Bleep

"Bleep"
Main image Title card
Season/Series:	8
Number in season:	10b
Production code:	108A
Original airdate:	December 26, 2003 February 25, 2004 December 28, 2007
Credits
Written by:	Dietrich Smith
Storyboard by:	Jeremy O'Neill
Episodes
Previous "Big Horns George"	Next "Castles in the Sky"

Read transcript

"Bleep" is the second half of the tenth episode in the eighth season of Arthur.

Summary

D.W. wants to know the meaning of a word that made a boy's mom drop something when he said it.

Plot

The episode begins as Arthur talks to the viewers about "the bleep." He presents an example on the set of a fiction TV show called The Altos. Whenever an actor curses, a sound technician censors it with a bleep. Arthur then says that "the bleep" can't censor things in real life, but claims it could be great if it could, then imagines a couple real-life scenarios: Francine scolding Arthur for missing an easy catch during a baseball game and D.W. telling Jane that Arthur broke her glass bird are censored with the bleep. D.W. then gets a hold of the bleep button and starts pressing it repeatedly, which frustrates Arthur

Bleep

D.W. is at the crystal shop with Grandma Thora, who is buying a bowl for her friend, Ethel. D.W. wanders around for a bit, admiring all the crystal objects for sale; she even makes music with two glasses by running her finger across the rims. She then overhears a teenage boy having an argument with his mother, as he is being careless in the store. When the lady forbids her son from going to a concert that night, the boy gets angry and says a bad word to his mother (censored with a "bleep"), causing her to drop the goblet she is holding out of shock. As they leave the store, D.W. wants to ask Grandma Thora (who did not hear the argument) what the word means, but stops herself before she gets to it, imagining it will cause Thora to drop the bowl she just bought.

When she arrives home, D.W. rushes to Arthur's room and asks him the meaning of the word. Arthur reacts by gasping and dropping the model plane he was working on, resulting in it being in pieces (for the second time) and confirming D.W.'s belief that the word has the power to make people drop objects. Arthur warns D.W. not to say the word around their parents. When Jane arrives, they immediately end their conversation.

Confused, D.W. later asks Nadine, who is also clueless and suggests asking her parents. However, D.W. has a bad daydream where the word causes everyone to drop objects and everything to break spontaneously, with even the moon, stars, and Mary Moo Cow falling from the sky. After waking up, D.W. decides it's not a good idea.

The next day at school, still not clear on the meaning of the word, D.W. asks the Tibbles about it. They initially laugh, but then turn to each other with puzzled looks when D.W. asks what it means, wondering if they should tell her. Finally, Timmy explains that it is a swear word, which parents hate. When pressed for answers, the twins lie to her that the word turns adults into zombie servants when they hear it.

Later, everyone is singing "If You’re Happy and You Know It" in class. D.W. has a fantasy where she says the curse word. The others gasp while Ms. Morgan drops her accordion and becomes a zombie servant to D.W.. When Ms. Morgan snaps D.W. out of her daydream, D.W. chooses not to say the word. The Tibbles mock her after school, calling her a "scaredy cat".

At home, D.W. is still too scared to ask her parents what the word means. After conversing with Nadine, she decides to test it and see if what the Tibbles said is true. D.W. repeats their story to Vicita, but advises her not to say the word to anyone. However, D.W. knows that Vicita will say it anyway because she does not know any better. Along with Nadine, D.W. watches Vicita in her home from Arthur's bedroom with a pair of binoculars to see what happens.

While this is happening, D.W. is interrupted by her mother calling her down to dinner. D.W. asks for a minute, but her mother persists. Vicita then says the word to her family and when they get angry, Vicita explains that D.W. told her the word. D.W. soon gets annoyed and accidentally blurts out the bad word. Jane is shocked and outraged at this accidental remark, exclaiming, "Dora Winifred Read... what did you just say to me?!" D.W. then asks for a soda. When Jane does not budge, D.W. angrily mutters, "Tibbles!" before turning back to the window, before she sees Mr. and Mrs. Molina exit their house. When the doorbell rings, D.W. rushes downstairs to answer it, only to find that the Molinas and her dad are furious with her. When Jane angrily comes down the stairs, D.W. says, "Arthur did it?"; naturally, nobody believes her.

That night, Jane tucks D.W. into bed, letting her off the hook this time since she did not know what she was saying, but hoping she learns that swear words are inappropriate to say, especially for young children. When D.W. asks what they mean, Jane simply explains that they are offensive and meant to hurt people's feelings. Satisfied with this answer, D.W. falls asleep.

The next day at school, D.W. finds her friends all unknowingly using the swear word she and the Tibbles taught them. Realizing what she must do, D.W. sits down to explain to them how hurtful obscenities are.

Characters

Major

• D.W. Read
• Timmy and Tommy Tibble
• Nadine Flumberghast

Minor

• Arthur Read
• Teenager
• Ms. Morgan
• Amanda Hulser
• Francine Frensky
• Edwin
• Thora Read
• David Read
• Jane Read
• Kate Read
• Vicita Molina
• Teenager's Mom

Cameo

• Mrs. Hulser
• James MacDonald
• Ramon Molina
• Mrs. Molina
• Alberto Molina
• Maryann
• Liam
• Lisa
• Maryann's father
• Emily Leduc
• Sarah
• Lucy
• Kyle Fitzpatrick

Trivia

• In a Facebook Live interview, executive producer Carol Greenwald claims that this episode has been the most controversial, receiving the most mailed-in feedback from viewers.
• The voice actors did not swear while recording the dialog for the show. According to an interview with Jason Szwimer, voice actor for D.W., and YouTuber Scott Cramer, the episode script did not include a swear word. Rather, the word in question was simply substituted with "bleep" or in some cases, "chicken". The use of the word "chicken" allowed animators to have a reference word to model lip movements. Additional confirmation and context behind the bleep was provided in a forum post from 2013 by series director, Greg Bailey.

There was no actual swear word used behind the bleep sound effect.

“	There was a specific word in the script that was used for the recording. The word was chicken but could have been many other words that would have achieved the same result. It was supposed to be "**** off" and "chicken" gave the same mouth positions in animation. In animation the dialog is recorded before animation and it was animated in a non English speaking country. Korea in this case. The process is like this. Write the script and record the dialog. The storyboard artist is told that the word "chicken" actually means '**** you" in this show so they aren't confused. Then the voice recording is broken down phonetically frame by frame on the animation exposure sheet. An animator in Montreal that speaks English assigns one of 6 mouth positions for every frame of the show based on the phonetic breakdown. THE six mouth positions are numbered A,B,C,D,E,F. ' A ' being a closed mouth for "m" , "b", "p" sounds, B mouth for most consonants, [sic] C mouth for most vowels except "00" and "OA" sounds and 'F' is for "oo" or "r" sounds. In this case to say "**** off" you would use the mouths in the sequence B,C,B,C,B. Also to say "chicken" you would use B,C,B,C,B. When the Korean animator does his animation he follows the appropriate mouth position that is written on the exposure sheet by the Montreal animator and that he gets the correct mouth position from the model sheet. The animator doesn't even need to know the meaning of the words. It's the same mouth system used at Hanna-Barbera [sic] starting from The Flintstones era. Some animation uses a different system that has 2 extra mouths to make a sound "LLL" and one for the "V" and "F" sounds. Arthur uses the 6 mouth system not the 8 mouth system. If Arthur used the 8 mouth system there would have been different mouth positions on the "f" sounds. We could have just used the word '**** off' in the recording since we were going to bleep it anyway but then the script and the recording would have have the swear word in it, and that would have made the clients WGBH and Marc Brown too nervous during the process.	”
—Greg Bailey, "Earwig", Elwood City Central Forum

Episode connections

• The event where Arthur's mom's glass bird breaks is shown again. The first time took place during the flashback in the special Arthur's Perfect Christmas.
• The man with the "bleep" button is reading the comic book Alberto loaned Arthur in "Arthur and Los Vecinos."
• When Arthur drops his model plane, it breaks, just like it did in "Arthur's Big Hit."

Moral(s)

• Watch your language and temper, especially when there are other people around and in public.
• If you're unsure about whatever word and/or phrase (whether profanity or not) means in particular, then please speak up and do not hesitate to ask.
• Swearing is an inappropriate social/verbal behavior for children (regardless of their age and grade level) to use and repeat.
• Do not cover up and/or blame others for your own actions, like swearing, (whether accidental or not) to avoid facing the consequences.

Cultural references

• The Altos is a parody of The Sopranos.
• Mary Moo Cow jumping over the moon is a reference to the nursery rhyme "Hey Diddle Diddle".
• The preschoolers sing "If You're Happy and You Know It".
• This episode has a similar plot to episodes of other shows which are or have been on PBS Kids, such as:
  • The Berenstain Bears: "The Big Blooper"
  • Caillou: "Caillou's Cross Word"
  • Seven Little Monsters: "The Bad Word"
  • Wimzie’s House: "Please Don’t Say That!"
• This episode also has a similar plot to episodes of other children's shows which have not been on PBS Kids, such as:
  • Angela Anaconda: "The Curse of Baby Lulu"
  • Animaniacs: "Cutie and the Beast" (swearing was not the focus of the episode's plot)
  • Baby Looney Tunes: "Who Said That?"
  • Big City Greens: "Bleeped"
  • Dexter's Laboratory: "Rude Removal"
  • Dinosaurs: "Baby Talk"
  • Franklin: "Franklin's Word"
  • The Powerpuff Girls: "Curses"
  • Rolie Polie Olie: "Dinglie Danglie Doodle"
  • Rugrats: "The Word of the Day"
  • SpongeBob SquarePants: "Sailor Mouth"
  • Tiny Toon Adventures: "To Beep or Not To Beep"
  • Yoko! Jakamoko! Toto!: "The Bad Word"

Errors

• When the teenager's mother scolds him, the silver goblet that she was holding turns light green.
• When Arthur is working on the model plane as an apparent replacement, he is first seen wearing only his socks. After Jane opens the door however, Arthur is seen in his shoes, which he would not have had time to put on in the allotted time.
• D.W.'s car seat has different colors.
• When D.W. is spying on the Molinas in Arthur's room and Jane walks in, the clock on Arthur's bedside table is off but in the next frame, it is on.
• Amanda thanks D.W. for teaching her and their other classmates to swear even though it was actually the Tibbles who it taught it to them as D.W. didn't know what the swear word meant.

Production notes

• This is the last episode for several things:
  • The last time the DVS narrator says, "Back to the story."
  • The last episode to be produced by CINAR before they rebranded as Cookie Jar Entertainment in 2004.
  • The last episode where Mark Rendall voices Arthur.
  • Tim Cappelli as the storyboard clean-up artist.
  • Marie-Pierre Lacombe as the assistant dialogue editor and assistant engineer.
  • Michel Simard as the video editor.
  • Stéphanie Lemieux as the video assistant.
  • The last episode to air in 2003.

Gallery

Main article: Bleep/Gallery