D.W. on Ice

Summary
D.W. boasts about her skills at ice skating for an upcoming ice skating party, but becomes worried that her friends will find out that she is lying and cannot skate well.

Plot
Arthur starts the introduction by saying "Wouldn't it be great if you only had to do something a few times to be really good at it?" He goes on pretending that he is a master golfer, fluent in French, and great at art without ever practicing. "But life just isn't like that," he says, "unless you're D.W." The scene then changes to show D.W. bossing Emily around for criticizing her artwork. "What do you mean my drawing doesn't look like a cat? It's perfect! Everything I do is perfect!" she yells.

D.W. on Ice

The episode starts at the Elwood City Preschool. D.W. is making James build a snowman for her when Emily comes up and hands her a card. It is an invitation to Emily's winter ice skating party. The Tibbles and James are invited too. D.W. argues with the Tibbles about which one is the best preschool skater. The Tibbles leave and smash her snowman as they go. James doubts his skating abilities but D.W. says that she'll give him private lessons before the party.

The next scene is at the Read's house. Arthur gets home from school and is just shutting the door when D.W. crashes into him. She is practicing for skating by sliding on the floor in socks and yells at him for not being cautious at the 'ice rink'. As they get up, Arthur reminds D.W. that she has only ever skated three times and will likely fall a lot at the party. D.W. is still sure that she will be a perfect skater.

That night, while being tucked into bed, D.W. asks her mom if her ice skates are sharp enough to go really fast. Mrs. Read says that the skates are just fine as they are, and she shuts off the light. D.W. goes to sleep smiling as she thinks of how much better she'll be than the Tibbles. D.W. dreams that she's at the skating party. The Tibbles are bothering James so she spins fast to hit them with ice. She then lassos the twins with a rope and skates a perfect routine under a spot light, to loud applause.

The next day, D.W. and James go to the rink to practice. D.W. falls as soon as she enters the rink, and she continues falling, making wilder excuses as the day goes on. It appears that James is actually better than D.W. at skating. The Tibbles show up and laugh at D.W.'s falls. She angrily calls James a terrible student and asks her mom to go back home. Nadine is in D.W.'s room when she D.W. gets back home. They talk about how bad the day went and decide to convince Emily to have a different kind of party.

At preschool the next day, D.W. gives Emily a brochure on having a Mary Moo Cow themed party. Emily says she can't change the party this late, so D.W. starts worrying about skating again. She daydreams about the party. In the dream, everyone else is skating perfectly and doing hard tricks, but D.W. falls again and again. Emily asks D.W. to leave for falling so much, but D.W. can't even stand to get off the rink. Then the Tibbles drive in with a crane, carrying D.W. off the ice and back home. They leave her in the Read's small frozen swimming pool, saying "Now that's more your size!"

On the morning of the party, D.W. enters the dining room pretending to be sick. Mrs. Read knows that D.W.'s faking and asks why she doesn't want to go to the party. D.W. won't admit she's bad at skating, so Arthur says it instead. D.W. gets very upset. Mrs. Read tells Arthur to give D.W. a final skating lesson so she feels better about going to the party. Arthur teaches D.W. how to stop and turn, but D.W. wants to learn fancy tricks. Arthur says he can't teach her those, so D.W. goes to the party still worrying about her skills.

D.W. sits on the bench at Emily's party. When Emily asks her why she's not skating, D.W. lies, saying she hurt her leg doing a fancy spin. James shows up and sits next to D.W., saying he won't skate because he was a terrible student. D.W. feels guilty and tells him that she only said that because she was falling a lot. James gets confident then and tries to convince D.W. to get on the ice. Seeing that the others (including the Tibbles) are falling just as much as she does, D.W. finally decides to go out on the ice with her friends.

Trivia

 * In this episode D.W. claims that she couldn't skate, yet in the opening of Buster's Special Delivery, she is seen to be a better skater than Arthur.

Home Video
DVD: Other Formats:
 * Arthur: Season 11
 * Arthur Favorites: Volume 1 (LeapFrog)