Team Trouble

"Team Trouble" is the second half of the 22nd episode of season 1 of the animated children's series Arthur. It originally aired on February 17, 1997 along with D.W.'s Snow Mystery.

Summary
Arthur, Buster and Francine are assigned to do a group project on Ancient Rome. They discuss how they are going to do the project, each coming up with their own idea and eventually decide to draw a comic book.

Each has their own idea of what to draw and after a failure to communicate have a mis-matched comic book. They argue over this and finally realize that they need to work together to finish the project.

Plot
Arthur talks about what great friends he has. He recalls the day he met Buster. Arthur was playing in the sandbox when Buster came over and said hi.

Arthur said hi back and then Buster left. Arthur then states that when you are on Francine's team you always win and recalls how when playing football Francine tossed the ball to Arthur so hard that he fell onto the goal line.

Arthur, Buster and Francine are assigned to do a group project on Ancient Rome. Arthur wants to make their report interesting. Buster first suggests a song and produces a terrible song on the tuba.

He then suggests an interpretative dance only for Francine to shoot it down. Francine then suggests they make a video,but Arthur points out that they don't have anything to make it look ancient. Buster suggests a really old coat of his, which Arthur and Francine both turn down.

Buster then finally gets a good idea and suggests they make a comic book. They agree to this, Arthur making the first page, Francine the second, and Buster the third. They all believe that they will get As, except for Francine who thinks she will get an A+.

Later that night the three get to work. Francine stating that her page is brilliant. Buster on the other hand is having difficulty drawing lines.

Arthur is having the most difficulty not knowing what to come up with. After getting hit by his alarm clock he has a dream that he has ended up in Ancient Rome. After being given a tour of the Senate he wakes up and immediately gets to work.

The next morning at school Arthur and Francine show their pages to each other. In Arthur's page, the scroll of Roman Law has been stolen by Binky. Ratburn orders Arthur and co to get it back. Binky sends his skeleton warriors after them.

Arthur uses his gumballs to make the skeletons fall and then get chased by three very hungry dogs. They then pursue Binky on ship only for a massive purple Cyclops to attack the ship. Buster cries out that they are doomed.

Francine wonders why it ended like that. Arthur states that she had the second page. Francine states that her page is on the Olympics. The page shows the three of them competing and Francine winning every event while Arthur and Buster cry.

Buster then shows up and shows his page which consists of Spartacus dressed up like a superhero, pizza being delivered to the Coliseum, and Julius Cesear flying above on a hang glider. Francine states that it's not a comic, just a drawing, however Buster states that it is a splash page and is full of action. He then wonders why their pages don't look like his.

They all demand that the others redo their pages to look like their own. Arthur then states that they can show their pages to other people and get their opinions and whoever they like the best will be the one they do.

Arthur shows his page to Prunella who points out that there is no actual history in it. Arthur admits that there isn't and that he just wanted it to be interesting.

Francine goes to the Brain, expecting him to praise her page, only for him to inform her that the Olympics were held in Greece, not Rome. She states that she will change it to Roman athletes at the Greek Olympics. However he points out that Rome banned the Olympics in 192 B.C. and criticizes her for not doing any research.

Arthur, Buster, and Francine meet up at the treehouse. Buster states that Binky liked his page, which made him realize that he had to start over. The three realize that they should have checked with what the others were doing and done actual research. They now think that they will be getting Fs. (except for Francine who thinks she will get a F+)

However, after looking at each others' pages they realize that they have plenty of material to use so they head to the library and check out numerous books on Rome and work to make an actual report.

The next day they give their report, having combined parts of their three pages to make a poster. Ratburn praises their report though questions whether or not pizza was delivered to the Colosseum.

The three pledge to check with each other the next time they have to do a report, only to then get into an argument over what they are going to do after school.

Goofs

 * Patrick can be seen in Mr. Ratburn's class in place of Alex.
 * In the library after Buster finds a book called How to Write and Draw Comic Books, Francine can be seen smiling right before she asks "What are you talking about?" with a slightly disappointing look on her face.
 * In actuality, women were forbidden from competing in the Olympics, however this can easily be attributed to Francine's lack of research.

Home Video
DVD: VHS:
 * Arthur's Best School Days
 * Arthur's Best School Days