Muffy's Classy Classics Club

"Muffy's Classy Classics Club"
Season/Series:	15
Number in season:	8a
Original Airdate:	May 23, 2012 February 14, 2012 November 19, 2010 October 4, 2010 December 21, 2012
Credits
Written by:	Susan Kim
Storyboard by:	Jean Lajeunesse Patrick Boutin Gerry Capelle
Episodes
Previous "What's in a Name?"	Next "Best Enemies"
Read transcript

"Muffy's Classy Classics Club" is the first half of the eighth episode in the fifteenth season of Arthur.

Summary

Muffy starts a book club, but doesn't want to read books others suggest after her own suggestions prove unpopular.

Plot

Bailey tells the viewers about what it's like to be Muffy's butler. He enjoys his job, even though it involves lots of hard work.

Muffy's Classy Classics Club

After the title card, Muffy and Bailey are seen at the toy store. Muffy is buying Pretty Pioneer Dolls, each of them coming with their own book. Bailey notes that they all look the same, but Muffy reads that she should "collect the dolls, collect the books, and start your very own book club".

The first meeting of the book club (which is made up of Arthur, Muffy, Brain, Francine, and Bailey) doesn't go so well. Francine thinks that the book they read (called "Abigail and the Apple Aspic") was so ridiculous she found it funny, and Brain complains that the book was historically inaccurate. Arthur then tells Muffy that they should take turns deciding what to read. Brain suggests reading The Quark Knight.

At the next book club meeting, Bailey said he liked the book and was touched by Ned's character. Arthur likes it, but he was confused by the ending, because he doesn't know if Ned died. Brain explains that Ned was sucked into a hole in the space-time continuum, so the story never even took place, which Francine finds interesting. Eventually, when it is Muffy's turn, she admits that she didn't read it, because she thought it was too boring. Brain asks her how she can know it was boring if she never even read it in the first place, and Muffy says that she knows by just looking at the cover of the book. She then concludes that since it's her book club, she should get to choose what to read. Sick of Muffy's bossy behavior, Arthur, Brain, and Francine quit and form their own book club.

After a failed attempt at getting new members, which includes trying to invite Sue Ellen, Prunella, Binky, Mr. Ratburn, and the Tibble Twins, Muffy hosts another book club meeting where they review "Bernadette and the Butter Churn". The only new member is Mr. Crosswire. They all agree that the book was terrible, even Muffy. When Muffy thinks "Camilla and the Crusty Crumpet" will be better, Both Bailey and Muffy's father strongly doubt it, saying that the books aren't very good, as they're only written to help sell dolls. Muffy, depressed, decides to end her book club and move her Pretty Pioneers books to the library, coming across The Sable Stallion along the way, a book Francine had wanted to read earlier. Though Muffy had originally thought it would be boring, upon reading it, Muffy actually enjoys it, but she falls asleep and has a nightmare about the Pretty Pioneer dolls attacking her and wanting to do the same thing over and over. Muffy sees the Sable Stallion horse, and asks him to help her, but the horse mentions that he is going to Francine's book club and reminds Muffy that she thought all the other books are too boring and that she only wanted to read the same thing. 

The next day, Muffy apologizes to Arthur, Francine, and Brain for acting bossy, and joins their book club, which also consists of Binky and Buster. As they talk about the book, Muffy asks them not to give it away, as she is still reading it, but so far, she loves it. The episode then ends.

Characters

• Muffy Crosswire
• Bailey
• Francine Frensky
• Arthur Read
• The Brain
• Pretty Pioneers Collection
• Ed Crosswire
• Binky Barnes
• Timmy and Tommy Tibble(cameo)
• Prunella Deegan(cameo)
• Nigel Ratburn(cameo)
• Buster Baxter(cameo)

Trivia

• This is the last time the "Hot Air Balloon" title card is used in the U.S. version.
• The Sable Stallion belonged to Muffy's father when he was in fourth grade.
• The suspenseful music heard at the end of Muffy's dream is frequently heard on Cyberchase, another PBS Kids show.
• It's revealed that the Crosswires have a library. However, the shelves are packed with fake books and there includes a fake fireplace. Apparently, Muffy and her father had no idea they had a library at all.
• 4th wall break: The Quark Knight is written by Jeffrey R. R. Deegan. This could be a reference to Arthur writer Jacqui Deegan.
• Moral: Don't judge a Book by its Cover
• Timeline: The dinosaur skeleton from "Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurus" is seen again in this episode.

Cultural references

• The Quark Knight's title parodies The Dark Knight.
• The Pretty Pioneers are a parody of American Girl dolls and the Little House on The Prairie books.

Errors

• When Brain picks one of the Copernicus books and hands them to Bailey, the way Bailey puts them back should be upside down, but they are shown to be facing the same way.
• Brain has a backpack when they enter the library for the first time, but he didn't have it earlier when they were in the living room.
• The dial on the fireplace disappears when Ed visits the library.
• When Muffy takes a book from the stack of three books next to her, there are three books again when she is holding one of them.

Gallery

:Main article: Muffy's Classy Classics Club/Gallery

References