Buster's Growing Grudge

Summary
Buster's convinced that his great joke will be the difference between a successful oral report and failure. But when Binky steals his material, will Buster stay mad forever?

Plot
The show opener for this episode has Arthur talking about how everybody, ranging from D.W. to the Brain, gets upset at least once. Then the show opener ends when Arthur introduces Buster as "one person who's always happy", but when he opens a curtain, Buster is shown upset, turning his back on Arthur, and unwilling to talk.

Buster's Growing Grudge

The episode begins as Buster watches a Bionic Bunny episode. Buster misses the rest of the episode while his mother reminds him of writing his history report before watching TV. On the way to school the next day, Buster tells Arthur that he did a weak report since it was done quickly after Bionic Bunny, and hopes that starting with a relevant joke that he wrote himself will make his report "a guaranteed 'A'". He tries his joke out on Binky, and Binky, Buster and Arthur all laugh at it. In Mr. Ratburn's class, Binky does a lackluster report on Christopher Columbus. Anxious to give his report, Buster then gets shocked when Binky tells Buster's joke in front of the class, at which the entire class (even Mr. Ratburn), except Buster, laughs.

Miserable, Buster starts his report on King Tut with a cliché joke, to which the class uninterestedly responds. Later that day, Buster is still upset with Binky telling his joke and he complains about it everywhere, from the soccer field to the Sugar Bowl, and even during a Talent Show at school.

Arthur tries to convince Buster to forget about Binky telling the joke, but Buster refuses. When Arthur says that it was Buster's fault for doing a report on eggnog rather than Egypt, Buster says that it is the encyclopedia's fault for putting those two words next to each other. Buster soon realizes his mistake, finds Binky and apologizes, but Binky is confused as to why. When Buster tells him, Binky pays Buster for telling the joke. Buster then realizes that he can get paid for telling jokes and wants Binky to do a comedy act with him.

Major

 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Binky Barnes
 * Francine Frensky

Minor

 * D.W. Read(intro only)
 * The Brain
 * Rattles
 * Bitzi Baxter
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * 3rd Grade Male Rat

Cameo

 * Alex
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * George Lundgren
 * Fern Walters
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * David Read
 * 3rd Grade Male Cat
 * Kenny
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)
 * Luke
 * Brian
 * Steve
 * Maria Pappas
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Mrs. Barnes
 * 4th Grade Male Dog
 * Slink
 * Toby
 * Laverne Frensky

Trivia

 * This is one of the earliest instances of George winning a contest, which becomes a running gag throughout the series.
 * 4th Wall Break: As the episode finishes, Binky thinks that Buster and he could have their own TV show, but not Arthur, as people wouldn't want to watch him on TV.
 * Karma: Binky told Buster's joke to everyone, so he fell in the mud.
 * Moral: Don't let a grudge against someone ruin your life.
 * Running Gag: Buster holding his grudge against Binky which results in Arthur telling him to stop.
 * Irony: Had Buster didn't tell Binky about the joke, Binky wouldn't have said it out loud.
 * Timeline: Buster's banana peel joke was first told in "Arthur's Lost Library Book", but it has since fallen out of favor with the kids.

Cultural references

 * Buster suggests that he can go back in time by flying a rocket faster than the speed of light around the sun. This is a reference to Star Trek, where such a method has been employed for time travel on several occasions.

Episode connections

 * In the show opener, involving D.W.'s worst moments from past Arthur episodes, clips of D.W. are shown and losing her stuff which is mentioned such as her blankie from D.W.'s Blankie, her Crazy Bus CD from Play it Again, D.W., her Snowball from D.W.'s Snow Mystery, D.W. being scared of octopus from D.W. All Wet, D.W.'s Imaginary Friend, and D.W. missing Spanky from So Long, Spanky.

Errors

 * When everyone in the class (excluding Buster) laughs at the King Tut joke when Binky tells it. Arthur is seen laughing even though he already was seen laughing when Buster told the joke to him and Binky outside of Lakewood Elementary School.

Home Video
DVD
 * Arthur: The Complete Series 4