Draw!

"Draw!"
Main image Title card
Season/Series:	2
Number in season:	1B
Production code:	34A
Original airdate:	October 20, 1997 November 24, 1997 January 24, 2002
Credits
Written by:	Joe Fallon
Storyboard by:	Eric Bergeron Gerry Capelle
Episodes
Previous "Arthur Meets Mister Rogers"	Next "Binky Barnes, Art Expert"

Read transcript

"Draw!" is the second half of the first episode in the second season of Arthur.

Summary

After Francine makes fun of Fern for liking Mr. Ratburn's puppet shows, Fern gets revenge by drawing an unflattering comic strip of her; soon, everyone else joins in, only to realize they are hurting Francine's feelings.

Plot

Arthur tells the viewers about Francine and how, even though she is his friend, she can still be hard to get along with. He also shares examples of this with the viewers, such as the fact that Francine complains even when she wins at basketball (she claims that she "could have won by more"). She also argues a lot, even about the fact that no one else will win an argument with her. Arthur then completes the opening with the message, "And this is what she [Francine] is like in a good mood."

Draw!

One day at school, Mr. Ratburn's class is interrupted by the screeching boom of the school P.A. system. After adjusting his microphone, Mr. Haney announces the upcoming Teacher Charity Carnival, where the students can watch their teachers perform varied acts for the day on the school grounds.

At lunch, Francine notes how silly Mr. Ratburn's puppet shows are, mocking him with a sandwich she makes to look like one of his puppets by sticking on two olives for eyeballs. Arthur and Buster laugh, but Fern says she likes Mr. Ratburn's shows. Francine then mocks her for liking "boring kid stuff". Offended, Fern rushes off, but Francine is indifferent and just takes Fern's cookie.

In the hallway, Arthur informs Francine to apologize to Fern, but Francine does not show remorse for her actions, instead calling Fern a "mouse" who should just get over it. Fern overhears this and then cries, and she becomes very furious.

To get back at Francine, Fern shows her friends a comic she drew of a boastful and stuck-up cow named Frank who makes fun of everyone else. The kids find this hilarious, but when Francine discovers this, she is less than amused and asks if the cow represents her. The kids deny this as Frank is a boy, but Brain teases Francine by saying cows are females and bulls are males, so the comic might be about her. Francine is not amused and angrily storms off. Later, all the students draw their own depictions of Francine, all of them deciding to give her a taste of her own medicine.

Meanwhile, the teachers are preparing for the carnival, so Ms. Tingley comes into the lounge to learn what their plans are. Mr. Ratburn scares her with his "Many-Headed Hydra vs. Sinbad the Sailor" puppet show, and Miss Sweetwater plans on a sing-along. When she sees Ms. Tingley does not look happy, Miss Sweetwater tries to cheer her up with "I Like Fudge" on her guitar, scaring Ms. Tingley off. Ms. Tingley tries to take cover in Mr. Haney's office, only to find that he plans on a magic act where he will saw her in half in a box. His demonstration with a board or wood goes badly, scaring her off once again.

At lunch, the kids share their comics, which are all ambiguously about Francine, including "The Big Clumsy Moose with Big Feet Named Frannie", "Frannie Foghorn", "Frantic Frog", "Bully Bulldozer", and "Fran the Stinky Sneaker", and everyone laughs at what they have created. Arthur sees Francine sitting alone, apparently upset, and wonders if maybe they should stop. Fern insists that "she'll get over it". When Arthur tries to talk to Francine, she snaps at him to back off, denying that she is insulted. Arthur then reads Buster's comic, "The Giant Slime That Came to School".

In the comic, a huge lump of green slime (who probably characterizes Francine due to her hair and the fact that they were going through a phase of Francine-themed comics) proceeds to consume anyone who gets in her way, including Mr. Ratburn and Bionic Bunny. In the comic, a hungry boy (probably representing Buster as he has similar looks and personality) wanders in the dark looking for food, and comes across the Giant Slime, which he thinks is lime. He finds it delicious and tries to eat the blob, who runs off in fright. Buster chases it and eats it in one giant bite, saving Mr. Ratburn and Bionic Bunny in the process, who say that they are glad he eats like a pig.

At this point, Mr. Haney announces the carnival's beginning, so everyone goes outside, except Francine. Mrs. MacGrady finds the comics lying around and it gives her an idea.

At the carnival, all of the kids are having fun watching their teachers and eating food. Fern is called into Mrs. MacGrady's fortune teller tent, where Mrs. MacGrady shows off the comics and says she has a plan to make Francine look silly. Eager to see Francine humiliated, Fern gathers everyone who drew the comics. Mrs. MacGrady says she plans for the kids to hide behind the drapes and dump a vat of green gloop all over Francine when given a cue (Mrs. MacGrady saying "green gloop").

Everyone hides as Francine enters, and Mrs. MacGrady "sees" the comics in her crystal ball. Francine concedes that the drawings are likely of her and does not laugh; eventually, she begins to cry. At this point, Francine admits to Mrs. MacGrady that her friends' teasing is truly hurting her feelings and realizes it was wrong of her to offend Fern.

The others overhear this and are surprised—Francine actually does have feelings. Although Mrs. MacGrady mentions "green gloop," the kids recognize they have pushed Francine too far and decide to call off their plan to humiliate her further. Mrs. MacGrady comforts Francine, who soon leaves, and the kids resolve to go and apologize. After they depart, Mrs. MacGrady opens her box, revealing that the "green gloop" was actually a festive assortment of streamers and balloons.

Eventually, Francine and her friends make up. They enjoy the carnival together, relieved that things are back to normal. Meanwhile, Miss Sweetwater and Mr. Haney continue to chase Ms. Tingley as she desperately tries to avoid their acts—especially Mr. Haney's.

Characters

Major

• Francine Frensky
• Mrs. MacGrady
• Arthur Read
• Buster Baxter
• Muffy Crosswire
• Brain
• Fern Walters
• Sue Ellen Armstrong
• Mr. Haney
• Mr. Ratburn
• Binky Barnes

Minor

• Miss Sweetwater
• Ms. Tingley
• Ms. Bryan
• Jenna Morgan
• Ms. Flynn

Cameo

• George Lundgren
• Otis
• Maria Pappas
• Alex Davidson
• Brian
• Steve Pappas
• Nancy
• Edwin
• Kenny
• Helen
• 3rd Grade Male Rabbit
• 3rd Grade Male Dog
• 3rd Grade Female Aardvark
• 3rd Grade Female Cat (Number 2)
• Luke
• Mr. Marco
• Patrick (4th grader)
• Mary (3rd grader)
• Mary Perchanok

Songs

• "I Like Fudge"

Trivia

• Morals:
  • Two wrongs don’t make a right. Don’t try to get back at others who were mean to you; revenge doesn’t justify their actions.
  • Treat others the way you want to be treated.
• For unknown reasons, starting in the 2010s, the opening scene of the episode and the final scene where Miss Sweetwater and Mr. Haney are chasing Ms. Tingley were removed from UK airings.
• In Spanish, this episode is named "Arte cruel," which translates to "Cruel art."
• In April 2024, PBS Kids rereleased this episode and 18 other titles with the addition of an American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter on screen, allowing individuals who are deaf or hard-of-hearing to fully immerse themselves in the program. For more information about all of the ASL-interpreted episodes, see American Sign Language.

Episode connections

• Arthur mentions the events of this episode later in "Francine Goes to War."
• In the cold open, Francine and Brain are shown arguing. A conflict between the two would become a storyline a few episodes later in "The Big Blow Up".
• Miss Sweetwater sings I Like Fudge, first sung in Arthur's Substitute Teacher Trouble by Rodentia Ratburn.
  • The two versions have slightly different melodies and rhythms.

Cultural references

• Mr. Ratburn's plans to do a puppet show featuring Sinbad (Arabian Nights) and the Hydra (Greek Mythology).
• The answer to the math problem 3,630,279,148 divided by 7,681 (the math problem Mr. Ratburn asks in the comic) is 472,631.0568936336, which is not a whole number.
  • Conversely in standard arithmetic, the division problem shown is not supposed to be written vertically like in addition, subtraction, and multiplication. It is done with a "long division" sign (⟌). Thus, the correct way to write this problem is: 7,681⟌3̅,̅6̅3̅0̅,̅2̅7̅9̅,̅1̅4̅8̅
    • The "long division" sign is indeed the correct notation for solving such a problem by hand, but problems may be written vertically in their original presentations
• One of Buster's 'comics' of Francine is "The Big Clumsy Moose with the Big Feet Named Franny", to which Fern replies, "Her feet are named 'Franny'?" In the early 2000s, there really was a children's program on PBS Kids known as "Franny's Feet".
• When Francine tells Arthur to "go eat an ant sandwich," it is a reference to how aardvarks eat ants in real life.

Errors

• When Francine storms off the basketball court after learning of the "Furious Frank" comic, Buster's mouth moves as if he is gasping or saying "Huh?", but he does not make any sound.
• Brain is there when Mrs. MacGrady tells them to pour the gloop on Francine, but he is not with his friends when they hide.
• When all the kids start drawing their comics, the shot of Francine reading is from "My Dad, the Garbage Man." This is out of place as it shows Fern sitting across from Francine when the shot before that shows Alex sitting across from her.
• In the scene where Arthur, Buster and Brain play carnival games, Arthur's cel is misplaced causing his feet not to touch the ground.

Home Video

DVD

• Arthur: The Complete Series 2
• Arthur's Eyes

Gallery

Error: Arthur's feet do not touch the ground