Arthur and the Haunted Tree House/Transcript

Opening

It is Halloween night in Elwood City. The scene cuts to the tree house, where Ladonna is telling a story.

Ladonna: And they never found Doc. Some say he's still out there. Hiding in the swamps, living off frogs and leeches. His skin shriveled and yellow, with an evil smile plastered on his face...

She shines a flashlight on her face.

Ladonna: ...like this!

Arthur and Buster scream while Ladonna laughs.

Arthur: Can we turn the lantern back on now?

Ladonna: Aw, come on. It wasn't that scary.

Buster: Wait, you don't really have a cousin named Doc, do you?

Ladonna: Sure I do! But he lives in Miami, not a swamp. He's a nutritionist.

Arthur (turning on the lantern): Um...

Ladonna: What are you supposed to be again?

Buster: Candy Boy. (puts on his costume glasses) Candy Boy get angry when he no get candy! (roars, then takes off his glasses) But don't worry, Candy Boy is very happy this year. He beat last Halloween's candy quota. Oh, yeah!

The wind is heard blowing.

Arthur: Shh. Did you hear something?

The three friends look outside the tree house.

Ladonna: Uh-oh, maybe it was angry villagers, Frankenstein. (she giggles)

Arthur: I'm not Franken-stein, I'm Franken-tist.

Buster: That's a combination of Frankenstein and a dentist.

The wind blows again.

Arthur: There it is again!

Ladonna: That's just the wind. You sure are jumpy.

Buster: You didn't mix the sour-gummied worms with the peanut clusters, did you? That always makes me jumpy.

Arthur: No.

Ladonna: So, what's up?

Arthur: You wouldn't believe me if I told you.

Buster: Yes, I would.

Ladonna: Me too. If it were me I might not believe me, but you? Tell us.

Arthur: It's this tree house. It's... it's haunted.

Buster and Ladonna laugh at the idea.

Buster: What? No way.

Ladonna: Come on? This old thing?

Arthur: I'm serious. There's a ghost here. She's angry. And I think she's coming for us.

Part One

The title card, "Arthur and the Haunted Tree House" is shown. Ladonna reads "Arthur and the Haunted Tree House, Part One".

Ladonna: Wait, back up. What do you mean "there's a ghost here"?

Buster: Did you really see it?

Arthur: Kind of.

Buster: What did it look like? Aw, man. You're so lucky. I want to see a ghost.

Arthur: No, you don't. Anyway, I'm not sure I want to talk about it.

Ladonna: Oh, come on! You can't just say you've seen a ghost and then not tell us about it.

Arthur: (sighs) Okay. I guess it all started about a week ago.

Arthur's story (in the form of a flashback)

Arthur (narrating): I had just told Mom I wanted to have a Halloween sleepover at the tree house.

Mom: I don't know, Arthur. I'm not sure it's safe to sleep up there. What if someone rolls over and...

Arthur: We're going to put a crate up there to block the opening.

Mom: Okay, but how are you going to get your sleeping bags and stuff up there?

Arthur: Already thought of that, too. We hooked up a pulley. It's really cool. You should come out and see it later.

D.W.: Did I hear someone say sleeping bags? Are we going camping?

Mom: No, sweetie. Arthur jsut wants to have a Halloween party at the tree house.

D.W.: I want to come, too!

Arthur: You can't, D.W. It'd be too scary for you.

Árthur (holding out a cereal box): Here, looking for the cereal?

D.W.: Too scary? Ha! The only thing that scares me are octo-potties, and they're only at the beach, so...

D.W. opens the cereal box to reveal fake snakes popping out. She screams.

Arthur (laughing): I rest my case.

Mom (sternly): Arthur.

Arthur: Sorry. I was just trying to prepare her for Halloween.

Arthur follows Mom to the house door.

Arthur (begging Mom): So, Mom. Please? Can I have the sleepover?

Mom: Well, I'd have to check with your father, but I guess it's okay.

Arthur: Yes!

D.W.: I wasn't really scared by the cereal snake. I was just acting.

Mom: You'll have a much better time at home anyway. Your father and I are going out that night, but Grandma will be here. Why don't you invite Bud over?

D.W.: Okay.

Mom heads out and closes the front door.

D.W.: But I'm ten times braver than you.

Arthur (patting D.W.'s head): Sure you are.

D.W.: Ha! Let's just see who's braver, Arthur Read.

The scene cuts to Arthur climbing a ladder to his house attic.

Arthur (narrating): The next day after school, I went up to the attic to get some scary decorations for the tree house.

Arthur tries to turn on the attic light, but ends up turning on a flashlight as the attic light was not working. He approaches a corner with a box labed "Halloween Decorations". On a table near the box, Arthur spots a doll.

Arthur (narrating): That's the first time I saw it.

Arthur picks up the doll, and one eye is shown.

Arthur: Ugh! Where on earth did this come from?

Arthur turns to the back of the doll, where its name is shown.

Arthur (reading off the doll): Zelda.

Arthur (narrating): I thought that the doll had belonged to Mom or Dad. Or maybe even Grandma Thora.

The scene cuts to the living room of Arthur's house. Arthur talks to his Dad.

Arthur: It's really old and spooky. If it's okay, I'd love to use it for my sleepover.

Arthur notices that the doll is not in the Halloween decorations box.

Arthur: Huh? But it was just here a minute ago.

Dad shrugs and leaves the living room.

Arthur: Maybe Pal ran off with it. It'll turn up.

Arthur (narrating): The next day, after school, I took the decorations over to the tree house.

Arthur sets down the Halloween decorations box on the pulley platform he built earlier. He suddenly notices a strange voice.

Unknown voice: Arrrr-thurrrrr....

Arthur (startled): Who's there?!

Arthur walks around the tree house and only sees leaves blowing with the wind.

Arthur: Just the wind.

He climbs up the ladder to the tree house. Inside the tree house, Arthur pushes the crate to block the opening. He notices strange writing on the back wall that reads "This is MY tree house".

Back in real time.

Arthur: It said, "This is MY tree house". Right there. Written in chalk.

Buster gasps as he turns to the back wall.

Arthur: I wiped it away.

Ladonna: Maybe it was just D.W. playing a trick on you.

Arthur: She's not allowed to come up here alone. And anyway, she can't write.

Ladonna: Well, neither can dolls.

Buster: Unless, of course, that doll isn't really a doll.

Ladonna: Oh, phony-baloney. You guys are jumping to conclusions.

Arthur: Wait, it gets worse. After I finished decorating, I didn't come back until earlier today.

The flasback resumes.

Arthur (narrating): I wanted to drop off some stuff before getting into costume and trick-or-treating. I also thought someone might be playing a trick on me, but I wasn't going to let it ruin my sleepover.

Arthur: If you're trying to scare me, it's not going to work, so you can just give up now!

Arthur climbs the tree house after looking around for things trying to scare him. After pushing the crate, he screams. The doll is seen beside a box. It falls over and opens the one eye.

Back in real time.

Arthur: She was sitting...

Arthur points to where he last saw the doll.

Arthur: ...right there!

Buster: (gasps) No way!

Ladonna: Come on! You're making this up.

Arthur: I'm not! I swear.

Buster: What did you do?!

The three friends look outside the tree house.

Arthur: I dug a hole and buried her over by that rock. But what if she comes back?

Ladonna: Guys, relax. I'm sure there's a rational explanation.

Buster: That's true. Maybe Zelda's an alien.

Ladonna: That's a rational explanation?

Arthur: Well, whatever it is, I'm starting to think that this sleepover was a really bad idea.

A knocking sound is heard, which scares the friends.

Voice: Arthur...

The friends scream. Francine climbs up to the tree house, wearing a prom queen costume.

Francine: Ha! I know this prom dress costume was scary.

Arthur (relieved): Phew! It's just you.

Francine: Who were you expecting? Muffy's not here yet? Oh, man! She's going to be so angry at me.

Buster: Why?

Francine pulls up a pulley to bring her stuff into the tree house.

Francine: I was supposed to meet her at her place, and then we were going to trick-or-treat at the fancy houses, but I got stuck at this one apartment in our building. It was actually kind of freaky.

Arthur: Was there a doll there? With a big head and one eye?

Francine: Huh? No. It was even scarier than that.

Francine's subplot (in a flashback)

Francine (narrating): Every year, the tenants in our building put up a list of apartments you can trick-or-treat at. I know them all by heart.

In the flashback, Francine walks up to an apartment. A woman walks up and opens the door.

Francine (narrating): There's Mrs. Parizeau. She always gives fruit.

Francine: Trick or treat!

Mrs. Parizeau hands Francine a bag of prunes.

Mrs. Parizeau: There you go. Prunes, sweetheart. That's nature's candy.

Francine: Uh, thanks.

The scene cuts to Francine walking up to another door.

Francine (narrating): There's Mr. Bellamy. He always does the old "hand in a bowl of candy" trick.

Francine: Trick of treat!

Mr Bellamy sticks his hand through the bowl of candy he holds out.

Francine (acting surprised): Oh, no! It's a live hand in a bowl of candy!

Francine grabs one piece of candy, but it falls to the floor.

Francine (narrating): And then Mr. Bellamy forgets that his hand is in the bowl.

Mr. Bellamy: Oh! You dropped some.

Mr. Bellamy accidentally pours out the candy bowl as he tipped his left hand downward.

Mr. Bellamy: Oh!

Francine sighs, then kneels down to help Mr. Bellamy fill his candy bowl again. The scene cuts to Francine getting candy from two costumed people.

Francine (narrating): Then there are the Lancasters. They always try to guess your costume, and fail.

Mr. Lancaster: You're a fairy godmother?

Mrs. Lancaster: Uh, a fancy lampshade?

Mr. Lancaster: Uh, Queen Isabella of Spain?

Mrs. Lancaster: Oh, oh! The Feudal System? Huh?

Francine (disappointed): I'm a prom queen. Thanks.

Francine (narrating): I only had one more apartment to hit. Someone I had never met before.

Francine approaches apartment 237 and knocks on the door. A woman opens the door.

Woman: Yes?

Francine: Trick or treat!

Woman: Oh, is it Halloween already? I completely forgot. Come in, come in!

Francine enters the woman's apartment.

Woman: Excuse the mess, I was just going through some old photos. Sit, sit. I have candy here somewhere.

Francine notices a photo of something weird. She picks up the picture.

Francine: What is that?

Woman: That, my dear, is a golem.

Francine: What's a golem?

Woman: A monster made from clay and then brought to life by a magic spell.

Francine laughs at the idea.

Woman: Oh, you don't believe me? I took that picture myself. But even without a photo, I would never forget the face of that hideous creature. I'd tell you the story, but I shouldn't be frightening children like this.

Francine smiles.

Woman: I was a little girl, just about your age. We lived in a small town called Mindelplatz, not far from Prague.

A flashback begins. A street of Mindelplatz is shown, and a trolley car on rails is seen passing by.

Woman (narrating): There was a young man in the town who was a great violinist.

The man is seen playing the violin on the streets of Mindelplatz. The woman, as a little girl in that time, gives the man some money for his performance. The flashback cuts to the man playing the violin in front of dead plants hanging from a window box.

Woman (narrating): His music was so beautiful, it was said it could make dead plants grow.

The violinist's music brings the dead plants back to life. People on the street clap for him. The scene cuts to the man walking down a street, near trolley tracks.

Woman (narrating): Then, one day, the violinist was in a terrible accident. He was hit by a trolley car, and all his fingers were broken.

The scene cuts to someone's house. The camera zooms into an upstairs window.

Woman (narrating): They eventually healed, but he was no longer able to play the violin.

Now inside the house, it is shown that it is the violinist's house.

Woman (narrating): People rarely saw the violinist after that. He stayed in his room, reading ancient books about magic.

The man hears a cat meowing, and walks out to his window. A cat is meowing on the street, and the girl takes a picture of the cat. The cat then leaves, and the girl turns to the open window with the violinist looking out from it. She waves at him. The man angrily closes his window.

Woman (narrating): He grew bitter, angry at the world.

In a dark area, the man is reading a book.

Woman (narrating): In one of his books, he learned how to make the golem.

A creature is shown lying down on a wooden board. The man pushes a piece of his violin into the body of the slimy creature. The creature starts moving.

Woman (narrating): And he brought him to life.

The golem gets up, and walks towards the man.

Woman (narrating): But the golem turned against him.

The golem chases the man, who then runs out of the basement.

Woman (narrating): He couldn't control the creature.

The scene fades to the girl trying to take a portrait of a boy.

Woman (narrating): No one could.

A crowd runs past the boy and girl. The golem is seen approaching the boy and girl. The boy runs away, while the girl falls over and takes a picture of the golem. The flashback ends.

Francine: Wow! That's some story! How'd you escape?

Woman: Who's to say I did?

Francine: Huh?

Woman: Anyway, look what I found for you.

The woman holds out a violin made of marzipan.

Woman: It's marzipan, a delicious almond paste.

She hands the marzipan violin to Francine.

Woman: Happy Halloween, my dear.

Francine leaves the woman's apartment, but notices something in her Halloween candy basket.

Francine (narrating): Right after I left the apartment, I noticed that somehow one of the woman's photographs had fallen into my Halloween bag. So I went to return it.

Francine returns to the apartment and knocks on the door.

Francine (narrating): But this time, a man answered the door.

Francine: Oh, hi. You must be Mr. Saperstein. Somehow this fell in my bag.

Francine lets Mr. Saperstein see the photo she had.

Mr. Saperstein: That's my little sister. She disappeared when we were children.

Francine gasps; the flashback ends. In real time, the friends gasp.

Ladonna: So, t-that was her g-ghost?

Francine: I don't know. Maybe.

Buster: Why does everyone get to see a ghost except me? No offense, but I think her story was scarier than both of yours.

Arthur: It's not a competition!

Francine: Can I borrow your phone? I have to call Muffy.

Buster lends his iPhone-like smartphone to Francine.

Francine: She already left by the time I got to her house.

Francine calls Muffy, who is seen answering the phone on a moving chair.

Muffy: I waited for 45 minutes!

Francine: I’m sorry, I’m sorry. I got held up at my building.

Muffy: Well, where are you now?

Francine: The tree house. Are you coming?

Muffy: I'll be there in a little bit. I still have to hit the McNeil Mansion.

Francine: Well, hurry up. I can't wait to tell you what happened to me. You're never going to beli...

The phone call is interrupted.

Muffy's subplot

Muffy: Hello? Francine? Are you there?

Muffy looks at her phone and finds that the battery is dead.

Muffy: Oh! I'm out of juice.

The camera cuts to showing Muffy riding in the back of a tandem bike with Bailey pedaling at the front.

Muffy: Bailey, can I borrow your phone?

Bailey: Alas, I didn't bring mine, Miss Muffy. It didn't feel appropriate that the Mad Hatter would be carrying one.