Arthur's Birthday (episode)

Arthur's Birthday is the first half of episode 10 in Season 1. It first aired on November 11, 1996. It is based upon the book of the same name.

Plot
Arthur is writing invitations for his birthday party, in which he will be turning 8 years old. D.W. starts writing invitations for which might be her birthday too, but Arthur points out that her birthday is not until after six months.

Downstairs in the laundry room in the basement, after Jane takes a pink towel out the dryer, Pal grasps onto it with his mouth, angering Jane. When Arthur and D.W. come downstairs, Arthur shows Jane the invitations he is giving to his friends. Arthur picks up Pal, and then uses Pal's paw to count down the remaining days on the calendar until his birthday: May 25. Jane then asks Arthur if he's ready to buy party supplies, and he says yes.

Arthur and D.W. then go to the party shop with Jane to buy some party supplies. Arthur and Jane then blow on the party horns, and then D.W. shows Arthur a plate with a unicorn on it, but Arthur objects those plates and prefers the Bionic Bunny plates, like the show he enjoys watching.

Back at home, Grandma Thora asks Arthur what kind of cake she would like to bake, and Arthur suggests chocolate; but on the other hand, Thora can't cook very well.

Arthur then heads to school and starts handing out invitations to his friends. Francine asks Arthur if he would like to play Spin the Bottle. Arthur and Muffy then meet with each other on whose party to go to, and Arthur learns that Muffy has the same birthday like he does. He and Muffy both have their parties on the same day their birthday is, and Arthur asks if Muffy can change her party to another day, but she refuses, and Arthur cannot change his party to another day either, because all his relatives from Ohio are invited. Muffy then tells her friends that they must decide whose party they should attend.



Outside at recess, the boys: Arthur, Buster, the Brain, and Binky agree they should all go to Arthur's birthday party. Arthur then asks if the girls were to attend his party, too. Buster decides they don't need the girls anyway. On the playground, Muffy then decides that she and the other girls: Francine, Sue Ellen, Fern, and Prunella don't need the boys at her party either. Muffy suggests that she might end her friendship with someone who doesn't come to her party. Francine says that a party would not be fun without the boys, and she is a tomboy. Meanwhile, Coach Bilsters calls up the boys and girls for some tug of war. The coach assigned Buster to be the captain of the boys' team, and Muffy to be the captain of the girls' team. If the boys win, everyone will go to Arthur's party; but if the girls win, everyone will go to Muffy's party. The coach then blows the whistle to start the tug of war. Both sides begin pulling the rope back and forth. While they are pulling, Muffy taunts "Who needs boys? Pull!" twice; and the Buster does the same back, but taunting "Who needs girls? Pull!" twice. Then Binky ties the rope around his waist, causing the boys to cheat; and Prunella does the same back by tying the rope on the bar of the playground equipment. Then both sides break the rope, and Arthur decides nobody wins the tug of war.

After school, Arthur and his friends go to Mrs. Powers's ice cream shop. At the counter, Arthur tells Francine that everyone is beginning to hate each other. Francine says that it's boring to have a party without boys. Arthur wished Francine could come to his party, but Francine promised Muffy, because she is best friends with her, and says it is hard to go to both parties. Arthur suggests he has an idea for Francine, and he whispers it in her ear. Francine agress, but Arthur tells her that they need to keep it a secret from the others. Then Arthur and Francine go to the tree house, and write invitations for everyone, and Francine decides to make her handwriting look like Muffy's.

The next morning, Arthur and Francine deliver the invitations to their friends. The last one was for Muffy. As they go to the Crosswire's campus, Francine suggests that Arthur should hide somewhere quickly if he puts the invitation in the Crosswire's mailbox, because Muffy and her parents might hear them. There are green ducks putting in new grass mats on the Crosswire's campus. Then Muffy and her mother Millicent walk out of their mansion, and Millicent requests Muffy to go get the mail. In a flash, Arthur puts the invitation in the mailbox, and Francine warns Arthur that Muffy is coming, and then Francine hides behind the fence pole, and Arthur hides under the grass mats. Muffy then rushes to the mailbox, and takes out the invitation that Arthur put in there in less than ten seconds. Muffy then runs to Millicent, and tells her she received an invitation from Arthur.





Back at home, Arthur's relatives have arrived to his party. Arthur's cousin George hands him the birthday present, but spoils the secret by telling him it's a chemistry set inside, and Arthur thanks him in disbelief. Arthur's relatives are setting up his birthday party. Then Arthur's friends arrive: the first were Buster and the Brain, then Prunella, then Francine, then Binky, and last Sue Ellen. Arthur tells his friends to find some place to hide, because Muffy will arrive any minute. Buster asks Arthur what he wrote to Muffy, and Arthur said he wrote: ''Dear Muffy, I have a special present for you. It is so big, I can't carry it by myself. Please come to my house at noon to get it. Sincerely, Arthur''. The doorbell rings, and Francine reminds everyone to be quiet. When Arthur opens the door, there is Muffy standing in the doorway, and she tells everyone she arrived just for her birthday present, and everyone shouts "SURPRISE, HAPPY BIRTHDAY!". Arthur tells Muffy that her present was too big to carry. Francine then asks what a birthday party would be like without all your friends. Then everyone puts on cone-shaped birthday hats, except Muffy is wearing a birthday crown, plus Prunella and Sue Ellen are excepted from wearing the hats. They all start having fun by doing the limbo dance and hitting the clown piñata with a baseball bat. The kids could not get the piñata to break open, so David attempts to help them out, but it does not break open with his attempts either. As Arthur is holding the cake, Muffy agrees it was a wonderful party, and that they should do it every year, but Jane suggests that they will celebrate the party at the Crosswire's mansion next year for Arthur and Muffy's 9th birthday. Francine tells Arthur it is time for him to open presents, and carries a present to him, and tells him he should promise her he will use it right away. When Arthur opens the present, it is revealed to be the Spin the Bottle game. Francine shows Arthur how to play Spin the Bottle, and the objective was to make the bottle spin in one place, and it would point to a certain person, but when the bottle pointed to Pal, he came right over to Francine, and he licked Francine's face, and Francine pet him. Outside, David then uses the chain saw to break open the piñata.

Differences from the book

 * At recess, the boys and girls did tug of war against each other. This did not happen in the book, and instead they were around different playground equipment, making a debate about whose party to go to.


 * Although the story was supposed to be a prequel to Arthur's Teacher Trouble because there were eight candles on the birthday cake, Arthur and Muffy's third grade teacher Mr. Ratburn is seen on the classroom page writing on the blackboard; plus Prunella was in the classroom, though she was a grade above Arthur and Muffy. However, later adaptations of Arthur's Birthday removed Mr. Ratburn, because Arthur and Muffy's birthday are on May 25th, and most third graders in the United States age from 8-9. However, their second grade teacher Mr. Marco was not seen in any adaptations of Arthur's Birthday.


 * Fern attended Arthur and Muffy's birthday party in the book, but she did not in the cartoon version, though she could be seen at school.


 * When Francine told Arthur she wished she could go to both parties on the same day, and he whispered a suggestion to her, they were at Mrs. Powers's ice cream shop; although in the book, Arthur ran to catch up with Francine on the way home from school while they were making a suggestion.
 * Arthur and his friends plus D.W. were wearing their birthday hats, except for Prunella and Sue Ellen. In the book, only Arthur, Buster, Binky, David, and Kate were wearing the birthday hats, and then took them off in the following pages.
 * Arthur's dog Pal, appeared in this segment; although the book was first published in 1989, and Pal was not a character until in Arthur's Pet Business that was first published seventeen months later, but wasn't given a name until Arthur's New Puppy that was first published the next three years after.
 * After Arthur wrote the letter to Muffy and delievered it, he told Buster what he wrote to her while at the party before Muffy showed up; although in the book, the letter was read in the illustration where Arthur was putting it in the mailbox.
 * When Muffy arrives at the birthday party, she wore her hair in normal pigtails; although in the book, it was still braided.
 * In the book, the Crosswire's mailbox was shown for the first time and was the shape of a common mailbox and said "CROSSWIRE RESIDENCE", though the mansion was not seen in that book; although in the cartoon, the Crosswire's mailbox was shaped like a birdhouse and was perched on the brick fence, and had a mail slot on the top, and said "CROSSWIRE" in the bottom box.
 * Arthur and Muffy's birthday cake is completely out of chocolate; although in the book, it had white frosting around it, and it said "HAPPY BIRTHDAY MUFFY AND ARTHUR" on the sides.
 * Arthur and Francine were delivering invitations while riding on bicycles; although in the book, there were doing it by foot.
 * When George hands Arthur his birthday present, he spoils the surprise by saying it's a chemistry set; although in the book, George only wished Arthur "Happy Birthday!" and held the present behind himself.
 * In the end, Francine was showing Arthur and the others how to play Spin the Bottle; although in the book, it was still in the box after being opened and just ended as "Happy Birthday, Arthur!".
 * During the party, everyone was having fun doing the limbo dance and taking turns hitting the clown piñata; although in the book, they did not limbo dance, nor was there a piñata.

Goofs

 * In the tug of war scene with the boys against the girls, Fern was in it, but was replaced by Jenna later on.
 * Although Arthur's birthday is May 25th, he said that D.W.'s birthday is not until after six months. However, in D.W.'s Perfect Wish, her birthday was revealed to be March 1, which is actually 279 days after Arthur's birthday, where "six months" is therefore a miscalculation.
 * At the tree house, Francine was writing with her left hand, although she is usually right-handed.
 * Arthur was writing with his right hand while at the tree house, but in the scene where he was checking off the list of people to send invitations to, he was using his left hand, although he is usually right-handed.