Brain Sees Stars

"Brain Sees Stars"
Season/Series:	19 (US)
Number in season:	1B
Original Airdate:	January 18, 2016 June 3, 2015 April 29, 2015
Credits
Written by:	Matt Hoverman
Storyboard by:	Jeremy O'Neill
Episodes
Previous "Brain's Brain"	Next "Sue Ellen Adds It Up"
Read transcript

"Brain Sees Stars" is the second half of the first episode in the nineteenth season of Arthur.

Summary

Brain plans to see a meteor shower for the first time.

Plot

Arthur, Buster, and Brain take off in a rocket. Brain starts explaining that he likes astrophysics because it is predictable. He aims his rocket for where Mars will be in eight months, and Buster asks what they are supposed to be doing until then; Brain gets a chessboard.

When the eight months have passed and the rocket is heading to Mars, Buster accuses Arthur of having cheated at chess and accidentally kicks a lever, causing the rocket to fly off-course. Brain says that science is predictable, but people are not.

Brain Sees Stars

Brain wakes up and hears about a meteor shower happening later that day, which he is determined to watch. His mother asks him for help with an ice cream order, and Brain says that he asked Arthur to substitute for him, in preparation for the meteor shower.

At school, Brain recounts missing previous meteor showers; he missed the Perseids when his grandma visited, the Draconids when he had to clean up the ice cream shop, and the Quadrantids when he had to change Mr. Crosswire's tire.

Buster thinks that Brain is cursed, and Brain replies that he has made sure that nothing can go wrong this time. Arthur enters, sick with a fever and unable to work in the shop. Brain hesitantly hires Buster to work in the store instead.

Leaving class, Brain is stopped by Mr. Ratburn, who wants him to read the paper he wrote at an open house that night. Brain quickly gets Fern to do it instead, who argues that she needs time to write a paper. Brain offers to be Fern's editor and read her paper when she is finished.

Buster and Brain think that Brain will get to see the meteor shower now, but Francine says that it's Brain's turn to clean the soccer equipment after practice. When practice is over, Brain and Fern go to see Mr. Ratburn; Mr. Ratburn likes Fern's work, and when Brain compliments it, she interprets it as that she will have to start over again.

Brain reads his paper and runs to the ice cream shop. Buster has gotten sick, and Brain's mother orders him to leave, telling Brain that she can handle running the shop by herself. Brain goes to cross the street, but is stalled by an old lady who needs help crossing and then tips him in coins.

Brain arrives right before the meteor shower, only to see a bright light; it turns out to be Mr. Crosswire's drive-in movie theater. Arthur and Buster tell Brain about the theater, and Brain finally gives up on seeing the meteor shower.

Arthur feels bad for Brain and asks Mr. Crosswire to turn off the projector; he does, and everyone instead watches the meteor shower. Arthur tells Brain that there is another thing he can count on besides the meteor shower: his friends.

Characters

• Brain
• Arthur Read
• Buster Baxter
• Mrs. Powers
• Ed Crosswire
• Nigel Ratburn
• Fern Walters
• Francine Frensky
• Francis Haney
• Ladonna Compson
• Molly MacDonald (cameo)
• Rattles (cameo)
• Slink (cameo)
• Binky Barnes (cameo)
• Muffy Crosswire (cameo)
• Bud Compson (cameo)
• Cisely Compson (cameo)
• Cheikh (cameo)
• Maria Pappas (cameo)
• Steve (cameo)
• Dry cleaners worker (cameo)

Trivia

• This episode is dedicated to the memory of Walter Massey, the voice of Mr. Haney and Mr. Marco who passed away in 2014.
  • This is also Mr. Haney's final speaking appearance.
    • It means this episode was produced in 2014.
• Moral: When someone wants to see a metor shower, don't ruin it to show something useless for your own benifits.

Episode connections

• In “Friday the 13th”, Brain also believes to be cursed and accepts good luck charms from Buster.

References

• During the spaceship sequence in the introduction, Johann Strauss’ The Blue Danube plays. The tune was also famously used for the space station scene in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
  • Brain and Buster eating peas in zero gravity while The Blue Danube plays may have been inspired by Homer eating chips in The Simpsons episode Deep Space Homer.
• When Brain awakes, the radio plays Bach's Violin Concerto in A minor.
• Carl Sagan (1934-1996) was a famous astronomer and host of the 1980s PBS series Cosmos: A Personal Voyage. The Carlsaganids are fictional while Perseids, Draconids and Quadrantids are actual meteor showers.
• “What in the name of Copernicus?!” refers to Nicolaus Copernicus, an early astronomer.
• The Episode's plot is simliar to Appointment TV and Sandy, Help Us where (Sandy, Spongebob and Brain) constantly help people before getting to do what they want but it gets stopped by (Pecan Sandy revolting and Destroying the room, The Crosswire Drive In and Spongebob's DVR malfunctioning)