Fright Night

Summary
Buster's Uncle Bob tells him a spooky bedtime story about an encounter with a mysterious creature called the lycanbunny.

Plot
Buster is telling D.W. and Bud a spooky story in Arthur's bedroom about how some people become creatures known as "lycanbunnies", but they aren't very thrilled. However, they gasp in shock when they hear Pal howling, to which Arthur tells Pal to be quiet, since Buster is still telling his story.

Fright Night

After the title card, Bitzi Baxter is seen putting a suitcase into the trunk of a taxi, and she gives Buster a hug. Bitzi then thanks her brother, Robert Baxter, for babysitting Buster while she's away at a conference meeting for a few days, and she tells Buster to brush his teeth really well, not to eat all the ice cream, and to help Uncle Bob with the dishes. After Bitzi leaves, Uncle Bob asks Buster what flavors of ice cream they have.

Later, as Buster is getting into his bed in his pajamas, Uncle Bob shows him that the moon is almost full outside, and Buster notes that he's never seen the moon look so bright before. Uncle Bob has, and he starts to tell Buster an interesting story about how he and Bitzi's family had rented a cabin by a lake in the woods one summer when they were kids.

In his story, Uncle Bob and Bitzi couldn't sleep that night because the moon was so bright, when they had heard a terrifying sound. After hearing the sound, Bitzi wanted to go back to bed, but Uncle Bob wanted to find out what that sound was, so they went outside. However, after seeing both something rustling in a bush and paw prints near the cabin, they go back inside. The next day, when they went to go get ice pops at the general store, Bitzi and Uncle Bob were still spooked by what they had seen the night before, and were still wondering what it could've been. The clerk at the general store tells them that they might've heard "the lycanbunny".

Buster then interrupts the story, asking Uncle Bob what a lycanbunny is. Uncle Bob tells him that a lycanbunny is a wolf-like rabbit creature, and he also tells him that when the moon is full, some people turn into lycanbunnies, or so they say.

Uncle Bob then returns to his story, where he and Bitzi learn from the clerk that people who become lycanbunnies grow claws and fur, and have long fangs. That night, Uncle Bob and Bitzi were half-fascinated, but half-terrified too. Bitzi thinks that maybe the clerk at the general store was just telling them a story to scare them, but when they heard something scratching at the cabin door, they got their dad (who is Buster's grandfather) to find out what it was, only to find that it was a raccoon. However, they realise that something was making that raccoon so desperate to get inside their cabin.

Back in the present, Buster can't believe that his mom has never told him about this story, and asks Uncle Bob what happened next. Uncle Bob then tells Buster to stay tuned for part two tomorrow, since it's bedtime for Buster. Buster is disappointed that he has to wait, but then he goes to sleep.

The next day, Buster tells Arthur all about the story from the night before, but Arthur thinks that Uncle Bob is just making it up. Buster thought so at first too, until he found something about lycanbunnies in an encyclopedia that he found in his mom's office. He tells Arthur about how there have been several cases of lycanbunnies in history, but Arthur tells him that maybe not everything in that book is true, and he also asks Buster if his uncle actually saw a lycanbunny. Buster isn't sure, so he decides to ask him that night.

That night, Uncle Bob resumes telling the story to Buster. He and Bitzi had wondered what happened to the lycanbunny during the day. They wondered if maybe it was just an ordinary person, waiting for the full moon to transform. When they went into the general store the next day, the clerk tells Uncle Bob and Bitzi that he didn't sleep too well the night before with the bright moonlight, and that he wasn't himself. After the clerk asked Bitzi and Uncle Bob if they wanted to buy some ice pops, they looked at his fingernails, and ran out of the store screaming, thinking that he might be the lycanbunny.

Back in the present, Uncle Bob tells Buster that "the thrilling conclusion" will be the next night, because it's bedtime for Buster, who is once again disappointed about having to wait to hear more of the story. When Uncle Bob asks Buster if he has a nail clipper that he can borrow, Buster is surprised. Uncle Bob then says that he forgot to pack one, but decides to find one around the house instead. Buster is still puzzled, and after Uncle Bob brushes his teeth and shaves his face in the bathroom, Buster finds loose hair (that appears to look like fur from a lycanbunny) in the bathroom, and gasps.

The next day, Buster tells Arthur in the treehouse that he thinks his uncle might be a lycanbunny. Arthur thinks that it seems kind of unlikely, when Buster asks him when the full moon will be, and wonders if his uncle will turn into a lycanbunny while he's at Buster's house. Arthur checks the encyclopedia, and he and Buster discover ways to ward off lycanbunnies, such as sleeping in a bed full of mulberry branches, having silver (or silverware) on hand to return a lycanbunny to its normal, daytime form, and having lots of garlic in the house. After getting all the supplies, Buster makes a trap covered with slime, and he and Arthur put the garlic by his bedroom window and put the mulberry branches in his bed.

That evening, Arthur and Buster start to hear the conclusion of Uncle Bob's story in Buster's living room. Uncle Bob and Bitzi were hot on the creature's trail, determined to find out if there was such a thing as a lycanbunny, or if it was just an old legend. After seeing something run by in the woods, it was time for them to discover the truth. They had heard it howl, seen its footprints, and the moon was full and shining bright, just like it is in the present.

Buster then interrupts the story to run to the window with Arthur, finding out that it is a full moon. Buster and Arthur get scared and run upstairs, thinking that Uncle Bob will transform into a lycanbunny, but Uncle Bob is confused as to why they are running upstairs.

After Buster gets caught in his own trap that he had set out in his bedroom, Uncle Bob comes into the bedroom, and he asks Arthur and Buster what's gotten into them. Uncle Bob then tells Buster that he's not a lycanbunny after he asks him, and Uncle Bob also notices the garlic and mulberry branches, realising that they had been reading the encyclopedia of creatures of the dark. Buster is surprised to learn that not only does Uncle Bob know about the encyclopedia, he also wrote it, using the pen name "Beatrex Trobb", which is an anagram for his real name, Robert Baxter. Buster then says to Uncle Bob that he thought he worked for an engineering company, and Uncle Bob tells Arthur and Buster that he "moonlights", which means to work two jobs; for his second job, he writes scary stories. Arthur asks him if he made up the lycanbunny, and Buster asks him if he also made up the part about the summer by the lake. Uncle Bob tells them that when you tell stories, you draw on real life, and that he and Bitzi really did spend a summer by the lake. He also tells Arthur and Buster that when you use your imagination, it makes a story more exciting. Buster and Arthur then ask Uncle Bob if there really was a lycanbunny, and he starts to tell them the truth.

Back in Arthur's room (from the intro of the episode), Buster tells D.W. and Bud that it turned out to not be a lycanbunny after all, but rather an alien spaceship. Arthur then tells Buster that that wasn't what his Uncle Bob said at all, to which Buster replies that he's just doing what his uncle taught him on how to tell a good story. D.W. wants to know what really happened, but Buster tells her and Bud to wait for part two tomorrow. The episode then finishes.

Major

 * Buster Baxter
 * Robert Baxter
 * Arthur Read
 * Lycanbunny

Minor

 * Bud Compson
 * D.W. Read
 * Bitzi Baxter
 * Pal
 * Store Owner

Cameo

 * Buster's grandfather
 * Driver
 * Store patron

Trivia

 * R.L. Stine guest stars as the voice of Uncle Bob. Stine is a friend of Marc Brown, and the two have worked on other children's books together.
 * Cameron Ansell, who provided the voice of Arthur in seasons 9 through 11, is the voice of young Uncle Bob, according to the end credits.

Episode connections

 * The title of this episode is similar to "Night Fright."
 * The raccoon from "Based on a True Story" makes an appearance in Uncle Bob's story.