Peace out Arthur: Millennials bid goodbye to history-making cartoon series
Arlington County, Virginia - The beloved and history-making PBS show Arthur aired its final episode Monday, but its impact on kids won't soon be forgotten.
After 25 seasons, the longest-running animated show for kids in history has come to an end.
Since it first aired in 1996, Arthur has become so much more than its comical memes of the cartoon aardvark's savage little sis DW and his "clenched fist" that have become staples on the internet today. It has left a meaningful and lasting impression on American millennials.
The multiple Daytime Emmy winning show has taught kids about compassion, empathy, honesty, and friendship.
Even those of us that didn't watch the show regularly are able to recognize, sing a few lines, or hum the melody of the show's unforgettable theme song, performed by Bob Marley's son Ziggy. Many others grew up reading the books by Marc Brown, on which the show is based.
Luckily, Arthur's final new episode managed to say goodbye in the best way possible – and gave some personal closure that took me by surprise.
What made the Arthur finale so special?
As a kid in the late '90s and early 2000s, Arthur was always on TV after I got home from school, and at times was the perfect escape from a world that sometimes felt alienating and lonely.
When Monday's episode dropped, I did something that my younger self would never have imagined: I watched Arthur with my two-year-old son.
For him, it was the first time watching, and I saw him fall in love with it the same way I did at a young age. For me, it was an emotional moment, as we were taking in the last episode of the show that played such a pivotal role in my childhood.
Arthur's finale is split into two shorts – as all Arthur episodes are – Blabbermouth and All Grown Up. While Blabbermouth is centered around Arthur's best friend Buster, All Grown Up is a legendary send-off that brought the series, and my own viewership, full-circle.
The episode opens with Arthur and his friend playing a board game that determines its players' future career. This sends the gang on an existential ride, contemplating where they will end up as adults.
When it's Arthur's turn to find out what his future holds, the game malfunctions and he's left in the dark, unsure of where he may end up in life. It's a feeling millennials can relate to all too well.
After Arthur gets a bit of guidance from a character fittingly voiced by the show's creator and author Brown, we also get to meet Arthur as a grown up, played by the original voice of Arthur, Michael Yarmush.
The series ends perfectly and depicts the fear of getting older that most young people feel, no matter what generation. Audiences that grew older watching Arthur and friends have now gotten to see the characters all grown up. Their lives and career ambitions, as well as longtime viewers', have evolved together.
The ever-learning eight-year-old aardvark's final lesson is that it's normal to be afraid of the future, but to not allow that fear to keep you from living.
It can be sad to say goodbye. But luckily, Arthur will live on in its reruns airing on PBS Kids and has promised a future podcast and digital shorts, sure to inspire a new generation of kids to "get along with each other."
Cover photo: imago/Everett Collection