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On This Spot
| "On This Spot" | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Season/Series: | 12 |
| Number in season: | 5B |
| Original Airdate: |  November 3, 2008[1] February 9, 2009 April 16, 2009[2] |
| Credits | |
| Written by: | Dietrich Smith |
| Storyboard by: | Daniel Decelles |
| Episodes | |
| Previous "The Chronicles of Buster" |
Next "The Cherry Tree" |
| Read transcript | |
Summary[edit]
Arthur is dismayed to find out that his friends care more about celebrity sightings than local history.
Plot[edit]
After a history lecture, Arthur prints some images of the famous Native American Sitting Bull and a tree on the site where Sitting Bull performed in Buffalo Bill's Wild West Show. Arthur's friends are not interested, and Buster starts making a tour called the "Derek Montaigne Tour" after Arthur asks what historic events have taken place in Elwood City. Arthur and Mr. Ratburn pay a visit to Seymour Turkel (a parody of the famous writer and biologist). Turkel hands a petition to Arthur to make the same tree shown above a memorial. When Buster continues the Montaigne Tour and finds out that Montaigne never visited Elwood City, he hands the tour over to Arthur, who then changes the subject of the tour. By then, Arthur gets even more signatures on the petition.
Characters[edit]
- Arthur Read
- Nigel Ratburn
- Buster Baxter
- Sitting Bull
- Seymour Turkel
- Francine Frensky
- Muffy Crosswire
- Binky Barnes
- Mr. Higgins
- Gus (cameo)
- Sue Ellen Armstrong (cameo)
- Prunella Deegan (cameo)
- 3rd Grade Male Dog (cameo)
- Nancy (cameo)
- Otis (cameo)
- Mrs. Tibble (cameo)
- Helen (cameo)
- Alex (cameo)
- Matt Damon (mentioned)
- Mister Rogers (mentioned)
Trivia[edit]
- In U.S. markets, this is the last Arthur episode to use the 1992 WGBH logo at the end of the credits. Starting from "The Cherry Tree" the logo is replaced with a 2009 WGBH Kids logo at the end of the credits. This change wouldn't occur until the middle of Season 14 for non-U.S. markets.
- This episode is last time the DVS narrator does not say, "The end."
- Moral: Don't make fun of celebrities for your own benefits.
- Timeline:
- Arthur's line, "Actually, it was 123 years ago" indirectly reveals that this episode takes place in the year 2008.
- Buster mentions that Mister Rogers stayed in Elwood City, which occurred in "Arthur Meets Mister Rogers".
Episode connections[edit]
- Buster's alter ego "Dusty Buckets" already appeared in a fantasy in "Happy Anniversary".
Cultural references[edit]
- "Buccaneers of the Bahamas, Part Four” refers to Pirates of the Caribbean. In the real world, the fourth “Pirates” movie was released two and a half years after this episode.
- Summer School Musical is a parody of the Disney film High School Musical.
- Francine and Buster's hover scooters and the year 1885 are elements in Back to the Future.
- The two dinosaurs in the opening scene are Daspletosaurus and Albertonykus, with the latter being depicted with feathers to reflect modern information on dinosaurs.
Gallery[edit]
References[edit]
