Arthur Goes to Camp (episode)

Summary
At Camp Meadowcroak, everything is a competition between girls and boys. Arthur has to make both sides work together to win the scavenger hunt against Camp Horsewater.

Plot
Opening

The episode starts out with Binky putting his toe in the cold lake and shivers with falling into Buster's arms and the two of them fall into the lake. Arthur speaks to the audience about why parents send their kids to camp: for punishment! Such as, it looks like a hamburger, wrong! It's a worm-burger. And Monday, they serve macaroni-and-fleas. And how the hungry mosquitoes try to break into the tent. A tornado then comes and sucks up the boys tent. Arthur finishes by saying the worst part of camp is (the girls splash into the lake) THE GIRLS!

Episode

After the title card, it starts off with everyone at the camp bus stop. Arthur's mom brings him a stack of postcards stamped and addressed so he can write back. Before Arthur gets on the bus, she comes running with Arthur's Bionic Bunny underwear. The girls laugh. Arthur angrily take them from her and takes his seat on the bus. Soon all they parents wave gpod-bye as the bus drives away. Arthur sits next to Francine. Binky beckons Arthur. He scholds Arthur can't talk to Francine because at camp it's boys vs. girls. Binky then pulls out some Grade A Itching Powder and attempts to use it on Prunella. However the bus goes over a bump and the powder falls on him. He starts itching all over and everyone laughs. On the way, the bus passes Camp Horsewater. Outside, all the mighty Horsewater kids lift weights and excercise. Then everyone gets off the bus while camp counselor Becky introduces herself. At the meeting spot, she tells everyone about winning the all-camp scavenger hunt trophy. Arthur exlaims "Hey!" Binky tells Arthur that Hosewater has won the trophy three times. The Muffy arrives and boasts that she had a hair appointment. The chaueffer brings out Muffy's fur coat and her electronic air conditioner. Counselor Becky sighs. In the tent, Binky shows all the prank itemsto use on the girls such as stink bombs and wind-up mice. A few seconds later the boys hear a metal sound and they exit their tent. They see their underwear hoisted up on a flagpole. Arthur madly walks up to Francine and shouts looking at her "I hope you know this means war!" Arthur starts writing his first postcard: Dear Mom and Dad, it's war! We made a surprise attack on the enemy today! But they were too tricky! While the boys chase the girls hiding, they fall into a pit full of leaves. Now Arthur's other family reads this next postcard: Tomorrow we go canoeing. It doesn't look good for our side! Arthur and Buster manage to make it past Francine and Sue Ellen, but the two of them his a rock and their canoe capsizes while the girls pass the two boys. Arthur sits in his tent writing this postcard:

Dear Mom and Dad, don't ask me where I am writing from, just get me out of here!

After Arthur finished with his postcard Brain reads the comics he brought with him. In the middle of reading, he hears a mysterious roaring noise. Everyone ignores it and goes back to reading. The roaring occors again. The boys go outside to investigate. They see some tracks on the ground. Brain compares them with the midnight ghoul tracks. Then Arthur finds out that the girls didn't make the noise either. The boys said that the tracks were ghoul tracks. Sue Ellen investigates and figures out that they are bear tracks! Then everyone hears Muffy and Prunella screaming from a distance and soon the Horsewater kids were making the noise The kids Horsewater kids leave making bear tracks with a fake bear foot. Francine says "Lets get 'em!" Arthur changes the idea and comes up with another plan. Francine mocks Arthur but stops after the boys stare at her. Arthur said they could all fix the Horsewater kids at the scavenger hunt. Everyone else declines as Arthur walks away. Soon, everyone else changes their mind and runs after Arthur. The next day counselor Becky reads the search list. When she finishes, the search begins. Arthur and Francine read the list and need to find a balloon and remember they had one by the lake. A Horsewater sneaks in and takes the balloon. Now it's Brain and Prunella and they need to find a pair of blue sunglasses. Brain remembers that he had some in his tent. Another Horsewater kid beats Prunella and Brain to the tent and steals the sunglasses. Finally it's Sue Ellen trying to catch a spotted frog. Right when she approaches it, one more Horsewater kid dives in and runs away with the frog. Then Binky, Buster, and Francine walk with nothing but Arthur's flashlight. Arthur then feels that it's time to put his surefire plan into action. As the three Horsewater kids chant, they hear a really loud roaring sound. The Meadowcroak kids run away and say there's a bear. The Horsewater kids all nervously speak at the same time. Then there's rustling in the bushes. It's somebody wearing a bear costume. The Horsewater kids climb up a tree. Arthur shouts to the Horsewater kids, "Throw something at him!" The Housewater kids throw everything from their sack. With the spotted frog escaping as well. Then the Meadowcroak kids run back to the starting point. The bear was Brain wearing Muffy's fur coat. Even though the Meadowcroak kids secured everything on the list, there was still one more item missing, a postcard! Arthur remembers he had one in his pocket. After he finds it, Camp Meadowcroak wins the all-camp scavenger hunt trophy! Arthur and his friends chant "Meadowcroak!" Finally the episode ends with a letter written on a postcard: Dear Mom, Dad, D.W. and Kate, camp was fun! I can't wait to come back here! Love, Arthur

Differences from the book

 * At the start, Arthur was getting on the bus with his friends from school to go to Camp Meadowcroak; although in the book, the story started where Arthur didn't want to go to camp and commented it as "gross".
 * In the book, the girls' counselor was Becky, and the boys' counselor was Rocky. In the cartoon, Becky was the only counselor.

Goofs

 * The Brain can be seen swimming in the water, although in "Water and the Brain" from Season 2, it was revealed that he is hydrophobic. However, he had a floaty tube and water wings.
 * When they boys bash into the girls after seeing the "ghoul", Sue Ellen floats in mid-air when they get up.Artur_goof.jpg

Home Video
VHS: DVD:
 * Arthur's Great Summer
 * Arthur's Travel Adventures
 * Arthur's Great Summer