Editing The Boy Who Cried Comet

{{Episode infobox
|ep. name = The Boy Who Cried Comet
|image = Comet.jpg
|titlecard = The Boy Who Cried Comet Title Card.png
|season = [[Season 6|6]]
|number = 5a
|us = October 22, 2001<ref>http://www.ket.org/episode/ARUR%20%20000605</ref>
|writers = [[Peter K. Hirsch]]
|prev. episode = [[Brother, Can You Spare a Clarinet?]]
|next episode = [[Arthur and Los Vecinos]]
|storyboarders = [[Elie Klimos]]<br>[[Zhigang Wang]]}}
{{EpisodeHeader|1|book2=[[Arthur and the Comet Crisis]]|5|6}}

==Summary==
'''[[Buster Baxter|Buster]] uses [[Muffy|Muffy's]] new telescope in an effort to prove that the UFOs he has been seeing are real, but discovers something even more frightening:''' a comet headed straight for the Earth!

==Plot==
Arthur walks through a desolate area. He tells the viewers to imagine they could go to another dimension where teachers are aliens ([[Nigel Ratburn|Mr. Ratburn]] appears and pulls his head off, revealing he was an alien), principals who are robots ([[Principal Haney]] appears as a robot and explodes) and more UFOs than stars in the sky. He then concludes the intro, saying "Your next stop, the [[Buster Baxter|Buster]] Zone."

<p style="text-align:center;">'''The Boy Who Cried Comet'''</p>
[[Arthur Read|Arthur]] and [[Fern Walters|Fern]] are at Arthur's locker when Buster rushes up to them, saying that something is happening. They go over to the ice cream parlor, where Buster explains that he saw a fleet of UFO's the night before. The Brain debunks this theory, saying that it is crazy. 

Determined to prove him wrong, Buster (along with Arthur) sets up a telescope that was borrowed from Muffy and looks through it. One night, after several failed attempts, Buster discovers a comet. He soon finds out that a comet is expected to hit Earth in 37 days. Later that night, he dreams about a comet hitting Earth after Bionic Bunny fails to stop it from doing so.

The next day, Buster tells Arthur about the comet as well as a few other kids, but they pay no attention. Buster then turns to Brain, who reluctantly agrees to see if Buster's findings are correct. 

At the treehouse, Brain confirms that Buster was right: A comet ''is ''going to hit Earth! As the others run around screaming, Fern steps on a screw and finds out that it was missing from the telescope. The next day, Fern explains to Arthur and D.W. that the missing screw was the reason why the readings were wrong. Buster and Brain show up with newspapers that talk about Buster's comet discovery.  

In the end, it is revealed that there is an alien director and that the kids are actually alien actors.

==Characters==
===Greater===
*[[Arthur Read]]
*[[Buster Baxter]]
*[[Fern Walters]]
*[[Alan Powers|The Brain]]
*[[Muffy Crosswire]]
*[[Francine Frensky]]
*[[Bitzi Baxter]]
*[[Binky Barnes]]
===Background===
*[[D.W. Read]](error)
*[[3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 2)]]
*[[3rd Grade Male Rabbit]]
*[[3rd Grade Male Cat]]
*[[3rd Grade Male Dog]]
*[[3rd Grade Female Aardvark]]
*[[3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)]]
*[[3rd Grade Male Rat]]
*[[3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)]]
*[[Brian (4th grader)|Brian]]
*[[Alex]]
*[[Maria Pappas]]
*[[John]]
*[[Prunella Deegan]]
*[[Nancy]]
*[[Sue Ellen Armstrong]]
*[[Patrick]](error)
*[[Lisa]](error)
*[[Edwin]](error)
*[[Timmy and Tommy Tibble]](error)
*[[Liam]](error)
*[[Maryann]](error)
*[[Amanda Hulser]](error)

==Trivia==
*As with all [[Season 6|season six]] episodes, the end credits originally featured a remixed version of [[Believe in Yourself]]. Beginning in 2015, the credits were reformatted for reruns and now include the standard version of the song.
*The newspaper refers to Buster as "Cat Saver", referring to the name given to him for his actions in "[[Buster Baxter, Cat Saver (episode)|Buster Baxter, Cat Saver]]"; this is odd, as it had since become known that Buster's actions in saving the cat in that episode were not truly heroic.
*The telescope part that Fern picked up appears to be a fastening bolt for the telescope tripod and the telescope, however this part does not appear to be a computer part, so the computer shouldn't have malfunctioned without it.
*When Arthur and Buster pull of their heads, their alien forms are seen. However, Brain's, Fern's and D.W.'s alien forms are not seen. However, as the screen zooms out to show Arthur-alien and Buster-alien walking out, if the screen is paused at the right time, the viewers can see a yellow alien wearing a pink dress (D.W.), a purple alien with a white shirt (Brain) and a blue alien with a purple shirt (Fern) walking away.
* The [[Justin Bradley]] version of this episode story is available on the [[Arthur Gets Spooked (VHS)|VHS]] and [[Arthur Gets Spooked (DVD)|DVD editions]] of [[Arthur Gets Spooked]].
*'''Irony:''' Fern turns out to be a male alien despite being a female.
*'''Foreshadowing:''' The fact that Ratburn pulled off his head to reveal he was an alien in the teaser is a reference to the episode's ending.
=== Cultural References ===
* The opening of this episode is a parody of the opening of {{W|The Twilight Zone}}.
*The name of the episode is based on the story of 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf', where a boy claims many times that he sees a wolf and when there actually is one, nobody comes to help him. 
* Mrs. Marble's "Handbook for Young Detectives" alludes {{W|Miss Marple}}, a fictional amateur detective created by Agatha Christie.
===Errors===
*D.W., the Tibble Twins, and several preschoolers are seen briefly in the background when Buster climbs up the jungle gym.

==Home Video==
'''DVD:'''
*[[Arthur Gets Spooked (DVD)|Arthur Gets Spooked]]
'''VHS:'''
*[[Arthur Gets Spooked (VHS)|Arthur Gets Spooked]]

==Gallery==
<gallery>
The Boy Who Cried Comet 13.jpg|Fern holding the missing telescope part.
Comet.jpg
Download (1).jpg
tumblr_inline_pfmid0JQHV1rvydwz_500.jpg
tumblr_inline_ne7mannqj71rvydwz.png
Alien_ratburn_comet_intro.jpg|Alien ratburn
Capture.JPG|buster alien
Capture 2.JPG|athur alien
Arthur_S6_E5-1_-_The_Boy_Who_Cried_Comet_-_YouTube_0002.jpg|the  telescope
Arthur_S6_E5-1_-_The_Boy_Who_Cried_Comet_-_YouTube_0003.jpg| the telescope 2
</gallery>

==References==
{{Reflist}} {{EpisodeNav|6}}
{{TitleSort}}
[[Category:Season 6 episodes]]
[[Category:A to Z]]
[[Category:Arthur episodes]]
[[Category:Pages with Wikipedia links]]
[[Category:2001]]