The Ballad of Buster Baxter

Summary

 * Art Garfunkel lends his voice and likeness to the guitar-strumming moose minstrel who sings "The Ballad of Buster Baxter" -- the story of how Buster feels when he comes home to Elwood City. It seems to Buster that, not only have his friends changed while he was gone, but they've forgotten all about him! Will he ever fit in again?

Plot
The show begins with Arthur and Buster playing checkers when the Brain arrives. Arthur reveals that while Buster was gone, he and the Brain started a checkers tournament. They try to let Buster join, but find it impossible to play with 3 people. In the end Buster agrees to just watch.

The next day, Buster is surprised to find Arthur and the Brain remaking the story he and Arthur were writing before he left. He suggests a scene with pirates riding dinosaurs crushing buildings, but the Brain finds it too unrealistic and suggests that the pirates ride horses and crush flowers instead.

Later, Buster sees Arthur and his friends leaving the movie theater. Buster is disappointed that Arthur went to see "Carpet of Doom" without him. However Arthur reveals that he went to see "Kresblain", a series that Arthur and Buster used to hate. He says he caught "Kresblamania" and that all his friends are in a Kresblain fanclub. Buster still hates Kresblain, so he feels left out and leaves. His friends however think Buster feels he is above them because of his travels.

The next day, at school, Buster's friends think he is a snob and don't want him to sit with them at lunch. Later, Buster finds out that his friends learned to square dance while he was gone. He can't get the steps right and keeps tripping and knocking people down. Embarassed by his failure, he leaves.

Buster's friends decide to throw him a party, but Buster doesn't come. They think he doesn't even want to be their friend anymore. Meanwhile Buster is feeling sad and lonely at home and can't even enjoy watching TV. His friends then realize that they forgot to invite him, so they go visit him. They look through his vacation pictures at the party and Buster is glad to be having fun with his friends again. The episode ends with Art Garfunkel walking off into the distance while singing the last part of his song.

Characters

 * Buster
 * Arthur
 * Binky
 * Francine
 * Muffy
 * Brain
 * Art Garfunkel
 * Bitzi

Cultural References

 * This episode features extra parts to the song "The Ballad of Buster Baxter." The rest is available on the album Arthur and Friends: The First Almost Real Not Live CD (or Tape).
 * The mathematical formula that Friar Brain showed Robin Hood Arthur is called the Pythagorean Theorem.

Episode connections

 * The key that Buster found is the same one from Finders Key-pers.
 * The kids practice square dancing like in "Arthur and the Square Dance".
 * Buster sees a bag of the cookies from "How the Cookie Crumbles".

Production Notes

 * This is the first episode to use the Magnifying Glass as a title card.

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