third music album of the franchise. Olympic figure skater Michelle Kwan guest starred on "The Good Sport" as herself. Justin Bradley took over the role of Arthur from Michael Yarmush, who had voiced the character for several years. The transition was prompted by the natural progression of age, as Yarmush was becoming too old to convincingly portray the young aardvark. This particular season marks the only instance in which Bradley voiced Arthur, a decision made by executive producers Carol Greenwald and Peter Moss. They noted that while Bradley's performance had merit, his voice was significantly deeper than Yarmush's, lacking the youthful vocal range that had been a defining characteristic of the beloved character. As a result of this shift in casting, fans experienced a noticeable change in Arthur's voice, which might have affected their connection to the character. Additionally, Samuel Holden replaced Ricky Mabe in the role of Timmy Tibble, further cementing the adjustments made in the show's voice cast. These casting changes underscore the challenges that animated series often face as time progresses and original voice actors change, requiring producers to seek new talent while attempting to maintain continuity and fidelity to the characters that audiences have come to know and love. it will be the final occasion that Steven Crowder lends his voice to the character Brain, and similarly, Oliver Grainger will be voicing D.W. for the last time. The versions of these episodes with Bradley's voice were distributed in International VHS and DVD home media, and they are still aired on TV in countries outside and in North America.
| Arthur | |
|---|---|
| Season 6 | |
| No. of episodes | 10 (20 segments) |
| Release | |
| Original network | PBS |
| Original release | September 24 – November 26, 2001 |
| Season chronology | |
Episodes
edit| No. overall | No. in season | Title | Written by | Storyboard by | Original air date | Prod. code [2] |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 86a | 1a | "Sue Ellen Gets Her Goose Cooked" | Written by : Peter K. Hirsch Idea by : Bill Shribman | Robert Yap | September 24, 2001 | 86B |
|
Sue Ellen gets obsessed with a new video game called Virtual Goose and forbids herself from playing it for a week. She struggles to resist the urge to play it when none of her friends can beat a mysterious challenger named Fourhand451. When Sue Ellen tries, she loses, and the challenger seems unbeatable, until D.W., who knows the game is a virtual version of her favorite board game, "Confuse the Goose", steps in to save the day. | ||||||
| 86b | 1b | "Best of the Nest" | Peter K. Hirsch | Zhigang Wang | September 24, 2001 | 87A |
|
While playing a nonsensical Choose Your Own Adventure-esque game, Brain questions the game's knowledge of science and is challenged as to whether or not he could survive out in the wild, so he plans a camping trip. However, his friends and even Mr. Ratburn seem more interested in playing the game. | ||||||
| 87a | 2a | "Arthur Plays the Blues" | Catherine Lieuwen | Jeremy O'Neill | October 1, 2001 | 88A |
|
Arthur's piano teacher is retiring, so he gets a strict new teacher, Dr. Fugue. When Arthur fails to practice sufficiently, Dr. Fugue fires him. Wanting to be rehired, Arthur begins practicing the piece he was supposed to. | ||||||
| 87b | 2b | "Buster's Sweet Success" | Nick Raposo | Robert Yap | October 1, 2001 | 88B |
|
Buster tries selling chocolates for a school fundraiser, but he ends up eating all of them. Since he does not have the money to pay for them, he opts to make and sell his own chocolates to pay off his debt, but they end up tasting awful. Mr. Haney gives Buster another chance by having him work in Jack's Joke Shop for a weekend. | ||||||
| 88a | 3a | "Prunella's Special Edition" | Matthew Lane | Robert Yap | October 8, 2001 | 90B |
|
Prunella is excited to get her new monogrammed Henry Skreever book in the mail, but finds that it is in Braille. When she goes to the library to get the book with words, she meets and makes friends with a blind girl named Marina, who is looking for the same book in Braille. | ||||||
| 88b | 3b | "The Secret Life of Dogs and Babies" | Peter K. Hirsch | Patricia Atchinson & Elie Klimos | October 8, 2001 | 87B |
|
Kate and Pal can understand each other and talk in full sentences when the other Reads are not around them, but older people like the rest of the Read family can’t. One time, When Mr. Read loses the figurine that goes on top of a wedding cake he made for Muffy's cousin's wedding, Kate and Pal work together to get the figurine back on top of the cake before the wedding starts. | ||||||
| 89a | 4a | "Muffy's Soccer Shocker" | Matt Steinglass | Lyndon Ruddy & Patricia Atchinson | October 15, 2001 | 89A |
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Ed is the new soccer coach, but the kids, especially Muffy, doubt his coaching methods. Muffy can’t keep up with Ed’s training drills and fears her team will lose all future games with her being goalie. | ||||||
| 89b | 4b | "Brother, Can You Spare a Clarinet?" | Dietrich Smith | Jeremy O'Neill & Stefanie Gignac | October 15, 2001 | 90A |
|
Binky performs poorly with his malfunctioning clarinet and his family can’t afford a new one, so he starts a scheme with the other Tough Customers to get rid of music by making so-called modifications to his classmates' instruments and using a megaphone and his clarinet to disrupt tryouts for the Young Person's Orchestra. | ||||||
| 90a | 5a | "The Boy Who Cried Comet" | Peter K. Hirsch | Elie Klimos & Zhigang Wang | October 22, 2001 | 89B |
|
Buster thinks he has seen UFOs, but Arthur, Fern, and the Brain do not believe him. So Buster borrows Muffy's telescope and finds a comet headed for Earth. Nobody believes him again, but when the Brain confirms it, everyone panics until Fern notices a piece is missing on the telescope, and it alters the telescope's findings, showing the comet has no chance of hitting Earth. | ||||||
| 90b | 5b | "Arthur and Los Vecinos" | Cusi Cram | Patricia Atchinson & Elie Klimos | October 22, 2001 | 91B |
|
A new Hispanic family, the Molinas, move in next to the Reads after their former neighbor, Mr. Sipple, moves away. The Molinas have two children, Alberto and Vicita. Arthur is worried that Alberto will be mean to him, while D.W. is frustrated that Vicita wins at every game they play. They both find common ground with their new neighbors when they realize they share many common interests. | ||||||
| 91a | 6a | "Citizen Frensky" | Jacqui Deegan | Jeremy O'Neill | October 29, 2001 | 92B |
|
Francine creates her own newspaper after shadowing Bitzi at work and becomes a tabloid writer, taking out-of-context pictures of her friends with insulting captions. When Francine finds an embarrassing picture of her circulating the school, she finds that Catherine is behind it, and understands how her friends felt. | ||||||
| 91b | 6b | "D.W.'s Backpack Mishap" | Cusi Cram | Jeremy O'Neill | October 29, 2001 | 86A |
|
D.W. accidentally grabs the wrong backpack at the pool; due to most of the letters on the name tag having rubbed off, they spell out a nonsensical name, "om…ble." Arthur and D.W. examine the contents of the backpack, and the mysterious word is later revealed to be Tommy Tibble. | ||||||
| 92a | 7a | "The Boy with His Head in the Clouds" | Peter K. Hirsch | Robert Yap | November 5, 2001 | 92A |
|
George learns that he has dyslexia and does not want anyone to think he is dumb. He takes Binky to be his mentor to teach him to be more hard-headed so no one will tease him, but realizes he was not meant for being tough. Luckily, Mr. Ratburn helps him figure out how to get past his dyslexia, and George's confidence improves. | ||||||
| 92b | 7b | "More!" | Dietrich Smith | Elie Klimos & Patricia Atchinson | November 5, 2001 | 93B |
|
D.W. is excited to be getting an allowance, but is aggressive when she learns that Emily and the Tibbles have already been getting an allowance and have more money. When she fails to get a bigger allowance, she pretends that she gets more money than they do since they do not know how much she gets. | ||||||
| 93a | 8a | "Rhyme for Your Life" | Peter K. Hirsch | Robert Yap | November 12, 2001 | 94A |
|
Binky tries to write a poem for Mrs. Barnes’s birthday, but he cannot think of the right words. That night, he has a dream where he finds himself in a village where it is against the law to speak in prose. The next morning, he unintentionally starts speaking in rhyme and continues to do so for the next week. | ||||||
| 93b | 8b | "For Whom the Bell Tolls" | Kathy Waugh | Stefanie Gignac | November 12, 2001 | 91A |
|
Arthur is overjoyed that D.W. has laryngitis, but his mood changes when he has to do what she wants him to do, especially when he has to be a translator. When he discovers that D.W. is better but continues faking sick, he gets his friends to come up with a plan to expose her fib by making her think she is deaf and Francine is jealous of Arthur. | ||||||
| 94a | 9a | "The Good Sport" | Kathy Waugh | Jeremy O'Neill | November 19, 2001 | 94B |
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Michelle Kwan is presenting the Athlete of the Year Award, and Jenna wins, making Francine very upset. With Muffy’s help, Francine tries to prove that she deserves the award by pretending to act like a good sport and giving Jenna special attention, but nothing works. Guest star: Michelle Kwan as herself. | ||||||
| 94b | 9b | "Crushed" | Catherine Lieuwen | Lyndon Ruddy, Robert Yap & Jeremy O'Neill | November 19, 2001 | 95A |
|
Arthur develops a crush on his new babysitter, Sally, after playing a video game with her. His mood soon changes when he discovers that she has a boyfriend and refuses to see her again. However, when Buster invites Arthur over for a sleepover, Arthur discovers that Sally is babysitting for Buster. She tells Arthur that she enjoys playing video games more with him, as her boyfriend is bad at video games. Note: This episode was dedicated to Patricia “Pat” Harris, the mother of Jennifer Kirk (who did the sister episode's "A Word From Us Kids" segment). | ||||||
| 95a | 10a | "Arthur Loses His Marbles" | Nick Raposo | Alex Hawley & Elie Klimos | November 26, 2001 | 95B |
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Muffy's new marbles prompt Arthur and his friends to start playing in a marbles tournament. Arthur is trained by Grandma Thora, a former professional marbles player herself, but when he discovers that he has to compete against Grandma Thora in the marbles tournament, he plays poorly on purpose, so Grandma Thora forfeits when she finds out what is happening. | ||||||
| 95b | 10b | "Friday the 13th" | Gerard Lewis | Alex Hawley & Lyndon Ruddy | November 26, 2001 | 93A |
|
The Brain does not believe in superstitions and tries to prove his hypothesis by doing things superstitiously believed to bring bad luck, like walking under a ladder, stepping on a crack, and destroying a mirror. Counter to his hypothesis, a streak of bad luck strikes. The Brain goes to Buster to get lucky charms, but during a baseball game on Friday the 13th, the Brain forgets the charms and hits a home run that wins his team the game, proving his hypothesis. | ||||||
References
edit- ^ "PBS Kids: Arthur: TV Schedule". PBS Kids. Archived from the original on 7 October 2001. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
- ^ From the GBH Open Vault: "GBH Open Vault - Search [search: "Arthur"]". GBH Open Vault. Archived from the original on 10 March 2022. Retrieved 19 March 2023.
- General references
- "Arthur Episodes". TV Guide. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
- "Arthur: Episode Guide". MSN TV. Archived from the original on 8 January 2010. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
- "Arthur Season 6 Episode Guide". TV.com. Retrieved 7 March 2010.
- "Seasons 4-8". Arthur episodes. PBS parents. Retrieved 7 March 2010.