Editing Phony Fern

{{Episode infobox
|ep. name = Phony Fern
|image = Phony Fern 68.png
|season = [[Season 11|11]]
|airdate = 
|prod. code = 110401
|prev. episode = [[Prunella Packs It In]]
|next episode = [[Brain's Shocking Secret]]
|writers = [[Peter K. Hirsch]]
|storyboarders = [[Gerry Capelle]]
|titlecard = Phony Fern 38.png
|number = 4A|us = June 28, 2007<ref>http://www.ket.org/episode/ARUR%20%20001104</ref>|uk = December 11, 2007<ref>http://www.bbc.co.uk/bbcone/programmes/schedules/south/2007/12/11</ref>|ger = May 13, 2008<ref>https://www.fernsehserien.de/erdferkel-arthur-und-seine-freunde/episodenguide/staffel-11/3906</ref>}}
{{EpisodeHeader|1|4|11}}

==Summary==
Fern receives the latest phone for simple communication, but becomes addicted to the appliance.
==Plot==
The episode starts with a fantasy sequence. Detectives [[Watteau]] and [[Bastings]] storm an apartment with the [[Baron]] inside. The Baron, however, has a hostage, and is hanging it outside the window. He threatens that he will drop the hostage if the detectives take a single step. However, Bastings sneezes and the startled Baron lets go. Watteau manages to apprehend the Baron with a lasso, but it is too late. She cries over the remains of the hostage - her [[Portilex-360]] phone.

In the cinema, [[Muffy Crosswire|Muffy]], [[Fern Walters|Fern]] and others are watching a film about an elephant when [[Chip Crosswire|Chip]], Muffy's brother, calls. Muffy answers the phone during the movie (with Luke keeping on shushing her), which causes everyone else to scoot away. They are later seen eating in Chicken Lickin', where Muffy is texting [[Bailey]], who is just outside the restaurant. She barely pays any attention to Fern, which ends in her getting annoyed and leaving.

On her way home with [[Buster Baxter|Buster]], Fern voices contempt for the phone and the consumerism it generates. She doesn't like that seemingly everyone has one and uses it all day, without paying attention to their surroundings. Buster suddenly thinks that phones might be mind-control devices that turn people into robots, and runs home in a panic.

When Fern returns home, she receives a Portilex from her parents, only supposed to be used to contact them, for example during emergencies or to call dad when he is on a business trip. She reluctantly accepts it, sure that she won't become as attached to it as other people seem to be.

The next day during recess, Fern is sitting outside and flipping through the instructions to her new phone. Muffie notices this and teaches her how to set a ringtone and use its other features. Later, when playing detectives with George, Fern plans to use the Portilex's camera instead of a clue pouch. George says that a cell phone doesn't fit the detective era, but Fern starts staring into it and hardly pays attention to what George is saying.

Fern eventually becomes glued to the phone after being lulled by its large amount of features. When she wakes up she immediately picks it up from her nightstand and uses it during her morning routine, even while brushing her teeth or taking a shower. She uses the Portilex almost constantly throughout the day, and even lands herself in trouble with [[Nigel Ratburn|Mr. Ratburn]] when she uses the phone in class.

When the battery begins to run low during a heated talk with Muffy, Fern frantically attempts to run home and recharge it, but trips and drops it onto a street, where a road roller crushes it. Fern's parents are disappointed that Fern did not stick to the phone's main purpose - calling them - and so Fern decides upon a simple, no-frills model, deciding that she would be happier with that. The next day at school, when Muffy finds out what happened, she becomes disappointed and walks away, but before leaving invites Fern to a family dinner and the episode finishes.

==Characters==
===Main===
*[[Fern Walters]]
*[[Muffy Crosswire]]
*[[Virgule Watteau]]
*[[Bastings]]

===Minor===
*[[George Lundgren]]
*[[Buster Baxter]]
*[[Chip Crosswire]] {{c|phone conversation}}
*[[Doria Walters]]
*[[Mr. Walters]]
*[[Nigel Ratburn]]

===Cameo===
*[[Unknown Female Adult Rabbit (Number 2)]]
*[[Bailey]]
*[[3rd Grade Male Cat]]
*[[Billy]]
*[[Mary (3rd grader)|Mary]]
*[[3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)]]
*[[Molly MacDonald]]
*[[Paige Turner]]
*[[Luke]]
*[[Sarah]]
*[[Daniel Lapp]]
*[[Jenna Morgan]]
*[[3rd Grade Male Rat]]
*[[3rd Grade Female Aardvark]]
*[[Edwin]]
*[[Sue Ellen Armstrong]]
*[[James MacDonald]]
*[[Lisa]]
*[[Theodore Roosevelt]]
*[[Monique]]
*[[Loretta]]
*[[Arthur Read]]
*[[Prunella Deegan]]
*[[Mrs. Wood]]

==Songs==
*"[[Fern's Cell Phone Song]]"
==Trivia==
*[[Arthur Read|Arthur]]'s appearance in this episode is limited to a nonspeaking cameo.
*The Portilex 360 could be a reference to an {{W|Xbox 360}}.
*This is the first appearance of [[Mr. Walters|Fern's father]].
===Cultural references===
*In Fern's opening fantasy sequence, she and George's alter egos - Detectives [[Virgule Watteau|Watteau]] and [[Bastings]] - are a parody of {{W|Hercule Poirot}} and {{W|Arthur Hastings|Captain Hastings}}, respectively.
* "{{W|Masterpiece Theatre}}" is a reference to the PBS Masterpiece Theatre. It may also be a parody of an old opening, which was seen in "[[Binky Rules]]".
===Errors===
*When the book cart is pushed out of the library in Fern's song, the background outside the doors is the school hallway.

==Home Video==
'''DVD:'''
*[[Arthur: Season 11]]
*[[Big Brother Binky (DVD)]]
*[[Germophobia (DVD)]]
==Gallery==
{{Main|Phony Fern/Gallery}}

==References==
{{Reflist}}{{EpisodeNav|11}}
[[Category:Season 11 episodes]]
[[Category:Pages needing attention]]
[[Category:Episodes with songs]]
[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:Arthur episodes]]