Arthur Bounces Back

Summary
Arthur wants Moon Boots and tries different ways to get money to buy them.

Plot
Arthur, D.W., and Jane are going clothes shopping at Mill Creek Mall because it's fall and they both need new coats. Arthur asks his mom to stay in the car, but Jane says they let him in the mall since he's not a dog. Later in the mall, D.W. puts on her red coat. Jane gives Arthur the green one and Arthur puts it on while looking in the mirror. Then he asks "Can I go to the toy store" and Jane says "All right, we'll be over in the minute". While Arthur leaves to go to the store, D.W. puts on her blue coat. At the toy store, Arthur turns on a wind-up monkey playing cymbals. Then, he plays with a small red ball, but it bounces all over the place and lands back with the others as a close one. Next, he sees a truck that can transform into anything such as a robot and his school principal, Mr. Haney. Arthur sees Muffy with his father who is holding a handful of toys and tells her that it's great to get every toy you want. After Muffy leaves, Arthur notices something on the shelf called moon boots and imagines what it would be life he wore them and flew up on the moon. At home, Arthur tells his parents about the moon boots and they're only 10 dollars. He later tells them at dinner that if they buy moon boots, it would be good for the whole family. But David says they already bought him new sneakers and Arthur thinks moon boots would actually prolong the life of his sneakers, especially his beautiful new coat. After dinner, Arthur tells his parents about his plan. His parents say if Arthur wants moon boots, he'll have to buy them with his own money. That way, he'll appreciate them more like the way D.W. appreciates him. In his room, Arthur looks in the piggy bank and finds note that says "I owe myself 4 dollars and thirty cents. Sincerely, Arthur." He looks for the money over the clothes in the laundry and finds a penny from the pair of pants. He even looks for some in the living room, but finds a lollipop hiding in the sofa. He spots a picture of his Grandma Thora on the mantle shelf and has an idea. Later at Grandma's house, Arthur got flowers. Grandma Thora who is playing cards says they're lovely and he's not here about his moon-boots because his parents already called her and they told her not to give him any money and she has to respect their wishes. Grandma Thora suggests to play a game of Canesta but Arthur and a pair of flowers frown. At home, D.W. and Jane are playing checkers. D.W. says "King me!", but Jane says she has to get to her back row to be king, but D.W. said, "I know. I just like saying it." Arthur arrives and announces his calculations maybe off, but he figures out the rate he's going by the time he's saved enough money for the moon boots, he'll be 109 years old. But Jane suggests about ways to earn money right around at home. Then D.W. made another move and said, "King me!" again. First, Arthur opens a lemonade stand, but a brown dog grabs a bag of lemons and he chases after it. Next, he tries a kissing booth, but it doesn't work very well, either, because of a laughter of girls. And he becomes a fortune teller by seeing into the future, but then the rain comes in. As Arthur comes inside while being wet he says by the time he gets enough money to moon boots, people will actually be living on the moon. Jane realizes and hugs Arthur while kissing him, but Arthur says "Why couldn't you have done that when I had the kissing booth?". Later, Arthur jumps on the bed in his room when D.W. tells him that she still has some of her birthday money left and she could lend him some if he wants it. Of course, if she loans the money, he'll have to be her servant and do all her chores and call her "your highness" for a whole year. But Arthur says "Fat chance and I take my hug back!" Later, he watches a moon boots commercial. His mom says that she's noticing that the garage has gotten quite cluttered and the floor's in need of a good sweeping and suggests they can give him 2 dollars each. Outside, Arthur is having a garage sale and Mrs. Tibble arrives. She wants to pay the necklace 5 dollars, but she suggests 10 dollars and Arthur says "SOLD!". Mrs. Tibble asks if she pays him or his parents and Arthur suggests she pays him. After getting 10 dollars, he finally gets the moon boots from the toy store. But he starts putting them on in his bedroom, Jane arrives and says that the garage looks very nice and gives the dollar since he's paid closer for getting the moon boots. Later outside, he starts putting on his moon boots when David arrives that his mother volunteered to clean the garage. Then he talks about her birthday present he hid. It's that necklace she wanted. After he leaves, Arthur asks Pal if he'll forget about the necklace? Pal barks no and Arthur says "I didn't think so, but it was worth a try." He tells his dad that he didn't exactly put the necklace back so he's going to go get it. At Mrs. Tibble's house, Arthur tells Mrs. Tibble that as soon as he returned the moon boots, he can give her the 10 dollars back. Mrs. Tibbles says Arthur's a very honest young man. Arthur asks if he wants to get the necklace back and Mrs. Tibble rakes up the pile of leaves before the wind starts again. Arthur helps too, but then he has an idea. Later, he puts on his moon boots when Buster arrives. He asks if he can try them, but Arthur says he has to do all his chores for Mrs. Tibble. She said if I got all the leaves, she'd give him back the necklace he sold her. Buster asks if he wants to try the moon boots while he rakes, but Arthur says "Sorry Buster, but I need them." He starts raking all the leaves with his moon boots on.

Major characters

 * Arthur
 * Mrs. Tibble

Minor characters

 * D.W. Read
 * Jane Read
 * David Read
 * Grandma Thora
 * Buster Baxter
 * Muffy Crosswire
 * Ed Crosswire
 * 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)

Background characters

 * Steve
 * Helen
 * Nancy
 * Patrick
 * 3rd Grade Female Rabbit

Trivia

 * The kids in the Moon Boots advertisement are the same kids that go to Lakewood Elementary School. They are identical to the 4th Graders that are seen around the school.
 * Arthur is seen trying on the Moon Boots shortly before his father comes out to talk to him about organizing the garage; but in the next shot, he has a bare foot, and socks must be worn underneath Moon Boots.
 * The red and yellow coat which D.W. tries on must have been bought, as it later appears in other episodes.
 * This is the first episode written by Tom Hertz
 * First speaking appearance of Thora Read.

Errors

 * In the intro, there are some Bionic Bunny Walkie-Talkies that are shown damaged on one of the shelves in the basement, although the ones that Arthur owns have not been damaged.
 * When the Reads' Car drives up to the mall, D.W. appears to be standing in the trunk.

Cultural references

 * Moon Boots is a parody of Moon Shoes.
 * The wind-up monkey in the store is similar to Minkey the Monkey who is seen in a Wee Sing video: "Grandpa's Magical Toys".

Home video
DVD:
 * Arthur: The Complete Series One

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