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On the Buster Scale
| "On the Buster Scale" | |
|---|---|
  | |
| Season/Series: | 16 |
| Number in season: | 8b |
| Original Airdate: |  May 8, 2013[1] April 22, 2013[2] |
| Credits | |
| Written by: | Dietrich Smith |
| Storyboard by: | Ken Cunningham |
| Episodes | |
| Previous "Buster's Book Battle" |
Next "Fern and the Case of the Stolen Story" |
| Read transcript | |
"On the Buster Scale" is the second half of the eighth episode in the sixteenth season of Arthur.
Summary[edit]
Buster and Brain never agree on movies. Buster rates every film a 100% while Brain rates it 0% Only one of them can be right… or so they think.[3]
Plot[edit]
At the movie theater in the Mill Creek Mall, Arthur, Buster, Francine, Muffy, Binky, and Brain are watching Giant Exploding Robots 3D. Everyone is amazed by the movie, except Brain, who is simply bored. Brain starts to argue with Buster over the movie, while Arthur explains to the viewers that "there are two things you can count on": Buster and Brain will never agree on a movie, and one of them will not be happy about it.
Buster and Brain continue to argue about Giant Exploding Robots 3D. Although Buster heavily defends the movie, Brain's criticism manages to change the minds of Francine, Muffy, and Binky, shocking Buster.
On his way back home, Buster tells Arthur that everybody loved the movie, but they changed their minds when Brain criticized it. Arthur replies that Brain "did make some good points," and Buster argues that Brain did not understand the plot. When Buster gets back to his condo, his mother, Bitzi, tells him that she has to take the job of film critic for the week, since the regular film critic at the Elwood City Times is out sick. Buster accompanies his mom to see the movie in question, Giant Exploding Robots 3D.
Coming out of the movie theater, Buster is just as entertained by the film as he was the first time, but Bitzi does not know what to think at all. Buster helps her and explains the movie, getting published in the paper.
Buster reads the review to his friends at The Sugar Bowl the next day, and most of his friends are amazed that he wrote something for the newspaper. As they continue to read Buster's review, they see that it rates a 10+ on his "Buster Scale." Francine, Muffy, and Binky reconsider the movie and start to like it again; Brain sighs.
Brain is upset about Buster's review, but Arthur tells him that it was just one review; he is proven wrong when Buster eventually gets an entire "Kids Corner" column in the paper, and starts reviewing movies weekly, rating all of them a 10+. A common theme in the movies Buster reviews is that they all have to do with robots, aliens, monsters, superheroes, and/or explosions in 3D. Brain is annoyed by everyone following Buster's opinions, and when he sees a billboard showing Buster's review for Robot Aliens 3, he gets the idea to start his own movie blog.
At The Sugar Bowl one week, Buster finds out that Brain beat him with a review of Attack of the Monster Superheroes, and he gets mad at Brain for trying to attack him with his review. They eventually conclude to both review the same movie, and see which review changes all their friends' minds.
The movie they review is Le Murmure de Silence, a French movie with English subtitles. When Brain and Buster ask their friends who is "right" about the movie, they are unsure because they have not seen the movie yet. After most of them walk away, Arthur tells Brain and Buster that while he and the others read their reviews out of respect for their opinions, they have to learn to respect other's opinions.
Brain and Buster agree to disagree, and read each other's reviews. Brain is surprised that Buster praised the movie for its sad themes, while Buster is shocked that Brain criticized it for being sappy, and would have much rather seen an explosion. They agree to see more foreign films, "so long as they are more exciting than the movie they reviewed previously."
Characters[edit]
- Brain
- Buster Baxter
- Arthur Read
- Binky Barnes
- Bitzi Baxter
- Francine Frensky
- Muffy Crosswire
- Rafi
- Dave (cameo)
- Technician (cameo)
- Emily's mother (cameo)
- Mrs. Tibble (cameo)
- Timmy and Tommy Tibble (cameo)
- Little Boy (cameo)
- Rattles (cameo)
Trivia[edit]
- Despite hating Le Murmure de Silence, Brain considers a black-and-white French film from 1939 his favorite.
Episode connections[edit]
- Cameron Ansell, who voiced Arthur from Season 9 to Season 11 returned to provide the voice of Rafi. He is the second voice actor of Arthur to return to the series as a different character. The first one was Michael Yarmush who voices Slink, one of the members of Tough Customers and a waiter named Jay, in "Happy Anniversary."
- A movie poster for Swamp Monster II features the same monster that Arthur describes to the Tibbles in "Arthur Babysits."
- Brain makes a movie review blog. He made a blog for Francine in "Muffy and the Big Bad Blog."
- Buster is also annoyed at Brain being right in "Mr. Alwaysright."
Cultural references[edit]
- The "light mass" from the movie from the beginning of the episode might be a parody of the "red matter" from Star Trek.
- La Règle du Jeu (The Rules of the Game) is a real 1939 French movie.
- Dark Bunny Rises refers to The Dark Knight Rises.
Errors[edit]
- On the scoreboard outside the movie theater, the title of Le Murmure de Silence misspells "Murmure" as "Murmer."
Gallery[edit]
:Main article: On the Buster Scale/Gallery
References[edit]
