World Girls (episode)

Summary
The girls anticipate the grand opening of World Girl World, which sells dolls from every country.

Plot
Muffy has become obsessed with the Worlds Girls-dolls. Each doll is dressed in the national costume of a particular country/contient/territory, and comes with accessories related to that particular place, along with a book accompanying each doll. Sue Ellen has one World Girl-doll, Pema (from Tibet). When they discover a World Girl World store is opening, Muffy and Sue Ellen invite Francine to come along with them and plan on having a slumber party at Muffy's house later on.

However, nothing really works out for them (except Francine): Later on, while at Muffy's house for the promised slumber party, Muffy's going through what she has of her World Girl-dolls collection and informs Francine and Sue Ellen that she's planning on giving away at least half of her collection to charity, planning on only keeping the dolls (and accessories) that she really likes. While going through her collection, Muffy discovers a Pema-doll that she has no recollection of even buying. When Sue Ellen that Muffy's Pema-doll is holding the yak-weaving looming she was looking for, Muffy gives the doll to Sue Ellen to keep. However, Sue Ellen notices that the loom Pema has is green, and claims that the loom is supposed to be brown. When Muffy explains that she's never touched the doll since she took it out of the box and Francine suggests looking through the book that came with Pema, Sue Ellen notices that the picture of the yak-weaving loom in the book is brown and not green.
 * Sue Ellen's keen on getting a particular accessory for her doll, but when she goes to the customer service desk, Sue Ellen's informed that the accessory she's looking for (a Tibetan yak-weaving loom) has been discontinued, along with the entire Tibet-collection. When Sue Ellen questions why it was discontinued, the man helping her explains that the Tibet-collection didn't generate enough sales for the company.
 * Francine (after being given some money by Muffy) goes to the World Girl Sports Hall of Fame and becomes interested in a doll of Babe Didrikson Zaharias. A woman working in that part of the store explains how Babe was instrumental in introducing women into the world of golf and how the book that comes with Babe's doll includes the history of golf and the introduction of women into the sport. Francine ultimately ends up buying the doll, which Muffy gets excited about when she finds out.
 * Muffy's very keen on getting a doll from each section of the World Girls-line as well as getting every single accessory for each doll. When Sue Ellen comes up to her and Francine and explains the situation about the Tibet-collection to them, Muffy and Francine suggest they go to the store's "Doll Hospital" and check if they have any extras of the accessory that Sue Ellen's looking for. However, while there, the girls sneak into the back of the hospital, which turns out to be a secret factory that produces all the World Girls-dolls very quickly, and Muffy discovers just how many other dolls (with some being from countries that she's never even heard of) are being produced, she realizes that she's going to need a lot more room/space to be able to truly complete the entire collection. The girls ultimately end up leaving World Girl World after that.

Later on, the girls are dressed in their pajamas and are sitting on Muffy's bed while making accessories for their dolls: Sue Ellen paints the loom brown to cover up the green, Francine's making a putting green for her doll of Babe Didrikson Zaharias, and Muffy appears to be making a dress for one of her dolls. While they're doing this, Muffy suggests that the three of them could start their own line of dolls called "Universe Girls" and make a fortune. Francine and Sue Ellen then instigate a pillow fight with Muffy, ending the episode.

Major

 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Francine Frensky
 * Sue Ellen Armstrong

Minor

 * Dave
 * Unknown Female Adult Rabbit (Number 6)
 * Bailey

Cameo

 * Luke
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 12)
 * Unknown Male Adult Rabbit (Number 5)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 4)
 * Unknown Female Dog
 * Technician
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 10)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 9)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 3)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 8)
 * Unknown Female Adult Rabbit (Number 7)
 * Unknown Female Dog (Number 3)
 * Rae
 * Rae's father
 * Rae's mother
 * Czech student
 * Unknown Female Cat
 * Steve
 * Lisa
 * Unknown Female Dog (Number 2)
 * Unknown Female Adult Dog (Number 2)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 5)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 14)
 * Unknown Male Adult Rabbit (Number 4)
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 13)
 * 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 10)
 * Unknown Female Rabbit (Number 11)
 * Slink's mother
 * Brain lookalike

Trivia

 * D.W. is seen in the back train car at point 4:08.
 * This is one of the (so far) nineteen episodes Arthur doesn't appear in.
 * In the opening teaser Melissa Altro, Jodie Resther and Jessica Kardos provide the voices of the World Girl dolls.

Cultural references

 * World Girls are a parody of the dolls or  Dolls.

Episode connections

 * This is Francine's second doll, her first doll was in "Prunella Gets it Twice".

Errors

 * Even though Muffy says she does not even have the Estonian doll, she somehow has the book.
 * Although there is a Hawaiian doll, Hawaii is like a country, it is a state of The United States since August 21, 1959.
 * However, the Hawaiian doll might specifically represent a Native Hawaiian girl. As Pema, the Tibetan doll, is from Tibet, which is part of China, World Girls might also do dolls for ethnic minorities found in certain countries.
 * There is a World Girl doll from Antarctica, but Antarctica is not a country, nor does it have any permanent or indigenous population. Sled dogs are also come with the doll, but dogs in Antarctica are only used by explorers and scientists, and are not actually native to Antarctica.
 * As seen in the very beginning of the World Girl World scene, D.W. Read is seen on the roller coaster without her parents.

Production notes

 * The song used in the World Girls TV commercial is re-used again as the song played outside the Yumbobo ice-cream shop in Brain Freeze.
 * The following lines are omitted in some international versions of this episode:
 * Sue Ellen: But why?
 * Dave: It's a Buddhist country; it didn't generate enough accessories.

Home Video
DVD:
 * D.W., Bossy Boots (DVD)
 * Arthur: Season 10
 * What's Cooking?