The Return of the King

Summary
On a field trip to the medieval fair, Arthur's class is being humiliated in competitions against a class led by Mr. Ratburn's old teacher. Can Arthur turn things around?

Plot
The episode opens with the kids going on a field trip to a medieval fair. When they make it to the fair, Mr. Ratburn's class sees that another school, Glenbrook Academy is there too.

The teacher with them is Mr. Pryce-Jones, who was Mr. Ratburn's teacher when he was in school. Arthur notices a sword put in a stone and anyone who can get it out will become "King of the Fair", but no matter how hard he pulls, it will not come out.

Throughout the day the Lakewood students compete with the Glenbrook students in several Middle Ages-themed competitions, losing every single one. Arthur loses at a medieval maze. Francine loses at archery. The Brain fails at a trivia competition.

Buster even loses at a pie eating contest! At lunch, it is revealed that Mr. Pryce-Jones was very strict, and when Arthur, Buster, Francine, and Brain overhear Mr. Haney talking with him, they think that if Lakewood loses all of the contests Mr. Pryce-Jones will replace Mr. Ratburn.

The final event is a castle building contest. The Lakewood students work hard and build a beautiful castle, but they lose to Glenbrook because their castle is not historically accurate.

At the end of the day, the Glenbrook students and Mr. Pryce-Jones all try to remove the sword from the stone, but they all fail. Just when it is Arthur's turn, he hears the barker's reference to "a gentle hand" and suddenly realizes the secret of the sword. Just as his friends come over to get him to leave, Arthur pulls the sword out with ease. Arthur becomes the King of the Fair and everyone cheers. Mr. Pryce-Jones, who himself could not figure out the puzzle, congratulates Mr. Ratburn, declaring he taught Arthur well. Mr. Haney then explains to the children that they misread his conversation with Mr. Pryce-Jones and that he will not be replacing Mr. Ratburn, but instead will be tutoring Mr. Haney's nephew and niece (who are obviously worried about the prospect).

As they head home, Buster remarks that Mr. Pryce-Jones probably gave all his kids homework. Hearing this, Mr. Ratburn assigns the class a report on medieval times, much to their chagrin.

Characters

 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Francine Frensky
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * The Brain
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * Mr. Pryce-Jones
 * Rusty
 * Buffy
 * Francis Haney
 * Chester
 * Colleen
 * Winky
 * I.Q.
 * Mr. Haney's niece
 * Mr. Haney's nephew
 * 3rd Grade Female Dog
 * 3rd Grade Male Goat
 * 3rd Grade Female Bear (Number 2)
 * 3rd Grade Female Dog (Number 2)
 * 3rd Grade Male Rat (Number 3)
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 8)
 * Binky Barnes (cameo)
 * Fern Walters (cameo)
 * George Lundgren (cameo)
 * Maria Pappas (cameo)
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong (cameo)
 * Alex (cameo)
 * Jenna Morgan (cameo)
 * 3rd Grade Male Cat (cameo)
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (cameo)
 * 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2) (cameo)

Trivia

 * The Lakewood kids all sat across from their counterparts at the lunch table, except for Fern sitting across from Maria's lookalike.
 * Mr. Pryce-Jones never mentioned Mr. Ratburn's first name except referring him to his last name. The staff may have discarded the name "Emil" as it was only heard in "Arthur's Baby. His other first name with his middle name "Nigel Charles" has not yet been given to Ratburn until season 5 in 2000.
 * Sum, es, est, sumus, estis, sunt is translated to I am, you are, she/he is, we are, you are, they are.
 * Moral: Dont cheat for your own personal benefit.

Cultural References

 * When Arthur pulls the sword from the stone, it is a play on the King Arthurian Legends, because Arthur's name is Arthur.
 * The title for this episode is a reference to the third installment of J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

Episode Connections

 * There was a remade clip of the episode from "D.W., Queen of the Comeback".
 * Henry the Fifth was Buffy's great-great-great-great-great-great uncle. That is, unless she made it up like Muffy did in "Background Blues".

Errors

 * Arthur falls backwards when he sees his "shadow" move, but he rips through the wall facing forwards.

Differences between the book and the episode

 * What appear to be Patrick and Brian can be seen standing in line in the illustration when Arthur tries to pull the sword from the stone and succeeds. These two did not appear in the episode.
 * Brain says to Buster that capon is chicken instead of Rusty, and he whispers it to him rather than saying it out loud.

Home Video
DVD
 * Arthur: The Complete Series 4