The Boy Who Cried Comet

"The Boy Who Cried Comet"
Season/Series:	6
Number in season:	5a
Original Airdate:	October 22, 2001
Credits
Written by:	Peter K. Hirsch
Storyboard by:	Elie Klimos Zhigang Wang
Episodes
Previous "Brother, Can You Spare a Clarinet?"	Next "Arthur and Los Vecinos"
Read transcript

"The Boy Who Cried Comet" is the first half of the fifth episode in the sixth season of Arthur. It was later adapted into the book Arthur and the Comet Crisis.

Summary

Buster uses Muffy's new telescope in an effort to prove that the UFOs he has been seeing are real, but discovers something even more frightening: a comet headed straight for the Earth!

Plot

Arthur walks through a desolate area. He tells the viewers to imagine they could go to another dimension where teachers are aliens (Mr. Ratburn appears and pulls his head off, revealing he was an alien), principals who are robots (Principal Haney appears as a robot and explodes) and more UFOs than stars in the sky. He then concludes the intro, saying "Your next stop, the Buster Zone."

The Boy Who Cried Comet

Arthur and Fern are at Arthur's locker when Buster rushes up to them, saying that something is happening. They go over to the ice cream parlor, where Buster explains that he saw a fleet of UFO's the night before. The Brain debunks this theory, saying that it is crazy. 

Determined to prove him wrong, Buster (along with Arthur) sets up a telescope that was borrowed from Muffy and looks through it. One night, after several failed attempts, Buster discovers a comet. He soon finds out that a comet is expected to hit Earth in 37 days. Later that night, he dreams about a comet hitting Earth after Bionic Bunny fails to stop it from doing so.

The next day, Buster tells Arthur about the comet as well as a few other kids, but they pay no attention. Buster then turns to Brain, who reluctantly agrees to see if Buster's findings are correct. 

At the treehouse, Brain confirms that Buster was right, confirming that a comet is actually bound for Earth. As the others run around screaming, Fern steps on a screw and finds out that it was missing from the telescope. The next day, Fern explains to Arthur and D.W. that the missing screw was the reason why the readings were wrong. Buster and Brain show up with newspapers that talk about Buster's comet discovery.  

In the end, it is revealed that there is an alien director and that the kids are actually portrayed by alien actors.

Characters

Greater

• Arthur Read
• Buster Baxter
• Fern Walters
• The Brain
• Muffy Crosswire
• Francine Frensky
• Bitzi Baxter
• Binky Barnes

Background

• D.W. Read(error)
• 3rd Grade Female Aardvark (Number 2)
• 3rd Grade Male Rabbit
• 3rd Grade Male Cat
• 3rd Grade Male Dog
• 3rd Grade Female Aardvark
• 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)
• 3rd Grade Male Rat
• 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)
• Brian
• Alex
• Maria Pappas
• John
• Prunella Deegan
• Nancy
• Sue Ellen Armstrong
• Patrick(error)
• Lisa(error)
• Edwin(error)
• Timmy and Tommy Tibble(error)
• Liam(error)
• Maryann(error)
• Amanda Hulser(error)

Trivia

• As with all season six episodes, the end credits originally featured a remixed version of Believe in Yourself. Beginning in 2015, the credits were reformatted for reruns and now include the standard version of the song.
• The newspaper refers to Buster as "Cat Saver", referring to the name given to him for his actions in "Buster Baxter, Cat Saver"; this is odd, as it had since become known that Buster's actions in saving the cat in that episode were not truly heroic.
• The telescope part that Fern picked up appears to be a fastening bolt for the telescope tripod and the telescope, however this part does not appear to be a computer part, so the computer shouldn't have malfunctioned without it.
• When Arthur and Buster pull of their heads, their alien forms are seen. However, Brain's, Fern's and D.W.'s alien forms are not seen. However, as the screen zooms out to show Arthur-alien and Buster-alien walking out, if the screen is paused at the right time, the viewers can see a yellow alien wearing a pink dress (D.W.), a purple alien with a white shirt (Brain) and a blue alien with a purple shirt (Fern) walking away.
• The Justin Bradley version of this episode story is available on the VHS and DVD editions of Arthur Gets Spooked.
• Irony: Fern turns out to be a male alien despite being a female.
• Foreshadowing: The fact that Ratburn pulled off his head to reveal he was an alien in the teaser is a reference to the episode's ending.

Cultural References

• The opening of this episode is a parody of the opening of The Twilight Zone.
• The name of the episode is based on the story of 'The Boy Who Cried Wolf', where a boy claims many times that he sees a wolf and when there actually is one, nobody comes to help him.
• Mrs. Marble's "Handbook for Young Detectives" alludes Miss Marple, a fictional amateur detective created by Agatha Christie.

Errors

• D.W., the Tibble Twins, and several preschoolers are seen briefly in the background when Buster climbs up the jungle gym.

Home Video

DVD:

• Arthur Gets Spooked

VHS:

• Arthur Gets Spooked

Gallery

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  Fern holding the missing telescope part.

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  Alien ratburn

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  buster alien

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  athur alien

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  the telescope

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  the telescope 2