D.W. Beats All

"D.W. Beats All"
Season/Series:	9
Number in season:	9A
Original Airdate:	April 7, 2005
Credits
Written by:	Raye Lankford Ken Scarborough
Storyboard by:	Jeremy O'Neill
Episodes
Previous "Emily Swallows a Horse"	Next "Buster the Myth Maker"
Read transcript

"D.W. Beats All" is the first half of the ninth episode in the ninth season of Arthur.

Summary

When the Tibble Twins get a set of drums and decide to perform the Summer Serenade Festival, D.W. wishes that she has an instrument of her own to play, and ultimately creates her own instrument.

Plot

D.W. discovers that the Tibble Twins got a set of drums for the Summer Serenade D.W. wants to try it out, but Tommy will not let her. After that, D.W. dreams of her getting her own drum as a size of a giant! Then the set dream was the Tibbles playing their drums then when we zoomed on Tommy he hears D.W.'s set then he looks shocked then he sees his drumsticks shatter to pieces then the symbols starts cracking and shattering then they parts where you play tears up and then when Tommy and Timmy sees it messing up, the what's left of it fall to the ground they rush to their grandma crying, and then we see the drums messing up all of Elwood City then when we see Arthur play piano the keys then Arthur cries he'll never be as loud as D.W. .After the dream then D.W. tells them her parents are going to get bigger drums Jane says no, then D.W. dreams about everybody making fun of her at the Summer Serenade. When she sees Arthur and his friends playing their instrument, she imagation herself playing each one which would amaze them and make the Tibbles jealous. However, as each tried one, reality kicks in when she found out she not good or doesn't know how to play them. So she started to play on Francine's drums but she played it loud enough that Arthur and his friends can hear them. Francine said that D.W. almost broke them, and Fern said there's a difference between music and loud noises and Francine played a solo as an example to show D.W. that you have to practice an instrument so you can be good at them.

While swinging Kate on the swing, D.W. laments to herself how she realize all instrument even the easy to make sounds like drums take practice and now have nothing to play on Saturday. With a little help from Kate, D.W. realizes that she doesn't needs musical instrument, since she heard random noises that sound like music. So she decides to come up with her own type of instrument.

D.W. gets:

• Kitchen Timer
• A Metronome
• Pogo Stick
• Sand Paper
• Spoons
• Hammer
• Cheese Grater
• Fan
• Rubber Ducky
• Newton's cradle
• A Toy ferris wheel
• Princess Sneeze-and-Wet
• A Bicycle Bell
• Glass Bottles
• Kate's Rattle
• A can of soda 
• Moo cans 
• Prunella's old See 'n Say 

Finally, she combines them into one thing and is prepared to go to the Summer Serenade. However, because of the Tibble Twins playing randomly, many people are leaving. But when D.W. starts, the audience takes a liking to it. At the end of the song, D.W. shakes the soda can; the soda sprays everywhere, and the timer ends. Everybody is amazed and applauds her, wanting her to take another bow.

The Tibble Twins then want D.W. to teach them how to play her instrument. D.W. offers to give them her bottles since she plans to make a bigger creation next time (which causes Dad and Mom to look at each other in surprise).

Characters

Major

• D.W. Read
• Arthur Read
• Buster Baxter
• Timmy and Tommy Tibble

Minor

• Jane Read
• David Read
• Kate Read
• Mrs. Tibble
• Francis Haney
• Fern Walters
• Francine Frensky
• Prunella Deegan

Cameo

• Binky Barnes
• Molly MacDonald
• Rattles
• Slink
• Unknown Male Adult Rabbit (Number 3)
• Unknown Female Adult Rabbit (Number 4)
• Nigel Ratburn
• Steve
• Otis
• Helen
• Nancy
• Ethel
• Norman Hedgehog
• Little Boy

Trivia

• The drums the Tibble Twins are playing are the same two colors as their neckerchiefs.
• There is an online game on the PBS Kids website that is based on this episode
• Irony: D.W. says that the sound of her door would make a good instrument, despite the door being too big for her to bring to the festival.
• Timeline: When David asks Arthur what the name of his band is, Arthur replies, "Well, we already used U Stink and We Stink..." This is a reference to "Arthur - It's Only Rock 'n' Roll."
• Karma: D.W.'s Parents did not listen to D.W., so it backfired on them.
• Moral: Listen to what someone says or else it will backfire on you.
• Running Gag: D.W. making music with her instruments.

Errors

• When Arthur and Mrs. Read look at D.W. pushing Kate on the swing, Kate is shown to have black hair.

Cultural references

• Arthur's band in this episode could be a spoof of Australia's popular children's music group, The Wiggles, because of the similar shirt colors (Arthur wears a yellow shirt like Greg, Sam, and Emma, Francine wears a red shirt like Murray and Simon, Fern wears a purple shirt like Jeff and Lachy, and Buster wears kind of a blue shirt like Anthony).