D.W. Thinks Big (episode)

This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the book, the VHS, or the DVD.

"D.W. Thinks Big"
Main image Title card
Season/Series:	1
Number in season:	25a
Production code:	4B
Original airdate:	November 8, 1996 February 7, 1997 January 16, 2002
Credits
Written by:	Marc Brown (original) Judy Rothman (adapted)
Storyboard by:	Gerry Capelle
Episodes
Previous "D.W. Gets Lost"	Next "Arthur Cleans Up"

Read transcript

"D.W. Thinks Big" is the first half of the twenty-fifth episode in the first season of Arthur. It is based on the book D.W. Thinks Big.

Summary

At Aunt Lucy's wedding, Arthur is the ring bearer and Cousin Cora is the flower girl, but D.W. is too little to do anything. However, when the wedding ring gets lost in the pipe organ, D.W.'s size helps get it back.

Plot

The episode starts with Arthur practicing holding the pillow and walking down the aisle as the ring bearer for Aunt Lucy's wedding that afternoon. Breaking the fourth wall, he says he can't talk for long due to practicing carrying the ring for the wedding. He mentions that D.W. is more excited than anyone about the wedding because last week, she married the toaster and the blender. She has also been looking out for Aunt Jessica and Uncle Richard, who are staying at the Reads' house.

D.W. Thinks Big

Cora, the cousin of Arthur, D.W. and Kate, is the flower girl. Because of this, she tends to be a bit of a drama queen; for example, she tells a jealous D.W. that the wedding can't go on without her, and she shows off all of the fancy things that she bought for herself for the wedding. She also shows D.W. her "gold locket" that Aunt Lucy gave her; Cora accidentally breaks the locket and blames it immediately on D.W. Cora tearfully shows her mom the locket, claiming that D.W. broke it. Jessica scolds D.W. and tells her not to play rough with Cora's locket. Despite D.W. trying to explain that she didn't do anything wrong honestly; Cora retorts to D.W. that she did and has "ruined" her locket.

That night, Cora sleeps in D.W.'s bed while D.W. sleeps in a sleeping bag on the floor. Cora asks her mom if she can sleep with her because she doesn't like D.W.'s room and that "the awful colors" hurt her eyes. Jessica tells Cora that she is just tired and needs her sleep because she has a very important job for the wedding tomorrow, to which Cora replies with a smile, "That's right. I do."

The next day, D.W. wakes up before everyone else to the sound of church bells, realizing that the wedding day has finally arrived. She then runs downstairs, cheering the words "Wedding Day!" and belly flops onto David and Jane, who are sleeping on the pullout couch bed.

Later, Jane gives Arthur her ring in order to practice while she plays The Bridal Chorus by Richard Wagner on the piano. D.W. asks why she cannot carry the ring, to which Arthur explains that she is too little to do it, and adds that a ring bearer is always a boy. As Arthur practices walking with the pillow, D.W. asks Jane if she gets to do anything in the wedding, but her mother explains that Arthur and Cora are older than D.W. so they get more important jobs. However, she reassures her daughter that she'll get her chance when she’s older. Undaunted, D.W. vows to find something to do to help and runs off humming The Bridal Chorus, bumping into Arthur on the way out and causing him to stumble slightly.

D.W. then goes throughout the house, trying to help the others in getting ready. Unfortunately, each of her efforts are either rebuffed (such as helping David put the topper on top of the cake by standing on her wobbly tricycle to reach), or she ends up messing up (she gets powder on Aunt Jessica's dress while she's getting ready and shaving cream on Uncle Richard's dress pants while he's shaving). D.W. gloomily states that she only wants to help, but no one seems to want it.

When the flowers arrive, Jane pins Arthur's boutonnière on his suit jacket and then puts Cora's daisy crown on her head. Cora then starts bragging loudly about how beautiful it is, causing D.W. to sniffle slightly. D.W. then asks if she gets anything, and Jane explains that these accessories are only for people who are part of the wedding. Aunt Jessica gushes over Cora and Uncle Richard then takes a picture of her as she poses and shows off.

In the catering van, D.W. complains about Arthur getting to sit up front to which Arthur counters that he has an important job to do. D.W. then contemplates the idea that Cora could get sick, and she could take over as flower girl, but Arthur then quiets her so he can concentrate on what to do ("Stand up straight. Tuck in my shirt. Fix my tie.")

At the wedding when everyone arrives, Cora immediately barges into the church to start showing off again by saying, "I'm here, everybody! I'm here!" Grandpa Dave compliments her and takes Cora to get her pictures taken with the rest of the people in the wedding, leaving D.W., whom he had originally been talking to, alone.

As Aunt Lucy, her bridesmaids, Arthur, and Cora are getting their pictures taken, D.W. storms in up in front of the camera. The photographer unintentionally upsets D.W. by calling her a "little girl" and asking if she is lost. Jane then tells D.W. it is time to sit down. Before leaving, D.W. asks if she can help Aunt Lucy the next time she gets married. This amusing statement causes the bridesmaids (and Lucy) to giggle.

As the wedding begins and the organist starts playing The Bridal Chorus on the organ, D.W. grouses that when she gets married, she will let anyone who wants to help do so. Arthur and Cora start walking down the aisle, and Cora rudely gives Arthur a stern warning that making a mistake will ruin the whole wedding, so he had better "watch it." While walking down, Cora makes a show of throwing her flowers, hitting one guest in the face. D.W. then notices that Arthur has a nervous look on his face and is muttering to himself to not go too fast or too slow. Cora, noticing this as well, yells at Arthur to smile. This terrible distraction makes Arthur lose his balance, and he catapults the wedding ring high into the air; the ring goes down one of the organ pipes, and lands inside the organ, mortifying Arthur and impressing D.W. with how it all happened. Grandpa Dave tries to reach in one of the pipes to get the ring but gets his hand slightly stuck and once he gets out, loses his balance. However, he's caught by Lucy's groom. The organist suggests that if someone could fit in through a small compartment in the organ, they may be able to get the ring. Arthur volunteers to go in and get it, but finds he can't fit in the organ because of his size. Grandpa Dave suggests Cora, but once she looks inside, she refuses, saying it is dirty in there and rudely asks if they can't just get another ring.

Jessica approaches her daughter and takes her away, telling her that she doesn't have to go into the filthy organ if she doesn't want to. Hearing Cora's refusal to get the ring causes worries Lucy and the rest of the guests to worry about what to do. Finally, D.W. volunteers, hopping from her seat and handing her purse to Arthur as Grandpa Dave commends her. She at first balks upon seeing how dark and scary it looks inside, but, upon hearing another worried murmur from the crowd, she finds courage and goes inside.

D.W. manages to fit in the organ. Despite being startled by a spider, accidentally pressing down on a bellows, and emerging dirty and coughing, she brings the ring back out, causing a cheer from everyone and making a now-jealous Cora upset at the praise D.W. is getting.

Because of this turn of events, a proudly smiling Arthur hands D.W. the pillow and tells her to carry the ring; she deserves to because she found it. Aunt Lucy also takes the flower crown off of Cora's head and puts it on D.W.'s head, making D.W. the flower girl.

At first, Cora starts to complain, but when Lucy says her name warningly, Cora just says, "Oh, all right" and begrudgingly allows D.W. to be the flower girl. After Lucy and her husband are pronounced husband and wife and kiss (covered up by the priest's face), Lucy then kisses D.W. on the cheek, saying they couldn't have done it without her. At this point, the organist starts playing The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn.

Later, everyone is seen waving goodbye to Aunt Lucy and her husband as they leave for their honeymoon. D.W. then calls out, "If you lose anything, just call me!" and hums The Bridal Chorus, finishing the episode.

Characters

Major

• D.W. Read
• Arthur Read
• Cora (debut)

Minor

• Jane Read
• David Read
• Kate Read
• Lucy (debut)
• Dave
• Jessica (aunt) (debut)
• Richard (debut)
• Lucy's husband (debut)

Cameo

• Unknown Male Adult Rabbit (Number 3)
• Unknown Female Adult Rabbit (Number 4)
• Maria lookalike
• Unknown Male Rabbit
• Dry cleaners worker (debut)

Trivia

• At the end of the 2000 rerun intro on PBS Kids before this episode, Arthur’s crashing sound remains the same.
• This is the only episode written by Judy Rothman.
• In this episode, Lucy's hair is blonde and her husband's hair is brown. "Grandpa Dave's Memory Album" swaps their hair colors for unknown reasons.
• This episode and the next episode were encoded to work with ActiMates Arthur and D.W. on June 29, 1998.
• All of Cousin Cora's gasps are stock gasps meant for other female characters. Before D.W. bumps into her and when she pulls half-inch heels out of her suitcase, she uses Jane's gasp. After D.W. glares at her and when her chain breaks, she uses D.W.'s gasp (which is also used for D.W. herself when she almost touches a spider inside the organ).
• When Cora started to cry realizing she ripped her necklace’s clasp, her crying wasn't recorded by Michael Caloz, but instead Tracey Ullman. Her crying was heard from the titular character in The Little Lulu Show episode "The Pet Duck" when she cried thinking that her mother cooked her pet duck.
• In the closeup where Jane takes off the ring, you can see that she is wearing pink nail polish.
• When D.W. is searching for the ring, one of the crowd's worried gasps is a stock gasp in which Buster is clearly heard saying "Uh-oh", even though he doesn't appear in this episode.
• At the end of the episode, D.W.'s dress is covered in dirt but in "Grandpa Dave's Memory Album", her dress is clean in the picture of her dancing with Grandpa Dave.
• Despite being the 49th aired episode segment of the series, the art style of this episode heavily suggests it was produced early in the season. The biggest signs are the characters' tongues being colored white instead of pink, the exaggerated cartoonish actions and higher amount of animation errors, and Arthur and D.W.'s complexions being a noticeably darker shade of brown.

Episode connections

• D.W. mentions Arthur losing the wedding ring at Lucy's wedding in "D.W. Unties the Knot."
• D.W. mentions Lucy's wedding in "Go to Your Room, D.W.." However, in that episode, she claims not to have attended it, and was instead forced to stay at home and clean.
• There are pictures of Lucy's wedding from this episode in "Grandpa Dave's Memory Album."
• Arthur is the ring bearer and says only boys are those, but Cora is portrayed as the ring bearer during D.W.'s made-up story in "I'd Rather Read It Myself."
• The events of this episode will be mentioned again in "I'd Rather Read It Myself" (in a dramatized version retold by D.W.), "D.W.'s Perfect Wish," "Arthur Weighs In" and "Grandpa Dave's Memory Album."

Cultural references

• Richard Wagner's Bridal Chorus from Lohengrin, also known as Here Comes the Bride, is heard several times.
• Felix Mendelssohn's Wedding March from A Midsummer Night's Dream is heard at the end of the ceremony. It's often paired with The Bridal Chorus in real life.
• Flowers 'R' Us is a parody of Toys "R" Us.
• Despite what's implied in the episode, D.W. at four years old is not too young to be a flower girl; the age of a flower girl is traditionally three to ten years old.

Differences from the book

• When Arthur loses the wedding ring, it flies into the organ. In the book, the ring rolls into the floor vent. Also, he smiles and waves in the book as the ring goes into the floor vent.
• Cora does not want to retrieve the ring because she would get her dress dirty. In the book, she offers to go down the ventilation shaft to get it, but like Arthur, she is too big.
• Lucy's hair is slightly straighter than in the book.
• Arthur's tuxedo is teal-colored, but in the book, it is gray.
• Cora seems to be less antagonistic in the book, and has less of an attitude. In the episode adaptation, she seems to treat D.W. as "less than" and that she (Cora) is the star of the show. Cora also tends to talk with an attitude to everyone (especially D.W.).
• Cora's flower girl dress is purple, but in the book, it is yellow, and she wears pink nail polish and shoes with bows.
• Cora and her parents stay at Arthur's house the day before the wedding. In the book, they are not encountered until Arthur's family arrives at the wedding.
  • Her father is renamed from "Uncle Shelly" to "Uncle Richard" in this adaptation. Her mother, on the other hand, is given the name of "Aunt Jessica" while she is unnamed in the book as one of the background characters.
• When the photographer asks D.W. if she's lost and D.W. says she is not, D.W. stands in front of him. In the book, she sits on a chair when she responds to his question.
• In the end, Aunt Lucy and her husband are shown leaving in a limousine for their honeymoon after congratulating D.W. for saving their wedding. However, the book ends before Aunt Lucy and her husband leave for their honeymoon.
  • At the end of the book, Cora is shown smiling and appreciating D.W. saving the day. In this episode adaptation, Cora reluctantly agrees to let Aunt Lucy let D.W. be the flower girl.
• The book starts out with D.W. in her underclothes as the family is getting dressed and ready for the wedding within a couple hours. The entire beginning of this episode adaptation before going to the wedding has Aunt Jessica and her family from Mrs. Read's side of the family staying for the night before going to the wedding the next day.
• On the way to the wedding, the road is shown to be clear with minimal to no traffic. In the book, they are shown to be in a traffic jam while on the way.

Errors

• During the intro for the first few lines, Carol Brooks is the narrator instead of JT Turner.
• When Cora opens her suitcase, the lid for it is uncolored.
• Before the photographer takes the picture, he's colored white. When D.W. leaves, his coloring changes to brown.
• During the interior view of the catering van, the two seats in the front appear to be close together when they should be spaced apart.
• While the Reads are on the way to the wedding, Kate rides along in the van; however, when they are at the wedding and waving goodbye to Aunt Lucy and her husband, she is gone.
• When Jane hands the wedding ring to Arthur, her skin is a little darker than usual.
• For the wedding, Arthur wears a nice green tuxedo with a red bow tie. However, in the shot after the wedding when Aunt Lucy and her husband are about to leave, Arthur is shown wearing his blue suit and lavender bow tie that he normally wears for parties and special occasions.

Gallery

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Screenshots

Cora rudely gives her cousin Arthur a stern warning that making a mistake ruins the whole wedding, so to watch it.

Cora being stripped of her flower girl position by her aunt

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Home Media

VHS

• D.W. Thinks Big

DVD

• D.W. Thinks Big