History Awesome / Arthur

** In “The Rat Who Came To Dinner”, Mr. Ratburn’s roof caves in from heavy snowfall and Arthur’s parents allow him to stay at their house for as long as he needs to. Arthur finds out that Mr. Ratburn’s actually a fun guy to be around with when he’s not in the classroom; unfortunately all of his friends alienate him because they view him as a “Teacher’s Pet” for this. When Mr. Ratburn finds out [[AwwLookTheyReallyDoLoveEachOther thanks to D.W. having him listen to Arthur telling his parents what’s going on]] via a TinCanTelephone, not only is he disgusted at how his students have been treating Arthur, he comes up with the perfect way to resolve the whole issue peacefully while giving the others ATastePfTheirOwnMedicine. At lunchtime the next day, Mr Ratburn swings by the table where Arthur and his friends are sitting and announces that he can’t live at Arthur’s house anymore because he needs to live closer to his house so he can oversee the repairs more easily... which is why he’s glad Francine’s family has agreed to host him. He then announces that since the Frenski’s live in a two-bedroom apartment he can only stay there for a week so he’ll be at Binky’s house for the next week. He then reveals that if the repairs aren’t done he’ll then Buster’s place for the next week, then Muffy’s place for the week after that, and so on and so forth with all the other kids. By the time Mr. Ratburn walks off all the kids went from bullying Arthur to begging him for advice on how to deal with Mr. Ratburn living with them.

* Joshua Redman and Yo-Yo Ma's cover of The Crazy Bus actually makes the DarthWiki/MostAnnoyingSound become ''a lot'' more bearable, and if it wasn't annoying to you, it just makes it more awesome.

* Joshua Redman and Yo-Yo Ma's cover of The Crazy Bus actually makes the MostAnnoyingSound become ''a lot'' more bearable, and if it wasn't annoying to you, it just makes it more awesome.

* After being terrorized by the Tibble twins when babysitting them, Arthur finally gets them to behave by telling them a scary story(about a swamp monster that hunts for twins) and the twins actually offer to help Arthur clean up as a result.

* As of 2013, There is now UsefulNotes/AudioDescription of the show.

* Francine's dad, or rather, his portrayal about his attitude to his job as a garbageman. He's completely secure and happy with it. In an episode where Francine's sister needles him about getting 'a real job' with 'a briefcase and a suit and tie' because she thinks his job is embarrassing, he basically turns it around and makes fun of HER rather than get upset and happily carries on doing his work.
-->'''Mr. Frensky:''' ''[Pretending to sob]'' I can't do it, Catherine! I can't ever have a real job because... I can't tie a tie! Nobody ever taught me how! ''[He and Francine laugh]''

* "Arthur Cleans Up". Pal nearly chokes to death on the Tough Customers' garbage, who were tossing it to make fun of the "Clean Up Boy" Arthur. Arthur gets fed up, and puts them in their place. He demands that the Tough Customers help him to clean up the park, complete with DeathGlare, and they comply.

* In "Prove It" D.W. manages to pull one over on Arthur- she wants to go to the Exploratorium with Brain and Arthur after she gets a new interest in science, Arthur naturally does not want her tagging along, D.W. tells him that one day he will be begging to take her. D.W. then starts charging kids money to showcase science, only her claims are inaccurate(I.E. claiming that trees make wind and the sun goes down because it's out of gas) and Arthur is concerned about other kids being taught false information by D.W., they try to counteract her false claims but can't prove her wrong, so Arthur indeed ends up begging his parents to take D.W. to the Exploratorium so he can prove D.W.'s claims wrong. D.W. then reveals this was all part of her plan to get Arthur to take her to the museum.

** D.W.'s great storytelling gets showcased again in "D.W. Tale Spins" where D.W. claims she can tell a better story then the Vegemorphs books(after being annoyed at being unable to read them) and after some encouragement from Grandma Thora she tells an altered version of Literature/TheOdyssey, Arthur still isn't impressed but D.W. points out the origin of the story and that Arthur dismissing it proves he has no idea what he's talking about and Buster ends up really liking the story and asks her to tell it again, and Arthur begrudgingly admits to liking it too.

* In "Buster and the Daredevils", Slinky and Toby having been daring Buster into doing embarassing stuff for the whole episode, then when they dare him to eat a bug, Buster finally has enough and refuses to do so.

* In "D.W. Blows the Whistle", D.W. sees a kid about to cross the street and immediately blows her safety whistle, getting the attention of the kids mother just in time for her to pull the kid from the street right before a car comes by.

* "The Good Sport" has one from guest star Michelle Kwan. Throughout the episode, she is polite and soft-spoken. This episode had Francine at her most boastful and Muffy at her bitchiest. Francine is dismayed that she lost a Sportsmanship award with the prizes of meeting Michelle Kwan and 10 tickets to the then far-off 2014 Olympics, to Jenna. Throughout the episode Francine disses badminton (Jenna's sport) and figure skating as "wussy", in a dream Francine dreams that she is complaining while watching the banquet on tv. Then Michelle pops out of the tv screaming [[BewareTheNiceOnes "I've had just about enough, Francine Frensky!"]] and grabs Francine inside, after the latter once again makes fun of figure skating; Kwan then challenges her to try figure skating, where Francine finds out that the sport is much harder than it looks.
* In “Arthur’s Tooth”, Francine kept calling Arthur a baby because he didn’t lose his tooth yet. After a trip to the dentist, Arthur tells his friends that some kids don’t lose their teeth until they're nine because everybody is different which impress his friends. Francine however, just ignored this and made up a game called “Tooth Fairy” where she posed as The Tooth Fairy, but didn’t invite Arthur because he’s a “baby”. That’s when Arthur calmly said that it was fine, but also told her that in reality, she was the one who was the real baby. Buster, Sue Ellen and the rest gang agreed with Arthur when they realized how much of an immature jerk Francine had been acting and leaved her.

* In "Buster and the Daredevils" Slinky and Toby having been daring Buster into doing embarassing stuff for the whole episode, then when they dare him to eat a bug, Buster finally has enough and refuses to do so.
--> '''Buster''': You eat it!
--> '''Slink''': What?
--> '''Buster''': I dare YOU to eat the bug!
--> '''Toby''': Cmon how stupid do you think he is?
--> '''Slink''': Yeah how stupid do you think I am?
--> '''Buster''': ohhhhhhhh You're saying it would be stupid to do something just because somebody dared you to do it?
--> '''Slink''': That's right!
--> '''Buster''': Well thank you for telling me, I guess I won't eat it then.
* In "For Whom the Bell Tolls" Arthur finds out that D.W. has been faking losing her voice(after temporarily losing it earlier) so she can keep making him do stuff for her, but his parents don't believe him. So Arthur, Buster and Francine all come up with a plan to expose D.W.'s lies. How do they do it? Make D.W. think she's losing her hearing as well by muting the T.V., unplugging the phone and opening their mouths without saying anything, leading to D.W. running to her mom in panic and revealing her lie.

** The companion episode to that one, "I'd Rather Read it Myself," shows another awesome moment for D.W. When the Tibbles claim they can read and tease her for not being able to, she pretends to read them a book, using SliceOfLife stories from her own experiences to make up a fictionalized adventure story. She might be a BrattyHalfPint extraordinaire, but the kid definitely has a great imagination, and does show some maturity here because she handles the problem herself rather than tattling The best part? The boys are in suspense the entire time, and even after borrowing the book and being told that it's really about Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, D.W.'s gimmick stays intact, because they think that the book is different every time that it's read. It makes sense that they would think this way; they're four years old. It's one of those rare moments where D.W. is liked rather than hated.

* The redemption of the Tough Customers is the culmination of several years of CharacterDevelopment, especially on Binky and Molly's part. [[spoiler: Molly tells James that bullying is wrong, and when James asks if she will apologize to those she hurt, Molly writes apology letters to Binky (she snapped at him) and George (after years of victimization).]]

** "Operation D.W." Not the episode itself, but the execution of it. [[spoiler: The operation in question involves D.W. having tubes inserted into her ears, a very common solution for recurring childhood ear infections. The beauty behind having D.W. undergo such a simple procedure is that the episode focus stays on the basics of dealing with surgery, rather than any causes of fear, stress, or pain that might come after the operation (and don't necessarily apply to everybody).]] The writers avoided scaring a lot of children unnecessarily.

* "Fifteen." [[spoiler: Arthur's report is recovered just in time to give his class a No Homework Day (which, given Nigel Ratburn, is awesome in itself), George wins a quiz show, as well as money for the school and Pal foils Nemo.]]

* Season 18 has provided a couple of rare ones for D.W. In "The Tattletale Frog," Bud inadvertently gets blamed for a big mess in the Read house that he and D.W. made together and that was essentially D.W.'s idea. Later, [[spoiler: Jane threatens to call Bud's mother about this, and D.W. breaks down sobbing, after which she confesses.]] It's one of the rare times D.W. has been disciplined onscreen or more importantly, shown remorse for anything she's done.
** In "D.W. and Bud's Higher Purpose," D.W. and Bud are determined to ride The Buzzard, a roller coaster clearly meant for older kids. D.W. spends the whole episode trying to help Bud find a way onto the ride so she can keep her end of the pact they made. She even lets Bud spit on her hand to seal the pact. [[spoiler: When D.W. sees just how intense the ride actually is, she agrees not to go on it, whereas in earlier episodes she might've insisted on going.]] It shows she's maturing, perhaps because of Bud's influence.

-->'''Muffy''': We were chosen out of 15 schools to put on this show, but maybe they were wrong to pick us. Maybe they should've picked Mighty Mountain or Glenbrook. After all, would they be arguing? No, they'd be working together. Something we just can't seem to do.
* Muffy had another rare one in Season 18's "Little Miss Meanie." She's determined to win the Little Miss Crocus pageant, having entered pageants before but never winning due to unforeseen mishaps. When Muffy discovers Lydia has entered, she thinks the other girl will automatically win [[WheelchairWoobie based on sympathy, because she's in a wheelchair]]. She intends to tell Lydia to drop out because of this, but then hears another girl say the same thing. Muffy realizes how mean it is, and she and Lydia team up to defeat the pageant bully. What makes it even more awesome is that [[spoiler: although the girls consider taking revenge, they decide to help each other do the best they can, rather than stooping to the mean girl's level. This nets them both the honor of first runner-up, while their nemesis receives no honors because she threw a tantrum after a technical difficulty messed up her act.]]

* "The Last Day" has a huge one. Arthur and Buster have spent the entire episode trying to ensure they end up in the newest teacher's class for fourth grade, because he appears to be a CoolTeacher. However, they eventually learn he is more of a HippieTeacher with tired material. This inspires Arthur and Buster to reflect on how much Mr. Ratburn really taught them. They end up [[spoiler: giving Mr. Ratburn the poster they worked hard on for the other teacher.]] Their choice is rewarded when Mr. Ratburn is not only moved, but [[spoiler: announces he'll be moving up to fourth grade.]] Extra points because this also means that [[spoiler: Binky, who was held back the year before, passed and gets to go to fourth grade with his friends.]] It's awesome mixed with heartwarming, [[spoiler: because, in "Brain's Biggest Blunder," The Brain had promised Binky that he would see to it that they would move on to fourth grade together, and so it came to be.]]

** Encouraging Maria who, as we find out in "Maria Speaks" [[spoiler: has a stutter.]] Ratburn's support helps Maria get ready to [[spoiler: do a special report on stuttering for the school news show.]]

* In "Mr. Ratburn's Secret Identity," Arthur, Buster, and Ladonna gradually become convinced their teacher is a superhero because they see him running off to take mysterious phone calls and apparently leaping onto his roof in what looks like a cape and tights. Actually, [[spoiler: Ratburn is the costume designer for ''Theatre/ThePiratesOfPenzance''.]] But the kids do learn he is much better than a superhero when [[spoiler: Ratburn, who knows every line and lyric in the show, is called on to replace an actor with laryngitis.]]

-->'''Mr. Frensky;''' ''[Pretending to sob]'' I can't do it, Catherine! I can't ever have a real job because... I can't tie a tie! Nobody ever taught me how! ''[He and Francine laugh]''

* "Brain's Chess Mess", in which Rattles gets to show off his amazing chess-playing skills and [[CurbStompBattle beats Brain rather quickly]]. When Brain has a hard time dealing with a very smug girl who beat him in chess and was rubbing it in his face, Rattles decides to tutor Brain and his friends, until he falls sick with a stomachache. [[spoiler:Rattles' illness was actually a PlayingSick gambit to get Brain to play against the girl without his help, because Rattles was confident Brain was skilled enough to beat the girl by himself. It works, and Brain not only beats the girl, he [[WorthyOpponent earns her respect]].]]

* The few times that D.W. does get called out for her actions:
** When Kate is born, Jane keeps D.W. away from her when all D.W. wants to do is watch her new sister. Then when D.W. starts acting up to try and blame Kate for things like putting Dad's new shoes in the dishwasher, Dad tells her GoToYourRoom to have a discussion with her.
** After D.W. runs away in that episode, her parents establish a new rule in that she's not allowed to cross the street by herself for fear of getting run over. When D.W. plans to run away again due to her mother sending her to her room for threatening to pinch Kate, Nadine mentions that problem.
** Grandma Thora [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness scolding]] D.W. for [[PlayingSick pretending to have the chicken pox]] to get some attention. You know you've messed up when your CoolOldLady grandmother says she's DisappointedInYou.
** Dave and Jane do ''not'' let D.W. off the hook when she throws a tantrum at a restaurant that forces them to leave abruptly in "D.W. the Picky Eater". Jane tells her angrily that there won't be any more restaurants for D.W. until she can learn to eat what's on her plate without complaint. When D.W., with some "[[BatmanGambit persuasion]]" from Arthur, promises to behave at a restaurant for Grandma Thora's birthday, Jane reminds her that she's going to try something new and eat it all rather than stick to peanut butter sandwiches.
** Dave after D.W. accidentally breaks Clarissa, Grandma Thora's china doll, explains through old family photographs how much Clarissa meant to Thora, namely in that she was the first toy that she got that wasn't a hand-me-down from her well-meaning but rambunctious brothers. This makes D.W. have a JerkassRealization, especially since she's gotten Clarissa dirty and messed up, and confess to Grandma Thora what happened.

** Grandma Thora [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness scolding]] D.W. for pretending to have the chicken pox to get some attention. You know you've messed up when your CoolOldLady grandmother says she's DisappointedInYou.
** Dave and Jane do ''not'' let D.W. off the hook when she causes a tantrum at a restaurant that forces them to leave abruptly in "D.W. the Picky Eater". Jane tells her angrily that there won't be any more restaurants for D.W. until she can learn to eat what's on her plate without complaint. When D.W. with some "[[BatmanGambit persuasion]]" from Arthur promises to behave at a restaurant for Grandma Thora's birthday, Jane reminds her that she's going to try something new and eat it all rather than stick to peanut butter sandwiches.

* The show has many {{Very Special Episode}}s about topics such as Cancer, Alzheimer's, UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome and 9/11[[note]]portrayed as a school fire[[/note]]. They all hit the mark in both logic and in execution to teach kids about subjects that would be hard for them to understand.
** "When Carl Met George" gives an analogy to what having Aspergers is like and is generally well done, even implying how it levels out when you get older and you become less... ''Film/RainMan''.

* Muffy's DreamSequence in ''Lights, Camera, Opera!'' in which Muffy, Binky, Francine, Prunella, George, Buster and [[AsHimself Rodney Gilfry]] perform an WesternAnimation/{{Arthur}}-ized interpretation of Bizet's ''Carmen''. The characters sing ingeniously-plot-relevant lyrics to the famous melodies from ''Carmen''; Muffy's rendition of ''Habanera'' is particularly [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic awesome.]]

* Joshua Redman and Yo-Yo Ma's cover of The Crazy Bus actually makes the MostAnnoyingSound become ''a lot'' more bearable.

* In ''Elwood City Turns 100'', there's a lot of bickering going on. Arthur getting annoyed with Francine's constructive criticism about his singing while Buster and Brain argue about whether to make the play accurate or put some fantasy in it. Muffy blows a flute and gets everyone to work together.

* Muffy had another rare one in Season 18's "Little Miss Meanie." She's determined to win the Little Miss Crocus pageant, having entered pageants before but never winning due to unforeseen mishaps. When Muffy discovers Lydia has entered, she thinks the other girl will automatically win based on sympathy, because she's in a wheelchair. She intends to tell Lydia to drop out because of this, but then hears another girl say the same thing. Muffy realizes how mean it is, and she and Lydia team up to defeat the pageant bully. What makes it even more awesome is that [[spoiler: although the girls consider taking revenge, they decide to help each other do the best they can, rather than stooping to the mean girl's level. This nets them both the honor of first runner-up, while their nemesis receives no honors because she threw a tantrum after a technical difficulty messed up her act.]]
* Lydia gets credit in the same episode because she originally thought Muffy would automatically win because of her wealth, but then discovers Muffy is as vulnerable and anxious to succeed as she is. This shows a character with a disability dealing with, and overcoming, her own prejudices, which is rare especially in children's programming and awesome on the part of the writers as well.

* The companion episode to that one, "I'd Rather Read it Myself," shows another awesome moment for D.W. When the Tibbles claim they can read and tease her for not being able to, she pretends to read them a book, using SliceOfLife stories from her own experiences to make up a fictionalized adventure story. She might be a BrattyHalfPint extraordinaire, but the kid definitely has a great imagination, and does show some maturity here because she handles the problem herself rather than tattling The best part? The boys are in suspense the entire time, and even after borrowing the book and being told that it's really about Creator/LeonardoDaVinci, D.W.'s gimmick stays intact, because they think that the book is different every time that it's read. It makes sense that they would think this way; they're four years old. It's one of those rare moments where D.W. is liked rather than hated.

* The entirety of ''Arthur's Almost Live Not Real Music Festival''. Didn't think songs in a kid's cartoon show, on ''PBS'' of all networks, could be incredibly, ridiculously, mind-numbly catchy? Well, now you know!
* The companion episode, "Double Tibble Trouble," is a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for D.W. and Emily. They have had a hard time on playdates with the Tibbles, but when Timmy gets sick, both girls volunteer to act like Timmy so Tommy can still enjoy all his favorite games. Note this involves a lot of yelling, running around, and being naughty on purpose, which the girls are not used to doing (D.W.'s BrattyHalfPint tendencies aside). Overall, they have fairly mature motives for four-year-olds.

* In “Arthur’s Tooth”, Francine kept calling Arthur a baby because he didn’t lose his tooth yet. After a trip to the dentist, Arthur tells his friends that some kids don’t lose their tooth until their 9 because everybody is different which impress his friends. Francine however, just ignore this and made up a game called “Tooth Fairy” where she pose as The Tooth Fairy, but don’t invite Arthur because he’s a “baby”. That’s when Arthur calmly said that fine, but also tells her that in reality, she’s the one who’s the real baby. Buster, Sue Ellen and the rest gang agrees with Arthur when they realize how much of a immature jerk Francine been acting and leaves her.

** Binky reacts by [[WhatTheHellHero telling Arthur off]], which is... ''amusing'' if you've watched the show from the beginning.

* "Arthur's Big Hit". Albeit, it was intended to be a KickTheDog moment. But, admit it. You thought that D.W. deserved to get hit.
** Binky reacts by [[WhatTheHellHero telling Arthur off]], which is... ''amusing'' if you've watched the show from the beginning.
** This also counts as Memetic Mutation thanks to good ol' Website/{{Youtube}}.
** It's not so much the "hitting" as the fact that it's one of the few occasions where D.W. gets ''any'' sort of comeuppance for her behavior, since [[KarmaHoudini she's hardly ever punished or called out for it]]. When Arthur gets upset for having his model broken and even reminds her of his ''constant'' warnings that she was "not to touch it", D.W. is in no way sympathetic or apologetic towards him, even if she didn't know better in thinking the model plane could fly. As such, seeing him generally stand up for himself was somewhat satisfying, even if what he actually did was wrong.

** "When Carl Met George" gives a perfect analogy to what having Aspergers is like and is generally well done, even implying how it levels out when you get older and you become less... ''Film/RainMan''.

* The show has many {{Very Special Episode}}s about things such as Cancer, 9/11, and UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome that are quite good both in logic and in execution.
** The UsefulNotes/AspergerSyndrome episode gives an analogy to what having Aspergers is like and is generally well done, even implying how it levels out when you get older and you become less... ''Film/RainMan''.

* In “Arthur’s Tooth”, Francine kept calling Arthur a baby because he didn’t lose his tooth yet. After a trip to the dentist, Arthur tells his friends that some kids don’t lose their tooth until their 9 because everybody is different which impress his friends. Francine however, just ignore this and made up a game called “Tooth Fairy” where she pose as The Tooth Fairy, but don’t invite Arthur because he’s a “baby”. That’s when Arthur calmly said that fine, but also tells her that in reality, “”she’s”” the one who’s the real baby. Buster, Sue Ellen and the rest gang agrees with Arthur when they realize how much of a immature jerk Francine been acting and leaves her.