Buster Baxter, Cat Saver (episode)

Buster Baxter, Cat Saver is the first half of the sixth episode of Season 2. Together with Play it Again, D.W., it first aired on October 27, 1997.

Summary
Buster "saves" a cat that was stuck a tree. When people start calling him a hero, this goes to his head.

Plot Outline
Arthur introduces the episode while watching the Bionic Bunny Show, starring his favorite superhero. He mentions all the other real heroes in Elwood City, such as the firefighters and paramedics, and last but not least.....Buster Baxter???

One day after getting ice cream with Arthur, Buster walks home and hears a woman calling for help because her cat is stuck in a tree. The cat smells Buster's Rocky Trout ice cream and jumps into Buster's arms and eats his ice cream.

At Buster's mom's office at the Elwood City Times, the woman tells Bitzi that Buster is a hero (Even though he really did not do anything heroic) and Bitzi has the story published on the front of the newspaper. The story sweeps across the town and Buster becomes a celebrity overnight.

In the days that follow, Buster is uncomfortable with the coverage, saying he was merely "in the right place at the right time". However, everybody wants to hear his story and soon, Buster is dubbed "Cat Saver" and is praised all across the city.

He is followed by the press, asked for autographs, receives free gifts, and even has ice cream named him! Buster begins to enjoy the attention and begins to tell exaggerated versions of his "heroism" to the press.

He then begins to act self-centered, asking Brain to do all of his homework and taking special privileges like cutting lines at the movies. Arthur and his friends soon get tired of all of the press and Buster's conceitedness, and try to tell him to knock it off.

Buster doesn't listen however, and instead presents his concept for a Cat Saver series on T.V., portraying himself as a powerful superhero who goes out to save cats (And other unrelated feats). The gang decides that Buster has to be exposed as the coward he really is, and come up with a plan to convince the press he isn't so heroic.

The Brain constructs a robotic cat and places it in the same tree Buster saved the first cat from. Arthur and Francine ask Buster to help them, so Buster attempts to lure the cat down as the press watches.

However Buster has no idea what to do, and admits he didn't really do anything the first time. Suddenly, the wind knocks the fake cat out of the tree, breaking it. Buster realizes he has been tricked, but his friends remind him that he has acted like a hotshot when he never did anything heroic.

Buster apologizes for his behavior, but sees an incoming piano heading straight for his friends. He pushes Arthur and Francine out of the way just as it is about to hit them, and everyone rejoices at Buster's heroism. Unfortunately, he has begun to indulge in all of the attention again.

Buster then imagines himself as the "Piano Tamer", a superhero who fights evil pianos. Arthur interrupts, arguing that such a ridiculous concept could never be a movie, or anything worth watching for that matter.

Trivia

 * At the end of the episode, the fake movie trailer for "Buster Baxter, Piano Tamer" opens with the logo of the "21th Century Rat" movie company. The logo features Mr. Ratburn parodying the Columbia Pictures Torch Lady, the name is a reference to "20th Century Fox", and it includes a banner that reads "Art is Rat Backwards........Almost", a reference to MGM's logo's "Ars Gratia Arts" banner.
 * This is the first episode in which D.W. is heard listening to Crazy Bus, a silly kid's song Arthur hates because she plays it nonstop. The accompanying episode focuses on Arthur's struggle to stop D.W. from playing it so much throughout this & the next episode.
 * Buster is still referred to as Cat Saver in later episodes, even though his lack of heroism in that rescue had become known. His Piano Tamer label is never heard of again though.
 * This is Mrs. Powers's last appearance with her original brown complexion and brown hair, plus the uniform of her ice cream shop. Her appearance with a pale complexion and blonde hair that was first seen in Arthur Makes the Team became a final change in Arthur vs. the Very Mean Crossing Guard.
 * The premise of the episode is similar to the Brady Bunch episode, "The Hero", in which Peter saves a girl's life, and like Buster, lets it go to his head and begins exaggerating the events unitl everyone else gets sick of it.

Goofs

 * Even though Mrs. Powers is seen at the Ice Cream Shop with her original appearance, later in the episode she is shown with her modified appearance.
 * In the line to get into the movie theater, Mrs. Powers is originally seen toward the back of the line. The next moment she is seen at the front of the line, this time with brown hair instead of blonde hair. The next moment she has blonde hair again.

Home Video
VHS: Arthur Saves The Day DVD: Arthur Saves The Day

Novelization

 * Adapted as Arthur Chapter Book #19 by the same title, listed on the cover as being written by Marc Brown, but actually ghostwritten by Stephen Krensky.