Arthur's Big Meltdown/Transcript

Introduction

Arthur is walking Grandma Thora's dog, Killer, in the park.

Arthur: If Grandma Thora pays me two dollars a walk, and if I walk Killer two times a day...

Killer: (whines)

Arthur: Then I'll finally have enough money to buy the coolest thing in the world-- A pair of Bionic Bunny sneakers with a halo over them in a store's display window is shown. Bionic Bunny sneakers. He puts his hands on the display window. The first ever! I started trying to get money for them weeks ago. Cut to Arthur sitting at the kitchen table in his house. (to Mr. Read) I was just wondering, could I have a raise in my allowance?

Mr. Read: (laughs) Ah!

Cut to Arthur standing behind a lemonade stand on the front yard of his house.

Arthur: (voiceover) That didn't work, so I had to go to plan B. (real time) Come and get it! Nice, cool lemonade! Thunder strikes and and it starts raining. Harry Mills walks past the lemonade stand. Made with real organic rain water. (voiceover) Then I moved on to plan C. Cut to Arthur about to put a garbage bag into a trash bin outside his house, when the garbage bag rips open at the back, spilling the garbage inside on his house's doorstep. And D. Cut to Arthur struggling to pull a weed out of the ground. D was particularly gross. He pulls out the weed, and the camera closes in on a worm stuck in its roots. But now, with just two days of walking Killer, I'll finally have enough. Those Bionic Bunny sneakers are going to be so cool, aren't they? Killer sees a squirrel in a tree and pulls on her leash, dragging Arthur along. Whoa!

Title Card: Arthur shaking his fist

Binky: (voiceover) "Arthur's Big Meltdown."

At Muffy's House, Arthur is admiring his new Bionic Bunny sneakers in the game room while his friends are playing games.

Muffy: Daddy says I can have a celebrity chef and a makeup artist to do face paint. It'll be the best party ever.

Francine: Isn't the party for the new showroom at Crosswire Motors?

Muffy: Well, yes, but Daddy wants me to have fun, too.

Buster: He scores against Brain. Whoo-hoo! Did you see that goal?

Arthur: Huh?

Brain: I think someone is a little too busy admiring his new sneakers.

Muffy: Kale smoothies, boys?

Buster: Sure!

Arthur: Okay, thanks!

Arthur takes a kale smoothie off of a tray carried by Bailey.

Buster: Okay, next point wins the game.

Arthur takes a drink of his smoothie and looks down at his sneakers. The puck from the game Brain and Buster are playing flies upwards off the game table and lands in a glass of smoothie, causing it to splash over Arthur's sneakers.

Arthur: (gasps) Grr...

Brain: Yeah!

Arthur: (angrily) You ruined them! You ruined my new shoes!

Brain: We did? What happened?

Arthur: You and your dumb game! He slams his glass of smoothie down onto the tray in anger. That's what happened!

Muffy: Arthur. Relax.

Arthur: Relax? Look at them! I worked weeks and weeks to get these sneakers. Grr... He shakes his fist in anger. And they're ruined! He walks away, kicking a ball on the floor as he does so. The ball bounces off the wall and tips over a glass and jug of smoothie and a stand that some of Muffy's toys are on, sending them crashing down to the ground. The other kids close their eyes in fear of the destruction caused, and then open them again and are visibly surprised at what they see.

***

Arthur, still angry, walks into his house and past D.W., who is sitting on a chair and playing with a Princess Perky doll.

D.W.: Hey! You're getting green footprints everywhere. Were you playing in a swamp?

Arthur: It's not my fault. Buster and Brain did it. And I'm never ever talking to them again!

He walks up the stairs to his room, and D.W. looks up the stairs from the bottom.

***

Francine, Brain, and Buster are walking together.

Buster: I've never seen Arthur get so angry.

Francine: Maybe you should apologize.

Brain: It was just an accident. We didn't do it on purpose.

Francine: Still. They were his new sneakers.

Buster: Huh?

He, Francine, and Brain notice that part of the fence around Arthur's House is broken.

Brain: You don't think Arthur did that, do you?

Buster: No way! Actually, I'm not so sure...

He imagines Arthur pulling up the fence post from the ground in anger.

Arthur: (in Buster's imagination) Take that! He slams the fence post back into the ground. Buster's thought bubble disappears.

Buster: Wow, Arthur's even madder than I thought if he's destroying his own house.

Francine: Good luck. She waves to Buster and Brain and walks off.

Brain: Come on.

He and Buster walk towards the entrance of Arthur's House.

***

Buster rings the doorbell of Arthur's House. D.W. opens the door.

D.W.: Oh. Hi Buster, hi Big Head. Hey, why'd you make Arthur play in a swamp?

Brain: Um, we didn't.

Buster: Is he at home? We have to talk to him.

D.W.: Sorry. He said, "I'm never, ever talking to them again." That's a quote.

Brain+Buster: (gasps)

D.W.: Want me to take a message?

Buster: No, that's okay. We'll talk to him at school.

D.W.: Good luck. She closes the door.

Brain and Buster are walking down the sidewalk.

Buster: What's going on? This isn't like Arthur at all.

Brain: It's like there are two different Arthurs. Like the novella, "Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde." Brain imagines Arthur as Dr. Jekyll and himself and Buster as his assistants. In the story, a mild-mannered doctor drinks a potion and becomes a completely different person.

Arthur drinks the potion, and his left iris shrinks while his right one grows, and the lens of his glasses turn a pale yellow. Buster accidentally sends a puck from the game he's playing flying into Arthur's tea, causing it to spill onto his wingtips.

Arthur: (gasps) You got tea on my new wingtips! (growls) He turns into a green-skinned monster with sharp claws. (deeper voice) They're ruined!

Buster: (stammering) It-it was an accident!

Brain is hiding behind a piece of furniture as Arthur growls and rips the table Buster was playing his game on in two with his bare hands. The imagination sequence ends.

Buster: It was that smoothie. I knew kale was bad for you.

Brain: Buster, it was just an example.

Buster: Maybe. But still, this is an Arthur I've never seen before.

***

Arthur is brushing one of the Bionic Bunny sneakers in front of the bathroom sink. When he's finished, he looks at it and it makes a "ding" sound to signify that it's clean.

Arthur: Huh.

***

Arthur walks into the kitchen with the now clean sneakers on. He sits down at the table.

Arthur: Sorry, I was just washing my sneakers.

D.W.: Those icky green things you were ruining the carpet with?

Arthur: They're not green anymore. He lifts up a foot. They look brand-new, see? I'll clean the carpet after dinner. Hey, what happened to the fence outside?

Mr. Read: I may have bumped into it while I was parking. Sometimes accidents just happen.

D.W.: You're welcome, by the way.

Arthur: For what?

D.W.: Buster and Brain stopped by. I told them that you never want to talk to them again.

Arthur: Why would you do that?

D.W.: Because that's exactly what you said.

Mr. Read: Did you guys have a fight?

Arthur: No, not really. I just thought they'd ruined my sneakers. I kind of overreacted. Like you said, sometimes accidents just... happen. I'll apologize at school tomorrow.

***

Brain is looking at his phone in his room.

Brain: Arthur was still so mad, he tore apart the fence in front of his house.

Muffy is looking at her phone in her room.

Muffy: Guess what? After ruining my game room, Arthur went on a rampage...

Francine is laying in her bed and looking at her phone.

Francine: "...and destroyed his whole house?"

At school, Jenna and Maria are looking at a phone in the hallway.

George: Wow! Arthur banned for life after he ripped the door off the library. Everybody's saying he's a menace to society.

Binky: Hey! That's my job.

Rattles is looking at his phone, while Sue Ellen is showing what's on hers to 3rd Grade Male Rabbit. Arthur is looking into his locker as Mary and Jack Weasel walk by.

Jack Weasel: (to Mary) Then he wrecked the bowling alley with his bare hands.

Arthur: Who did?

Mary and Jack Weasel look behind them and see Arthur.

Mary+Jack Weasel: (gasp) They run away.

Arthur: Huh?

Buster and Brain are standing further down the hallway.

Arthur: I need to talk to you.

Buster: (nervously) Oh! H-hi, Arthur.

Brain: Please don't kick my locker in.

Bell rings. Buster and Brain walk away.

Arthur: Guys?

***

In class, Muffy and Sue Ellen are staring at Arthur awkwardly, and then look away.

Arthur: What's wrong with them?

Francine: Nothing's wrong, just stay calm.

Arthur: I am calm.

Francine: Of course you are.

Arthur: Did you finish that book report? Oh, I forgot to put my name on it. C'mon, pen. Shakes pen. Grr... The pencil goes flying and gets stuck in the "World Wonders" board.

Kids: (gasp)

Buster: (whispering) There he goes again.

***

In the cafeteria, Muffy, Francine, and Buster sit at the same table.

Muffy: Looks like everyone I invited is coming to Daddy's party tomorrow.

Buster: I hope the old Arthur shows up. Who knows what the new Arthur is capable of.

In Muffy's imagination, the same monstrous version of Arthur from Brain's earlier imagination sequence causes a cardboard cutout of Mr. Crosswire to tip over at the party, and it falls onto and punctures the wall of the bouncy castle that James, Liam, and Maryann are bouncing in, making them scream in fear and deflating the bouncy castle. The imagination sequence ends.

Muffy: I'm not inviting him.

Buster: You have to! If you don't, you'll hurt his feelings.

Arthur puts his tray on top of the other ones atop the garbage bin, causing the stack of trays to collapse.

Arthur: (gasp) (groaning)

Muffy: Sorry. He's not coming.

***

Arthur is walking down the hallway at school, waving, but the other kids seem to be avoiding him. George hides behind a set of lockers when Arthur walks by him. Arthur steps outside the school building.

Arthur: (to Buster and Brain) Wait up! Why is everyone avoiding me?

Buster: (nervously) I'm not avoiding. Why would I be avoiding?

Brain: Bye. I have to, um, catch up on next week's homework!

Buster: Wait, take me with you.

Arthur: Buster! Tell me what's going on.

Buster: You've turned into Mr. Hyde.

Arthur: Huh?

Buster: What I mean is-- it's your temper. Everyone's afraid of you.

Arthur: My temper? I'm the calmest person I know.

Buster: What about yesterday at Muffy's house?

Arthur: Yeah, I did overreact.

Buster: And then you knocked down your fence, and threw that pen, and had a fit in the cafeteria.

Arthur: What? I didn't do any of those things. It isn't fair. Everyone thinks I'm dangerous just because I got a little mad at Muffy's.

Buster: A little mad? Arthur, I think there's something you should see.

***

At Muffy's, Muffy, Arthur, and Buster are looking at her laptop.

Muffy: Now just relax, Arthur. I'm going to download the footage from my security camera to my laptop. See?

Arthur: (on the video on the laptop) Relax? Look at them! I worked weeks and weeks to get these sneakers! And they're ruined! (in the present time) Okay, I guess I do seem pretty mad.

Muffy: Wait, it gets worse.

In the security camera footage, Arthur kicks a ball against a wall, causing it to bounce off and tip over a glass and jug of smoothie and a stand with some of Muffy's toys on it.

Arthur: I-I didn't mean to do all that.

Buster: I was surpised, too. You were out of control, Arthur.

***

Arthur is reading The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde on his bed.

D.W.: Hey, can I borrow these pens?

Arthur: Sure.

D.W.: How about this pad?

Arthur: Whatever. Just get out of my room.

D.W. puts a bottle of glue and a tape dispenser off of Arthur's desk into her bag.

Arthur: Hey, what do you think you're doing with all my stuff?

D,W,: You said I could have it.

Arthur: Did not.

D.W.: Did so.

Arthur: Did not!

D.W.: You said "Whatever." That means anything! So don't go and have a meltdown.

Arthur: (yelling) Meltdown? I'm perfectly calm! Wait. Why am I yelling?

D.W.: That's what I always say.

Arthur: Maybe Buster is right and I really am like Mr. Hyde.

D.W.: I don't know who that is, but everybody gets mad sometimes. That's what Ms. Morgan says.

Arthur: But now my friends are afraid of me.

D.W.: Well, Ms, Morgan says it's what you do when you're mad that matters.

Arthur: I can't believe I'm asking you, but what do you do when you're angry?

D.W.: First thing, I blame everything on you.

Arthur: I know that part.

D.W.: But when that doesn't work, I do this. She swings her arms back and forth. Wicky-wacky-ticky-tacky-flibbedy-flabbady-floop!

Arthur: What?

D.W.: I say something really silly. Ms. Morgan says when you do that, you forget you're so mad.

Arthur: And... that's it?

D.W.: Then I give myself a time out and take a very deep breath. And then I feel better.

Arthur: That's the worst advice I've ever heard.

D.W.: So... can I keep your stuff?

Arthur: No.

***

At school, Arthur is talking to his friends in the hallway.

Arthur; I'm really sorry. I was upset, but that's no excuse.

Francine: I get it. I've gotten a little mad myself once or twice.

Buster: You? Of course not!

Brain: Never.

Arthur: I never meant to wreck your game room, Muffy.

Muffy: Okay, I accept your apology. You can come to Daddy's party. But no bringing Mr. Hyde.

***

At the party, Arthur is wearing his Bionic Bunny sneakers.

Buster: See? I told you we didn't have to worry about Arthur.

Muffy: Yeah, I guess that was a one-time thing.

Buster and Brain squeeze a bottle of mustard together, causing mustard to spill onto Arthur's sneakers.

Arthur: What?

Francine+Muffy: (gasps)

Buster: Uh-oh.

Arthur: (angrily) Again? He shakes his fist. Wicky-wacky-ticky-tacky-fibbedy-flabbady-floop! (takes a deep breath)

Brain: We forgive you about your sneakers.

Arthur: Thank you. It was just an accident. Huh? He turns around to see Buster cleaning his sneakers.

Buster: What was that thing you said?

Arthur: Something D.W. told me to do.

Buster: You listen to D.W. now?

Arthur: Just this once. And you can never, ever tell her.