Arthur's Eyes (episode)

"Arthur's Eyes" is the first episode of the first season of Arthur. Together with "Francine's Bad Hair Day", this episode first aired on September 2, 1996. It deals with the peer pressure associated with getting reading glasses; it is based off the book of the same name. It was written by Joe Fallon, and the storyboards were done by Gerry Capelle.

Premise
Arthur recounts to D.W. where his glasses came from, as well as the teasing that followed.

Plot Outline
The story begins when D.W. wakes up Arthur in the middle of the night. She shows him some old family photos of Arthur when he was little, but D.W. thinks he is a lost brother. Arthur denies this and tells her that's him. Because Arthur wears glasses, D.W. doesn't believe it and thinks Arthur was born with glasses. Arthur knows better for D.W. was very little then and didn't remember; to refresh her memory, Arthur begins to tell D.W. how he got his glasses.


 * Arthur's Eyes

Arthur's tale starts with him and his friends in Mr. Marco's math class. Arthur has trouble reading the numbers on the blackboard and has to ask Francine which number is which, which bugs her. The math quiz results come in, and it turns out Arthur did poorly. We move ahead to the class in the gymnasium playing a game of basketball, but due to Arthur's poor eyesight, he plays clumsily. When Arthur tries to do a free throw into the hoop, he misses completely, disappointing his team. Arthur's class begins their eye examinations in the nurse's office by reading a visual chart. Arthur comes up to the chart and is unable to read the chart properly, which results in him being sent to the eye doctor.

The eye doctor tests out Arthur's eyes and finds that all Arthur needed was glasses. Arthur browses and tries out different frames. He comes across a pair of circular frames which he likes and accepts. But Arthur's troubles begin when he returns to school. Francine and the other kids begin to tease Arthur about the way he looks and calls him 'four eyes'. Even Buster starts imitating him in the cafeteria by taking two water glasses to his eyes, which hurts Arthur's feelings.

Reluctantly, Arthur returns home covering his face with his jacket, which scares D.W. Arthur decides that it would be better to lose his glasses than wear them to school. He places them in a case and launches it with a slingshot, which amazingly hits a telephone line, bouncing it into his room and landing next to his stuffed bear Stanley. Arthur is frustrated and tosses the case out the window, which lands in the pile of leaves his dad was raking. Arthur enters the kitchen, only to find his glasses again on the kitchen table. He tries again by putting his glasses on a hammer and nails toy, trying to get D.W. to smash them. She closely misses. Arthur's mom sees this and asks Arthur what he was doing; he makes an excuse that D.W. took them and that he was recovering them. His mom asks him to be more careful with his glasses. D.W., being only two, hits Arthur on the hand with the toy hammer, hurting his hand.

The next day, Arthur walks to school, but on the way he takes off his glasses. Mr. Marco asks him where his glasses are. Arthur says he lost them as an excuse. Buster asks Arthur why he won't wear them. Arthur claims he doesn't need them and that he knows where everything is in the school. He even tries to prove this by finding the boy's restroom, for it is the third door from the corner. Arthur miscounts this though for Mr. Marco and Mr. Haney were talking at the first door, blocking Arthur's view. He walks over to the fourth door from the corner and enters, but it turns out to be the girl's restroom with Muffy and Francine within. Both Arthur and the girls are shocked, but Arthur couldn't get out fast enough and a lot of other girls walk in, getting the same results as Francine and Muffy. They scream and run out of the restroom. After they are all out, Arthur walks out to see a large crowd of students and teachers before him, startling him. Back at home, Arthur is gloomy that he will just have to be a 'four eyed weirdo', he watches TV and begins to watch the making of the Bionic Bunny Show, but he then sees that Wilbur Rabbit, the actor portraying Bionic Bunny, wears glasses just like his.

On the next day of school, Francine calls Arthur 'four eyes' again, but Arthur ignores it. Binky begins to tease him too, but again, he is not bothered by it. Arthur tells Binky that Wilbur Rabbit wears the same glasses too; Binky says he has seen it too, although Francine hasn't. Back in Mr. Marco's class, there is another math quiz, but this time, Arthur can read the blackboard clearly. In the gymnasium, Arthur plays basketball with his friends. Unlike before, Arthur plays much better and scores a point against Francine. Mr. Marco begins handing out the quiz results to the students and is delighted to see that Arthur got every question correct. Right then, Francine asks Arthur if he wants to play on her team at the next basketball game. Arthur sees that Francine is wearing movie star glasses (with no glass of course). Francine reminds Arthur that Wilbur Rabbit wears glasses. Arthur responds that his glasses are just like his.

Arthur's story ends and we see Arthur and D.W. looking at the photo album. Arthur tells D.W. that he has worn glasses ever since. D.W. looks at the photos again and notices a picture of their mom and dad dancing together. D.W. doesn't recognize their dad though, for he had a mustache and beard then, and thinks their mom is divorced. She runs to their parents' room to demand an explanation. Arthur runs after her to prevent her from doing so.

A Word from Us Kids
A group of children discuss the Arthur's Eyes book. They say that sometimes people need glasses. Several of them draw pictures that reenact events from this episode. One child says it isn't nice to judge people on how each other looks. They say it is good to be different. Another says that what happened to Arthur wan't nice. The whole class takes turns telling something that makes them unique. For instance, black hair, green eyes, orange hair, long nose, brown skin, red shirt, and a weird nose. One girl says it doesn't matter what you look like on the outside, it's what's on the inside that counts.

Characters
All characters shown below are their debuts, since this is the first episode.

Quotes

 * Francine: Wilbur Rabbit wears glasses, you know.
 * Arthur: And his are just like mine!

Goofs

 * Sue Ellen is seen in this episode, although her background story wasn't revealed until "Sue Ellen Moves In".
 * After Buster mocks Arthur with the glasses he begins to feel reluctant of this, but in the very next scene he is seen laughing again.
 * After Arthur leaves the girl's restroom, D.W. and James are seen in the angry crowd. The may lead to the fact that Marc Brown was originally planning for D.W and her classmates to be in Kindergarten instead of Preschool.
 * At the beginning of the episode, Arthur says D.W. was only two years old when the story happened, but when Arthur leaves the girls' restroom, D.W. is seen in the crowd.
 * In the same scene, Binky is shown but miscolored; he has Brain's clothes and skin color.
 * Additionally, Sue Ellen has different colored hair.
 * According to the original book counterpart that was first published in 1979, Fern, Sue Ellen, Muffy, and Prunella were not yet characters in the series. Fern and Sue Ellen first appeared in Arthur's Valentine that was first published in 1980. Muffy first appeared in Arthur and the True Francine that was first published in 1981 as simply The True Francine (and re-published in 1996). Prunella first appeared in Arthur's Teacher Trouble in 1986.