Friday the 13th

Summary
While others are stepping over cracks or walking around ladders, Brain scoffs and defies all the superstitions—but then he has a run of bad luck. With Friday the 13th on the way, should he rethink things?

Plot
Brain arrives to a creepy, worn down location and hesitantly goes inside to see the group watching a scary movie. He questions the title and watches as a girl creeps through a hallway. The others panic as Brain claims he knows whats going to happen and Buster asks him if he's already seen the movie. But Brain just tells him its predictable and everyone becomes bored as he reveals whats going to happen. The lights suddenly go out and Brain goes to investigate the dirty house until he comes to a door. Slowly opening it, he stares in shock and gasps...

Friday the 13th

During a baseball game, Francine is giving Brain a pep-talk as Buster keeps telling him to spit on the bat. Brain then tries to tell him how dirty it is and gains two strikes as a result. Suddenly, he hits the third ball, which then bounces off a light and a catcher easily gets it. The others tell Brain they probably lost due to him not spitting on the bat, and that none of them remembered to bring their lucky items with them.

Later at his family's his family's ice cream store, Brain is still trying to convince Buster that he's wrong with this luck nonsense when they leave to see a black cat. Buster tries to stop Brain, but fails to believe superstitions are not true. They watch as Mr. Ratburn walks around a ladder and Buster tries to reason with Brain using "reverse logic" until he sees a crack in the sidewalk. He then hops away as Brain plans on stopping this nonsense once and for all!

The next day, Brain has gathered his friends and shows them all three exhibits, such as a crack, ladder, and mirror. Arthur tells him he's just gained seven years of bad luck and Brain shows them his special chart that he plans to use as a graph. He's going to prove how wrong they are once and for all when it suddenly storms, scaring the others away. Brain tries to tell them it wasn't bad luck but his umbrella is suddenly blown away...

Later during dinner, he soon learns his mother believes in superstitions also and asks her how she possibly can when someone rings the doorbell Binky then challenges him with some match questions and Brain determines Binky only wants homework help, so Brain leads him to his room to discover his missing backpack and they resume doing Binky's homework...

That evening, Brain is having trouble sleeping, due to his leaky roof and thundering weather. That morning he is woken up to realize he's very late for school and he rushes on his bike until his mom tells him he left his math homework and lunch behind. Unfortunately Brain leaves the bike where it is and his father runs it over! So he's forced to run the rest of the way, but falls into the mud and a dog eats his homework. A crow steals his lunch too. Arriving to school around 10:30, Brain tells Mr. Ratburn how a dog ate his homework, but nobody seems to believe him despite the mess.

Brain goes over his chart and fears that he'll have even worse luck considering it'll be Friday the 13th soon. So he goes to Buster who is always crazy prepared for this luck stuff. So Buster gathers him a whole box of salt packets, horseshoes, four leaf clovers, and finally his "lucky hat".

Later, Brain hops on home to see his mother laying on the couch in pain. She explains how she hurt her back at the gym and Brain then decides to be safe, he's not going to leave the house tomorrow.

That following day, Francine complains about how Brain isn't there and berates him before she calls to ask why Brain hasn't shown up to the game. Brain explains why he didn't show up and then hangs up on her. After Arthur suggests giving up its then Brain shows up! He tells them no matter what he does, bad luck will proceed to follow him so he may as well just play and he manages to win them the game!

As they leave, Buster asks him for his good luck charms back when Brain realizes he accidentally brought his mothers gym clothes. He is very happy to have proven his hypothesis correct, but the others don't buy this, saying that its the gym clothing that is lucky and they proceed to take it. Giving up, Brain simply hops along the cracks in the sidewalk as the episode ends...

Major Roles

 * Alan "The Brain" Powers
 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Francine Frensky

Minor Roles

 * Binky Barnes
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Nigel Ratburn

Background

 * George Lundgren
 * Oliver Frensky

Trivia

 * The Justin Bradley version of this episode story is available on the VHS and DVD editions of Arthur Gets Spooked.

Cultural references

 * The movie the group watch is a reference to famous novel turned horror film "I Know What You Did Last Summer" and its sequels. Like many people Brain ended up getting confused over the title. Also supporting this is the woman who resembles Jennifer Love Hewitt, while the raincoat had been what the man wore in the real films, along with the odd ghost.
 * An address shown in the episode mentions Elm Street, which may be a reference to the Nightmare on Elm Street film franchise.

Errors

 * If Brain hit a home run it wouldn't make much of a difference since the team was down 10-0.
 * The scene where Buster was wearing his lucky hat the bedroom background briefly changes to the preschool background
 * In the beginning Brain did not swing which would be a ball instead of a strike.
 * When Brain arrives late at school, he is wearing a yellow shirt with the whole front covered in mud. But when Buster shakes his head after he says the dog ate it, it is, surprisingly, the normal gray. It is back to yellow soon.
 * When the camera views Brain from above during his demonstration, the red arrow on the sidewalk crack sign turns white.
 * At first, only the glass is broken in the mirror. When the rain starts, the frame is also broken.
 * When Buster shakes his head in the classroom, Brain is wearing his gray sweater when he is supposed to be wearing a yellow shirt.
 * When the camera cuts to the pitcher, Brain's orange cap immediately turns into a blue helmet.
 * When the camera switches from Brain to Buster after the game, Brain's mom's bag turns from gray and red to black and red.

Production notes

 * This is the last episode where Justin Bradley voices Arthur.

Home Video
VHS: DVD:
 * Arthur Gets Spooked
 * Arthur Gets Spooked