| "Return of the Snowball" | |
| Season/Series: | 7 |
|---|---|
| Number in season: | 9b |
| Original Airdate: |  November 28, 2002[1] February 3, 2003[2] |
| Credits | |
| Written by: | Dietrich Smith |
| Storyboard by: | Gerry Capelle |
| Episodes | |
| Previous "Prunella Sees the Light" |
Next "April 9th" |
| Read transcript |
"Return of the Snowball" is the second half of the ninth episode in the seventh season of Arthur.
Summary[]
Six months, two weeks, and four days after it disappeared, D.W.'s snowball reappears in the Read family freezer. But how can she prevent it from melting or being stolen again?
Plot[]
The prologue opens with "Recently In A Galaxy Far Far Away" and then RETURN OF THE SNOWBALL . Arthur narrates how D.W. still thinks and talks about her snowball all the time, causing unrest. D.W. then cuts into the story and accuses him of stealing her snowball. Arthur tells her to stop since he's the narrator and tries to continue but D.W. calls for their mom. Jane cuts in now and tells Arthur to let his sister talk until she learns it's about the snowball again. D.W. and Arthur bicker until the camera goes into Earth. D.W. is opening the freezer and gasps in surprise to see her snowball.
RETURN OF THE SNOWBALL
The Reads are celebrating Jane's birthday when D.W. walks in with the snowball and exclaims that it is back. Jane is happy for D.W. As they hug, D.W. opens one eye to make sure her snowball hasn't gone anywhere.
That night, D.W. is in the kitchen with the lights turned off. She is keeping an eye on her snowball, putting it on a bag of peas. Jane says it's past D.W.'s bedtime and puts the snowball back in the freezer. D.W. frets for her mother to be careful. She then cries out that Jane forgot to put the peas back in the freezer.
In bed, D.W. dreams of a ball in an ice palace where she and Snowball dance together while the ice people clap for them. On the castle balcony, Snowball fearfully asks if somebody might take him again, much to D.W.'s shock. At that moment, two giant, navy blue arms with red gloves snatch Snowball. D.W. wakes up and yells, "NO!" She runs downstairs to the kitchen and is relieved to see the snowball still there. D.W. secures the snowball in a plastic container with a bicycle chain from the garage and a lock before putting it back in the freezer. She then goes back to sleep but has another bad dream about her snowball. D.W. returns to the kitchen with a flashlight.
In the morning when Jane comes downstairs, she finds the freezer door open and D.W. asleep at the kitchen table. Jane wakes her up. D.W. gets startled and tries to shine her light to find her mom.
At breakfast, D.W. expresses her fears that whoever stole her snowball may try again. When Arthur says the snowball wasn't stolen since she found it, D.W. gets suspicious. David suggests it probably just got lost in the freezer and reappeared when everything was taken out for Jane's birthday. D.W. then becomes paranoid about Arthur taking her snowball. When she hears him running the sink to wash his dirty dishes, D.W. demands Arthur stay right where he is while she checks on the snowball. She grabs the locked container but can't tell if her prized possession is still inside. When Arthur leaves the kitchen, she gets suspicious again. Arthur silently tells his parents that D.W. is obsessing about her snowball. D.W. fails to remove the chains from the snowball's container so she tries to stab it with a two-fingered fork. Jane stops her, worried that her daughter could've hurt herself. She safely opens the container and D.W. is shocked to see that the snowball has shrunk.
That night, Jane decides to have the snowball stay in a cooler inside D.W.'s bedroom, not wanting her to keep wrecking the kitchen or risk getting hurt. D.W. asks Jane if she can punish Arthur for taking the outside part of the snowball. Jane corrects the snowball just melted from from D.W. constantly fussing over it. After Jane leaves, D.W. makes sure the snowball is close to bags of ice.
D.W. tosses and turns in her sleep. She has a dream of the ice palace melting, and Snowball is now shorter, struggling to dance with D.W.. When they go to the balcony again, Snowball wants D.W. to find out who stole him in the first place. She believes it's Arthur. A scared Snowball suggests David and Jane could protect him from Arthur if D.W. can prove her brother's guilt.
D.W. begins interrogating Arthur on his whereabouts between six months ago and their mother's birthday. Arthur, annoyed, says he was listening to her constantly whine about her snowball. He refuses to answer when D.W. asks where he kept the snowball, and instead calls for their mom. Jane then sends D.W. to her room and closes the door.
D.W. decides to try another way. She sneaks out of her room and calls Brain, tricking him by deepening her voice to make him think that she's Arthur. When he asks what's wrong with "Arthur"'s voice, D.W. claims she has a cold. As soon as Brain arrives, D.W. lies that Arthur went to buy medicine and told her to keep him company. She takes Brain inside and offers to pay him all the money in her piggy bank if he finds out who stole her snowball. After D.W. opens the cooler, she sees the snowball has shrunk even more and drains the excess water into a jar. Brain is confused how it could've been stolen if she has it and D.W. says it's "complicated".
In the kitchen, D.W. looks into the freezer and asks Brain if a snowball could stay safely hidden in it for six months. He does some calculations with a measuring tape and confirms that's impossible. D.W. believes the snowball must have been somewhere else in the interim. Brain comes up with a long list of freezers within a ten-block radius in which the snowball could have been stored. D.W. asks only about the freezers Arthur could have reached. Brain suddenly has an idea. He rushes to the freezer and takes out chocolate ice cream from his parents' ice cream parlor. Brain deduces it was bought for Jane's birthday, which was the same day the snowball suddenly reappeared. Just as he's about to explain what this all means, Arthur finds them in the kitchen. D.W. informs Arthur that Brain is investigating what happened to her snowball and Brain realizes D.W. tricked him. Arthur and Brain leave the house as D.W. yells for Brain to finish what he was saying about the ice cream. She screams, "ARTHUR, YOU DID THIS ON PURPOSE!" When Jane asks about the commotion, D.W. just gets upset.
D.W. imagines Snowball almost completely melted down and having a higher-pitched voice. He prepares to row away from her inside a black dress shoe on the river. D.W. tearfully apologizes for failing to catch Arthur, but Snowball says it wouldn't have made a difference. He bids goodbye to a heartbroken D.W. as he melts.
After her fantasy, D.W. takes out the plate that now just has water on it and cries. She says goodbye to her snowball while pouring what is left of it inside the jar. Arthur then arrives and confesses he did it. D.W. gasps and asks why. Arthur explains when he was getting the ice cream for Mom's birthday party, he saw that the parlor was selling snow cones, which resembled a snowball. He bought a plain one and put it in the freezer at home, so D.W. would think it was her snowball and stop going on about it being stolen. Realizing the truth, D.W. again wonders why Arthur took her real snowball in the first place. Arthur, frustrated, reiterates that he didn't and doesn't know what happened, exhaustedly asking her to just drop it already. As he walks away, D.W. apologizes. She sincerely thanks her brother for the fake snowball, admitting it was almost as good.
D.W. dumps the water outside her window. She sees Emily and her nanny heading to the pool, and decides to join them. A U.F.O. in the sky with one adult alien and two kid aliens observe her. The father scolds his kids for stealing the snowball. As the kids argue on whose fault it was, their father warns them they won't go to the asteroid fair if they keep arguing. The U.F.O. then flies off into outer space.
Characters[]
Major[]
Minor[]
- Brain
- Thora Read
- Emily Leduc (does not speak)
Cameo[]
Trivia[]
- In this episode, D.W. finally acknowledges that Arthur couldn't have taken her original snowball; however, this gag continues in subsequent episodes.
- For unknown reasons, the aliens who claim to have stolen the snowball are not the same ones who did so back in "D.W.'s Snow Mystery."
Episode connections[]
- This episode is the sequel to "D.W.'s Snow Mystery," and continues the story of D.W.'s snowball. The mystery continues with "All Will Be Revealed!"
- When sitting on his bed, Arthur reads the comic book Alberto loaned him in "Arthur and Los Vecinos."
Cultural references[]
- The cold open features the phrase "Recently in a galaxy far far away..." followed by an opening crawl setting the scene for the episode. This is a parody of the "A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away..." tagline and opening crawl of the Star Wars films. The title of the episode itself is a reference to Star Wars Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
Errors[]
- Since this episode takes place at least "six months, two weeks, and four days" after the snowball went missing, it suggests Jane's birthday celebration takes place in the summer. However, David says he hid Jane's birthday present in the garage in "Arthur Bounces Back", which took place during the fall.
Home video[]
DVD:[]
- Arthur: Sleepovers, Sports and More
- PBS Kids: 15 Frozen tales
Gallery[]
Screenshots
References[]
- ↑ http://www.ket.org/episode/ARUR%20%20000709
- ↑ Arthur. TVO. Archived from the original on July 19, 2013.