Pet Projects

Summary
Arthur, Francine, Buster, and Muffy are making videos about Pal and Nemo for a contest, but to the pets' dismay, they are not liking the results of the videos.

Plot
In the introduction, Arthur introduces the three first films he ever made. As a baby, he knocked over his dad’s camera. Years later, he accidentally filmed a rock, because he forgot to turn the camera off. His third movie featured Pal dressed up as an alien.

Pet Projects

Arthur watches a show called “Perfect Pet” which organizes a contest for home movies about pets. Arthur has a fantasy of him and Pal being movie stars. He asks Buster to do the filming. However, Pal just sleeps instead of doing tricks.

At the park, the boys meet Francine and Muffy, who want to enter the contest with Nemo. So far, Nemo has done a better job. For example, he learned to ride a skateboard. Arthur tries to get Pal to do tricks like catching a frisbee, riding a skateboard and jumping through a hoop, but Pal is only good at being cute. That is a category in the contest, however, so Arthur and Buster film Pal being cute.

Nemo is jealous, since even he cannot resist Pal's cuteness, but then Francine "cutens him up" by dressing him in a bonnet. Nemo is embarrassed, while Pal finds it hilarious.

Since Nemo is now both cute and does tricks, Buster suggests jazzing up the footage of Pal with an editing program. Pal is hurt that Arthur thinks he is not interesting enough as he is, so he meets with Nemo. They decide to stop doing what their owners tell them to.

For the last category in the contest, Nemo and Pal are supposed to show affection. Both give their owners the "rear in the face treatment."

Arthur and Francine meet and agree not to enter the contest because it is uncomfortable to their pets. Pal and Nemo congratulate each other.

Buster eventually wins the contest for a film on Arthur and Francine making their respective films. Arthur and Francine make up with their pets by being extra nice to them.

Characters

 * Pal
 * Nemo
 * Arthur Read
 * Francine Frensky
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Buster Baxter
 * Capri di Vapida
 * David Read
 * Reporter (fantasy)
 * Jane Read(cameo)
 * D.W. Read(cameo)

Trivia

 * In the US, this is the last time "Pal Howls" title card is used.
 * Timeline: Arthur says that he has made three films in the opening to this episode, but none of the three clips he shows are actually seen previously in the series. Arthur does film videos in "Arthur Makes a Movie", "For Whom the Bell Tolls", "Flaw and Order" and "The Making of Arthur". It is possible these episodes take place following this one.
 * Moral:
 * Don't try to prevent others from luck for your own Benifits.
 * When someone trys to make you lucky, deal with it.

Episode connections

 * Arthur's celebrity glasses in his fantasy are similar in design to the ones he gets in "Through the Looking Glasses".

Errors

 * The film showing Arthur's baby steps is set in the same room as the introduction, which does not look like any room in the Read house.

Cultural references

 * Slumdog and the Millionaire is a parody of.
 * Dog's Day and Afternoon is a parody of Dog Day Afternoon.
 * Grauman's Chinese Theatre is seen in a fantasy. Fred's of Hollywood in the same fantasy refers to Frederick's of Hollywood.
 * Filming Nemo is a parody of.

Production notes

 * Many program scheduling systems mistakenly omit this episode's title and only include the episode it is paired with, "Tales of Grotesquely Grim Bunny".