Editing Arthur the Wrecker

|can=January 23, 1997<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/20120413104003/http://ww3.tvo.org/program/157024/arthur</ref>

|storyboarders = [[Stéphanie Gignac]]

|next episode = [[Arthur and the True Francine (episode)|Arthur and the True Francine]]

|us = October 24, 1996<ref>https://web.archive.org/web/19970723021343/http://www.ket.org/Visions/Oct96/VL961024.html</ref>

|ger = January 1, 2002<ref>https://www.fernsehserien.de/erdferkel-arthur-und-seine-freunde/episodenguide/staffel-1/3906/2</ref>

}}

{{EpisodeHeader|1|book2=[[Arthur's Computer Disaster]]|14|1}}

Intro: [[Arthur Read|Arthur]] mentions that kids like him have done important things. He is then seen in three flashbacks, where he dislodges the nose of the Sphinx in Egypt, accidentally breaking the arms off of [[David Read|Dad's]] sculpture that is bought soon after, and running into the Liberty Bell and making the crack in its side. It is then shown that Arthur broke a window in the backyard door while playing baseball. He was sugarcoating the accident by making it seem like a to-be "valuable and important" event in history created by an innocent kid. [[D.W. Read|D.W.]] assumes that Arthur will never forget the accident, and then proceeds to tell Mom about the broken window.

Arthur is eager to play a new computer game, [[Deep Dark Sea]], and he plays it on the family computer right after rapidly finishing his dinner. Arthur has made some progress in the game but can't finish before bedtime, so he saves the game. The next morning, [[Buster Baxter|Buster]] comes over to the house, and dashes with Arthur to the computer to continue the game. They are both hoping to find a "thing" that will earn Arthur free prizes and rewards if found, but are stopped when Jane tells them that she has to work on the computer. When Mom leaves the house, Arthur and Buster play on it anyway, even though Jane had told them that she will need it again when she gets back. When Arthur finds a treasure chest, he and Buster assume it to be the "thing", so they both fight for the mouse, and knock the keyboard off the desk, causing the monitor to go blank. While D.W. exaggeratedly foreseeing the possible repercussions of the computer getting wrecked, Arthur and Buster find the [[Alan Powers|Brain]] to try and fix the computer before Mom gets home. Unfortunately, he cannot find the problem.

As soon as Jane comes back home through the front door, Buster and the Brain leave, and D.W. goes up to her room. Jane tells Arthur that she won't need the computer until after dinner, so he is welcome to go play on it; however, Arthur declines.  

 

After dinner that night, Jane proceeds to get the computer to work, but Arthur attempts to distract her from finding out what happened to the computer. Finally, he tells her that he wrecked it after playing on it, and apologizes. Luckily, Mom is able to fix the computer by toggling a switch in the back; D.W. then says that they're not going to starve. Mom then tells Arthur that he could’ve just called her and asked her for help instead of worrying, and Arthur admits that he thought she'd be mad to which Mom replies, “I’m not mad; I’m disappointed.” She then forbids Arthur from playing on the computer for a whole week. When she asks if that's fair, Arthur nods, accepting his mom's punishment.

 

The episode finishes as Jane becomes fascinated with Deep Dark Sea, and plays it passionately that evening.

*[[Alan Powers|The Brain]]

*"Arthur the Wrecker" became adapted into a book in the ''[[Arthur Adventure]]'' series and re-titled ''[[Arthur's Computer Disaster]]''.

*It was also an entry in the Living Book series, going by the title ''[[Arthur's Computer Adventure (game)|Arthur's Computer Adventure]]''.

*'''The episode's intro features three historical landmarks and pieces that are accidentally made famous by Arthur: '''in ancient [[Egypt]] he dislodges the nose from the Great Sphinx; in ancient [[Greece]], he breaks Dad's sculpture that a Greek version of [[Francis Haney|Mr. Haney]] later buys, by chopping of the arms holding a marble sculpture of D.W, thus creating the famous [[Venus de Milo]] sculpture; in colonial [[America]], Arthur is running and flying a kite, but rams into a giant bell, creating a big crack in it, and making it the famous {{W|Liberty Bell}}.

*When Arthur saves the game, the sonar sounds from the [[List of Title Cards#Arthur Underwater|Arthur Underwater]] title card can be heard.

*'''Karma:''' Arthur disobeyed his mom, so he had no computer for a week.

*'''Irony:'''

**Had Arthur just listened to her instead of letting Buster convince him to break the rules, he would have avoided any kind of punishment.

**If Arthur called Jane sooner or told the truth, he'd have saved himself a lot of unnecessary grief.

=== Cultural references ===

* When Arthur imagines himself in ancient Egypt, ''The Streets of Cairo'' can be heard in the background.  

*When Arthur imagines himself in colonial America, ''Yankee Doodle'' can be heard in the background.

* Before Mom uses the computer once again (but decides to play ''Deep Dark Sea'' instead of working on her taxes), she grounds Arthur by telling him "No computer games for a week." In the episode, she said, "I'm forbidding you from the computer for a week" before asking Arthur if that was fair (to which Arthur sadly nodded).

*[[Arthur's Computer Adventure (VHS)]]