For as long as I can remember, Arthur has been a big part of my childhood. It's easily my favorite book series as a kid and is one of my favorite educational shows as a kid. During one of the show's episodes, Buster leaves Elwood City for a vacation with his pilot dad and goes around the world. This led to a spin off known as Postcards from Buster.
In this show, Buster goes to other countries around the world like Egypt, Italy, and so on. In each episode, Buster learns about different cultures, the types of food there, and traditions in each country. Sounds like fun, right? Well it would be if the show wasn't a complete bore.
Throughout a majority of the show, we never see the title character, Buster. We hear him interact with the people he meets, but we don't see him until the end of each episode. Most of the show takes place in a first person perspective that takes place in real life.
First of all, why is this taking place in the real world? Shouldn't this be animated like in Arthur? Secondly, why have this all take place in this first person POV? I get they're trying to go for what Buster recorded on his trips, but this comes off more like somebody did some home movies, PBS learned about them, and decided that Buster should voice over these videos to show his adventures. This is just a lazy move to save money, or, most likely, the team was very cheap and didn't want to do animation.
I'm also not kidding when I say we don't see Buster at all in the show. We only see him in two places. One, the opening theme. Two, the ending. We hear what he wants to do or how intrigued he is in something, but we don't see him interact at all. My question here is why even have Buster be the star when we don't see him through 99% of the show? Now that's not to say this show is complete garbage. There are some good stuff for kids to learn from the locations Buster goes to. They can pick up some historical icons from the locations. Maybe the traditions in certain places. There's some education to be found here, but ultimately kids will grow bored. Anybody who's a fan of Arthur will want to see Buster, but just hearing him all the time and not seeing much of anything else gets boring very fast. There's no variety, there are no laughs to be found, and since most kids have a short attention span, they may not want to pay attention very long to the history stuff.
If the show was animated, had Buster become friends with other people, and had adventures with said person, that would work out. They could keep some of the educational stuff about places around the world and mix it up a bit with the life lessons from Arthur. That could've made the show as successful as Arthur. Instead, we get a show that's boring and resembles somebody filming a day in the life of their home.
Postcards from Buster is an overall forgettable show that was a bad attempt to try to be as successful as Arthur. While it has some good educational stuff in it, kids will get bored very easily because of the lack of variety in each episode. We never see Buster himself in the show, but only his voice, making it a lazy effort. There are no laughs, nor does it have the charm that Arthur has. This show is just too boring for anyone, especially for those who love Arthur. If you're a parent wanting to show kids the world of Arthur, have them read the books or watch the excellent TV show, even if it has jumped the shark and has some bad episodes. As for this show? Keep the kids away from it. This is just a skid mark on the good name of Arthur that needs to be best left forgotten.
In this show, Buster goes to other countries around the world like Egypt, Italy, and so on. In each episode, Buster learns about different cultures, the types of food there, and traditions in each country. Sounds like fun, right? Well it would be if the show wasn't a complete bore.
Throughout a majority of the show, we never see the title character, Buster. We hear him interact with the people he meets, but we don't see him until the end of each episode. Most of the show takes place in a first person perspective that takes place in real life.
First of all, why is this taking place in the real world? Shouldn't this be animated like in Arthur? Secondly, why have this all take place in this first person POV? I get they're trying to go for what Buster recorded on his trips, but this comes off more like somebody did some home movies, PBS learned about them, and decided that Buster should voice over these videos to show his adventures. This is just a lazy move to save money, or, most likely, the team was very cheap and didn't want to do animation.
I'm also not kidding when I say we don't see Buster at all in the show. We only see him in two places. One, the opening theme. Two, the ending. We hear what he wants to do or how intrigued he is in something, but we don't see him interact at all. My question here is why even have Buster be the star when we don't see him through 99% of the show? Now that's not to say this show is complete garbage. There are some good stuff for kids to learn from the locations Buster goes to. They can pick up some historical icons from the locations. Maybe the traditions in certain places. There's some education to be found here, but ultimately kids will grow bored. Anybody who's a fan of Arthur will want to see Buster, but just hearing him all the time and not seeing much of anything else gets boring very fast. There's no variety, there are no laughs to be found, and since most kids have a short attention span, they may not want to pay attention very long to the history stuff.
If the show was animated, had Buster become friends with other people, and had adventures with said person, that would work out. They could keep some of the educational stuff about places around the world and mix it up a bit with the life lessons from Arthur. That could've made the show as successful as Arthur. Instead, we get a show that's boring and resembles somebody filming a day in the life of their home.
Postcards from Buster is an overall forgettable show that was a bad attempt to try to be as successful as Arthur. While it has some good educational stuff in it, kids will get bored very easily because of the lack of variety in each episode. We never see Buster himself in the show, but only his voice, making it a lazy effort. There are no laughs, nor does it have the charm that Arthur has. This show is just too boring for anyone, especially for those who love Arthur. If you're a parent wanting to show kids the world of Arthur, have them read the books or watch the excellent TV show, even if it has jumped the shark and has some bad episodes. As for this show? Keep the kids away from it. This is just a skid mark on the good name of Arthur that needs to be best left forgotten.
