Postcards from Buster: Buster's Outdoor Adventures

Move over, Janet Jackson. Here comes Buster Bunny in one of the year's most controversial television episodes—one that roused the hackles of conservatives. Postcards from Buster is an Emmy-nominated spin-off of the multi-award-winning animated series Arthur (about Marc Brown's beloved aardvark), in which Buster travels the country, recording live-action footage with his video camera of the fascinating places he visits and people he meets. In the episode "Sugartime!", Buster stops in at the Hinesburg, Vermont home of Karen and her "partner" Gillian. "So Gillian's your mom, too?" Buster asks one of their stepchildren. "Boy, that's a lot of moms!" Although this episode is much more concerned with how maple syrup is made than sexual orientation, many PBS stations refused to air it. In the other three episodes in this collection, Buster attends a fair in Knox, Indiana; picks giant pumpkins in Mt. Hood, Oregon; and explores the Louisiana bayou (none of which rip at the fabric of American society). Thanks to libraries and video outlets, this “subversive” series can now be made accessible to those who missed it due to censorship. Recommended. [Note: also newly available in the series are Buster's Got the Beat and Buster's Buddies.] Aud: P. (D. Liebenson)