World Girls (episode)

Summary
The girls anticipate the grand opening of World Girl World, which sells dolls from every country.

Plot
Muffy has become obsessed with the World Girls dolls. Each doll is dressed in the national costume of a particular country/continent/territory, and comes with accessories related to that particular place, along with a book accompanying each doll. Sue Ellen has one World Girl doll, Pema (from Tibet). They argue about whether the point is to learn about the doll's cultures (Sue Ellen) or to just collect the dolls and accessories (Muffy). When they discover that a World Girl World store is opening, Muffy and Sue Ellen invite Francine to come along with them and plan on having a slumber party at Muffy's house later on.

Each of them have their own sub-plots at the store:
 * Sue Ellen is keen on getting a particular accessory for her doll, but when she goes to the customer service desk, she is informed that the accessory she's looking for (a Tibetan yak-weaving loom) has been discontinued, along with the entire Tibet collection. When Sue Ellen questions why, the man helping her explains that the Tibet collection didn't generate enough sales for the company.
 * Francine (after being given some money by Muffy) goes to the World Girl Sports Hall of Fame and becomes interested in a doll of Babe Didrikson Zaharias. An employee explains how Babe was instrumental in introducing women into the world of golf and how the book that comes with Babe's doll includes the history of golf and the introduction of women into the sport. Francine ultimately ends up buying the doll, which Muffy gets excited about.
 * Muffy gets exhausted while trying to collect each doll and accessory from every section of the store.

When Sue Ellen comes up to her and Francine and explains the situation about the Tibet collection to them, Muffy and Francine suggest they go to the store's "doll hospital" and check if they have any extras of the yak weaving loom that Sue Ellen wants. While there, the girls sneak into the back of the hospital, which turns out to be a secret factory that produces all the World Girls dolls very quickly, and Muffy discovers just how many other dolls (with some being from countries that she's never even heard of) are being produced. She realizes that she's going to need a lot more room to be able to truly complete her entire collection. The girls end up leaving World Girl World after this.

Later on, while at Muffy's house for the promised slumber party, Muffy goes through what she has of her World Girls collection and informs Francine and Sue Ellen that she's planning on giving away at least half of her collection to charity, planning on only keeping the dolls (and accessories) that she really likes. While going through her collection, Muffy discovers a Pema doll that she has no recollection of even buying. When Sue Ellen that Pema is holding the yak-weaving loom she was looking for, Muffy gives the doll to Sue Ellen to keep. However, Sue Ellen notices that the loom Pema has is green, and claims that the loom is supposed to be brown. When Muffy explains that she's never touched the doll since she took it out of the box, Francine suggests looking through the book that came with Pema. Sue Ellen notices that the picture of the yak-weaving loom in the book is brown and not green.

Later on, the girls make accessories for their dolls: Sue Ellen paints the loom brown, Francine makes a putting green for her doll of Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and Muffy appears to be making a dress for one of her dolls. Muffy suggests that the three of them start their own line of dolls called "Universe Girls" and make a fortune. Francine and Sue Ellen then start a pillow fight with Muffy, ending the episode.

Major

 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Francine Frensky
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong

Minor

 * Fifi (French World Girl)
 * Greta (Scandinavian World Girl)
 * Ying Li (Chinese World Girl)
 * Dave
 * Unknown Female Adult Rabbit (Number 6)
 * Bailey
 * Female Store Assistant
 * Male Store Assistant

Cameo

 * D.W. Read
 * Arthur Read (title card)
 * Luke
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 12)
 * Unknown Male Adult Rabbit (Number 5)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 4)
 * Unknown Female Dog
 * Technician
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 10)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 9)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 3)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 8)
 * Unknown Female Adult Rabbit (Number 7)
 * Unknown Female Dog (Number 3)
 * Rae
 * Rae's father
 * Rae's mother
 * Czech student
 * Unknown Female Cat
 * Steve
 * Lisa
 * Unknown Female Dog (Number 2)
 * Unknown Female Adult Dog (Number 2)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 5)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 14)
 * Unknown Male Adult Rabbit (Number 4)
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 13)
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 10)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 11)
 * Slink's mother
 * Brain lookalike

Trivia

 * At World Girl World, D.W. is seen in the back-most train car.
 * D.W. and Lisa are the only prescholars in the episode.
 * Moral: Dont be obsessed with dolls for your own benefits.
 * In the opening teaser, Melissa Altro, Jodie Resther, and Jessica Kardos provide the voices of the World Girl dolls.

Cultural references

 * World Girls are a parody of the dolls.
 * Famous golfer Babe Didrikson Zaharias appears as a doll and in a film.
 * The France section of World Girl World has a place called Rive Gauche (left bank), which is named after the southern bank of the river Seine in Paris.

Errors

 * Even though Muffy says she does not even have the Estonian doll, she somehow has the book.
 * There is a World Girl doll from Antarctica, but Antarctica is not a country, nor does it have any permanent or indigenous population. Sled dogs are also come with the doll, but dogs in Antarctica are only used by explorers and scientists, and are not actually native to Antarctica.

Production notes

 * The song used in the World Girls TV commercial is re-used again as the song played outside the Yumbobo ice cream shop in "Brain Freeze."
 * The following lines are cut in some international versions of this episode:
 * Sue Ellen: But why?
 * Dave: It's a Buddhist country; it didn't generate enough accessories.

Home Video
DVD:
 * D.W., Bossy Boots (DVD)
 * Arthur: Season 10