Francine Frensky, Superstar

"Francine Frensky, Superstar" is an episode of Arthur from season one. It was written by Joe Fallon and the storyboards were done by Darren Brere. It first aired on November 11, 1996 along with Arthur's Birthday.

Plot Outline
The episode starts off with Arthur speaking to the audience about all the bad parts Francine gets. Her bad parts include, the mighty cymbal in the orchestral orientation, Sir Isaac Newton, and the Cherry Tree in "George Washington and the Cherry Tree". The reason these were bad parts for her was because she got hurt while playing these parts. Then after Arthur's done speaking Francine walks out on stage wearing a football uniform and falls and gets hurt once again.

The title appears on screen and we fade out and into Mr. Ratburn's class where Mr. Ratburn is giving his class math problems to do and then he announces that it's time for the class to put on a school play and asks anyone if they have any ideas about what play they should do. Sue Ellen suggests that they should do a spooky story about a monster of mucus who gets his arms pulled off and Brain suggests that they should do a play about space and that he could make rocket fuel easily. Mr. Ratburn calls both their ideas good but too complicated for them to do and he suggests that they should do the play about the inventor Thomas Edison who invented the phonograph which played music before CDs were invented. Later that afternoon as Mr. Ratburn is sitting in the auditorium assigning the parts Arthur, Muffy, Brain, and Buster approach him asking him to give Francine a good part because she's never had one to which he says that he will. The next day Mr. Ratburn announces the parts and says that Buster will be the first light bulb, Arthur will be the first phonograph, Binky will be locomotive, and Francine will star as Thomas Edison to which everyone cheers for her and Francine promises she won't let the class down and give a 110% to her part.

Francine spends the next few days learning everything she can about Thomas Edison. When she goes to the library, she asks for the Thomas Edison section, only to learn that he's in the biographies and doesn't have his own section. Insulted, she declares the library to be "crummy". She rents out all the books they had and heads home, refusing Arthur and Buster's offer to go to the Sugar Bowl, because she has to "study her inventions". That night at home, she messes with the lights in her apartment to study light bulbs, messing with her older sister Catherine who's trying to read. Catherine suggests she learn about a phonograph or a video camera, but Francine messes with the lights some more, finally forcing Catherine to call her mom. Francine goes to the local stores where she studies the phonograph, cameras, and light bulbs, and in the hardware store Prunella and Muffy ask if Francine wants to go to the mall. Francine says no but offers to let the girls study incandescent filaments with her. When Muffy calls that boring, Francine is insulted once again and tells Muffy that without lights she'd have to shop in the dark, but according to her, she already does. Muffy is brought to tears and leaves, angering Prunella who watched the whole thing.

During rehearsals, Francine is examining everyone's costumes, which the Brain offers to fix if there is a problem. Francine notices Buster's light bulb costume has air holes, which outrages her because if a light had them, they wouldn't work. Buster needs them to breathe, but Francine forces the Brain to fix them anyway. In class the next day, Mr. Ratburn is asking the class when the first light bulb was invented, but Francine tells him he's wrong to call it a light bulb, much to the class' shock. According to her, Edison invented the incandescent lamp, and the name "light bulb" stuck later. Mr. Ratburn agrees and then Francine signals rehearsal. At the rehearsal, Francine is angry because Sue Ellen's camera costume has no sprocket holes, which would ruin the film, so the Brain fixes it. Francine then notices Arthur (Dressed as a phonograph) is not weaing his bell because it echoes, so she forces it on him and shouts that she'll "uninvent" him if he takes it off again.

The class is at the Sugar Bowl and deeply regrets asking Mr. Ratburn to give Francine a good part, as she acts like it's her show, not theirs. Arthur decides to reason with her, but Francine refuses to accept his call as she is still studying her inventions. The next day, the class prepares to put on the play for the Kindergartners. Buster can't breathe because his light bulb's air holes are now sealed by bandages, but Francine doesn't care. Arthur tells Francine flat out that everyone is angry at her because of how she's treated everyone, but she coolly brushes it off because "they don't have her talent at winning personality". Fed up, the students vow to teach Francine a lesson.

During the play, Francine presents the first light bulb to her audience while acting as Edison, but discovers that Buster has a huge grid in the front of his costume. When she flips on the light to turn him on, he squirts her in the face with a water gun, much to her annoyance. She then introduces Arthur the phonograph, but he does phone imitations instead of playing music, amusing the audience but annoying Francine once again. Then she uses her kinetoscope (Sue Ellen) to film "The Great Train Robbery". Binky chugs along until the robbers (Jenna and Muffy) rob him, but they mess up the act when Binky beats back the robbers, telling them to "put 'em up!" The play ends but Francine tries to stop the closing curtains, but ends up getting knocked onto the stage floor. She later cries in the dressing room, humiliated at what her friends did to her. Mr. Ratburn is disappointed too, and asks that the children fix things up before the parents' show later. Francine blames her friends for messing up the show, but they explain to her that it belongs to all of them and that they all worked hard to put on a good show. Francine thinks this over and realizes what a bad sport she's been, and apologizes for her behavior. She then asks if they would be willing to help her put on a great show together, and they happily agree.

That night, the parents' play goes well and is a total success. Francine gives credit to her whole cast for it's play, but after the curtain closes, she says they couldn't have done it without her, causing her friends to pull her back behind the curtain as the show ends.

Trivia

 * Francine's older sister Catherine makes her debut in this episode.

Home Video
DVD:

Arthur Makes a Movie