Arthur Calls It

Summary

 * Pressure from his classmates has Arthur doubting his decision to call Buster out during a baseball game. Will he succumb to peer pressure, or stick with what he believes is right?

Plot
In the introduction, Mrs. Baxter wants to drive Arthur and Buster to a new bookstore. Although Buster knows the way, his mom trusts the GPS instead, which persistently gives false instructions that cause the journey to end out in the woods. Arthur remarks that you should trust your instincts, even when someone tells you you're wrong.

Arthur Calls It

The Grebelings play baseball against Mighty Mountain. Mr. Ratburn, who is umpire, receives a call from his mother and leaves. Francine and the Mighty Mountain captain choose Arthur as substitute umpire, because he is the fairest person. When Buster slides into home, Arthur calls it an out, causing the Grebelings to lose the game.

After the game in the ice-cream shop, Francine wants Arthur to admit that he made a wrong call. Buster plans on writing a book about being safe. Arthur claims he called it like he saw it and leaves.

Francine does a phone survey and publishes a chart in the Frensky Star saying that 72% of kids think that Buster was safe. Arthur argues that those kids were not there and that he knows what he saw.

At lunch, Francine gives Arthur glasses with extra-thick lenses. Arthur is insulted.

On the way home from school, Muffy tries to bribe Arthur into changing his call, because Francine is driving her crazy.

Arthur tells his problem to D.W. who plays psychiatrist. She suggests calling Buster.

When Arthur calls, Buster is about to start a CD that is supposed to give him total recall. He has a dream about the ballgame which becomes increasingly surreal, with objects from previous episodes floating around the players. As in the real game, it cannot be clearly seen whether Buster was safe.

Francine visits Arthur to tell him that Muffy has filmed Buster's run with her cellphone.

The kids meet in the Crosswires' TV room to watch the video. Buster interrupts them and admits that he was probably out and that he accepts Arthur's call. George reminds Francine that even instant replays can be unreliable, and he backs Arthur as well. Muffy backs Arthur to get the affair over with. Eventually, Francine agrees that Arthur's word as umpire is final.

The kids say goodbye, but after just a few seconds, Francine runs back to Muffy, who had expected her. They watch the video, only to find out that Muffy had filmed the Crosswire blimp instead of Buster's run, much to Francine's chagrin.

Characters

 * Arthur Read
 * Buster Baxter
 * Francine Frensky
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * George Lundgren
 * Wally
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * D.W. Read
 * Bitzi Baxter (opening)
 * Binky Barnes (cameo)
 * Maria Pappas (cameo)
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong (cameo)
 * Fern Walters (cameo)
 * The Brain (cameo)
 * Alex (cameo)
 * Lisa Ratburn (mentioned)

Trivia

 * Buster wears his aardvark slippers again.
 * If you watch very quickly, you can see that Buster was safe.
 * Timeline:
 * In his meditation/dream, Buster sees the Kidonian flag, tomatoes, Vince Ruckles, cameras, a Woogle, Strawberry People, squirrels, pizza, tubas, chocolates, The Grain Reaper, and grape cola (with the note).
 * The Crosswire blimp makes another appearance.
 * D.W. wears a fake beard, which was first seen in "Arthur Meets Mister Rogers."
 * Bitzi has a Motorloco L-19 GPS in her car, which replaced her Motorloco L-17 from "Buster's Carpool Catastrophe."
 * Francine holds a poll on The Frensky Star, which was first seen in "Citizen Frensky" and was first put online in "Muffy and the Big Bad Blog." In addition, the "Ask Muffy" column from "Don't Ask Muffy" can be seen again.
 * Moral:
 * Dont pressure people for your own benefits.
 * Don't change other peoples opinions for your own benefits.

Goofs

 * In the first scene of the cafeteria at Lakewood Elementary, as Arthur takes a bite, his left nostril goes missing. It then reappears when Francine shows up.

Episode connections

 * George does sports commentary. He first did this in "Baseball Blues."

Home Video
DVD:
 * Arthur's Fountain Abbey