Attack of the Turbo Tibbles

"Attack of the Turbo Tibbles"
Season/Series:	3
Number in season:	10a
Original Airdate:	January 11, 1999[citation needed] September 17, 1999
Credits
Written by:	Joe Fallon
Storyboard by:	Robert Yap
Episodes
Previous "The Return of the King"	Next "D.W. Tricks the Tooth Fairy"
Read transcript

"Attack of the Turbo Tibbles" is the first half of the tenth episode in the third season of Arthur.

Summary

After sneaking a peek at a new superhero TV show, the Tibble twins decide they have superpowers and get out of control.

Plot

The episode starts off in Arthur's room. Arthur is doing his homework, but the Tibble Twins are being loud and obnoxious outside. Arthur can't concentrate.

Arthur explains to the viewers that his homework is harder whenever the Tibbles are playing with D.W. He says that Timmy Tibble is so loud that he can scream for 5 minutes straight, and Tommy Tibble is so loud that he can seem like four kids instead of one. He then tells the viewers to imagine what it would be like if the Tibble Twins had superpowers...

Attack of the Turbo Tibbles

Arthur goes downstairs and tries to convince his mother to get the Tibble Twins and D.W. to be quiet. Mrs. Read says she'll talk to them.

She brings them into the house and attempts to get the 3 to be quiet by putting on a Mary Moo Cow video about feet. Surprisingly, they stop being so loud.

In the living room, D.W. and the Tibbles are watching the video and it unexpectedly turns off. D.W. tries to fix it by hitting buttons on the remote control, but that doesn't work. The Tibbles think they can fix it since they apparently know how to fix a VCR. D.W. goes into the kitchen to get her mother to fix it for them.

However, the TV starts to work again, but a show is on that the two claim is for babies. So they pick up the remote and turn on a different channel. A show titled "Terrific Turbo-Trooper Toy T-Bot Team" is on which they suddenly become interested in since it involves a lot of action. In the show, the two main characters battle giant whales.

While watching it, D.W. and Mrs. Read come in. Mrs. Read tells them it is not for them and they try to make up excuses. She turns the show off and puts the show for toddlers back on. The Tibbles brag to D.W. about what they just watched.

The next day, D.W. walks into the preschool with Emily. They see Tommy and Timmy dressed in costumes of the main characters from "Terrific Turbo Trooper Toy T-Bot Team" much to D.W.'s surprise. They act out a scene from the show.

During coloring time at preschool, the Tibbles don't want to color - they want to fight crime. Outside the class was practicing the alphabet and the Tibbles accuse Emily of singing the alphabet wrong.

Ms. Morgan gives them a time-out and the Tibbles see this as a secret command, so they gladly oblige. They watch the show again later and then play hide and seek, however, they cheat.

D.W. calls the Tibbles asking them if they want to ride bikes, but they're too busy watching the show.

The next day, the Tibbles come dressed as robots again. D.W. and Emily quickly go inside, but the Tibbles follow. They are acting obnoxious so D.W. goes and yells for Ms. Morgan, who gives them a time-out. Once again, they gladly oblige.

D.W. blames Arthur for everything, but Arthur gives D.W. advice: he tells her to just tell them that they are annoying and to stop acting like robots.

So at the Tibbles' house D.W. tries to talk to them, but the Tibbles sees her as an enemy. The Tibbles chase D.W. and Emily. Since D.W. is the enemy, Timmy pulls a playground swing back and then lets go.

The swing hits D.W. in the face, and she begins loudly crying as her mouth starts bleeding, though this isn't shown because D.W. had both her hands on her face. Emily runs to go get Mrs. Tibble and tell her D.W.'s face is bleeding I think it's broken. And the Tibbles, realizing they've gone too far, run away to hide in the garage.

Timmy then decides to to stop playing the game, Tommy tells Timmy to put back on his helmet and he's outer space and needs it then tells Tommy he quits and was worried about D.W. then Tommy takes off his helmet after thinking that D.W. could be dying after being hit in the mouth by the swing. Mrs. Tibble calls Timmy and Tommy and then Timmy tells Tommy if she finds us she will punish us, we should have hid against the back wall, Then Mrs. Tibble opens the garage door and then finds them. They plead for forgiveness and Mrs. Tibble tells them not to apologize to her, but to D.W. The twins ask if she meant D.W. was alive, and Mrs. Tibble says she is, and that she has been taken to the emergency room by Jane

They walk to the hospital and they are happy to see D.W. and that she's still alive, they hug her feeling bad and sorry for what they did, they had no right to hurt her that way which leads them to a huge mistake. Jane tells D.W. "You were very brave D.W." When D.W. informs them that she got stitches on the right side of her face, the Tibbles apologize and tell her that they we're just trying to have fun, that nothing like this ever happened in the show. D.W. flatly explains to them that the show isn't real and that they should not do everything they see on TV. With that, the Tibbles finally learn their lesson.

As they leave, the Tibbles suggest watching something else, like sports, but D.W. refuses all of their suggestions, and the episode ends.

Characters

• Timmy and Tommy Tibble
• D.W. Read
• Emily
• David Read (cameo)
• Jane Read
• Arthur Read
• Ms. Morgan
• Mrs. Tibble
• Pal
• Mary Moo Cow
• Maryann (cameo)
• Amanda Hulser (cameo)
• Liam (cameo)
• Edwin (cameo)
• Kyle (cameo)
• James MacDonald (cameo)
• Emily's mother (miscolored)
• Nigel Ratburn (mentioned)

Trivia

• At the end of the 2000 rerun intro on PBS Kids before this episode, Arthur’s crashing sound remains the same.
• Emily said that D.W. face was bleeding. However blood is not shown, as D.W. covered her face. This was likely because showing blood would be inappropriate for a family show.
• Karma: The Tibbles got in trouble when they hit D.W. with a swing.
• Irony:
  • It's also implied that the Tibbles wouldn't have done half of the things they did "in character" had they simply been told beforehand that the show wasn't real.
  • Like D.W. said, if Arthur didn't complain about D.W. and The Tibbles making noise then The Tibbles wouldnt have seen that TV show.
• Moral: Do not imitate the things you see on TV or you will get someone, or yourself, hurt.

Cultural references

• The Terrific Turbo-Trooper Toy T-Bot Team could resemble the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers, which was becoming popular around the time of the airing. The only difference is that instead of five/six in the real show, there are only two.
  • Their show title resembles Superhuman Samurai Syber-Squad.
  • The secret signal, though, seems to come from the Ultraman series, as it is the motion that Ultraman (and the other Ultra's, for that matter) use his Specium Beam.
• One of the shows that the Tibble twins watch is a parody of The Busy World of Richard Scarry, another Cinar production. Sonja Ball reprises her role as Huckle Bat.
• In the hospital D.W. and the Tibbles argue whether wresting is real. In Professional Wrestling the fights are staged.

Episode connections

• This is the first episode where D.W. gets hit; the second time occurred in "Arthur's Big Hit".
• D.W. gets stitches in this episode, she mentions to her doll about getting stitches in For Whom the Bell Tolls.

Errors

• While Jane Read was changing the channel on the TV, her ear changes color for a split second.
• The Tibbles' costumes switch in the scene where they correct Emily's singing of the alphabet.
  • The Tibbles' costumes also switch in the scene where they hit D.W. with a swing.
• The 2nd swing disappears when they the first hits D.W. but it reappears in the next shot.

Home Video

DVD

• Arthur: The Complete Series 4

Gallery

• 

  The Terrific Turbo Trooper Toy T-Bot Team

• 
• 

  The Tibble Twins in T-Bot Team costumes

• 

  "Time Out!"

• 

  Richard Scarry cameo