Arthur Changes Gears/Transcript

Introduction

The camera zooms in on Arthur's lighted window in the evening.

Arthur: It won't be long now. Any day, Pal. Any day. The walls in Arthur's room are plastered with cutouts. Magazines are everywhere on the floor and on the bed. Arthur begins to cut out a picture. D.W. walks into view.

D.W.: Arthur Timothy Read and his scruffy dog, Pal. An ordinary boy in an ordinary town. But lately, a boy obsessed. A boy whose every thought and action centers on one thing and one thing only.

Arthur: Why are you standing in the corner of my room? And who are you talking to?

D.W.: Shhhh! Where was I? Oh, yes. A boy obsessed. A boy who has stepped over an invisible line. A line between reality and... Arthur sticks a cutout on the camera lens, making the screen go black. Hey, I'm talking here!

#

Francine, Brain, Prunella, Muffy, Binky and Buster meet at the park.

Francine: What should we do today? Mad Mud Dirt Derby?

Brain: Let's loop the park three times. We'll call it “Le Tour de Elwood City”.

Francine: Where's Arthur? Arthur comes running on foot.

Arthur: (pants)

Francine: Hey! What gives? Where's the hot new wheels?

Arthur: At home. I'm saving it for a special occasion.

Francine: What's the point of a cool bike if you never use it?

Arthur: What's the point in wrecking it after I saved all that money?

Francine: Come here, let me show you. I got this one when I wiped out racing to the Mighty Mountain bowling tournament. I got back up and I won.

Binky: I got a better one. I got this when I was riding with no hands and ran into a fence.

Buster: Oh, yeah? Well, I got this... Actually, my bike came like this. I think maybe it's used.

Francine: The point is, nothing says "I love you" to a bike like a few battle scars.

#

A ghost appears in Arthur's room.

Arthur: Who... who are you?

Bike Ghost: I am the Ghost of Bicycles Never Ridden. Apart from wearing a bicycle helmet and jersey under his cloak he looks exactly like the “Ghost of Lunch Tomorrow” from “Prunella Gets It Twice”.

Arthur: What do you want?

Bike Ghost: "Bicycles Never Ridden?" Boy! You pick the most obvious name you can and people still don't get it.

Arthur: Okay, but the GX Trailblazer 10,000 is not just a bike, it's... it's a work of...

Bike Ghost: Yeah, yeah. Grab my cape!

Arthur holds the cape. He and the ghost fly twice around the Earth and land in the Reads' kitchen were Mrs. Read is washing expensive dishes by hand.

Arthur: We couldn't just use the stairs?

Bike Ghost: It's more impressive this way. Look! Look upon these, Arthur Read.

Arthur: They're just plates.

Bike Ghost: Not just any plates - china plates! People get these as wedding presents and they never eat off of 'em. They just wash 'em.

Arthur catches a plate before it falls to the ground. The ghost takes him to a shed and pulls a tarpaulin off a Rolls Royce.

Bike Ghost: Nice, huh?

Arthur: I didn't know Mr Crosswire had a car like that.

Bike Ghost: Nobody does. He never drives it.

Mr. Crosswire: Wha...! Uncovered! Stand back! He pulls the tarpaulin back and hugs the car. My baby!

Arthur: I'm not as bad as that. It's not the same.

Bike Ghost: Is too.

Arthur: Is not.

Bike Ghost: Is too.

Arthur: Is noaaah.... The ghost drags him away.

In Prunella's room Prunella is taking pink boots out of her closet.

Prunella: (sighs) They're just too pretty to wear. What if I scuffed them?

Arthur: Tsk! Girls!

Bike Ghost: Soon her feet will get bigger and she won't be able to wear them, even if she wants to. Just like you won't be able to ride your bike.

Prunella: Hey! What are you doing in my room?

Arthur: How can she see us? I thought we were ghosts. The ghost shrugs.

Prunella: I know you. You're that Ghost of Lunch Tomorrow.

Bike Ghost: Uh... gotta go!

Prunella: So what's it gonna be? Pizza or cold macaroni?

Bike Ghost: Um...ixnay on the unchlay? I'm afraid that's all we have time for today. He snaps his fingers. He and Arthur disappear.

They appear in Arthur's room which looks like nobody has been in it for years.

Arthur: Oh! This looks like my room, only dustier. An old version of Arthur comes in. Is that me? The ghost nods.

Old Arthur: Just once, before I'm too old... He drags a blanket off Arthur's bike causing a large cloud of dust.

Arthur+Bike Ghost:

Old Arthur: …I'm gonna ride this bike. He sits on the bike. It falls to pieces.

Arthur wakes up in bed.

Arthur: Aahh! (breathes loudly) It was only a dream! There's still time! My bike doesn't have to become a rusty heap of unused parts.