To Eat or Not to Eat

"To Eat or Not to Eat"
Season/Series:	15
Number in season:	5A
Original Airdate:	October 14, 2011; February 15, 2012; November 18, 2010; October 3, 2010; December 20, 2012;
	Credits
Written by:	Ken Pontac
Storyboard by:	Rob Clark; Karine Charlebois; Guy Lamoureux
	Episodes
Previous; "Buster the Lounge Lizard"	Next; "S.W.E.A.T."
	Read transcript

This article is about To Eat or Not to Eat. You may be looking for To Beat or Not to Beat.

"To Eat or Not to Eat" is the first half of the fifth episode in the fifteenth season of Arthur.

Summary

A brand new candy bar is in town! But why is it making everyone behave so strangely? And what exactly is this ingredient called Tri-Enzomated Zorn Jelly, anyway?

Plot

Buster sees a commercial on TV for a new candy bar called Big Boss bars. He immediately starts seeing all of his friends eating the bars, including Binky, who buys large amounts of Big Boss bars from the Sugar Bowl in order to sell them to people and earn money. Buster plans to try the candy bar, but before he eats the candy, he notices that there are several ingredients on the nutrition label that he hasn't heard of before. Buster also notices that after his friends finish enjoying the candy, they become tired, sluggish and begin to have headaches. After going to the library and talking to the Brain to learn more about the ingredients, he finds out that some of the ingredients in the candy bar come from beetles and may be radioactive. When Buster tells his mother, she proclaims that they should take a tour of the candy factory.

When Buster and his mother visit the factory, they quickly discover that the ingredients in the candy are addictive and are making people sick. Buster's mother writes the article in her newspaper about it, exposing the candy factory's secret and ending the sales of Big Boss Bars. While Binky tries unsuccessfully to sell the now unwanted Big Boss bars, Buster admits he's glad he never tried the candy while he eats healthy food.

Characters

Major

Minor

Cameo

Trivia

Cultural references

The title of this episode is a parody of the line "To be or NOT to be", from the famous Shakespeare play, Hamlet.
- This is the second episode whose title is a parody of that line. The first was "To Beat or Not to Beat."
Buster remarks the Big Boss Bars will last for centuries thanks to all the chemicals in them. This is a reference to the urban legend that Twinkies have so many chemicals, they have an indefinite shelf life.
Busters fantasy’s are very similar to Film Noir , a type of crime movie genre popular in the 40s and 50s.