Arthur's Chicken Pox (episode)

Summary
Arthur may miss out on the family outing to the circus because he has chicken pox. Meanwhile, D.W. is jealous of the attention he's getting.

Plot
The circus is coming to Elwood City on Saturday, and Arthur's family is excited, especially D.W. At school, Arthur and his friends are painting pictures of different things, when suddenly, Arthur sees the blue elephant that he painted come to life before his very eyes.

Then it disappears back into the painting, when Arthur realizes that it was just a hallucination. He was then sent to the nurse who checked his temperature and then had him sent home after being told to have at least a bit of relaxation time.

When D.W. sees that Arthur was already home before she was, she asked him what was wrong with him, to which Arthur plainly answered that he was sick. D.W. thinks that he has big test coming up or Binky was going to physically pound him, but Arthur disagreed with both the assumed reasons, saying that he just had to go to the nurse. D.W. simply agrees.

Later that night, Arthur gets to eat his dinner on the couch, while D.W. has to eat hers at the table with Mom and Dad, which makes D.W. jealous. To make matters worse, D.W. has to eat spinach while Arthur gets to eat soup, again because he is sick. D.W. dismisses this as Arthur faking it.

Later on, Arthur has a nightmare that he has to ride on a unicycle on a tight rope while being taunted by D.W. Then he goes through a swirling vortex as he wakes up, only to find out that he has spots all over his face. When he screamed from the bathroom, he garnered the attention of his Mom, Dad, and D.W.

After feeling Arthur's forehead, Dad finds out that Arthur has the chickenpox, and Mom arranges for Grandma Thora to come over to take care of Arthur.

Grandma Thora treats Arthur very well, including giving him an oatmeal bath and letting him drink some juice with the crazy straw, which makes D.W. very jealous, so she comes up with a plan: she used her crayons to make herself look like she has the chickenpox so that she would get some attention.

This works, however, until she has an oatmeal bath and the colors are washed away, and as a result, she is caught faking the chicken pox and scolded by her grandmother.

The next morning, Arthur is found to be well enough to go to the circus, while D.W. has to stay home because she has caught the chickenpox, which she shows off to Arthur, but Arthur tells her that she will miss the circus. D.W. doesn't care, saying that the circus comes every year, but you only get the chicken pox once. Arthur then turns to the camera and smiles.

Major Characters

 * Arthur
 * D.W.
 * Grandma Thora
 * Jane
 * David

Minor Characters

 * Kate
 * Pal
 * Buster
 * Binky
 * Sue Ellen
 * Muffy
 * Ms. Bryan (debut)
 * Francine
 * Ms. Flynn (as Ms. Kromer)

Background Characters

 * Fern

Trivia

 * Miss Flynn's name tag is shown in close-up to reveal her name, but her name was revealed as "Miss Kromer"; but in all later episodes, she was renamed "Miss Flynn".
 * This is one of the episodes that focus on health. The others being Sick as a Dog, Operation: D.W.!, Binky Goes Nuts, Germophobia, Arthur's Knee, and Buster's Breathless.

Differences from the book

 * Right before Arthur catches the chicken pox, he has a circus nightmare, and after he catches it, he finds out he has chicken pox in the bathroom when he looks in the mirror (not shown). His family finds out when they, too, see his spots. In the book, Arthur does not have a circus nightmare; instead, his family walks into his room the next morning to find out he has caught the chicken pox.
 * Ms. Bryan is introduced in this episode; although in the book, Arthur was the only one shown in the art class.
 * In one scene, Arthur was communicating with Buster can-to-can from his room window to outside. In the book, Francine and Muffy were giving him get well cards and bringing his homework.
 * D.W. was seen putting calamine lotion on Arthur after he caught the chicken pox. This did not happen in the book.
 * When Grandma Thora gives Arthur a back rub after his bath, Arthur was lying on his stomach on her lap and was topless. In the book, Arthur was lying on his stomach on the sofa, his legs were behind Grandma Thora, and he was still wearing his pajama top while she was rubbing his back.
 * When D.W. fakes the chicken pox and runs down the stairs, Grandma Thora picks her up and brings her back upstairs for the bath. In the book, Grandma Thora was taking D.W.'s temperature after D.W. came downstairs, and before giving D.W. a bath.
 * In the book, when Arthur's chicken pox heals up, he goes out to dinner with his family. In the episode, he and his family did not go out, but Grandma Thora was deciding to Arthur while at home that everything is a go.
 * When D.W. finally catches the chicken pox from Arthur, she runs down the stairs, prances around and surprises her parents (which causes them to laugh at her), and even knocks over Pal's bowl. A healed-up Arthur tells her that she is going to miss the circus, but she doesn't mind. In the book, D.W. comes down the stairs while her family gets ready for the circus, and surprises them when she finally caught it. Only Arthur laughs at her, and then Jane tells D.W. to go back to bed. D.W. cries over missing the circus, and Arthur promises to her that he will bring her home a balloon if she was good and didn't scratch.
 * In the book, Arthur was wearing a bowtie with his clothes while he and his family were ready for the circus. In the cartoon, Arthur did not wear the bowtie.
 * The scenes where Arthur's family goes to dinner, D.W. pretending to call her friend Emily, the scene where David and Grandma Thora bring Arthur some treats and the scene where Francine and Muffy bring him get-well cards and homework were not shown in the episode.

Episode connections

 * When D.W. is clashing the saucepans together, it is the same noise she makes from "Arthur and the Crunch Cereal Contest".

Errors

 * At the beginning of the episode, it is said that the circus is coming on Saturday. Arthur says that it's Monday, and D.W. says the circus is in 6 days but it is actually 5 days until the circus.
 * During art class, Arthur is wearing his yellow paint shirt backwards: the front side has the buttons and the rear side has the "B" logo.
 * When D.W. takes a bath after faking the chicken pox, her hair was in its dry, styled look behind the curtain; but when Grandma Thora opens up the curtain, her hair is wet and straight.
 * This is one of the episodes from the first season with the characters have white tongues. This was a coloring error, and fixed later with "Buster's Dino Dilemma".

Home video
VHS:
 * Arthur's Chicken Pox

DVD:
 * Arthur's Chicken Pox
 * Hooray for Health
 * Arthur: The Complete Series One