Charting the Evolution of the Modern Pickup Truck

You can't travel anywhere nowadays with seeing dozens and dozens of pickup trucks on the road. After all, light duty, full-size pickup trucks consistently rank among the top selling vehicles in the United States year after year. Their sheer size also makes them hard to miss, with front ends that tower over the rooflines of typical sedans and lengths that can barely fit into parking spaces. Trucks have always been dependable tools for businesses and tradespeople, but the trucks of today serve other purposes, too. You're now just as likely to see Mom dropping kids off at school in a Ford F-150 as you are to see one carrying a foreman to a construction site. In the past 30 years, trucks have gone through the most dramatic change of any segment in the automotive industry. Today, I'm going to look at how we got here and point out significant milestones in the pickup truck's evolution from simple utility tool to luxury-grade family cruiser.

For most of the twentieth century, one-ton, full-size pickup trucks adhered to a relatively standard formula: single cab, two-door body and a large bed. Extended cabs first appeared in the 1970s and allowed a second row of seats of be installed behind the driver and front passenger, but front seat occupants had to exit first before rear seat riders could leave the vehicle. The reverse was true for getting back in. But starting in the late 1990s, something changed. Dodge was the first to offer four doors on a one-ton pickup in 1998. These doors were smaller than the front doors and rear hinged, and made it possible for rear passengers to enter and exit independently of front passengers. Ford and General Motors adopted similar door layouts with their trucks in 1999 and 2000 respectively. Then in 2001, Ford pioneered the use of four, full-size, forward hinged doors on its F-150. It took General Motors until 2004 to add a true crew cab configuration to its Chevrolet Silverado 1500 and GMC Sierra 1500 lineups, and Dodge performed its own unique take on the concept with the Ram Mega Cab variant for 2006. The addition of four doors on pickup trucks meant that riders in both rows had the same levels of comfort that previously could only be enjoyed through buying a full-size SUV like a Chevrolet Tahoe or a Ford Expedition which shared platforms with their brand's respective trucks.

This magazine advertisement from 2002 shows the Ford F-150 in then-revolutionary crew cab configuration.

This commonality is important when we look at the next stage in pickup truck evolution, that being the 2002 Lincoln Blackwood. The first ever luxury pickup, the Blackwood was based on a Ford F-150 with styling shared with the Lincoln Navigator. Chief among the Blackwood's unique features was a fully carpeted bed with steel lining the side and an electronically operated cover. The interior also had only four seats, with the two rear occupants being treated to leather captain's chairs and a large center console between them. Unfortunately, the Blackwood was a commercial failure, only selling 3,383 units in a single model year. The bed, while luxurious, had a low payload capacity and was difficult to clean if filled with dirty items. The cover also restricted the size of what could be put in, something open-bed pickup trucks don't have to worry about. Despite being based on vehicles capable of being fitted with four-wheel drive, all Blackwoods were only offered in rear-wheel drive configuration. Finally, prospective customers balked at the asking price of $52,500 when a contemporary Navigator cost $44,000 and a crew cab F-150 topped out around $35,000.

The 2002 Lincoln Blackwood answered a luxury pickup truck question no one was asking (yet).

Even though the Blackwood experiment ended in failure, people demonstrated that they were willing to buy more expensive trucks if the capability and the luxury quotient were commensurate with the price. The same year the Blackwood was released, General Motors produced the Cadillac Escalade EXT. Along with the related Chevrolet Avalanche, the Escalade EXT featured four doors, seating for five, four-wheel drive, and a flexible bed for different cargo carrying needs. Meanwhile GMC launched the first Sierra Denali model as a more luxurious version of the Chevrolet Silverado. The Escalade EXT lasted two generations from 2002 to 2013 and sold over 70,000 units, while the Sierra Denali is still in production today.

This changing of consumer preferences began being reflected as each truck from each brand was redesigned for a new generation. Nowhere is that more evident than at the 2008 Detroit Auto Show with the unveilings of the fourth generation Dodge Ram and the twelfth generation Ford F-150. Both models featured new designs less workman like than their predecessors and meant to fit more seamlessly in urban environments. Among the Ford's upgrades were integrated side and tailgate steps to ease access to the bed, Sync hands-free interface, and a top-of-the-line Platinum trim level that featured an exclusive satin-chrome grille, 10-way powered captain's chairs, wood and aluminum interior trim, and 20-inch polished aluminum wheels. The Ram had some nifty features of its own including bed fender storage boxes and a class-first multi-link coil-spring rear suspension for a smoother ride. This generation Ram also ditched the Mega Cab in favor of a conventional crew cab configuration.

The 2009 F-150 and Ram 1500 truly marked the turning point for pickup trucks from work to lifestyle vehicles. General Motors would follow suit when the Silverado and Sierra received their next redesign in 2014. Even heavy duty trucks from each manufacturer started becoming more family friendly around this time. Crew cab body styles now dominate the market with two-door models either being eliminated entirely or restricted to bare bones base trim levels. Technology and feature content in trucks is equal to what is being offered in SUVs. Meanwhile transaction prices have soared with top spec trucks nudging $100,000.

The 2010 Ford F-150 SVT Raptor gave truck buyers serious off-road upgrades straight from the factory.

Choosing between an SUV and a truck now comes down to whether you need a vehicle to tow and haul stuff. Trucks have always been used to haul toys, but what if trucks became toys themselves? That is what happened in 2010 when Ford unleashed the SVT Raptor on the world. A seven inch wider body to accommodate 35-inch-tall desert tires and extra wheel travel are among the most obvious changes from the normal F-150. The added height also makes it easier to see the new angled skid plate and triple-bypass Fox Racing shocks that keep the truck balanced on road and jumping over sand dunes. While the first Raptors were powered by a 5.4L V8 making 310 horsepower, later trucks got a 6.2L engine with 411 horsepower. The Raptor proved so popular, that a second generation was given the green light when the F-150 was next redesigned in 2015. Raptor fans were irritated by the switch from V8 power to a 3.5L twin-turbocharged V6, even though horsepower increased to 450. Ram Trucks, now separate from Dodge, joined the off road party in 2020 with the release of the TRX. Unlike the second-gen Raptor, the TRX has a V8 engine. But this one was supercharged to produce an astounding 702 horsepower.  

With over 700 horsepower, the Ram TRX is one of the most extreme trucks ever built.

And I haven't even mentioned electric trucks yet. The heavy nature of batteries make them well suited for application in truck bodies. And while electrification does add hundreds of pounds to a truck's weight, it also adds the horsepower to compensate. Quad motor versions of the Rivian R1T produce over 1000 horsepower and accelerate from 0-60 mph in 3.0 seconds. Electric trucks serve as true do-it-all vehicles, effortlessly combining the straight line performance of exotic supercars with the functionality of their gas-powered counterparts. 

In response to ballooning prices, sizes, and weights of modern trucks, a new breed of smaller trucks have entered the market for buyers who yearn for these vehicles to return to their roots. Leading this revolution is the Ford Maverick, with an overall length up to 50 inches shorter than a F-150, 8-11 inches narrower, and 6-9 inches lower. It can be purchased for less than $30,000 and can be equipped with a hybrid powertrain that achieves up to 42 miles per gallon. Tidy dimensions and low operating costs have made the Maverick a success for Ford with over 155,000 units sold each of the last two years. Later in 2026, start-up brand Slate will sell its own two-door, two seat electric truck. The Slate will be offered without niceties such as power windows and an audio system, both of which and more can be optionally added back in. A bare bones Slate will retail for $24,950. Whether consumers will accept the sacrifices that come with that price and can live with its estimated 200 miles of range remain to be seen. 

Charting the evolution of pickup trucks is a fascinating look into changing consumer tastes over the years. In some ways, what's happened with trucks is a case of going forwards by going backwards. Many of the first SUVs evolved from trucks mainly by tossing a bench seat in the bed and extending the roof to cover it. Now, modern trucks are essentially SUVs with an open bed instead of a trunk. With trucks joining other vehicle segments making the transition to electric propulsion, there's no reason to suspect they will disappear anytime soon. 

End of the Line for the Nissan GT-R

 

Fifteen years is an incredibly long time in the car world. For mainstream cars, where consumer tastes and technologies change at breakneck pace, keeping the same car on sale without major updates for that long would be suicide. Supercars operate on a slightly different timetable. Models from Lamborghini, Ferrari, and Aston Martin are sold in small numbers, so redesigns on a regular basis can be costly to implement. The Nissan GT-R may come from a mainstream brand, but its performance figures put it squarely against competitors from boutique manufacturers. On sale in the United States since the 2009 model year, 2024 will be the last chance for Americans to buy a GT-R before it is finally retired.

To understand the car that enthusiasts refer to as Godzilla, you first must turn your mind back to the year 2007. The R35 Nissan GT-R entered the automotive world at the Tokyo Motor Show that year with an asteroid-sized impact and sent shockwaves through the automotive landscape. 

Styling-wise, there was and still is nothing else like it. Four round taillights harken back to previous Skyline GT-Rs. But a gaping grille, swept back headlights, bulging wheel arches, and angular body lines made the GT-R look more like a jet fighter than a car. Inside the car, the driver and passengers could keep track of various metrics such as coolant and oil temperatures, g-forces, boost pressure and other engine parameters through a central touchscreen with graphics made by the same company behind the Gran Turismo video games. 

But the real meat of the GT-R story lies in its numbers. Courtesy of a twin turbocharged 473 horsepower V6, a sophisticated all-wheel drive system, and a six-speed dual-clutch transmission, 0-60 miles per hour arrived in 3.3 seconds and a quarter mile took only 11.5 seconds to cover at 124 mph. A stock GT-R ran around the famous Nürburgring racecourse in seven minutes and 29 seconds. Notably, all of these stats bested those of the Porsche 911 Turbo with an MSRP nearly double the GT-R’s $70,475 price tag. Few if any other cars before the GT-R made going so fast so easy for so little money.

Rolling updates kept the GT-R competitive with its contemporaries over the years. Power and torque increased gradually to its current state of 565 horsepower and 467 pound-feet. 0-60 dropped to 2.9 seconds. A hardcore NISMO model arrived in 2015 with more than 600 horsepower. Chassis and suspension refinements addressed concerns of the car not being involving enough to drive.

Unfortunately for Nissan, while its engineers were improving the GT-R, the engineers at other carmakers were busy working on their own sports cars. In the fifteen years the GT-R has been on sale in its current iteration, Chevrolet has developed two generations of Corvettes cumulating with the current mid-engine C8. Porsche has likewise gone through two generations of 911s. The current 911 Turbo S offers near-Bugatti level performance (0-60 in 2.1 seconds) for a relative fraction of the price.

Speaking of price, MSRP for 2024 GT-Rs have risen consistently over the years to just under $123,000. That’s a heavy sum for a car that on the outside hasn’t changed much in fifteen years. It also hasn’t changed much on the inside either. The GT-R still makes due with an 8-inch touchscreen in a world where 10 inches or more is the norm in everything from compact sedans on up. And those Gran Turismo mimicking performance readouts that captivated car geeks remain carbon stamped in the PlayStation 3 era. Interior materials on early cars probably would be best described as adequate for a car costing a little less than $100,000. While quality has gone up somewhat as the GT-R solidly breached the six figure threshold, you can still find richer materials in Audi, Porsche and Mercedes sports cars costing similar amounts of money.

Then there’s the way the GT-R drives. It still does a fantastic job of making a novice driver feel like a racing champion, but the march of powertrain technology has ironed out a lot of the kinks that are still experienced when driving a GT-R. Back in 2008, there weren’t many other turbocharged V6 all-wheel drive supercars. Nowadays, forced induction is nearly ubiquitous, engines are downsizing, and many supercars also have electric components to smooth out and increase power delivery. Nissan rewrote the performance rulebook with the GT-R all those years ago, but everyone from Porsche, to Chevrolet, to McLaren, to Ferrari have been making amendments ever since. Driving a GT-R today means putting up with turbo whooshes and transmission clunks that have mostly been bred out of fast cars.

It's unclear what the future holds for the next generation GT-R, if there even is one at all. No doubt electric power will play a factor. A recent concept car called Hyper Force may offer a clue as to what a new GT-R could look like. In addition to active aero elements, the Hyper Force has a full electric drivetrain with dual motors and a sold state battery pushing out more than 1,000 horsepower.

While we wait for whatever comes next, we will continue to celebrate all that the R35 GT-R accomplished over its lifetime. It pioneered or was one of the early adopters of go-fast technology that is taken for granted in most modern supercars. It’s been immortalized in popular culture both in its home market of Japan and abroad. It is unquestionably the vehicular Godzilla.

Wish Granted? The Fairly OddParents Return in a New Series

Few animated children's shows last for more than a few seasons. Even fewer spawn a franchise of follow-ups and spin-offs that lasts for decades. The Fairly OddParents is one of those exceptional shows that managed to do just that. 

The series originated from shorts created by animator Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon. Due to their popularity, the shorts were green-lit to become a half-hour series, which premiered on March 30, 2001. The Fairly OddParents received critical acclaim and quickly became the second-highest-rated children's program on both network and cable television behind another Nickelodeon property, SpongeBob SquarePants. Key to the show's success was an intriguing premise - a lonely and bullied boy named Timmy Turner is given a pair of fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda to help make him happier by granting him wishes, slick animation, and a bevy of jokes and pop culture references that appealed to children and their parents in equal measure.

Originally scheduled to end on November 25, 2006 after five seasons and 80 episodes, the series was revived in 2008 for an additional five seasons. New characters were added to the main cast to generate fresh interest, including a baby fairy named Poof in season six, a fairy dog named Sparky in season nine, and a girl named Chloe with whom Timmy must share his fairies in the tenth and final season. Amidst all that, three live action television films based on the series were made. These films featured a now adult Timmy Turner played by actor Drake Bell. Production of The Fairly OddParents ceased permanently after Hartman left Nickelodeon in February 2018. It remains Nickelodeon's second longest running animated show, once again behind SpongeBob SquarePants.

It's impossible to talk about The Fairly OddParents without bringing up a certain yellow sponge who lives in a pineapple under the sea. The fact of the matter is that SpongeBob SquarePants, released all the way back in 1999, set a Mt. Everest-high bar that every animated Nickelodeon series has been measured against ever since. Out of everything produced over the last quarter of a century, The Fairly OddParents is the only show that has come close to matching SpongeBob's critical and commercial success.

L-R: Wanda, Timmy Turner, and Cosmo from the original series.

That is why Nickelodeon has tried constantly to keep the property alive. The first attempt to revitalize the franchise came in May 2022 with the release of the hybrid live action / animated series The Fairly OddParents: Fairly Odder. Picking up years after the original series, the new series followed Timmy's cousin, Vivian "Viv" Turner, and her stepbrother, Roy, as they navigate life with the help of Cosmo and Wanda, who are gifted to them by a now older Timmy. Fairly Odder debuted on the streaming service Paramount+ with thirteen episodes over a single season. Reviews were fairly lackluster, with criticism aimed at the acting, cheap production, and creative limitations imposed by the live action setting. In January 2023, the series was removed from Paramount+ and Nickelodeon's official website.

Now in 2024, Nick is trying again, this time going back to full animation, albeit 3D computer generated animation, with The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish. Cosmo and Wanda are now responsible for granting the wishes of a ten-year-old girl named Hazel, who is feeling lonely and unsure of herself after moving to a new city and being without her older brother who left to start college. A trailer shown ahead of the series premiere seems to capture the manic spirit of the original in a way that Fairly Odder simply could never replicate.

It can be argued that the Fairly OddParents franchise has run its course and effort should be made on producing something new and unique instead of retreading old ground. Unfortunately, the greater good rarely outweighs studio executives' self interests and they tend to stick with what works. The Fairly OddParents, together with SpongeBob and Rugrats, make up Nickelodeon's crown jewels. Networks generally aim to strike a balance between airing reruns of popular shows to generate consistent revenue and investing in new shows to attract additional viewers and advertisers. Sometimes the easiest way to do both is to reboot existing franchises so that audiences get something new with characters and themes they recognize from their past.

The Fairly OddParents: A New Wish will premiere on May 20, 2024 at 4:30 PM EST on Nickelodeon.

Stylish and Tech-Savvy 2025 Kia K4 Debuts

Kia unveiled its replacement for the Forte compact sedan at the 2024 New York Auto Show today. Now christened K4, the new name brings Kia's smallest model's nomenclature in line with the midsize K5 sedan. Armed with an expressive new design and a plethora of standard and available features, the K4 reaffirms Kia's commitment to the compact sedan market as more automakers turn their focus to SUVs and electric vehicles.

"2023 was the biggest year yet for Kia with growth across our entire lineup," said Eric Watson, Vice President of Sales Operations for Kia America. "Simply put, customers are truly excited about our products, and we're ready to give them more of everything they love about Kia. While others continue to retreat from the ICE compact sedan segment, our entry was Kia's second best selling model last year, and its market share has more than doubled since 2018."

Kia's tiger nose grille now plays with the company's latest design language called "Opposites United," which Head of Kia Design, Karim Habib, claims gives the K4 a confident and technical impression. The K4 sports a radically sculpted body incorporating a steeply raked roofline and rear door handles integrated into the C-pillar. T-shaped headlights give the K4 familial resemblance to other recently redesigned Kia models such as the K5, Sorento, and Carnival.

Inside, the K4 dashboard has been upgraded to a full digital display. Two 12.3 inch screens handle gauge cluster and central infotainment functions. A small 5 inch screen between them operates the climate controls. Wireless Apple CarPlay and Android Auto are now standard after requiring wired connection on some Forte models. Other available features usually seen on more expensive cars but rare to find in mainstream compact sedans include a panoramic sunroof, an available 360-degree surround view monitor and an available blind-spot view monitor that displays a live video feed of left and right blind spots in the gauge cluster. Kia also touts the availability of a voice assistant on higher trim levels to help the driver adjust climate controls and audio settings. Furthermore, certain models will be able to receive over the air updates, allowing owners to download available digital features and services.

Powertrains remain unchanged from the Forte with a 147-hp 2.0-liter inline-four powering lower trim levels. The top trim Forte GT has been replaced with the K4 GT-Line Turbo. Although it uses the same 1.6-liter turbocharged inline-four, horsepower drops from 201 to 190. This may be due to a switch to a conventional torque-converter eight-speed automatic transmission in place of the Forte GT's six-speed manual and seven-speed dual-clutch automatic. No fuel economy figures have been unveiled yet.

The 2025 K4 also marks the return of a 5-door hatchback after the Forte became sedan only in 2019. By offering two body styles, Kia will be able to better compete with compact cars such as the Honda Civic, Toyota Corolla, and Mazda 3. More details about the hatchback will be available at a later date.

The Kia Forte is one of the most affordable new car models left on sale with base prices starting around $21,145 and fully loaded versions topping out at less than $28,000. Forte owners have come to appreciate their cars' affordability, sharp styling, roomy interior, and plentiful standard and optional features. No doubt, they should expect more of the same with the new K4. 2025 K4s are expected to arrive in dealerships in the fourth quarter of this year.

My Favorite NASCAR Driver Wins the Championship, and I'm Not Thrilled

Ryan Blaney did not win the NASCAR Cup Series Championship Race at Phoenix Raceway yesterday, but his second place finish ahead of Kyle Larson, William Byron, and Christopher Bell was all he needed to secure his first ever championship in NASCAR's top series.

So why am I not more excited? I'm happy, yes, but I'm not over the moon beside myself. Blaney is a phenomenal driver and is absolutely deserving of a championship trophy. Yet, NASCAR's way of deciding the championship is to pit the top-16 drivers who have won at least one race during the first 26 races of the season, plus any driver in the top-16 in points if there are less than 16 winners, against each other in elimination style playoffs for the final ten races. Three rounds are divided into three races each. If a playoff driver wins, they automatically advance to the next round. The four drivers who have accumulated the least amount of points without a win after each round are eliminated from championship contention until only four drivers are left to race against each other in the final race of the season. The champion is whoever finishes ahead of the other three drivers.

Simple, right?

Except under these rules, you can win every race leading up to the finale and still lose the championship. Or you can be pretty average over the first 26 races and then have a surge in performance over the last ten as Blaney did.

Blaney qualified for the playoffs due to his victory at the Coca-Cola 600 back in May. He made it through the Round of 16 despite finishes of ninth, twelfth, and twenty-second. The Round of 12 started with a twenty-eighth place finish at Texas, but a win next week at Talladega automatically qualified him for the Round of 8. Blaney then scored three consectutive finishes inside the top six including a win at the penultimate race in Martinsville to lock himself into the Championship Four.   

It's been ten years since NASCAR began using these playoffs to crown champions and twenty years since the sanctioning body first moved away from the traditional championship format that had been in place starting in 1971. You know, the one where drivers accumulate points based on their performance throughout the entire season, and the champion is the driver who has scored the most points by the end of the final race.

After 2003, NASCAR decided the old system wasn't good enough to generate the "game seven" excitement it was looking for in the final race of the season. Blame Matt Kenseth, who won the 2003 championship despite only winning one race that year. Kenseth's consistency throughout the season meant that he topped the points standings four races into the season and never looked back. By contrast, Kenseth won more races than any driver in 2002, yet only ranked eighth in the final standings. 

Some dedicated fans have calculated championship points under the old format over the last two decades, and the results may be surprising. Jeff Gordon, not Jimmie Johnson, would have seven championships to his name. And Kevin Harvick, who wrapped up his 23-year career after yesterday's race, would have been a four-time champion.

For this year, William Byron would have won the championship by a 17 point margin over Denny Hamlin, 33 points over Chris Buescher, and 42 points over Christopher Bell. Ryan Blaney would have finished the season in seventh, 196 points back.

A deeper look into this season's statistics lends authenticity to this claim. In 2023, Byron led the field with 6 wins, 15 top fives, 21 top tens, and an average finish of 10.97. Blaney won 3 races and scored 8 top fives and 18 top tens with an average finish of 14.08.

Debate over the legitimacy of using playoffs to crown NASCAR champions has gone back and forth for years. All I will add is the fact that twenty years have passed and no other racing series has adopted a similar format in deciding its champions. That alone should tell people all they need to know about the ridiculousness of NASCAR's system.

We've reached a point where I think individual race wins mean more than championships in NASCAR's top series. I would say that Blaney's high water mark this year was winning the Coca-Cola 600, snapping a 59-race winless streak. He showed more emotion in that post race interview and revealed more about his mental state over the months leading up to that win than he did during his championship interview in Phoenix. When I think back on 2023, I will remember that moment just as fondly as I will Blaney hoisting the championship trophy alongside his family, team, and friends.

Pixar's Lightyear Can Change the Toy Story Universe as We Know It

Pixar’s latest creation promises to build upon its flagship franchise in new and exciting ways, but it also raises intriguing questions about the reality of the universe the animation studio has worked to establish for more than 25 years.

Lightyear is being pitched as the story of the man who was deemed iconic enough to have a toy made in his image. This wouldn’t be a big deal if Buzz Lightyear was a normal astronaut, but he’s not. He’s a Space Ranger, part of an intergalactic police group that…umm…, why don’t I just let Buzz explain what he does.

“I am stationed in the Gamma Quadrant of sector 4. As a member of the elite Universe Protection Unit of the Space Ranger Corps, I protect the galaxy from the threat of invasion from the Evil Emperor Zurg, sworn enemy of the Galactic Alliance.” -Buzz introduces himself to Andy's toys, Toy Story (1995)

Thanks, Buzz. So, the first teaser trailer for Lightyear, which debuted last month, appears to show Buzz Lightyear, the man, during his early years as a Space Ranger.

This isn’t the first time that Pixar has tried to expand Buzz’s fictional world. There was an animated cartoon called Buzz Lightyear of Star Command which followed the exploits of the “real” Buzz Lightyear and his team of Space Rangers across the galaxy, protecting civilization, as Buzz said, from the machinations of Emperor Zurg. 

However, that cartoon was set in the far-flung future and had no connecting tissue to the rest of the Toy Story universe. It’s the sort of show I can imagine Andy’s toys watching when they’re home alone and they aren’t playing Buzz Lightyear video games.

It’s unclear where or when Lightyear takes place. But if we follow the movie’s logic that Buzz Lightyear was a real person, it would stand to reason that there is a real Space Ranger Corps. And if there is a real Space Ranger Corps, there must also be a real Emperor Zurg somewhere causing trouble. At one point during the trailer, we see Buzz getting attacked by a large, tentacled creature, so at the very least, there are some life forms in this universe besides regular humans.

Despite being populated by toys that come to life when no humans are around, the Toy Story universe follows the same exact rules as the real world. I don’t think the original team at Pixar meant for Buzz Lightyear, the toy, to be based on a real, in-universe person. True, his name was inspired by famous Apollo 11 astronaut, Buzz Aldrin, but his backstory appeared to be a spoof on Star Wars. Both Toy Story and Toy Story 2 make multiple Star Wars allusions when going into detail about Buzz’s missions and his history with Zurg.

I can’t help but wonder if the people of Earth in the Toy Story universe know that they are not alone in the galaxy. Hopefully, there will be a scene very early or near the end of Lightyear establishing how it fits in with the other Toy Story films.

Until then, I’m not sure if I’ll ever be able to look at Andy’s “I want you to join Space Rangers” poster the same way again. Military conscription propaganda for little kids? Kind of dark, don’t you think? 

Children's TV Series Arthur Ends Production After 25 Seasons

 

I don’t remember too much about Arthur. For a show that has been around since 1996, and will be wrapping up its twenty fifth and final season in the winter of 2022, I think I only watched it between its debut and 2003 at the latest. 

Some moments I recall include Arthur dreading a reunion with his older cousin, Binky being falsely accused of spray painting graffiti everywhere, and one episode where Arthur’s school dealt with a breakout of lice.

I also remember that having fun isn’t hard when you’ve got a library card. And then there was that one time when Francine played her drums loudly from the top of her apartment building. Her landlord approached her to pass along a complaint from another tenant, to which Francine retorted that the other tenant could go suck an egg. For the record, I do not recommend kids try that line with their parents or other adults. 

And who could forget when the cast of Arthur met the Backstreet Boys? It was the stuff of 90’s kids’ dreams!

The reggae-style theme song "Believe in Yourself" is pretty good, too. I suppose it must be, seeing as the show has used it and the same opening animation sequence since the beginning. This only gets strange when you notice the characters still interacting with twentieth century technology. Film cameras and tube TVs, anyone? "Believe in Yourself" was performed by Jamaican-American reggae group Ziggy Marley and the Melody Makers. All the members of the group are the children of legendary reggae artist, Bob Marley. 

Arthur generated some noise on social media a couple years ago when it was revealed that Mr. Ratburn is gay. A lot of people said that they suspected this was the case all along. Regardless, it was a sign that the producers were aware of changing attitudes toward that kind of subject matter as the years have gone by.

I think what I will remember most about Arthur is how it portrayed everyday life in a natural believable way. The kids deal with kid problems, the adults deal with adult problems, and both groups learn about the other in the process. Children’s shows in the 90s and early 2000s had a knack of showcasing a diverse cast of characters with different interests, religious beliefs, ethnicities, socioeconomic classes, and so on without making anything feel forced or preachy. America is a diverse place, and shows like Arthur celebrate diversity and the importance of respect of people from all walks of life.   

What are your favorite Arthur memories? Let me know in the comments.