Buster's Dino Dilemma (episode)

Summary
Buster and Arthur make a long-awaited field trip to a dinosaur excavation site and museum. On his own, Buster discovers a fossilized dinosaur footprint and takes it home. Despite it being against museum rules, Buster doesn't want to relinquish his find.

Plot
Arthur talks to the viewers about how people can get carried away with things sometimes. Like when D.W. played the Hippo Hunt video game for four days straight, when Francine tried to score a hundred baskets in basketball in a row (which she probably failed at), and Buster's strong liking for dinosaurs.

In Mr. Ratburn's class, Mr. Ratburn announces that they will be taking a field trip to Rainbow Rock State Park where they will find different kinds of fossils. Buster is so excited that he knocks over his chair.

---BUSTER'S DINO DILEMMA

The class arrives at Rainbow Rock State Park. Buster and Arthur arrive with Arthur carrying a heavy load of supplies. The whole class begins playing around until Mr. Ratburn alerts everyone to follow him.

They enter the exhibition area and meet up with Ranger Ruth, who will be their fossil-hunting guide. She asks the class what a fossil is and Buster answers in a very scientific manner, much to everyone's surprise.

The show begins, and Ranger Ruth explains about life many years ago. How there were different plants, bugs, and of course, dinosaurs. She further explains how the animals would die out. During this scene, the back person of the dinosaur costume accidentally falls backwards and runs away. Mr. Ratburn has the laughing class quiet down.

Ruth continues and explains how certain parts of the bodies such as bones would last during the rotting time, and how water covered the land and eventually become rock and dirt, thus covering the remains turning them into fossils.

After the show, the class heads out to hunt for fossils. On the way, Ruth talks to the children about how certain layers in the cliff date how old a certain fossil is depending on where it's found. Muffy asks how they are going to search in the cliffs, but Ruth says that they will be searching in the water.

In excitement, Francine rushes into the water and begins searching. Later that day, all the kids are still searching, with Buster and Arthur not having any luck. Mr. Ratburn notifies them that they will be leaving soon.

Buster, in determination, wants to keep looking until they leave. Arthur protests at this, for the other students are having soda for a lunch break, and accidentally picks up a rock, which turns out to be a fossil. Buster notices and goes through a daze.

Nervously, Arthur drops the fossil into the water, but Buster jumps after it and begins digging through the rocks rapidly until he finds it. Arthur thinks it's a leaf fossil, but Buster rebukes this and sees that it is a footprint.

When the kids are gathered together, Brain shows Ruth a shell fossil and she places it into a sack. Buster notices this and is surprised to see that they don't keep them. Ruth explains to him that they take the fossils to the museum.

Buster is upset at this and hides the footprint in his hat. He also pretends that he and Arthur haven't found any fossils. As they leave Arthur tells Buster he should give it, but Buster doesn't yield and still wants to keep it.

Ruth meets up with them and congratulates Buster for being an excellent paleontologist and pats him on the head, where the fossil is. Because they are so nervous, they imagine Ruth as a dinosaur on the way out. On the way home on the bus, Arthur asks if they could tell someone about the fossil, but Buster denies this for he thinks it's too dangerous.

When Buster gets home, he wraps the fossil in tinfoil, and stuffs it in a bag in a box of marbles to hide in his closet. At dinner, Buster's Mom asks her son if he found any fossils on the field trip, and he nervously says no.

The next day at school, Arthur asks if he can come to see the fossil, but Buster declines this for he thinks someone would see it. Arthur attempts to reason with Buster that there's no point on having the fossil if they can't even see it themselves.

Mr. Ratburn enters the classroom, and talks to the class about their field trip and about how rare certain fossils are, especially footprints. In shock, Buster faints and falls backwards on his chair.

Later that night, Buster is at home writing on his desk, until there is a pound on the door. After asking who it is, Ruth answers as the fossil police. They then break down the door and the police bring in Arthur, who apologizes to Buster for telling, for they tickled him.

Ruth believes that Buster is keeping a dinosaur in his room. Buster protests, but a roar is suddenly heard in Buster's closet and a T-Rex bursts in. Buster screams and wakes up in his bed; it was all a dream. He goes to Arthur's house with the box and wakes up Arthur to give it to him, but Arthur refuses.

Buster is desperate and says that it's causing him distress. He thought it would be great to have have the fossil for himself, but the guilt of stealing is driving him crazy. Arthur says it doesn't belong with him nor himself. Arthur and Buster call Ranger Ruth and, the next day, give the fossil to the museum.

The curator tells the boys that they aren't quite sure what made the footprint. Professors think it may be a baby Daspletosaurus or maybe an adult ceolosaur. Ruth shows the boys the nameplate for the fossil which says: Dinosaur Footprint - discovered by Buster Baxter and Arthur Read.

Major characters

 * Buster
 * Arthur
 * Ranger Ruth (debut)

Minor characters

 * Mr. Ratburn
 * Francine
 * Brain
 * Muffy
 * Binky
 * Bitzi Baxter
 * Alex (speaking debut)

Background characters

 * Sue Ellen
 * D.W.
 * Fern
 * Jenna
 * George
 * Maria

Trivia

 * When Arthur and Buster are talking to each other at night, it is revealed that Buster has aardvark slippers, as opposed to Arthur's bunny slippers.
 * The theory of how old a fossil is by which layer of rock it's located is currently ridiculed by Circular Reasoning.
 * Daspletosaurus was a dinosaur that lived in Western North America during the late Cretaceous period, they are related to Tyrannosaurus Rex.
 * Buster's dream where Ranger Ruth, the police officer and Arthur is re-used on a Postcards from Buster episode.
 * This is the first episode written by Matt Steinglass

Errors

 * When Buster defines what a fossil is, George's skin is much darker.
 * When Ranger Ruth first appears, her watch was missing; but in the next few seconds, her watch appears.
 * Triceratops do not roar.

Cultural references

 * The professor at the museum mentions "Dr. Marsh" and "Dr. Cope" offering their own ideas as to what dinosaur made the footprint. This is a real-life reference to paleontologists Othniel Charles Marsh and Edward Drinker Cope, who shared a personal rivalry in their hunt for fossils in the so-called Bone Wars of the 1800s.
 * The video game system D.W. uses strongly resembles the Atari 2600 and the controller resembles the Gamepad for the Nintendo Entertainment System.
 * A few of the sound effects used in Hippo Hunt are the same as in Pac-Man for the Atari 2600.

Episode connections

 * This episode is mentioned again in "Buster's Amish Mismatch".

Production notes

 * This was the first episode in which the tongue coloring was correct. In previous episodes, the tongues had been white. Now it is the appropriate pink.
 * Although the title card has not been narrated when this aired on television, Francine does narrate the title when this was on the home video and DVD releases.

Home video
DVD:
 * Arthur: The Complete Series One

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