Season 2

This article is about Season 2 of Arthur. You may be looking for Season 2 of Postcards from Buster.

Season 2 of Arthur premiered on October 20, 1997 and ended on April 17, 1998, on PBS.

It was released to DVD in Europe only, like Season 1.

Episodes

Screenshot	Title	Number	Episode	Original Airdate
	"Arthur Meets Mister Rogers"	31	1a	October 20, 1997
	Mister Rogers is visiting Mr. Ratburn's class and staying at Arthur's house. Arthur is afraid of telling anyone about the latter because he doesn't want to be called a baby. However, it's not so bad when they find out.
	"Draw!"	31	1b	October 20, 1997
	When Francine makes fun of Fern, the latter retaliates by drawing a comic humiliating Francine, which everyone finds amusing. Other comics about her are drawn. During the school carnival, those teasing her are convinced by Mrs. MacGrady to dump green slime on her. As they prepare to do so, they realize how much they hurt her feelings.
	"Binky Barnes, Art Expert"	32	2a	October 21, 1997
	Arthur and Buster have to work with Binky on an art report, but they believe he will make them do all the work. Binky wants to do the report on an abstract painting he believes is hanging sideways. To avoid embarrassment, Arthur and Buster make an agreement with him to do separate reports. Ironically, Binky is the only one who does any of the work and turns out to be correct about the painting.
	"Arthur's Lucky Pencil"	32	2b	October 21, 1997
	Arthur's luck begins to change after he finds a pencil right before the stop of a rainstorm. After several lucky breaks, he and his friends are convinced that it is lucky. As the pencil gets shorter, Arthur is more conservative with it. Even with an upcoming history test, he won't let anyone use it, not even himself.
	"D.W., the Picky Eater"	33	3a	October 22, 1997
	D.W.'s reluctance to eat unfamiliar food will keep the whole family from celebrating Grandma Thora's birthday at a special restaurant unless Arthur can persuade her to be more open-minded.
	"Buster and the Daredevils"	33	3b	October 22, 1997
	Buster begins keeping bad company in his eagerness to learn skating tricks from his new "friends." Arthur realizes that Toby and Slink are just having Buster make a fool of himself for their own amusement.
	"Arthur Makes a Movie"	34	4a	October 23, 1997
	Arthur and his friends are too young to watch a James Hound movie. They instead decide to make their own movie. Although it doesn't come out as planned, they have fun filming it.
	"Go to Your Room, D.W."	34	4b	October 23, 1997
	D.W. doesn't get along well with Kate and is sent to her room for ten minutes after threatening to pinch her. She thinks that her parents only love Arthur and Kate. While she watches Kate for the rest of her punishment, she realizes that she has been a horrible big sister.
	"Arthur's Underwear"	35	5a	October 24, 1997
	Binky rips his pants in class, revealing his underwear. Arthur can't stop laughing every time he thinks of it, but he ends up getting nightmares in which he doesn't have any pants on. He tells this to Buster, who ends up telling everyone else, embarrassing Arthur. Inevitably, Arthur does rip his pants and has to deal with it.
	"Francine Frensky, Olympic Rider"	35	5b	October 24, 1997
	Francine goes for horseback riding lessons which her sister, Catherine, has to bring her to. It turns out Catherine is better at riding than Francine! Feeling overshadowed by Catherine, Francine considers quitting but returns and remembers why she wanted to take horseback riding in the first place.
	"Buster Baxter, Cat Saver"	36	6a	October 27, 1997
	Buster gets a cat down from a tree with his ice cream and his mother publishes a story in the paper on it. When people start calling Buster a hero, this goes to his head and he starts acting important and retells the story with embellished details. Arthur, Francine, and Brain make a fool out of Buster to humble him, but he ends up saving Arthur and Francine from a runaway piano.
	"Play it Again, D.W."	36	6b	October 27, 1997
	D.W. is still playing her "Crazy Bus" CD (since "Buster Baxter, Cat Saver") and Arthur is already annoyed by it. She surprises him with four tickets to "Crazy Bus Live". He is embarrassed to be there but finds Buster enjoying the show. When the CD goes missing, D.W. accuses Arthur of taking it, but their parents have actually done so by mistake.
	"Arthur's TV-Free Week"	37	7a	October 28, 1997
	Arthur and his friends are participating in TV-Free Week. His family also goes without TV in support of the idea. Everyone tries to resist the temptation of TV while they go through their week.
	"Night Fright"	37	7b	October 28, 1997
	Binky has a night light. He tries to go without it when Arthur's parents are stuck out of town and he has to spend the night at Binky's. When Arthur finds out about the night light, Binky believes Arthur may use this against him, although Arthur isn't particularly interested. Even so, Binky eventually musters the courage to tell everyone before Arthur does.
	"Arthur vs. the Piano"	38	8a	October 29, 1997
	The school band has a recital on Friday. Everyone except Arthur is worried and practicing. He is confident that he knows everything well enough until a nightmare makes him worry he may miss a note. In a subplot, D.W. has hiccups that won't go away.
	"The Big Blow-Up"	38	8b	October 29, 1997
	Francine and Brain have an argument over soccer practice that carries into class and through the next match. They may not make it to the playoffs if the argument continues. Arthur uses D.W.'s idea of writing an early letter to Santa to resolve things between his friends with fake apology letters.
	"Lost!"	39	9a	October 30, 1997
	After school, Arthur is supposed to take the bus to the public pool for his swimming lesson. However, he falls asleep and misses his stop, eventually ending up at the edge of town. Luckily, the bus driver helps Arthur find his way home.
	"The Short, Quick Summer"	39	9b	October 30, 1997
	Arthur has a to-do list for the summer, but he can't find it and summer's nearly over. He finds out everyone else had a great summer. He eventually finds his list and D.W. accidentally helps him realize that he did all the things on it and had a great time too.
	"D.W. Goes to Washington"	40	10a	October 31, 1997
	The Reads go to Washington, D.C. for a holiday vacation, where they tour the popular landmarks. At the White House, D.W. separates from the tour group and meets the President.
	"Arthur's Mystery Envelope"	40	10b	October 31, 1997
	Mr. Haney gives Arthur an envelope to give to his mom. Arthur is worried about its contents, thinking that it's bad news about him. He tries to come up with a way of giving it to her without her actually opening it. It turns out to contain Mr. Haney's tax documents.
	"D.W.'s Deer Friend"	41	11a	April 6, 1998
	When the Reads go camping, D.W. befriends a deer. She names him Walter and wants to take him home.
	"Buster Hits the Books"	41	11b	April 6, 1998
	Buster needs to write a book report, but he has never actually finished a book. His friends try to find one he can finish.
	"Arthur's Faraway Friend"	42	12a	April 7, 1998
	Arthur and Buster start writing their own adventure book based on Buster's book choice from "Buster Hits the Books." To Arthur's dismay, he learns that Buster is leaving for a couple of months.
	"Arthur and the Square Dance"	42	12b	April 7, 1998
	Arthur and Francine's friends think that they are in love, leading both of them to think the other has a crush on them. They avoid each other, afraid of getting "cooties", but finally solve the problem.
	"Water and the Brain"	43	13a	April 8, 1998
	Muffy is throwing a party at Waterworld and everyone is excited except Brain. Arthur and Binky discover that Brain is afraid of water and try to help him get over this fear so he can go to the party.
	"Arthur the Unfunny"	43	13b	April 8, 1998
	In a letter to Buster, Arthur tells him about how he was thought to be too hopelessly unfunny to be a clown, and how he discovered he could be funny playing the piano instead.
	"Sue Ellen's Lost Diary"	44	14a	April 9, 1998
	Sue Ellen loses her diary in the library. Muffy, Francine, Binky, and Arthur find it, wondering what's inside and whether to open it or return it unread.
	"Arthur's Knee"	44	14b	April 9, 1998
	Arthur accidentally hurts his knee at the dump while retrieving a wheel for his school project. He hides the injury and makes D.W. promise not to tell their parents because he was told not to go to the dump.
	"Grandma Thora Appreciation Day"	45	15a	April 10, 1998
	Arthur and D.W. are planning a surprise party to show their appreciation for Grandma Thora. She unexpectedly shows up early when her car breaks down and they must finish their last minute preparations without her noticing.
	"Fern's Slumber Party"	45	15b	April 10, 1998
	Fern's mother wants Fern to invite some girls over for a slumber party, to which she reluctantly agrees. Everyone thinks Fern is boring and brings their own entertainment, but she later manages to impress them with her detective skills.
	"Love Notes for Muffy"	46	16a	April 13, 1998
	Brain and Francine use fake love notes to get revenge against Muffy after she puts them down at the science fair. Their joke has unintended consequences, and they must fix it before things get worse.
	"D.W. Blows the Whistle"	46	16b	April 13, 1998
	D.W.'s overzealous safety patrolling and whistle blowing is annoying everyone. Arthur and his friends worry she may ruin the upcoming soapbox derby. During it, D.W. finds herself in an unsafe situation when she is stuck at the top of a large pine tree after she climbs it to get a better view.
	"Francine Redecorates"	47	17a	April 14, 1998
	Francine and her older sister, Catherine, share a room and can't stand each other's tastes in decor, so Catherine moves out to a section of the living room. Francine finds her room to be empty without her sister in it.
	"Arthur the Loser"	47	17b	April 14, 1998
	Arthur keeps losing at the new "No Guessing!" board game and other things as well, so he starts cheating to win. His friends are annoyed by his "sore winner" attitude and use Binky to make Arthur lose, because Binky has no qualms about cheating.
	"Arthur vs. the Very Mean Crossing Guard"	48	18a	April 15, 1998
	Arthur and Brain are afraid of the new crossing guard who charges them $10 per trip and will send his goons after them if they don't pay. They try to figure out ways to circumvent crossing the intersection before they realize his true intent.
	"D.W.'s Very Bad Mood"	48	18b	April 15, 1998
	Arthur and Francine try to find out why D.W. has been in a bad mood for days.
	"D.W.'s Name Game"	49	19a	April 16, 1998
	Arthur and D.W. use a thesaurus to aid in calling each other names until he calls her "Dora Winifred" and she is upset. She later has a strange dream involving Arthur, Walter (from "D.W.'s Deer Friend"), and the Thesaurus.
	"Finders Key-pers"	49	19b	April 16, 1998
	Arthur, Binky, and Brain find a key in the grass while looking for a baseball. They each think it's for something they would like and argue over who gets to keep the key before they find out what its real use is.
	"How the Cookie Crumbles"	50	20a	April 17, 1998
	Muffy is having trouble coming up with a recipe so her friends make a joke one, which turns out to taste good, and Muffy takes all the credit for it.
	"Sue Ellen's Little Sister"	50	20b	April 17, 1998
	Sue Ellen feels lonely not having a sibling, so she opts for one of her friends, but they each have their flaws.

Trivia

• This season is notable for Buster leaving on a vacation with his dad midway through the season and, with the exception of a few cameos, not returning until the premiere episode of the next season. The reason for his extended absence was revealed in Jason Szwimer's podcast Finding D.W., in which Daniel Brochu, Buster's voice actor, explains that he traveled to Australia for a year. It was decided that a re-cast for Buster's voice would not happen; instead, Buster would be temporarily written out of the show while traveling, much like Brochu himself.
  • In the latter half of this season, possibly in an attempt to conceal Buster's absence, there were more episodes that focused on characters other than Arthur and his family, such as Francine, Sue Ellen, and, most notably, Fern.
  • Brochu notes that he recorded some lines while he was abroad, which could explain a subtle difference in tone or quality of Buster's voice in his few appearances in the last half of the season.
  • The premise of Buster traveling with his father was eventually expanded upon and developed further in the spinoff series, Postcards from Buster.
  • The last season until season 4 where Leilani Jones Wilmore was the assistant of JT Turner as in the next season JT Turner is entirely present in all 15 episodes of season 3