Arthur Goes Crosswire

Summary
Arthur and Muffy rescue Wilbur Rabbit and become fast friends. But Arthur's other friends quickly grow tired of the new relationship.

Plot
Arthur talks about how change works to the viewers, and how it can be a good or bad thing. He mentions how change was bad when Mrs. MacGrady tried a new dessert recipe known as Eggplant Gelatin in the cafeteria (Which only Buster liked, of course).

He then mentions how he liked it when for one week, D.W. thought she was a cat after watching too many Kitty Corner videos, and he got to treat her as his pet. He finishes by stating that if one changes too much, something must be done.

At school, the kids are dreading Mr. Ratburn's next project, as he apparently had been assigning a lot of them lately. He has them research any animal of their choosing and wants to know "where they live, what they eat, and anything that's unusual".

He assigns them in pairs and has Arthur pair up with Muffy, much to his and Buster's disappointment. Muffy takes Arthur on her family's sailboat to go whale watching, but they only see water, lots of water.

Arthur isn't very crazy about the trip afterwards, but Jenna and Prunella are ecstatic, wanting to know how it was while he and Buster are at the Sugar Bowl. He says it was alright, and they say they would do anything to be on Muffy's yacht.

He's due to take another trip that day, but when Buster lies to Muffy that Arthur is sick, he suddenly gets up and goes with her, saying "anybody would pay to be on Muffy's yacht", apparently taking what Prunella and Jenna said very seriously.

On the yacht, the two friends find nothing, but suddenly they run into a stranded boat carrying Wilbur Rabbit, who plays Bionic Bunny! Wilbur asks for them to help him to shore, and they eagerly do so. Arthur tells all of his friends the story, and they are all greatly impressed, especially when he mentions he and Muffy will appear later on T.V. with Wilbur.

The next day, Arthur tells his friends about his appearance, but the Brain doesn't recall seeing it on the news. Arthur corrects him saying it was on satellite T.V., not the news. He then obnoxiously points out that the Brain doesn't have satellite T.V., and leaves with Muffy, leaving his friends Brain and Buster somewhat dumbstruck at his attitude.

Later, Muffy and Arthur set up a Wilbur Rabbit fan club, and Prunella and Jenna want to join. However, the two friends rudely turn them down, saying only people who know Wilbur personally can join, and that it's "friends only".

At a soccer match, Francine runs into her friends and asks them to play. Muffy doesn't want to get her dress dirty though, so Arthur rudely states that they'll play something where they don't get dirty.

At school, Arthur drops his lunch bag and Muffy criticizes him for eating something that's "been on the ground" (Even though the food is safe inside the bag), so he gives it to Buster, who's as hungry as usual.

When school ends, Arthur drops a book, but as he bends over pick it up, Muffy objects and Arthur refuses to pick up something that's been on the ground, saying it's "vomitrocious". The Brain and Binky return the book to him at his house, but Arthur thinks they want his autograph and signs the book for them to keep. The Brain and Binky realize Arthur's gone haywire, or more appropriately, "Crosswire"!

Later, Buster invites Arthur to the arcade to play "Planet Smasher", but he turns him down, saying he's going to a meeting for the Wilbur Rabbit Society, and refuses to let Buster come because it is not a Bionic Bunny fan club.

Everybody is worried about Arthur as he is taking on all of Muffy's traits, and come up with a plan to snap him out of it. At a baseball game, they wait for Arthur and Muffy to show up.

At that point, they all act like Muffy, refusing to run or touch anything dirty, complaining about their outfits, and refusing to let Arthur come to the Bionic Bunny fan club meeting, as it is not for Wilbur Rabbit's friends.

Arthur realizes they are all acting like Muffy, but she objects, saying they are acting like him. Arthur then remembers all of his recent behavior, and sees Muffy's face in the place of his! Muffy says she was amused that Arthur copied her for a while, but tells everyone that there's only one Muffy, and takes her leave.

Arthur sees his face in a puddle and it becomes Muffy's and almost says "vomitrocious". Fed up with acting like Muffy, he finally reverts to his old self, much to his friends' happiness. Everything is finally back to normal. But then, Binky picks up his glove, and remarks that it clashes with his outfit, and obliviously remarks "Vomitrocious"!

Characters

 * Arthur Read
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Binky Barnes
 * The Brain
 * Francine Frensky
 * Prunella Deegan
 * Jenna Morgan
 * Buster Baxter
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * Wilbur Rabbit
 * D.W. Read
 * Alex Lowe (cameo)
 * George Lundgren (cameo)
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong (cameo)
 * Fern Walters (cameo)
 * Maria Pappas (cameo)
 * Bailey (cameo)
 * Patrick (cameo)

Trivia

 * Muffy says that her dress is new, but she wears the same thing every day.
 * However, that could've been a newly bought version of that same dress.
 * At the end of the 2000 rerun intro on PBS Kids before this episode, Arthur’s crashing sound changes to pots and pans.
 * The premise of this episode is similar to the Brady Bunch episode "The Hero", where Peter saves someone life and, like Arthur and Muffy, lets it go to his head; he exaggerates the events until everyone else gets sick of it.
 * Lincoln also lets fame get to his head in Out on a Limo
 * Same with Spongebob and Patrick in Porous Pockets and Rule Of Dumb respectively.
 * Moral:
 * Don't try to change who someone is for your own benefits.
 * Don't look down on others, respect everyone equally.
 * Don't let the attention get to your head.

Episode connections

 * This whole episode, like Arthur's Baby/D.W.'s Baby, has both segments taking place at the same time but from different points of view.

Errors

 * Arthur's mouth doesn't move when D.W. is feeling his legs.

Home video
DVD:
 * Arthur Goes Crosswire
 * Arthur: The Complete Series 4