Arthur's Eyes (episode)

Summary
Arthur recounts to D.W. the story of how he came to wear glasses, and of the teasing that followed when he began wearing them.

Plot
The episode opens with D.W. waking Arthur up with a flashlight in the middle of the night. She shows him some old family photos of Arthur with no glasses on from when he was little, which D.W. thinks are evidence the two of them must have a lost brother.

Arthur denies this, telling her he's the one in the pictures. D.W. doesn't believe it; she says Arthur was born with glasses.

Arthur tells D.W. she was only two years old when he started wearing glasses, so she doesn't remember him ever not having them. So Arthur begins to tell D.W. the story of how he first came to wear glasses.

After the title card, Arthur's tale starts with him and his friends in Mr. Marco's math class. Arthur has trouble reading the numbers on the blackboard and has to ask Francine which is which, which annoys her.

The math quiz results come in, and Arthur did poorly. Later all of the kids are in the gymnasium playing a game of basketball, but due to Arthur's poor eyesight, he plays clumsily. When Arthur tries to do a free throw he misses completely, disappointing his team.

Arthur's class begins their eye examinations in the nurse's office by reading a visual chart. Arthur comes up to the chart and is unable to read the chart properly, which results in him being sent to the optometrist.

The eye doctor tests out Arthur's eyes and finds that all Arthur needed was glasses. Arthur browses and tries out different frames. He comes across a pair of circular frames which he likes and accepts. But Arthur's troubles begin when he returns to school.

Francine and the other kids begin to tease Arthur about the way he looks and call him 'four eyes' (Francine even says in a sing-song voice, "Arthur's a four eyes! Arthur's a four eyes! Arthur's a four eyes!"). Even Buster starts imitating him in the cafeteria by taking two water glasses to his eyes, which makes Arthur upset.

Reluctantly, Arthur returns home covering his face with his jacket, which scares D.W.. Arthur chooses that it would be better to lose his glasses than wear them to school and get teased.

So he places them in a case and launches it with a slingshot, which amazingly hits a telephone line, bouncing it into his room and landing next to his stuffed bear Stanley. Arthur is frustrated and tosses the case out the window, which lands in the pile of leaves his dad was raking.

Arthur enters the kitchen, only to find his glasses again on the kitchen table. He tries again by putting his glasses on a hammer and nails toy, trying to get D.W. to smash them. She closely misses.

Arthur's mom sees this and asks Arthur what he was doing; he makes an excuse that D.W. took them and that he was recovering them. His mom asks him to be more careful with his glasses. D.W., being only 2, hits Arthur on the hand with the toy hammer, hurting his hand.

The next day, Arthur walks to school, but on the way he takes off his glasses while sitting down on a bench behind the tree. At school Mr. Marco asks him where his glasses are, and Arthur says he lost them as an excuse. Buster asks Arthur why he won't wear them, and Arthur claims he doesn't need them and that he knows where everything is in the school.

He even tries to prove this by finding the boy's restroom, since he knows that it is the third door from the corner. Arthur miscounts this though for Mr. Marco and Mr. Haney were talking at the first door, blocking Arthur's view.

He walks over to the fourth door from the corner and enters, but it turns out to be the girl's restroom with Muffy and Francine within. Both Arthur and the girls are frightened, but Arthur couldn't get out fast enough and three other girls walk in, getting the same results as Francine and Muffy.

They all scream and run out of the restroom because Arthur was in there. After they were all out, Arthur walks out to see a large crowd of students and teachers before him, startling him. But suddenly, he is unable to see them because he gets blind again.

Back at home, Arthur is gloomy that he will just have to be a "four eyed weirdo", he watches TV and begins to watch the making of the Bionic Bunny Show, but he then sees that Wilbur Rabbit, the actor portraying Bionic Bunny, wears glasses just like his.

On the next day of school, Francine calls Arthur 'four eyes' again, but Arthur ignores it. Binky begins to tease him too, but again, he is not bothered by it. Arthur tells Binky that Wilbur Rabbit wears the same glasses too; Binky says he has seen it too, although Francine hasn't.

Back in Mr. Marco's class, there is another math quiz, but this time, Arthur can read the blackboard clearly. In the gymnasium, Arthur plays basketball with his friends. Unlike before, Arthur plays much better and scores a point against Francine.

Mr. Marco begins handing out the quiz results to the students and is delighted to see that Arthur got every question correct. Right then, Francine asks Arthur if he wants to play on her team at the next basketball game.

Arthur sees that Francine is wearing movie star glasses (with no glass of course). Francine reminds Arthur that Wilbur Rabbit wears glasses. Arthur responds that his glasses are just like his.

Arthur's story ends and we see Arthur and D.W. looking at the photo album. Arthur tells D.W. that he has worn glasses ever since. D.W. looks at the photos again and notices a picture of their mom and dad disco-dancing together.

D.W. doesn't recognize their dad though, for he had brown hair with sideburns, a mustache, and a beard then, and thinks their mom is divorced. She runs to their parents' room to demand an explanation. Arthur runs after D.W. to prevent her from doing so.

Characters
All characters shown below are their debuts, since this is the first episode.

Major

 * Arthur Read
 * Francine Frensky
 * Buster Baxter
 * David Read
 * Jane Read
 * Dr. Iris

Minor

 * Binky Barnes
 * Bionic Bunny (Wilbur Rabbit)
 * D.W. Read
 * Ms. Flynn
 * Mr. Marco

Cameo

 * Maria Pappas
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 2)
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog
 * 3rd Grade Male Rat
 * Billy
 * Mary
 * Beulah McInnerny
 * 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)
 * Jessica
 * Otis
 * Brian
 * Jenna Morgan
 * The Brain
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong
 * Fern Walters
 * George Lundgren
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * John
 * Patrick
 * Prunella Deegan
 * Alex
 * Luke
 * Nancy
 * Helen
 * Steve
 * Nigel Ratburn
 * Francis Haney
 * Ms. Tingley
 * Mrs. Fink
 * James MacDonald
 * 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)
 * Unknown Male Adult Rabbit (Number 6)
 * Mrs. Wood
 * Lisa's unknown relative
 * Kindergarten Teacher

Trivia

 * Arthur's Eyes, the book this episode is based on, was not the first Arthur book; Arthur's Nose was.
 * In this episode, Arthur and his friends were second graders. They did not become third graders until the next episode.
 * Even though the title was not narrated on the home video and DVD releases, Francine narrates the title of the episode when it is aired on television.
 * The "worm" is actually a caterpillar.
 * This is the first appearance of Lakewood Elementary.

Cultural references

 * The Bionic Bunny Show is a reference to the live-action Superman TV series from the 1950s.

Episode connections

 * Arthur mentions this episode a couple times in "Locked in the Library!" and "So Funny I Forgot to Laugh".

Differences from the book

 * The entire story is told as a flashback sequence, as Arthur is telling D.W. the story of when he got glasses.
 * Dr. Iris has a gray complexion and blonde hair. In the book, she had brown fur and was hairless.
 * In the book, Buster made fun of Arthur by calling him a "sissy". In the cartoon, he made fun of him by using water cups to imitate him wearing glasses, but didn't do it on purpose.
 * When Arthur attempts to destroy his glasses, he shoots them with a slingshot and later tries to get D.W. to smash them with her toy hammer. In the book, he hid his glasses in his sweater, hoping they would get smashed in the washing machine.
 * In the book, Mr. Marco was a moose and wore reading glasses. In the cartoon, he is an aardvark and doesn't wear any glasses at all.
 * Francine's movie star glasses are green; in the book, they were pink.
 * In the episode, when Arthur accidentally went to the girls' bathroom, Francine was shown with Muffy. In the book, she was by herself.
 * In the episode, Arthur found out that Wilbur Rabbit wears glasses. In the book, he found out that Mr. Marco wears glasses.
 * Sue Ellen, Muffy, the Brain, Binky, Prunella, and the third grade teachers are seen in this episode. None of these characters were introduced until later books.
 * At the end of the book, Mr. Marco's second grade class was getting a class picture; but in the cartoon, they did not have a class picture.
 * The signs to the boys' and girls' restrooms are represented in symbols; although in the book, they were represented in words.

Goofs

 * In the beginning when D.W. goes to Arthur's room, the sign on the bedroom door is red, but in the close-up of the door when D.W. opens the door and goes into the bedroom, the sign is blue.
 * Sue Ellen wasn't meant to appear until "Sue Ellen Moves In", which happens in third grade.
 * After Arthur leaves the girl's restroom, D.W. is seen in the crowd.
 * In the same scene, Binky is shown, but miscolored; he has Brain's clothes and skin color.
 * Jenna is as tall as D.W, even though she is supposed to be about as tall as her own classmates.
 * Mrs. Wood can be seen in the crowd, but she is not a teacher.
 * Additionally, Sue Ellen has different colored hair in different scenes.
 * At the beginning of the lunchroom scene, a brown rabbit with an orange shirt is sitting beside Buster. But when Buster is shown again a few seconds later, the gray rabbit is sitting beside him instead.
 * When Arthur is in the hall with his new glasses for the first time, a rabbit with brown hair and a blue and pink striped shirt is wearing glasses, yet a few seconds later, they are gone. It might be that she was originally going to be a cartoon version of the rabbit girl Maria who is in Mr. Ratburn's class, but the creators decided to remove the glasses.
 * When Arthur picks out his round brown glasses, they were first shown to be teal-colored instead of the actual brown before the close-up.
 * When Mr. Marco is giving the class directions for the quiz, Otis is smaller than usual. His legs don't come close to the floor.
 * Muffy is seen in this episode before Arthur gets his glasses, but when Muffy arrived at Lakewood Elementary School in the episode "Arthur and the True Francine," Arthur already has glasses.
 * When Mr. Marco hands back the quizzes to his students, he marks that Arthur got every single problem wrong; however, Arthur actually answered one of the questions right: "7+9=16."
 * When Arthur enters the house while coming home from school after his friends teased him, the front door is green instead of the regular brown.
 * Also, when Arthur walks into his room, his door is green instead of the regular white.
 * The TV sitting on the cart in the living room below Arthur's room is purple in this episode; in later episodes, the TV is green, but has rarely appeared again since.
 * In the Read family's photo album, Jane's ears were brown like her hair in the picture of her and David dancing together in their early dating years.
 * D.W. was two years old when Arthur was in second grade, but she would have been three if she is now four and Arthur is eight. On the other hand, this could have taken place after Arthur's seventh birthday and before D.W.'s third.
 * When Mr. Marco hands out the tests the second time, look. You can see George, being in the same group as Fern, Sue Ellen and Otis and being beside Otis on his left. Then, he is in the background, however, he seems to be in the same group as Arthur and Francine and doesn't have anybody on his left.
 * When Mr. Marco hands back the math quizzes, he tells his students, "Anyone with four or more mistakes should see me after class." There are only four questions on the test, so you could not get more than four mistakes.
 * As Arthur tells Buster how much harder it is to see without his glasses, the part of skin that shows between Buster's shirt collar turns pink a few times.
 * When Arthur grabs the round glasses it is Arthur who gets them instead it was the eye doctor who grabs them however Arthur would be to short to grab them.
 * When Buster makes fun of Arthur in the lunchroom and sees that he insulted Arthur, he immediately looks guilty; in the next shot when Arthur leaves the lunchroom, Buster is seen in the corner laughing again in spite of the previous shot and the fact that he wasn't sitting that close to the door through which Arthur exits.
 * In the cafetorium, when it is zooming in, Sue Ellen can be seen with grey hair.
 * When Buster is making fun of Arthur in the lunch hall about his glasses, Patrick can be seen in the background with Buster's shirt on.
 * D.W.'s pajama collar turns pink a few times in the scene where she asks Arthur about the "long lost siblings". This is similar to when Buster's skin turns pink in between his collar in another scene.
 * When Arthur returns home from school on his first day with glasses, D.W. is seen with David in the front yard, looking like a typical two-year-old. However, when Arthur tries to get D.W. to destroy his glasses with her toy mallet, she is in her original four-year-old form, although she is still laughing like a baby (very much like Kate Read.)

Storyline analysis

 * This is chronologically one of the first episodes, as this is when Arthur first got his glasses.

Production Notes

 * This is the first episode to use Arthur Underwater as a title card.

Home video
VHS:


 * Arthur's Eyes

DVD:


 * Arthur: The Complete Series One
 * Arthur's Eyes