Postcards from Buster
Encyclopedia
Postcards from Buster is a children's television series
Children's television series
Children's television series, are commercial television programs designed for, and marketed to children, normally scheduled for broadcast during the morning and afternoon when children are awake. They can sometimes run in the early evening, for the children that go to school...

 for children aged 6-12, containing both animation and live-action that originally aired on Public Broadcasting Service
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....

 (PBS). It is a spin-off
Spin-off (media)
In media, a spin-off is a radio program, television program, video game, or any narrative work, derived from one or more already existing works, that focuses, in particular, in more detail on one aspect of that original work...

 of the Arthur
Arthur (TV series)
Arthur is an American/Canadian animated educational television series for children, created by Cookie Jar Group and WGBH for the Public Broadcasting Service...

cartoon series. The show stars Arthur's best friend, 8-year-old rabbit Buster Baxter. Inspired by a 2003 episode of Arthur entitled "Postcards from Buster", the television series was produced by Cinar (now known as Cookie Jar Entertainment
Cookie Jar Entertainment
The Cookie Jar Group is an American and Canadian producer of children’s entertainment, consumer products and educational materials...

) and Marc Brown Studios
Marc Brown Studios
Marc Brown Studios is a TV production company. Following the air of Arthur's Perfect Christmas, the Christmas special of the hit cartoon series Arthur, Marc Brown Studios was formed by Marc Brown in 2000 nationwide in the US...

.

It first aired October 11, 2004 on PBS Kids GO!
PBS Kids GO!
PBS Kids GO! is an educational television brand used by PBS for programs intended for older children, rather than the original PBS Kids. It is primarily broadcast on PBS stations during the afternoons...

. Buster's interests include eating anything, reading comic books, and playing video games. Buster's personality is that of a fairly intelligent and curious child. He also believes that extraterrestrial
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...

s are real. Buster's parents are divorced; in this series, Buster is seen with his father, Bo Baxter.

Arthur Read
Arthur Read
Arthur Timothy Read is the title character of both the book series and the PBS children's television show Arthur which was created by Marc Brown. On the show, he is eight years old, in Mr. Ratburn's third grade class, and lives in Elwood City...

 and many other characters from the PBS Kids GO! animated television series Arthur make cameo appearances in this series, and most episodes have an Arthur character playing a minor role.

The show is currently on hiatus.

Overview

Postcards from Buster centers on Buster traveling to various places around North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

, usually in the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 but also in the Caribbean
Caribbean
The Caribbean is a crescent-shaped group of islands more than 2,000 miles long separating the Gulf of Mexico and the Caribbean Sea, to the west and south, from the Atlantic Ocean, to the east and north...

, Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...

 – and other places – with his father, who is a pilot
Aviator
An aviator is a person who flies an aircraft. The first recorded use of the term was in 1887, as a variation of 'aviation', from the Latin avis , coined in 1863 by G. de la Landelle in Aviation Ou Navigation Aérienne...

 for a group of musicians. In each episode Buster meets children in the location, who show him aspects of their family lives and local culture. The sequences with Buster are animated, while the portions featuring the children are live action (viewed from the viewpoint of Buster's video camcorder). After each trip, Buster sends to Arthur a "video postcard" videotape summarizing what he's done and who he's met in each location. The children and their families that are presented on the series are meant to be multicultural and diverse, and range from a Mormon
Mormon
The term Mormon most commonly denotes an adherent, practitioner, follower, or constituent of Mormonism, which is the largest branch of the Latter Day Saint movement in restorationist Christianity...

 family in Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...

 to a Mestizo
Mestizo
Mestizo is a term traditionally used in Latin America, Philippines and Spain for people of mixed European and Native American heritage or descent...

 family in Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

.

Controversy

In January 2005 Margaret Spellings
Margaret Spellings
Margaret Spellings was the Secretary of Education from 2005-2009 under the administration of U.S. President George W. Bush and previously served as White House Domestic Policy Adviser to President George W. Bush....

, United States Secretary of Education
United States Secretary of Education
The United States Secretary of Education is the head of the Department of Education. The Secretary is a member of the President's Cabinet, and 16th in line of United States presidential line of succession...

, criticized the show for exploring same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage
Same-sex marriage is marriage between two persons of the same biological sex or social gender. Supporters of legal recognition for same-sex marriage typically refer to such recognition as marriage equality....

. Episode #133, "Sugartime!", which features Buster visiting Hinesburg, Vermont
Hinesburg, Vermont
Hinesburg is a town in Chittenden County, Vermont, United States. The town was named for Abel Hine, town clerk. The population was 4,340 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

 to learn about the production of maple sugar, includes Buster meeting several children who have lesbian
Lesbian
Lesbian is a term most widely used in the English language to describe sexual and romantic desire between females. The word may be used as a noun, to refer to women who identify themselves or who are characterized by others as having the primary attribute of female homosexuality, or as an...

 parents. Vermont was one of the first states to legalize civil union
Civil union
A civil union, also referred to as a civil partnership, is a legally recognized form of partnership similar to marriage. Beginning with Denmark in 1989, civil unions under one name or another have been established by law in many developed countries in order to provide same-sex couples rights,...

s for same-sex couples. In the episode, the word lesbian or homosexual is never said, and the episode — like all Postcards episodes — has no sexual content. Buster meets the children and comments, "Boy, that's a lot of moms!"; one girl mentions her "mom and stepmom," adding that she loves her stepmother very much, and no other comments are made about the couple. PBS vice president of media relations Lea Sloan said at the time, "The fact that there is a family structure that is objectionable to the Department of Education is not at all the focus of the show, nor is it addressed in the show." Spellings demanded that PBS return all federal funding that had been used in the production of the episode, claiming that "many parents would not want their young children exposed to the lifestyles portrayed in this episode." PBS decided not to distribute this episode, but some member stations across the country chose to air the episode, including WNET
WNET
WNET, channel 13 is a non-commercial educational public television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey. With its signal covering the New York metropolitan area, WNET is a primary station of the Public Broadcasting Service and a primary provider of PBS programming...

 in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

 and KCET
KCET
KCET, channel 28, is an independent, non-commercial public television station licensed to Los Angeles, California, USA. KCET's studio is located on West Sunset Boulevard in Hollywood, and its transmitter is atop Mount Wilson. Al Jerome is the current CEO and President, serving since 1996.KCET was...

 in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, which are flagship stations; and the show's co-producer, WGBH
WGBH-TV
WGBH-TV, channel 2, is a non-commercial educational public television station located in Boston, Massachusetts, USA. WGBH-TV is a member station of the Public Broadcasting Service , and produces more than two-thirds of PBS's national prime time television programming...

 in Boston (which distributed the episode directly to public television stations after PBS's decision). Some of these stations opted to air this episode in prime-time, with some following the episode with a local discussion on the controversy. Shortly after the controversy, PBS's CEO announced she would step down when her contract expired in 2006. Cusi Cram, a writer for Arthur, later wrote a play titled Dusty and the Big Bad World, based on this controversy.

Voice actors and their characters

  • Daniel Brochu
    Daniel Brochu
    Daniel Brochu is a Canadian voice actor born in Montreal.He is best known for voicing Buster Baxter in Arthur and Postcards from Buster, and Danny Pickett in What's With Andy?.-Animation:* Animal Crackers* Around the World in 80 Dreams...

     - Buster Baxter
  • Cameron Ansell
    Cameron Ansell
    Cameron Ansell is a Canadian voice actor, best known for voicing Arthur in the television series of the same name, Cheng in Skyland, and Prince Lumen in Spider Riders. He is currently voicing Franklin....

     - Arthur Read (2004-2007)
  • Jonathan Tyrell - Arthur Read (2008)
  • Bruce Dinsmore
    Bruce Dinsmore
    -Biography:He voices Binky Barnes and David Read in Arthur, Tubby Tompkins in The Little Lulu Show, Horace in Wimzie's House and Jervis Coltrane and Mr. Hutchins in What's With Andy? ....

     - David Read (Arthur's Father), Binky Barnes
  • Colleen O'Shaughnessey
    Colleen O'Shaughnessey
    Colleen Ann O'Shaughnessey is an American voice actress, perhaps best known for her roles as Sora from the first and second seasons of Digimon , Jazz Fenton in Danny Phantom, Ino Yamanaka and Konohamaru in Naruto.She has also worked in the video game industry where she voiced Genis Sage in...

     - Jane Read (Arthur's Mother)
  • Helena Bonham Carter
    Helena Bonham Carter
    Helena Bonham Carter is an English actress of film, stage, and television. She made her acting debut in a television adaptation of K. M. Peyton's A Pattern of Roses before winning her first film role as the titular character in Lady Jane...

     - Bitzi Baxter
  • Martin Shaugnessy - Bo Baxter
  • Holly Gauthier-Frankel
    Holly Gauthier-Frankel
    Holly Gauthier-Frankel is a Canadian voice actress, singer, and Burlesque dancer. She is the daughter of Ron Frankel and Mary Lou Gauthier. Holly is best known for supplying the voice of Fern in Arthur, Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, Teri in What's with Andy?, Loulou in Wimzie's House, and Flora...

     - Fern Walters
  • Vanessa Abruzzo - Mora of Los Viajeros (first season)
  • Audrey Tautou
    Audrey Tautou
    Audrey Justine Tautou is a French model and film actress, best known for playing the title character in the award-winning 2001 film Le Fabuleux Destin d'Amélie Poulain, Sophie Neveu in the 2006 thriller The Da Vinci Code, Irène in Priceless and Coco Chanel in Coco avant Chanel...

     - Mora of Los Viajeros (second season)
  • Norman Groulx - Carlos of Los Viajeros (first season)
  • Glenn Coulson - Carlos of Los Viajeros (second season)
  • Lacey Chabert
    Lacey Chabert
    Lacey Nicole Chabert is an American actress and voice actress, known for her roles as Claudia Salinger in the television drama Party of Five and as Gretchen Wieners in the movie Mean Girls...

     - Additional Voices
  • Melissa Altro
    Melissa Altro
    Melissa Altro is a Canadian actress best known for her voice acting. She has lent her voice to such animated roles as Pippi Longstocking in the 1998 series Pippi Longstocking, and Muffy Crosswire in the long-running PBS animated series, Arthur.Altro guest-starred as Alex in a 1994 episode of Are...

     - Muffy Crosswire
  • A.J. Henderson
    A.J. Henderson
    A.J. Henderson is a Canadian voice actor, born in Montreal, Quebec.- Biography :He is very prolific, having done voices for numerous anime, cartoons, and video games...

     - Ed Crosswire
  • Arthur Holden
    Arthur Holden
    Arthur Holden is a Canadian voice actor, born in Montreal, Quebec. He voices Baba-Miao in Sagwa, the Chinese Siamese Cat, Mr. Ratburn in Arthur, and Mr...

     - Mr. Ratburn
  • Rodney D.A Ronzzio - Harry
  • Jessica Kardos
    Jessica Kardos
    Jessica Kardos is a Canadian voice actor and production coordinator, who is most noted for playing Sue Ellen Armstrong on Arthur since 2005, and in Postcards from Buster...

     - Sue Ellen Armstrong
  • Jodie Resther
    Jodie Resther
    Jodie Lynn Resther is a Canadian actress.Resther is possibly best known for being the voice of Francine Alice Frensky is the PBS children's animated program Arthur since 1996. Resther had the role of Kiki in Are You Afraid of the Dark?...

     - Francine Frensky
  • Alex Hood
    Alex Hood
    Alex Hood, also called Alex Hodd, is a Canadian actor who is known as the voice of Kenny in Beyblade.Hood has featured in other cartoons such as Arthur and Peep and the Big Wide World ....

     - Alan "The Brain" Powers (first season)
  • James DeLonglis - Alan "The Brain" Powers (second season)
  • Jane Rodriguez - Dora Winfred "D.W." Read (first season)
  • Robert Naylor
    Robert Naylor
    Sir Robert Naylor is the Chief Executive of University College London Hospitals NHS Foundation TrustNaylor has been a Chief Executive in the NHS for 24 years and has been Chief Executive of UCLH since November 2000. UCLH is one of the largest NHS Trusts, comprising six hospitals in central London...

     - Dora Winfred "D.W." Read (second season)
  • Ron Avatchio - Arthur Read
    Arthur Read
    Arthur Timothy Read is the title character of both the book series and the PBS children's television show Arthur which was created by Marc Brown. On the show, he is eight years old, in Mr. Ratburn's third grade class, and lives in Elwood City...

     (third season)
  • Janice De Michael Rogers - Mora of Los Viajeros(third season)

With Adittional Voices:Mimi Rogers
Mimi Rogers
Mimi Rogers is an American movie actress and competitive poker player.-Early life:Rogers was born Miriam Spickler in Coral Gables, Florida, the daughter of Philip C...

, Rodger Bumpass
Rodger Bumpass
Rodger Albert Bumpass is an American character actor and voice actor, who is noted for his long-running-roles as Squidward Tentacles on the hit series SpongeBob SquarePants, and The Chief from Where on Earth Is Carmen Sandiego?. He also voiced Professor Membrane on Invader Zim...

, Andre' Soliguzzo, Jessica Rogers
Jessica Rogers
Jessica Rogers is an accomplished athlete participating in Wheelchair basketball, wheelchair racing and numerous swimming events. She is also the founder of the Caudal Regression Syndrome Association, an organization for information sharing, support, and networking.-Biography:Rogers has lumbo...

, Cricket Leigh
Cricket Leigh
Cricket Leigh is an American actress. Cricket was born in Michigan, raised in Chicago and graduated from New York University before moving to Los Angeles. She played all eight characters in, and wrote Constantly Distracted in 2005. She also played Alma on Pop Tarts in 1999. In 2002, Cricket Leigh...

, Dakota Goyo
Dakota Goyo
Dakota Avery Goyo is a Canadian child actor.Goyo was born in Toronto, Ontario, the son of Debra, a former model and singer who manages his career, and David Goyo. He has two siblings, Devon and Dallas....

, Janice Kawaye
Janice Kawaye
Janice Kawaye is a Japanese-American actress, notable for providing the voice of Jenny "XJ-9" Wakeman on My Life as a Teenage Robot, Ami on Hi Hi Puffy AmiYumi, Sarah on Invader Zim, Gi on Captain Planet and the Planeteers, Kioko and Julia on All Grown Up! and Yuzu Kurosaki on Bleach...

, Catherine Peters, James Bumpass, Sofia Naylor, Jessie Cave
Jessie Cave
Jessica "Jessie" Cave is an English actress who is best known for her role as Lavender Brown in the film version of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.-Personal life:...

, Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino
Carla Gugino is an American actress known for her roles of Sally Jupiter in Watchmen, Dr. Vera Gorski in Sucker Punch, Lucille in Sin City, Amanda Daniels in seasons 3, 5 and 7 of Entourage, Ingrid Cortez in the Spy Kids film trilogy, and as the lead characters of the television series Karen Sisco...

, Laraine Newman
Laraine Newman
Laraine Newman is an American comedienne, actress, and writer, and was part of the original Saturday Night Live cast.-Personal life:...

 & Josh Phillips
Josh Phillips
Josh Phillips may refer to:*Josh Phillips , American actor*Josh Phillips, author of the webcomic Avalon*Josh Phillips , English musician*Josh Phillips , American murderer...

.

Season 1 (2004-2005)

Pilot: Postcards from Buster (New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, New York) (from the Arthur
Arthur (TV series)
Arthur is an American/Canadian animated educational television series for children, created by Cookie Jar Group and WGBH for the Public Broadcasting Service...

 TV series) (2003)
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Season 2 (2006-2007)

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Season 3 (2008)

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Note: All episodes of season 3 has taken outside North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...

.

Two episodes, where Buster goes to Chile and India, were produced and scheduled to air in 2010 as season 3. There has yet to be any record of the episodes airing on television.

Thanksgiving Special

Arthur and Buster Thanksgiving Spectacular (November 24, 2005)
Aired on Thanksgiving Day, November 24, 2005, this two-hour special featured several Arthur stories and two complete episodes of Postcards from Buster. This special featured interstitial postcard segments from Buster, segments with kids from the show ZOOM
Zoom (1999 TV series)
ZOOM is an American educational television series, created almost entirely by children, which aired on Public Broadcasting Service originally from January 4, 1999 to June 24, 2005. It was a remake of a 1972 TV series by the same name. Both versions were produced by WGBH-TV in Boston...

 and a small additional factoid regarding Arthur and Buster. At the end of the special, a secret password for a new game at the official PBS Kids Arthur website was revealed. The Arthur stories shown were: "Buster's Green Thumb", "Dad's Dessert Dilemma", "Thanks a Lot, Binky" and "The Ballad of Buster Baxter". The Postcards from Buster episodes shown were: "Best Friends" and "Among the Hmong".

DVD releases

A series of Postcards from Buster DVDs of a certain topic have been released. These include Buster's Outdoor Journeys (featuring episodes Sugartime, Meet Me at the Fair, The Giant Pumpkins and Bayou by Me), Buster's Got the Beat (featuring episodes Beats by the Bay, Buster and Beatrice, The Music Mystery and Buster's Sweet Song), Buster's Buddies (featuring episodes Buster's League of Champions, Best Friends, A Sense of Direction and Sleepy in Seattle) and Buster's World of Sports (featuring episodes Winter Gold, Swimming in the Desert, Rock and Roll and Rodeo Cowgirl).

On October 12, 2010, Mill Creek Entertainment
Mill Creek Entertainment
Mill Creek Entertainment is a home entertainment company that manufactures movie and television DVD compilation box sets at "value" prices. Nashville's Amity Entertainment is an affiliate to Mill Creek...

released the complete first season on DVD in Region 1. For some unknown reason, the cover art for the DVD states that this is 'The complete series', when in fact it is not as there are 13 more episodes.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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