Misfortune Teller

"Misfortune Teller"
Season/Series:	1
Number in season:	23B
Original Airdate:	November 6, 1996 January 14, 2002
Credits
Written by:	Joe Fallon
Storyboard by:	Luc Savoie
Episodes
Previous "Bully for Binky"	Next "Arthur's Tooth"
Read transcript

"Misfortune Teller" is the second half of the twenty-third episode in the first season of Arthur. It was later adapted into the book Arthur and the Cootie-Catcher.

Summary

Everyone wants Prunella to tell their fortunes, and pretty soon she's making all their decisions for them.

Plot

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Arthur reads a comic book in bed and tells the viewers that people believe in some weird things, like his friend Buster with aliens and spaceships, and Francine plays better whenever she wears her lucky socks that never got wash. Arthur doesn't think he believes in that weird stuff either and soon check under his bed for monsters before he goes to bed.

-Title Card- Francine and Arthur walk through Prunella's backyard for her ninth and a half birthday party. Everyone has unique gifts to match the occasion; Binky gives Prunella a half baseball, Francine gives half of a licorice, and Buster gives her a half of a candy bar in which he ate half of it.

Then Prunella's older sister, Rubella, tells everyone to gather around and perceive her cootie catcher. She tells them that it was created and handed down from her ancestors in the Transylvania Mountains, it has the power to tell fortunes, and was given to a special girl on her half birthday. Francine asks if she can have a slice of half birthday cake, but Rubella dares to Francine to ask her fortune. Francine's fortune was if she will play professional football; Prunella tells Francine to pick a color and a number. So she picks green and three, then Prunella tells her to pick another number; so she picks the number six, with the answer being yes. But Francine tells her that they'll have to wait when they're all grown up if it was right.

Buster asks Prunella if he'll ever get an A on the geography test, but everyone laughed at it, and Arthur tells Buster that he'll never get A's. So, Buster picks blue and the number 2 and 5, then it reads "It is Certain!"; even though Buster doesn't get A's in his Alphabet Soup.

The next day, Mr. Ratburn gives Arthur and Buster there Geography Test. In which Mr. Ratburn gives Buster a straight A and Buster was right.

Characters

Major

• Prunella Deegan
• Rubella Deegan
• Arthur Read
• Buster Baxter
• Alan Powers
• Francine Frensky
• Muffy Crosswire
• Binky Barnes

Minor

• Sue Ellen Armstrong
• D.W. Read
• Jane Read
• Coach Bumpus
• Francis Haney
• Nigel Ratburn
• Wanda Deegan

Cameos

• George Lundgren
• Jenna Morgan

Trivia

• At the end, Prunella discarded the cootie catcher because she and her friends don't need to use it anymore, although Prunella still uses the cootie catcher occasionally in later seasons.
• Although Prunella is the central character, the title card used the one where Francine hits the gong that was mainly used for episodes where Francine was the central character. The title card where Prunella is gazing into the crystal ball for fortunes wasn't created until Season 4, although the use of the title card for this episode is likely because of the fact that Francine has one of the major roles here besides the central Prunella.

Errors

• At Prunella's 9 1/2 birthday party, D.W. was shown four times in the crowd; but in other shots there, she actually wasn't at the party.
• The cootie catcher's colors are not properly aligned.
• During Francine's turn for a fortune, after she picked green, the number 3 was not an option (although she picked it), and then the number 6 (she picked that number) was with the odd numbers in place of the number 1, although 6 is an even number.
• When Arthur, Francine, and Muffy go to Prunella's house for another fortune, Francine knocked on the door and was ahead of the two; but later in that scene, she is standing behind them.
• Also in that scene with Arthur, Francine, and Muffy at the front door of Prunella's house, the car on the street had its headlights on, but later on its headlights are off, although there was nobody in that car.
• A cootie catcher that has been mangled in the washing machine would be unusable.
• Out of all the people who attended Prunella's 9 1/2 birthday party, Buster was the only one dressed formally besides party host Prunella, while everyone else who attended were dressed casually. This might be because half-birthdays are not as important as actual birthdays.
• In the final scenes, Francine was wearing a blue shirt with the number 2 on it; but after she and the others go inside Arthur's house to watch Turtles, Turtles, Turtles, she is wearing her usual red shirt.

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Screenshots

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  A deluxe Crosswire cootie catcher, featuring new words, more words than Prunella's.

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