Random Day 10

Wow, it’s been over year and a half since the last Random Day, so let’s do one right now. Welcome back, everyone!

First of all, before we get into the pics today, I’d be remiss if I didn’t speak of the ongoing war in Ukraine. I stand with Ukraine, and hope beyond hope that Putin does the right thing, and if not him, then the Russian military and people.

For news from the ground minus the spin of certain parties, please check out the Kyiv Independent.

If you wish to donate to the Ukrainian Armed Forces, you can donate to the Come Back Alive Fund.

To support humanitarian aid, you can go to UNICEF, among others.

Alright, back to the show.

First up, I have a fairly large set, from the original Rocky and Bullwinkle, as a matter of fact. This is from the Wailing Whale story ark, wherein our plucky heroes seek to catch the ship devouring whale Maybe Dick. At one point, Bullwinkle gets pulled underwater by a periscope and Rocky ends up diving to save him, only to find more than he bargained for…

From an air tank too heavy for him to grabby claws, Rocky really screwed himself on this one.

To find out how he inevitably gets saved, check out the whole story ark here:

Here, have some bonus comic pages. These are from Rocky and Bullwinkle #5’s (Gold Key) ‘Underwater Moose’.

Finally, a cover…

Moving on, let’s take a look at the Backyardigans, a show where five animal friends act out adventures in their backyard, while singing songs. It was actually going to be a puppet show initially, but after Nickelodeon rejected the pilot, it got reworked into the animated series you see today.

This set is from the Swamp Creature, where Uniqua and Pablo act as tour guides taking tourists out to find a ‘swamp monster’.

The video:

Also, have some pages from a couple of books. First five are from ‘Deep Sea Countdown’.

To end off today, got a new set from Arthur for you.

Arthur ended it’s 25 season run last month, and it ended with a marathon of (almost) every episode, and the final season.

This set comes ‘Arthur’s New Old Vacation’. The scene basically has them finding an ‘equipment room’ at the beach where they’re on vacation, inside which they find a ping pong table. In the act of trying to find the paddles and balls for it, they find flippers and a swim mask, along with a wiffle ball, but no ping pong stuff. They basically say ‘screw it’, and away they go using that instead.

The wiffle ball serves fine, the flippers are apparently rigid enough to serve as paddles, and the mask, well… it’s Buster, which is all the explanation I personally need for THAT.

You can find the episode at PBSkids’ Arthur page. (US IPs only)

Thanks for reading, everyone! See you next month!

And I Say… Hey!

Welcome back, folks.  I don’t know about you, but here in Nova Scotia where I call home, it’s sweltering.  Regular temperatures with humidex ratings are regular over 30 Celsius, sometimes reaching into the 40s.  Disgusting.

Enough talk about the weather, though.  Today, we’re taking a look at Arthur.

Based of Marc Brown’s book series of the same name, Arthur has been around practically forever.  Well, since 1996, anyway.  It’s become a part of popular culture, which is remarkable for a children’s TV cartoon series.

Being over 20 years old, it’s also gone through its share of change.  It’s gone through four different production companies to date, currently riding with Oasis Animation.  Arthur himself has had EIGHT voice actors, while a few others, including DW and the Brain, have had at least half a dozen.

Alright, with regards to pics in my little collection from this series… actually, considering how long this series has been going, there’s actually not that much to be had.  There is more than enough for a post, however, so let’s get started.

Here’s a coloring page…

And here’s a page from the novelization of DW All Wet.

Before we actually get to the animated series, check out this series of shots from Arthur’s Computer Adventure, a Living Books PC game from 1998.  I actually still have a copy of this myself.

OK, on to the animated series.  First, I’ll show a few title cards…

This set is from Season 9’s Arthur Makes Waves.

Here’s one from season 13’s ‘DW Swims With the Fishes’.  In this, Arthur and Molly end up in a heated competition to try to get their younger siblings to win swimming glory.

Here’s a few from season 14’s ‘Muffy and the Big Bad Blog’.

From season 3’s ‘Buster’s Back’.

Season 1’s ‘The Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club’.

Buster is totally a natural huckster.  Carnival barkery is in his future, folks.  Speaking of Buster…

Season 2’s ‘Buster Hits the Books’.

The swim cap was actually kind of a running joke in the early years of the show.

Alright, we’ll end off by taking a look at a spinoff.  Postcards From Buster ran from 2004 to 2012, with a four year hiatus between 2008 and 2012.  It’s actually most well known for a controversy surrounding the ‘Sugartime!’ episode which portrayed a lesbian couple, which, of course, caused the episode to get banned and conservative elements in the American Department of Education to almost get funding pulled.

Because, you know, God hates queers.  Right? /sarcasm

Religious silliness aside, here’s some pics from the intro…

And some from ‘Coming Together’.

Well, that’s what I have from Arthur, folks.  There could be more coming, we’ll see.

See you all again in two weeks!