Arthur's Lost Library Book/Transcript

Arthur's Lost Library Book

Introduction

Arthur looks at a book in the library.

Arthur: The library’s great. It’s got all kinds of music to listen to.      He walks past people listening to music over headphones. Mr. Haney is dancing in his seat.

D.W. and some other young kids are watching a puppet play in which a lion sniffs a sleeping woman.

Arthur: Storytime for kids.

Kids: (scream)   

Mr. Ratburn (as lion): Whoa! I’m not eating that! It’s spoiled!

Kids: (laugh)   

Arthur comes to Brain who is reading at a table.

Arthur: And books for everybody.

Brain: Did you know that chalk is derived from fossilized sea shells.     Francine sits at the same table.

Francine: I’m reading about sports rules, so I know officially how much better I am than everybody else. Unless you’d like to challenge me.

Arthur: Sorry, Francine, Buster just called me.    He runs off. Buster is sitting at another table.

Brain: No, I didn’t.  (chuckles)

Arthur: What are you reading?

Buster: A joke book.  Hey, what do you call two banana peels?

Arthur: I don't know.

Buster: A pair of slippers!

Arthur+Buster: (chuckle)

Arthur: I love it here, but last week I thought they'd never let me come into the library again.

Miss Turner: Shhh!

Title Card: Arthur With Umbrella

A warty green hand reaches for a book on a shelf.

D.W. (spooky voice): Chapter One: Arthur Goes to the Library.

Arthur, Buster and Francine arrive at the library on their bikes. They walk up the stairs. Arthur starts looking at shelves.

Arthur: I'll get this one and....Wow! I'll have to read that!  And this too.

Francine: Why don't you just take one?

Arthur: One? I wanna read them all.  And this one too.

Arthur comes to the checkout desk carrying a stack of six of books.

Miss Turner: You're one under the limit.

Arthur: You mean I can take one more?

Miss Turner: The new “Scare Your Pants Off” is in.       On a shelf nearby is a book with a warty green hand on the cover.

Arthur: Wow! “The Mysterious Hand”.      Several third-graders nearby look up and run for the book.

Kids: (Hooray! Yay!)        Arthur reaches the book first and takes it.

Arthur: It's brand new!  No one has ever opened it!

Francine: Come on Arthur, you have enough books already!

Buster: You can't read all those in two weeks.

Sue Ellen: No, give it to me.     They chase Arthur to the desk. Arthur puts on his bicycle helmet.

Arthur: I wanna read it first, then you can.      He takes his books and leaves the library. The others run after him.

Buster: Don't be a pig!

Francine: That's too many!

Brain: You already have enough books.     Arthur gets on his bicycle.

Arthur: This isn't too many.  You're all just mad because you weren’t fast enough.    He drives off.

Kids: Oh, man!

#

Arthur rides balancing the books on one arm. A tree branch knocks the “Mysterious Hand” book off the top. A hand picks it up.

#

The warty green hand rips calendar pages off a calendar from Thursday the second to Thursday the ninth.

D.W. (spooky voice): Chapter Two: One Week Later.

Mrs. Read does the laundry in the basement. A French-English dictionary falls out of Arthur’s clothes.

Mrs. Read: Arthur!

Arthur: What? What, Mom? 

Mrs. Read: I found this in the laundry.  You have to be more careful with library books.

Arthur: I am careful.

Mrs. Read: Aren't all those books due soon?

Arthur: Not till next week. I still have a couple left to read.

#

Arthur and Buster sit in the treehouse trading baseball card.

Arthur: I'll give you two of these for one of those, and two more for that one.

Buster: Is that one of your library books?     Arthur moves the book from under a pretzel bag and a baseball glove.

Arthur: Oh, yeah. How did it get out here?

Buster: Was “The Mysterious Hand” good?

Arthur: Oh, wow! I forgot I had that one.

Buster: Well, nobody else did. There's a waiting list to take it out after you return it.

Arthur: I'll start it tonight.

#

At night Arthur gather’s his library books from various places. He is one short.

Arthur: Hm!        He looks under the bed. D.W. comes in.

D.W.: What are you hiding from?

Arthur: I'm not hiding. I'm looking for “The Mysterious Hand”.

D.W.: There it is.       Arthur bumps his head.

Arthur: Ow!  Where is it?

D.W.: Over here!    (laughs)     She makes a shadow with her hand and Arthur’s lamp.

Arthur: D.W.!       D.W. runs out of the room.

D.W.: Mom, Arthur's chasing me!

Arthur: Where did I put it?

#

Arthur searches the laundry in the basement, the living room and his dad’s workshop.

Mr. Read: I looked at those books when you brought them home. You didn't have that one.

Arthur: I didn't?  One of the kids could have taken it when I was leaving the library. They all wanted it. This calls for detective work. I have to call Buster. 

He runs outside with Pal.

Arthur: Wait! I can't call Buster. He's a suspect. Everybody's a suspect.  No, not everybody. There's one person who would never want to read that book, or any book.     He runs off.

#

Arthur talks to Binky in the classroom.

Binky: You want me to help you find out who took some dopey book?

Arthur: You're the only one who can help me, Binky. You don't even read the words in comic strips.

Binky: If they were any good, they'd be on TV. What do you want me to do?

Arthur: We have to cleverly narrow down the suspects.

Binky: Do I get a badge?

Arthur: No.

#

A "Private Eye" badge swirls on the screen.

D.W. (spooky voice): Chapter Three: The Investigation.

In the school corridor Binky towers over Maria, Alex, Jenna and Fern, who are all holding books.

Kids: Ahhhhh!         Binky and Arthur shake their heads.

#

George is reading in the school cafeteria. Arthur and Binky sit to the left and right at him and suspiciously look at his book.

George: Huh?          Binky and Arthur leave.

#

Brain sits under a tree in the school playground and reads. Arthur looks down from a branch causing some leaves to fall down.

Brain: Hh!         Arthur falls down.

Arthur: Whoa!    Oh.  (chuckles nervously)  Hi, Brain.

#

In the Sugar Bowl Arthur shows Binky drawings of Buster, Francine and Sue Ellen.

Arthur: I've narrowed it down to three suspect: Buster Baxter, Francine Frensky, and Sue Ellen Armstrong. How’d you do?

Binky: Everyone I talked to was afraid. Very suspicious.

Arthur: Why don't I focus on my suspects and you focus on yours?   

Binky: Right.      They leave. Muffy looks suspiciously at them from the next table.

#

Sue Ellen and Arthur paint next to each other in art class. Arthur shows her a drawing of the missing book.

Arthur: Do you like my drawing?

Sue Ellen: This looks like “The Mysterious Hand”. I just finished reading it.     She shows Arthur a copy.

Arthur: I should've known it was you!  Just give me the book back and I won't tell anyone.     He tries to wrestle the book from Sue Ellen.

Sue Ellen: It's my book. I had to buy it because you had the library's only copy!     Arthur lets go and Sue Ellen falls backwards.     Hey!

#

In the playground, Arthur pushes Francine as she swings.

Francine: Arthur, I didn't take that book.

Arthur: What do you mean?

Francine: Muffy says you think I stole the book. But I think you lost it. I told you, you had too many books.

#

In another part of the playground, Binky has George up against a wall.

Binky: Where is it?

George: What?

Binky: Come on, hand it over.       George runs off. Arthur comes.

Arthur: Hey, Binky. You have to tell them what you’re looking for.

Binky: If they took it, they'll know. There's another suspect.  Hey, you!     He runs off. Buster comes.

Buster: Arthur. Francine says you think I stole “The Mysterious Hand”.

Arthur: Well, it's gone. You wanted it.

Buster: You probably lost it.

Arthur: But I looked absolutely everywhere.

Buster: Oh, maybe giant mutant mole people took it!

Arthur: Oh, right...

Below the ground, two anthropomorphic moles stand by a surveillance machine.

Mole Woman: I don't have it. You got it?

Mole Man: No.

Back above ground.

Buster: All I can say is, you'd better find it because we all want to read it.     They walk off.

#

The green warty hand pulls open a violet curtain.

D.W. (spooky voice:) Chapter Four: It's lost, okay? Face it. You lost it.

Arthur turns in his bed at night.

Arthur: (moans)

In his dream Arthur stands in his room sweating.

Echoey Voices: We know you're in there!  We know you're in there!     Arthur pulls open the curtains. There are ghostlike shapes outside.

Arthur: Aaaaah!

He runs to the front door. Police cars and a helicopter are outside.

Police Officer: Throw out the book gently, son, and no one will get hurt. You can't escape the long arm of the law!

Arthur: Aaahhhhh!     He runs away but a very long arm reaches into the house and pulls him out.

The long arm pulls Arthur into the library.

Arthur: Whoa! Oh no!     Arthur is dropped in front of the checkout counter.

Miss Turner: We have special rules for little boys who lose library books.

In reality Arthur still lies in bed.

Arthur: (moans)

The dream continues. Arthur’s parents notice a long chain leading into Arthur’s room.

Mr.+Mrs. Read: Huh?!     They open the door.    Hh!

Mrs. Read: Arthur, what's this?      Arthur lies in bed with a book to which the chain is attached.

Arthur: It's how I have to check out library books now!          The chain pulls Arthur away.    Aaaahhhh!

Miss Turner stands in the library and winds up the chain.

Miss Turner: Next time, don't make me use the crank!

The dream ends. Arthur sits up in bed.

Arthur: Aahh!

#

Arthur sits at the breakfast table and unenthusiastically stirs his cereal.

D.W.: You're not gonna find the book in your cereal, Arthur.

Mr. Read: You'll have to pay for the book, Arthur.

Arthur: Fifteen dollars?! That's three action figures!  Ohh…

#

Arthur returns the other books to the library.

Miss Turner: Did you enjoy all the books?

Arthur: All except the one I lost: “The Mysterious Hand”. I guess I have to pay for it.

Miss Turner: It's not lost. Here it is. That boy just returned it.     She points to Binky who is just leaving the library.

Arthur: Huh? 

Arthur catches up with Binky outside.

Arthur: Binky, you found it! You found it! Who had it?

Binky: A boy from school. 

Arthur: Which boy?     Binky looks around looking ashamed.

Binky: Me.

Arthur: (laughs) Very funny! No, who really had it?

Binky: Me!     A flashback shows Binky picking up the book after Arthur dropped it. He walks away reading it.    I found it on the sidewalk. I started reading it. It's really good.    The flashback ends.      I never thought it was the one you lost because you'd never throw a library book on the ground. But when no one else had it, I figured it might be the same one.

Arthur: Why didn't you tell me?

Binky: I thought you'd laugh at me.

Arthur: I wouldn't laugh at you.

Binky: You just did.

Arthur: Oh, yeah. Sorry.

Binky: Don't blab it around that I'm reading books...or else!

Arthur runs back in to Miss Turner.

Arthur: Since I didn't read that book, can I check it out again?

Miss Turner: Sorry, you can't renew it because there's a waiting list.    She shows a very long list.

Arthur: Ohhhh!

D.W. projects the mysterious hand on the wall using a lamp and green rubber gloves.

D.W. (spooky voice): The end.   Whooaaaaa!    She speaks through a cardboard tube.    Scared you, didn’t I?     Whoaaa!