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The Rat Who Came to Dinner

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"The Rat Who Came To Dinner"
The Rat Who Came to Dinner.JPG
The Rat Who Came To Dinner Title Card.png
Season/Series: 4
Number in season: 5B
Original Airdate: United States October 11, 1999
Canada January 21, 2000[1]
Credits
Written by: Joe Fallon
Storyboard by: Maria Astadjova
Jeremy O'Neill
Episodes
Previous
"The Blizzard"
Next
"D.W. Tale Spins"
Read transcript
"The Rat Who Came to Dinner" is the second half of the fifth episode in the fourth season of Arthur. It was later adapted into the book Arthur's Teacher Moves In.

Summary

When Mr. Ratburn's roof collapses, Arthur's parents invite him to stay at their house, and Arthur is afraid that means his teacher will be grading him every minute.

Plot

Mr. Ratburn's roof collapsed, so he's staying at Arthur's house much to his shock. He feels scared, so he tries to distract him reluctantly. But then, Mr. Ratburn asks Arthur to put on Spooky-Poo, which Jane hadn't seen since she was 10. Later, he did a magic trick, to Arthur and D.W.'s shock. He teaches it to his family to their surprise. Later, they watched more Spooky-Poo. During dinner, David made Mr. Ratburn chocolate cake. At bedtime, Arthur decided Mr. Ratburn wasn't bad after all, and remarks that teachers can be sort of normal. The next day, Arthur's friends find out that Mr. Ratburn's stay last night was good, so they treat Arthur differently. When Arthur got home, he told his parents about it. The next day at lunch, Mr. Ratburn gave Arthur news of staying at each of his friends' houses, finishing the episode.

Characters

Major

Minor

Cameo

Trivia

  • Arthur's phone has only nine buttons instead of tweleve.
  • A running gag throughout this episode is that D.W. is constantly butchering Mr. Ratburn's name (saying Mr. Ratburn's name incorrectly), and Mr. Ratburn ignores her.
  • Arthur asks Francine and Muffy if they wanna go to the Sugar Bowl for some hot chocolate, but they said they refuse, then they say they're going to the sugar bowl which is exactly he asked them and where he's going.

Cultural references

  • Spooky Poo is a parody of the television show Scooby Doo, since Jane mentioned that she hadn't seen Spooky Poo since her tween days.
  • Binky calls Arthur Teacher's Pet which is a reference to the Disney movie Disney's Teacher's Pet.

Episode connections

  • "The Blizzard" was also a "Snowy" story. It is implied that this episode takes place immediately afterward.
  • The episode's title is a play on the famous play ''The Man Who Came to Dinner''.

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References