Kids are from Earth, Parents are from Pluto

"Kids are from Earth, Parents are from Pluto" is the first half of the 2nd episode of Season 5 of the animated children's series Arthur. It originally aired on September 11th, 2000. It was written by Peter K. Hirsch, and the storyboard was done by Mario Cabrera, Patricia Atchison, and Marie Blanchard.

Summary
Lakewood Elementary is having a school open house and Arthur and his friends are embarrassed by how their parents will act judging from the previous year's open house. This prompts Sue Ellen to ask her parents to act more "normal".

Plot
Arthur starts the show off by pointing out the differences between parents and kids. According to him, adults are more than just larger versions of kids because they care too much about warm clothing in winter and words like 'sale' and 'clearance'. Then Arthur says, "But nothing is as weird as a bunch of parents getting together."

Kids are from Earth, Parents are from Pluto

The episode starts at the Lakewood Elementary School. Arthur and his friends are worried about the upcoming parent's open house night, an annual event at the school where all parents are welcome. Each of Arthur's friends is worried about how their parents will act this year because last year's open house didn't go so well. Francine is worried that her father will fall asleep again, Arthur is worried that his dad will tell more bad jokes, Binky is afraid that his parents will call him baby names (like Binky Winkums), and Brain is worried that his parents will fail the traditional pop quiz.

Sue Ellen is new to the school so she isn't worried about her parents, but Arthur thinks that she should be. He tells her that when she first moved to Ellwood City, Buster thought her parents were aliens because they acted so multi-culturally. Sue Ellen starts to worry about her parents then. She wishes that her mother wouldn't wear such exotic dresses and she fears her dad talks too much about all the places they've been. When she gets home after school, Sue Ellen notices her mom wearing a strange dress again. Then, while at a grocery store, her dad starts talking about different cultures. Sue Ellen convinces her mom to let her help pick out the clothes for the open house, and she tells her dad to be less talkative that evening.

The night of the open house arrives quickly, and Mr. Ratburn decides to scrap the traditional pop quiz. Instead, he has each of the parents tell the class about themselves. Sue Ellen's parents give a really short and boring speech. They make hardly any conversations the whole night, just like their daughter wanted, but Sue Ellen gets more annoyed by how boring they are now and tells them to act like themselves again.

Arthur's dad continues telling bad jokes, Francine's dad falls asleep again, and now Sue Ellen's parents are once again acting strange. But the kids eventually realize that they actually like their parents for who they really are.

The episode ends with all the parents dancing and clapping in a circle. Mr. Read, wearing a tie on his forehead, says sarcastically, "Our kids, embarrassed? I can't imagine why!"

Trivia

 * The mid-show feature for this episode is called "And Now a Word from Us Parents," a one time special where the parents talk about their kids.

Goofs

 * In the classroom during the open house, Francine and her parents aren't seen in a wide view of the classroom, but Francine is later seen sitting at a desk beside Oliver Frensky.