Return of the Snowball

"Return of the Snowball"
Season/Series:	7
Number in season:	9b
Original Airdate:	November 28, 2002
Credits
Written by:	Dietrich Smith
Storyboard by:	Gerry Capelle
Episodes
Previous "Prunella Sees the Light"	Next "April 9th"
Read transcript

"Return of the Snowball" is the second half of the ninth episode in the seventh season of Arthur.

Summary

Six months, two weeks, and four days after it disappeared, D.W.'s snowball reappears in the Read family freezer. But how can she prevent it from melting or being stolen again?

Plot

The beginning of the episode starts out like a Star Wars opening but instead of it saying "A Long Time Ago In A Galaxy Far Far Away" it says "Recently In A Galaxy Far Far Away" then the title says RETURN OF THE SNOWBALL then Arthur narrates the story part and says "There is unrest in the Read home. D.W. still thinks about the snowball all the time and won't shut up about it.-" Then D.W. cuts into the story and says "Arthur stole my snowball from the freezer! I know it was him! then Arthur says to her "Quiet D.W. I'm the Narrator." Then Arthur continues by saying "To combat the dark side of D.W. Arthur has-" Then D.W. cuts in again and says "Mom!" Then Arthur tells us "Ignore her." then says "As I was saying...." then Jane cuts in now and says "Arthur let your sister talk." to which then Arthur tells Jane "But it's about THE SNOWBALL!!!" Then Jane then says "Oh no! that again?" then D.W. and Arthur argue until we see go into the earth and see D.W. in the window in the kitchen opening up the freezer and then D.W. gasps surprisingly to see that's it still there. Then we see the title card and then we see a pink Happy Birthday cake on the table cut in 3/4's and then we hear Jane say thank you and that was a wonderful dinner, Then David goes over to Jane and kisses her and tells her "Happy Birthday Old Timer" then we see D.W. yell Mom 2x and tells them her snowball is back, Then as soon after D.W. told them that she found it, Jane tells her "I'm glad you're happy honey, that makes my birthday extra special," Then her and D.W. hug and then D.W. opens one eye and peeks to make sure it hadn't went nowhere. Then the picture fades to find D.W. in the kitchen with the lights turned off then Jane tells her it's time to put it away because it's way past her bedtime, And then Jane takes the snowball off a bag of peas and puts it on the plate. Then D.W. tells her to be careful with it and that it's very fragile. Then as soon as Jane puts it back in the freezer D.W. tells her to slowly close the door and then D.W. cries to Jane saying that she forgot to put the peas back in the freezer, We see D.W. holding the bag of peas and it's now dripping on the floor. Then we now see D.W. talking in her sleep saying that's great to have snowball back. Then she dreams of horses and people dancing in the castle all made from ice, Then snowball comes up to D.W. and he tells her "I'm glad to be back too D.W.' then the ice people clap for them, We now see snowball in a black top hat and now has arms and legs, Then him and D.W. dance together. Then they both talk watching the view from the castle. But as he gets to the point if somebody takes him and D.W. asks him what did he mean then a 2 navy blue giant arms with red gloves takes him. Then D.W. wakes up and yells "NO!" then when she heads the kitchen and sees the snowball there still she sighs with relief and then she gets up to a kitchen cupboard and gets plastic containers and she puts the snowball in a white one she sees that it does not fit in there, she then grabs a small plastic container knocking the others to the floor she then tries to make it fit in there, she did it then she puts the lid to the white one on there and then tapes it and D.W. is glad it works until they get loose and fall off, Then she goes to the garage and grabs a lock chain off a bicycle wheel then she searches inside the kitchen drawer without looking until she finds a lock then she locks it up then puts the snowball back in the freezer and sighs with relief and then goes back to sleep but then she had a bad dream about her snowball again and then she gasps then goes back to the kitchen with a flashlight, Then Jane's alarm clock goes off and she wakes up. Then we see D.W. is asleep on the kitchen table and Jane wakes her up by saying her name, Then she gets startled and tries to shine her light to find her mom, Then we see Jane only and only hear D.W. (off screen) saying "If it gotten stolen once would it stop it from getting stolen again?" Then Arthur tells her "It obviously wasn't stolen, or you would have found it." Then D.W. squints at David her dad and asks him what does that mean? Then David tells her Arthur's saying it probably just got lost behind everything in the freezer then when everything was took out for Jane's birthday-" then when D.W. hears Arthur running the sink to wash his dirty dishes, She asks him what's he doing and then when Arthur told him he was washing his dirty plates, D.W. gets the chair and brings it over to the freezer and demands Arthur to stay right where he is, Then she grabs the white container she safely locked it in, Then says to herself if she couldn't tell if it was still inside, Then when she sees Arthur leave the kitchen she squints again, Then Arthur goes over and tells David and Jane that D.W. is still trying to find her snowball again, by pointing and shaking his head, Then Jane hears rattling from the chains as D.W. tries to rip it off, Then she stops and grabs a 2 fingered fork, then when Jane asks her what she's doing there, She tells her She isn't doing anything, Then D.W. almost barely stabs it out of there until she hears Jane cry "D.W. what are you doing? You could hurt yourself." Then Jane takes the tool out of D.W.'s hand. Then Jane unlocks it, cuts the string off, peals the tape off, Then D.W. opens it and then is shocked to see that it shrunk inside the container, Then at nighttime Jane brought in a red cooler into D.W.'s room and tells her that her snowball is going to be there from now on and that she can't keep wrecking the kitchen and almost hurting herself with the fork, Then D.W. asks Jane if she can punish Arthur for taking the outside part of it, Then Jane tells her that Arthur didn't take it and that it was just melted from being fussed with so much. Then Jane leaves her room and D.W. moves the other bag of ice next to it to make it bigger again. Then D.W. tosses and turns in her sleep and we now see that the ice horses are melting and dripping then the snowball is now short. Then when they look at the view again, Snowball says "Maybe if you found out who put me back in the freezer, you'll who stole me to begin with," Which D.W. responds "Arthur' then snowball starts to shiver and says that name gives him the shiver then says "If you can prove that he did it, then your mom and dad might keep him from doing me anymore damage." Then D.W. says he's brilliant then hugs him, Then he tells her he's melting, Then a melting transition goes to D.W. asking Arthur questions and they are:

• Where were you between six months ago in mom's party?
  • Then Arthur tells her he was listening to her whine about her snowball 24 hours a day.
• Where did you keep the snowball?

Then Arthur does not answer her question, instead he yells "Mom!" Jane then sends her to her room and then shuts the door, D.W. then says "This isn't gonna be easy as I thought." Then D.W. has an idea, she sneaks out of her room to make sure her Mom's not looking then calls Brain and tricks him by deepening her voice to trick Brain that it's Arthur. Then as soon as Brain goes to Arthur's house she then tells a lie to Brain that Arthur went to buy medicine and told her to keep Brain company she takes his arm and then goes inside. Then she breaks her piggy bank with a hammer then drags Brain and then lays his hand flat and drop the coins in his hand, Then asks him to do science and figure out who stole her snowball. Then after she opened the cooler, She finds out it shrunk even more. Then Brain asks her if Arthur's coming back." Then she asks Brain what's the problem and time is money then she drags her snowball to the jar and let the water drain into the jar. Then Brain asks her, "How could it be stolen if you have it," Then D.W. sits the snowball back into cooler and then shuts it. Then she asks Brain "Could a snowball just get lost in here for 6 months without getting smashed?" Then as soon as Brain wants to figure it out he asks for a measuring tape, Then she grabs a roll from the kitchen drawer and tosses it to Brain, then once she asked him if it could get smashed, Brain says "Yes."

Then they go to another experiment after D.W. hands him a dollar bill and 3 cents. Then after she asks Brain "What about the freezers Arthur could just gotten too, Then Brain rushes to the freezer and gets a chocolate ice cream container out and then after they found out all the mysteries then Brain was almost finished with his sentence until Arthur finds him and D.W. in the kitchen. Then asks Brain what's he doing and then D.W. answers his question by saying "He's investigating." Then Arthur asks her "Is this about that stupid snowball?" Then Brain says No and then he realized D.W. fooled him. Then both Arthur and Brain rush from the house then D.W. yells for him to finish what he was saying about the ice cream. Then D.W. yells "Arthur, you did this on purpose" Then Arthur and Brain run away just right before Jane asks her why she was screaming. Then D.W. tells her it was nothing then she growls and dreams about Snowball rowing away from D.W. in a river inside a black dress shoe, Then snowball is now completely small and his voice turned into a kid, Then D.W. cries melting him away, Then after D.W. stops thinking about her dream she looks in her cooler and cries and says Goodbye to it while dumping what was left of it inside the jar then Arthur stood behind her and said it was him and that he did it, Once D.W. heard everything he said she gasped, Then Arthur told the story all about it and then after she asked him why he took it, Then Arthur disgustingly says "I told you I never took it!" Then she asked Arthur if he didn't take it then who did." Then Arthur said maybe somebody threw it out by accident, or maybe it melted and then requested D.W. if she could stop talking about it then D.W. tells him "How could she forget about it then it was a crime." Then Arthur walks away thinking he tried, Then D.W. stops him by apologizing to Arthur then she thanks for him for the fake one and it was almost a good." Then Arthur then tells her "Sure D.W." then walks out of frame. Then she takes the jar and dumps it on her roof and then she sees Emily and her mom heading to the pool and tells them she wants to come too. Then as we scroll up we see a U.F.O in the sky with one adult alien and two kid aliens" Then the kids argue and then the adult one tells them if they continue to argue they won't go to an astroid fair. Then it leaves the earth and flys in space.

Characters

• D.W. Read
• Arthur Read
• David Read
• Jane Read
• Snowball
• The Brain
• Lucy (cameo)
• Kyle (cameo)
• George Lundgren (cameo)
• Binky Barnes (cameo)
• Sue Ellen Armstrong (cameo)
• Pal (cameo)
• Marie-Hélène (cameo)
• Emily (cameo)

Trivia

• In this episode, D.W. finally acknowledges that Arthur couldn't have taken her original snowball; however, this gag continues in subsequent episodes.
• For unknown reasons, the aliens who claim to have stolen the snowball are not the same ones who actually did back in D.W.'s Snow Mystery.
• Karma: D.W. annoyed Arthur, so she got sent to her room.
• Timeline:
  • This episode is the sequel to "D.W.'s Snow Mystery," and continues the story of D.W.'s snowball.
  • When sitting on his bed, Arthur reads the comic book Alberto loaned him in "Arthur and Los Vecinos."
• Running Gag:
  • D.W. mentioning her Snowball.
  • D.W. blaming Arthur.
• Moral:
  • Dont blame others for your own benefits.
  • Dont overreact for your own benefits.
  • Dont touch sharp things for your own benefits.

Errors

• Plot Hole: Since this episode takes place at least "six months, two weeks, and four days" after the snowball went missing, it is implied that Jane's birthday celebration in this episode takes place in the summer. However, David says he hid Jane's birthday present in the garage in "Arthur Bounces Back," which took place during the fall.
• For unknown reasons, the closed captioning for this episode mostly avoids using exclamation points (with only two exceptions: when Jane yells "D.W.!" and when Arthur yells "Mom!"), even when they are grammatically necessary, such as when D.W. is said to be "screaming at" Arthur and The Brain.

Cultural references

• The cold open features the phrase "Recently in a galaxy far far away..." followed by an opening crawl setting the scene for the episode. This is a parody of the "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." tagline and opening crawl of the Star Wars films. The title of the episode itself is a reference to Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.

Home video

DVD:

• Arthur: Sleepovers, Sports and More

Gallery

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References