Night Fright/Transcript

Introduction

A thunderstorm at night. Arthur and Pal are lying in bed. Pal snores. Arthur is awake.

Bed Monster: Will you stop that snoring? I'm trying to sleep.

Closet Monster: Stop yelling. You're giving me such a headache. Everything echoes in this closet.

Bed Monster: You think you got a headache? Listen to that snore! Like a dump truck without a muffler!    Pal rolls over and keeps snoring.   Oh, my aching head!

Closet Monster: I asked you nicely. Don't make me come out there!   Arthur hides under the blanket.

Arthur: Ever have one of those nights you couldn't sleep because of the monsters under your bed and in your closet?

Bed Monster: Come on out here! I dare ya!    He throws a shoe into the closet

Closet Monster: Ow! You hit me! I’m gonna give you such a pinch.     He throws a pair of tongs.

Bed Monster: Ow! Come and get me, chicken!  He throws the other shoe.    (clucks like a chicken)

Both monsters keep throwing things at each other.

Closet Monster: Come out from under that bed, scaredy cat!

#

Sue Ellen: Then it slammed shut -Bam!- and could never be opened again

Kids: Hh!

Binky comes.

Binky: What’s she talking about?

Francine: That first Scare-Your-Pants-Off video: ‘The Lunchbox of Notre Dame’.

Arthur: That’s the scariest thing I ever heard.

Buster: Augh!

Arthur: It wasn’t that scary.

Buster holds a crumpled piece of paper.

Buster: Not that. I just wrecked my homework. And I have to give it to Mr. Ratburn.

Kids: Hh!

Arthur: Ha! Okay. That’s the scariest thing I ever heard. (laughs)

Binky: (laughs) What a bunch of little babies! Oh, I’m so scared.

Mr. Ratburn has listened to the conversation from a window.

Mr. Ratburn: Hm.

#

Mr. Ratburn: Since scary books and videos are so popular, let’s talk about things that scare us. Anyone want to name something that scares them?

Muffy: The roller coaster at Wonderworld.

Arthur: Ventriloquists' dummies. I mean, what's all that about, anyway? Weird!

Buster: A spoon.

Francine: A spoon?

Buster: When it's stuck in pudding.

Francine: So?

Buster: Like in ‘The Lunchbox of Notre Dame’.

The other kids look scared.

Class: Hh!

Binky smiles and shakes his head.

Mr. Ratburn: What about you, Binky?

Binky: Er... My only fear...

In his fantasy, he walks along a corridor. He is shown from below to make him seem bigger.

Binky: …is that I might get so strong, the whole school will fall down when I shut the door.

He leaves the school and slams the door so hard, that the whole building, except for the door, collapses.

Binky: Oops! The door falls over. Other than that...

The fantasy ends.

Binky: …nothing scares me. Nothing!

Mr. Ratburn: Mmm...

#

The class talk about what scares them.

Sue Ellen: Cemeteries scare me. So whenever I have to walk by one, I whistle.     Sue Ellen is shown whistling in a cemetery.     It works.

Brain: When I’m worried, I use a laser I built to shine a light on the moon.     Brain is shown with a laser that makes the moon sizzle.    That makes me feel better. I don’t know why.

Francine: When I’m nervous, I talk to my old stuffed lobster Bob.     She hold up a toy lobster.

Mr. Ratburn: How do you deal with your fears, Arthur?

Arthur: Uh...

Binky: (thinks:) If he tells, everyone will laugh at me. If he doesn't tell, I'm his slave for the rest of my life. Oh man, what do I do now?   (loud:) Oh, oh, oh, I wanna go next!

Mr. Ratburn: If that's okay with Arthur.    Arthur nods.

Binky: I have nightmares, but when I use a night-light, I can get to sleep.

Mr. Ratburn: Good, Binky. That's very common one. Very normal.

Binky: It is? Yeah!    Yeah. It's normal. What are you looking at?

After school Arthur goes home with Buster. Binky runs after them.

Binky: Hey, Arthur, wait up!   Look, about the way I've been acting, I just wanted to say...

Arthur: Binky, don’t worry. It's okay.

Binky: No, it's not okay. I paid for your lunch and you've got to pay me back. And that racing car racer I gave you, fork it over. And I gave you my dessert, and wiped that mud off your shoes and put three and a half glue on your collage…