Night Fright

Summary
Arthur spends the night at Binky's and discovers a deep dark secret about the town bully: He can't sleep without a night light.

Plot
We first see Arthur’s house on a rainy night. Then we see Arthur’s bedroom where he and Pal are sleeping. However, it turns out that Arthur isn’t getting much sleep because of Pal’s snoring, which wakes up the monsters under his bed and in the closet. The monster under the bed gets annoyed and Arthur tells Pal to be quiet and stop snoring, but Pal doesn’t listen.

Arthur asks the viewers if they ever had one of those nights where they couldn’t get to sleep because of the monsters under their bed and in their closet. The monsters then start throwing Arthur’s things around, making Arthur sigh in annoyance.

Night Fright

We now see Binky happily standing on top of a mountain full of burgers, he says “The hills are alive with the smell of burgers... and they’re all mine!”

He picks up a cheeseburger, but the cheeseburger screams for its Mom. The ground then shakes and the Mama burger comes out, telling Binky to put him down. The cheeseburger then says, “Now you’re gonna get it!”. Binky gets so scared that he runs away, not realizing he has stepped on the burgers. The mama burger chases Binky throughout the town, but there is no escape because the food and condiments have caught him. The mustard and ketchup squirt Binky and then he runs away. But again, he is caught by french fries. Just as the mama burger is about to catch him, he pleads his innocence saying that he didn’t eat the burgers. He then runs off to the edge, flying. But then he falls, and gets frightened. He then wakes up, realizing that it was only a nightmare.

Binky’s parents come into his bedroom to check on him. His father said he was yelling in his sleep. Binky said it was the worst nightmare he ever had, and he didn’t get a chance to eat anything. The reason why Binky had the nightmare is because he forgot to plug in his night light. Then, Binky goes back to sleep, but calls for his parents. He asks them if they never tell the others that he sleeps with a night light. Binky’s dad assures him that they won’t say a word and tells him to go back to sleep.

The next morning, Sue Ellen tells a scary story to Arthur, George, Francine, Buster, and Prunella. Binky then walks over and asks what she’s talking about. Francine says it was all about the first Scare Your Pants Off video, The Lunchbox of Notre Dame. Arthur thinks it’s super scary, but then Buster screams. Buster didn’t scream because of the story, but because he wrecked his homework. Arthur then laughs and claims that bringing wrecked homework to Mr. Ratburn is super scary. Binky taunts the others saying how scared they are. Mr. Ratburn, overhearing the conversation, thinks about what he should discuss with the class.

His thoughts are put into action as him and the class discuss what scares people. Muffy thinks the roller coaster at Wonder World scares her. Arthur thinks ventriloquist dummies scare him. Buster thinks a spoon scares him when it’s stuck in pudding. It reminds him of when he heard Sue Ellen’s story about The Lunchbox of Notre Dame. Binky’s only fear is that he might get so strong the school will collapse when he slams the door. Other than that, nothing scares Binky.

Later in the morning, a heavy thunderstorm comes in. Buster and Francine go home in their parents’ cars. Arthur’s parents haven’t come yet and Binky thinks that his parents forgot all about him. Arthur doesn’t think so because they are coming from his Aunt Lucy’s house. Binky says if they don’t come, he’ll be in the school all alone, Arthur doesn’t think that will happen, but Binky does. Binky’s parents then arrive and then Arthur’s luck just went worse. But Binky’s Mom rolls down her window and says that his family has to stay over at Aunt Lucy’s because they had car trouble. Therefore, Arthur is spending the night at Binky’s and that he can share his room. Binky then gets flabbergasted after hearing the news.

Later in the evening, at Binky’s house, the storm carries on. Binky’s dad dresses up Arthur in Binky’s pajamas, even though they don’t fit him, but they’ll do. After brushing his teeth, Binky is all set for bed. But after his Mom tells him that he’s already in his room, Binky gets surprised. He then nervously jumps into his bed, and Arthur asks what is behind his back. There is nothing in his hand, but in the other hand, it’s his reading lamp. Binky shows Arthur how he reads, and Arthur thinks it’s uncomfortable. Binky says he doesn’t read much, but he forgets to turn off the light. Arthur says the storm is scary, but Binky tells him to go to sleep.

Once again, Binky has a nightmare. He is downsized and stuck in his own night light, screaming in terror and shouting at anyone to let him out. Arthur asks any of his friends if they are ready to see Binky’s little night light in a childish manner and they laugh at Binky for having a night light. Binky then wakes up screaming. Again, he forgot to plug in his night light! Binky’s mom comes in and plugs it back in. Then he finally explains the truth to Arthur, and he tiredly understands. Then Binky tells him to go to sleep again. The next morning, Binky’s Dad drives Arthur home. While he watches Arthur leave, he thinks about what his friends will think of him when he tells everyone that he sleeps with a night light.

At school, Binky jumps out of the bushes, and warns Arthur that he must not tell anyone that he sleeps with a night light. But then, he is interrupted by Buster and Francine’s conversation. Binky gives up and says that he’ll do anything Arthur wants. He carries his books and sharpens his pencil during class. Binky’s being nice because he doesn’t want anyone to know that he has a night light.

At lunch, Binky carries Arthur to the table and sets him up. Back in class, Mr. Ratburn and the class continue their discussion on what scares us. He asks the students what they do to make themselves feel less afraid. Again, Binky has a nightmare, and the students, taunt, “Binky has a night light!” Mr. Ratburn even laughs along with the students too. Binky nervously watches Sue Ellen talk about cemeteries scaring her. She whistles to help her feel less afraid of the cemeteries. Brain uses a laser beam to shoot up to the moon, and that makes him feel better. Francine talks to his old stuffed lobster, Bob. Arthur’s up next, and nervously looks around the room. Binky gets nervous too, and then calls out. He tells the whole truth about his night light. Luckily, everyone is not laughing, and Mr. Ratburn thinks it’s a common and normal thing to do to feel less afraid. Binky thinks it’s normal too.

At the end of the day, he tries to apologize, but Arthur says it’s okay. But Binky thinks it’s not because he paid for his lunch and he has to pay him back and then he gives everything back.

Later that night, Binky has his own dream where he is a giant, stomping all over the city in the middle of the night. He laughs in his dream and sleeps well.

Major

 * Binky Barnes
 * Arthur Read
 * Mrs. Barnes
 * Mr. Barnes

Minor

 * Pal
 * Buster Baxter
 * Francine Frensky
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * Bed Monster
 * Closet Monster
 * Bubsy Burger
 * Bubsy Burgers
 * Mama Burger
 * The Brain
 * Bob

Cameo

 * Billy
 * John
 * George Lundgren
 * Prunella Deegan
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Fern Walters
 * Alex
 * Maria Pappas
 * Luke

Mentioned

 * Bitzi Baxter
 * Laverne Frensky
 * Lucy
 * Jane Read
 * David Read
 * D.W. Read
 * Kate Read

Trivia

 * Arthur's eyes are white circles with black dots in this episode. Starting with Season 2, they are changed to only black dots.
 * In this episode, Arthur says that ventriloquist dummies scare him. This fact wasn’t addressed when Wally was introduced in Season 3.
 * A song titled "My Night Light," based on this episode, is included on Arthur and Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD (or Tape).

Cultural references

 * In Binky's dream, he says "The hills are alive with the smell of burgers." It’s a reference to the first scene from the 1964 movie The Sound of Music where the main character, Maria Von Trapp, sings "The hills are alive with the sound of music".
 * The Lunchbox of Notre Dame is a reference to the novel The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo.

Episode connections

 * This is the first episode where Binky threatens someone not to tell a secret about something "babyish." The second is "I Wanna Hold Your Hand."
 * The title of this episode is similar to "Fright Night."

Errors

 * Luke is briefly seen in Mr. Ratburn's classroom.
 * In Binky's third nightmare when the whole class makes fun of Binky for having a night light Fern has aardvark nostrils instead of her usual dog nose.
 * PBS KIDS closed captioning is not accurate.

Home Video
VHS: DVD:
 * Arthur's TV-Free Week (VHS)
 * Arthur's Scary Stories (VHS)
 * Arthur's Scary Stories (DVD)
 * Arthur: The Complete Series 2

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