Play it Again, D.W.

"Play it Again, D.W."
Season/Series:	2
Number in season:	6b
Original Airdate:	October 27, 1997 December 1, 1997 January 31, 2002
Credits
Written by:	Joe Fallon
Storyboard by:	Harry Rasmussen
Episodes
Previous "Buster Baxter, Cat Saver"	Next "Arthur's TV-Free Week"
Read transcript

"Play it Again, D.W." is the second half of the sixth episode in the second season of Arthur.

Summary

D.W. suspects Arthur as the perpetrator when her favorite kid CD, which she plays relentlessly, disappears.

Plot

Arthur says to the viewers that it's no big surprise when D.W. does something annoying. There was one time when she beat him at checkers, and spent the whole year telling everyone about it. But nothing ever in the entire history of Arthur's whole life has ever been as bad as D.W. playing "Crazy Bus" over and over again.

Play it Again, D.W.

D.W. is still playing her "Crazy Bus" CD (since the previous episode), and Arthur is getting annoyed by it. She plays her CD constantly and brings the radio with her everywhere she goes, and when she's not listening to it she's humming the song and playing with its merchandise.

D.W. then surprises Arthur with four tickets to Crazy Bus Live, which he has to attend against his will. Arthur is embarrassed to be there and wears a silly elephant trunk disguise under the alias "Steve" to avoid being seen. He then finds Buster enjoying the show, much to his horror. Arthur later imagines that he is trapped in the Crazy Bus with all of his friends and family who are happily singing the song nonstop.

One night while Arthur is doing his homework, D.W. plays the song yet again and at full volume. Arthur is so annoyed, furious and frustrated that he angrily threatens to wreck D.W.'s "Crazy Bus" CD, scaring D.W. and prompting her to tell on Arthur while their parents are searching for music to listen to at a high school reunion.

Arthur gets in trouble for threatening to wreck D.W.'s CD and is banned from watching TV. But then, a little later, D.W. screams bloody murder when she discovers that her CD is missing. She angrily accuses Arthur of taking it. Arthur tells D.W. and his parents that he didn't take D.W.'s Crazy Bus CD.

The next afternoon, Arthur goes on a rowboat with Buster and Francine at the Mill Creek River while his family is out on a picnic. Arthur discusses the Crazy Bus CD incident with his two friends, and says he doesn't have the CD, but Francine doesn't believe him. Buster claims that an ancient race of squids took it to their hidden grotto beneath the sea. The Squid People who live at the bottom wonder if they have the CD and are singing the Crazy Bus song.

Later that week, Francine's older sister Catherine is asked to babysit for the kids while their parents go to their reunion. D.W. spies on Arthur, trying to catch him with the CD. Then when Arthur walks to the computer holding a disc, D.W. pops out of a purple chest scaring Arthur, Then D.W. jumps from it and then her and Arthur fight for the disc. Then Catherine comes in and tells them "Time Out, I'm trying to do my homework, and what's causing this vexation then D.W. and Arthur freeze and look at Catherine and D.W. tells her, "We're not on vacation we live here." Then Catherine said vexation, it means trouble and then asks what's the trouble, then D.W.'s hands slides off the disc and tells Catherine the trouble is that is her disc, Then Arthur says it isn't her disc and that it was a PC Game he borrowed from Brain. Then Arthur puts it in the disc drive and starts playing it. Then Catherine watches him play it but D.W. walks away saying "I know he has it." Then when Arthur holds D.W.'s plush purple possum he goes over and takes it to her closet then D.W. catches him again Then Arthur tells her she left her possum outside and was putting away in her closet. But now...... She even goes so far as to destroy Arthur's room in an attempt to find it. Arthur loses his patience, forcing Catherine to improvise. She puts a line of tape down in the den and forces the two kids to opposite sides of the room.

When Arthur tries to retrieve his jacket from D.W.'s side, she says her CD is in the jacket and she tries to take it, and they end up arguing over it. After Arthur calls D.W.'s CD "Stupid Bus", D.W. retaliates by saying that "Stupid Bus" is a lame puppet show.

At the reunion, Mr. Read puts on the music for his friends the songs that him and them danced to in High School, only to discover that he accidentally took the Crazy Bus CD. "D.W.'s CD." Jane and David cried. Their mom Mrs. Read calls the house then when D.W. takes the phone from Catherine and answers it, She lets go of the jacket and causes Arthur to fly backward in the open closet and causing the white scarf to fall beside his left and a teal snow boot to fall behind him and a black umbrella to fall on his lap, and a hanger to fall on his right ear then the door slams shut. As soon as D.W. answers the phone Jane tells her that David took the CD by accident, not Arthur.

Then Catherine helps Arthur take a hanger off his left foot, Then D.W. takes off the tape, then says that the only way for two people to stop fighting is for one of them to say stop, but she does not apologize to Arthur for accusing him of stealing the disc. Then Arthur gets up with the boot on his right hand saying "This is a trick, I know this is a trick." Then Catherine asks D.W. if she was happy that they found her CD. Arthur is furious that D.W. is not giving him the apology she clearly owes him, but D.W. only smiles sheepishly at her mistake.

Later that night, they give the CD back to her, and tell her that it's okay to listen to her song, but not to the point that it annoys everyone. Surprisingly, D.W. says she doesn't want to listen to it anymore.

Instead, she watches a Crazy Bus videotape that she received from Grandma Thora. Arthur then realizes that he spoke too soon. He runs off in annoyance and frustration once again, shouting "Mom!" The episode then finishes.

Characters

• D.W. Read
• Arthur Read
• Jane Read
• David Read
• Kate Read
• Pal
• Timmy and Tommy Tibble
• Buster Baxter
• Catherine Frensky
• Francine Frensky
• Muffy Crosswire (fantasy)
• Binky Barnes (fantasy)
• The Brain (fantasy)
• Dr. Iris (cameo)
• Thora Read (mentioned)

Trivia

• This is one of the episodes where the quote, "Life is so unfair" is used. D.W. says that quote while crying in this episode. It was used again in The Lousy Week, where Muffy Crosswire says that quote also while crying.
• The episode never fully explains how D.W.'s dad accidentally took her CD.
• This is the second time David wore earplugs. The first time was in Arthur's Lost Dog.
• "Vexation" does not mean "trouble," but actually means "something that causes annoyance" or "the state of being annoyed."
• The CD album that Mr. Read is holding has 1978 on the cover, which suggests that he and his wife graduated from high school in 1978. However, the series has no specific timeline as the characters do not age throughout the seasons.
• D.W.’s line “Yeah mama!” was later used in the theme song remix.
• Arthur's screaming sound clip in the prologue is reused from "Arthur's Chicken Pox."
• At the dance party, everyone is dancing the macarena to Crazy Bus.
• When they go to the Crazy Bus Live show, Arthur wears a disguise so as not to be embarrassed by his friends’ younger siblings. Yet, all of his immediate friends are either only children or have older siblings (with the exception of Binky's adopted sister Mei Lin who does not appear until Season 11's "Big Brother Binky")
• Timeline:
  • There is a "Bionic Bunny on Ice" poster in Arthur's room, but it is not the poster that Arthur and Buster got signed in "Buster's New Friend" (yet it retains Bionic Bunny's autograph).
  • D.W. first played Crazy Bus during the previous episode, Buster Baxter, Cat Saver. Arthur gave her headphones so she could play the song without bothering him, but by this episode they had broken.
  • D.W. mentions her "Crazy Bus" CD missing, along with her snowball, in "Revenge of the Chip."
  • D.W.'s Crazy Bus CD is also mentioned in Arthur vs. the Piano, but Arthur mentions it got thrown out, but it didn't.
  • When D.W. announces to Arthur they're going to the Crazy Bus Live concert, she reminds him of the time Arthur took the whole family to see Bionic Bunny On Ice, previously referenced in "Buster's New Friend."
  • The snowball incident is brought up again in this episode from "D.W.'s Snow Mystery."
• Running Gag:
  • Everyone blaming Arthur for taking D.W.s Crazy Bus.
  • D.W. playing her Crazy bus too much which annoys Arthur.
• Moral: No matter if you like a song or not, you should not play it too much to annoy someone for your own benefits.
• Karma:
  • D.W. was singing her song non-stop, so Arthur threatened to break her CD.
  • Arthur threatened to break D.W.'s CD, so he got sent to his room.
• 4th wall break:
  • The Read parents’ CD Avi Winkler’s Greatest Hits refers to Arthur character designer Avi Winkler.
  • Arthur's "Steve" disguise and D.W.'s comment on the fake trunk being "a big improvement" is likely a reference to Arthur's original design in Arthur's Nose.

Errors

• While Catherine is doing homework, she was first seen writing with her left hand, even though she is normally right-handed like her sister Francine; but in the next few seconds, she switches to her right hand. This could mean she's ambidextrous.

Cultural references

• Arthur getting tired of D.W. singing Crazy Bus is similar to how The loud siblings got tired of Lily's song, "Cheer up baby" in The Crying Dame
  • The plot is also similar to Barry Cuda
  • The plot is also very simliar to "40% 40% 20%" from Teen Titans Go!
• The parents' CD "1978 - Songs You Can't Believe You Liked" shows a spoof of John Travolta in "Saturday Night Fever", a 1977 movie featuring disco music.
• The title is a play on the quote "Play it again, Sam" from the film Casablanca.
• Catherine mentions Solomon, a biblical king famed for his wisdom.
• Another CD, The Bubblegums, could be a reference to bubblegum music, which was popular during the late Sixties and early Seventies.
• Arthur being blamed for the theft is similar to the infamous episode of The Amazing world of Gumball titled "The Nobody".

Episode connections

• Catherine babysits D.W. and Arthur again in "D.W.'s Name Game."
• D.W. losing Crazy Bus can be seen as a clip from this episode in the intro of Buster's Growing Grudge.

Home Video

• VHS: Arthur the Music Video
• DVD: Arthur the Music Video
  • Arthur: The Complete Series 2

Gallery

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References