"The Perfect Game" | |
Season/Series: | 12 |
---|---|
Number in season: | 10a |
Original Airdate: | April 24, 2009[1] February 26, 2010[3] April 30, 2009[2] |
Credits | |
Written by: | Elliot Thomson |
Storyboard by: | Jeremy O'Neill Daniel Miodini |
Episodes | |
Previous "Do You Believe in Magic?" |
Next "D.W.'s Furry Freak-out" |
Read transcript |
"The Perfect Game" is the first half of the tenth episode in the twelfth season of Arthur.
Summary[]
While working on a school project, Francine becomes obsessed with designing the perfect baseball stadium.
Plot[]
In the introduction, Arthur, Buster, Francine and Muffy are in Elwood City Stadium. The Grebes have a chance to pitch a perfect game, but the other team scores a home run in the last inning. Francine is still upset on the way home.
Mr. Ratburn shows slides of famous cities and assigns the kids to build city models.
Arthur is teamed with Francine. She only cares about designing a stadium in which the Grebes could have pitched a perfect game. She and Arthur split the buildings for the city between themselves.
Arthur collects old cartons and bottles as building materials. Meanwhile, Francine becomes obsessed with her stadium called Frenway Park, which is designed solely to allow the Grebes to pitch a perfect game (e.g. the walls are too high for the other team to hit home runs). She has a dream about it.
When Arthur shows Francine his part of the city, she still has not started building. Francine gets a hat box from Muffy, who shows her project, which is being built by George.
Francine wants to ask Adil for advice on building a dome like the Hagia Sophia, but it is night in Istanbul. She asks Arthur for help, but she is so fussy about the stadium that she makes Arthur build the other buildings on her list instead.
Francine has another dream which exposes her design flaws (e.g. the Grebes cannot hit home runs either).
While adding a dome to the model, Francine accidentally breaks the stadium wall. She and Arthur have an idea. They get more materials from the city dump and present a city model to the class, in which the stadium is a historic ruin.
At the end, the kids watch another baseball game. This time, Francine is delighted by the number of home runs and has ideas for improving Elwood City Stadium, causing Arthur to shudder.
Characters[]
Major[]
Minor[]
- Oliver Frensky
- Catherine Frensky
- Mr. Ratburn
- Buster Baxter
- Muffy Crosswire
- George Lundgren
- Brain
- Lefty Paz
- Henry Thomson
Cameo[]
- D.W. Read
- Binky Barnes
- Sue Ellen Armstrong
- Unknown Female Adult Rabbit (Number 4)
- Maria Pappas
- Mrs. Pappas
- Jenna Morgan
- Alex Davidson
- Fern Walters
- Arthur lookalike (The Perfect Game)
Mentioned[]
Trivia[]
- The Crosswire Motors logo can be seen on the stadium in the last scene.
- Francine mentions that there have been 17 perfect games in the history of Major League Baseball. This was indeed true at the time of this episode's original airing in April 2009, with the most recent one then being in May 2004. As of 2023, there have now been 24 perfect games, with the most recent in June 2023.
Episode connections[]
- Oliver calls Francine "master builder" while she is planning her model city. Similarly, "The Master Builders" is the title of a Season 21 episode, in which Francine and her friends build things together.
- Muffy's strawberry hat is a reference to the strawberry parade, previously featured in "My Club Rules" and "How the Cookie Crumbles."
- Francine mentions Adil. Despite being Arthur's pen pal ("Dear Adil"), this is the second episode (the other being "Is That Kosher?") in which Francine attempts to contact him.
Production notes[]
- After Muffy and George present their model, D.W. is heard saying "whoa." This line is delivered by her voice actor from Seasons 1–3, Michael Caloz, instead of by Robert Naylor.
Cultural references[]
- The Great Wall of China, the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul and the Colosseum in Rome are shown on slides.
- Frenway Park alludes to Fenway Park. It is the home of the Boston Red Sox who were represented by the Grebes in "The Curse of the Grebes."
- Francine mentions the Estadio Azteca in Mexico City.
- George and Muffy's model includes Sagrada Família in Barcelona and the Hagia Sophia in Istanbul.
Gallery[]
Screenshots[]
References[]