When Rivals Came to Roost

"When Rivals Came to Roost"
Main image Title card
Season/Series:	22
Number in season:	2a
Original Airdate:	May 14, 2019[citation needed] November 6, 2019 July 29, 2020
Credits
Written by:	Eliza Bent Glen Berger
Storyboard by:	Jeremy O'Neill
Episodes
Previous "The Feud"	Next "The Longest Eleven Minutes"

Read transcript

"When Rivals Came to Roost" is the first half of the second episode in the twenty-second season of Arthur.

Summary

Lakewood Elementary School students must share their school with rival students whose classroom gets flooded.

Plot

Brain gives a presentation on the history of Lakewood Elementary's rivalry with Mighty Mountain: over the years, Lakewood has lost in a hula hoop contest, sports, spelling bees, quilting bees, and competitive beekeeping, while the science fair trophy has repeatedly changed hands. Brain insists that Lakewood will win it this year.

When Rivals Came to Roost

The third-graders project is about worms, which Muffy finds disgusting. Mr. Ratburn announces that a pipe in Mighty Mountain's third grade classroom has burst and flooded the room, so the Mighty Mountain class will need to share space with Mr. Ratburn's classroom for a while. Brain is worried that Mighty Mountain will observe their science project, and Mr. Ratburn says that they will get to see theirs, too, as a janitor rescued it from the room.

While eating lunch outside, Ladonna tells the gang that they should make 'welcome kits' with school supplies to assist in helping the Mighty Mountain students feel welcome. She then gives everyone ribbon pins of Mighty Mountain's school colors, and Arthur, Buster, and Muffy discuss ways to make the students feel welcome. Brain still considers Mighty Mountain a rival, and does not want to welcome them.

When the class moves in, Los Dedos makes an agreement with Brain that the science fair will be about "good science, not competition." She shows him what was salvaged of her science project: a bunch of ants in a pickle jar. Brain is unimpressed, and doesn't believe Los Dedos's claim that her class used to have a big display. She opens a can of soda, which sprays all over his project.

At Arthur's house with Ladonna, Arthur, Muffy, and Brain, Buster explains that ants and worms are "mortal enemies." He describes a Bionic Bunny comic, but Brain and Arthur argue that Bionic Bunny isn't scientific and that the worms and ants are in separate containers.

Arthur, Buster, Muffy, Ladonna, and Brain are uncomfortable by Mighty Mountain due to them going first at lunch, using the four square court, and sharpening their pencils first. When Buster notices that Danny and Los Dedos are gone during lunch, they run to the classroom and find that the worm container has been smashed. Danny and Los Dedos claim that it was an accident. The Lakewood students have no choice but to put the worms into the container with the ants.

Danny and Los Dedos feel that they aren't trusted and plan to help with the science project by getting something to "move worms," which is back at Mighty Mountain. Muffy and Brain overhear this and chase them to Mighty Mountain school. They accuse Danny and Los Dedos of wanting to steal the worms, but Los Dedos explains that they merely wanted to get a pair of soft tongs to move the worms better. Brain and Muffy see how badly damaged the Mighty Mountain classroom is and feel sorry. Brain also admits that their wrecked ant display was better than the worm project. He apologizes and Los Dedos asks him to call her by her real name, Isabella. Buster comes running to say that the ants and worms are "attacking" each other. The kids run to check on them and find that ants and worms are working together to distribute nutrients.

At the science fair, Brain and Isabella present a combined Lakewood-Mighty Mountain project, called a "Worm and Ant Compost Hotel." The judges award them the first prize. Los Dedos and Brain tell each other that they are worthy opponents, but worthier partners, and the episode finishes.

Characters

Major

• Brain
• Los Dedos
• Ladonna Compson
• Buster Baxter
• Arthur Read
• Muffy Crosswire

Minor

• Mr. Ratburn
• Danny Torres
• Squirm
• Antic
• Antic's aunt
• Bionic Bunny
• Mr. Wiggles
• Mrs. MacGrady

Cameo

• Biff Biffington
• Debbie
• Maria Pappas
• Jenna Morgan
• Binky Barnes
• Francine Frensky
• George Lundgren
• Steve Pappas
• Otis
• Sue Ellen Armstrong
• Cecilia Tingley
• Kiefer
• Trevor Brown
• Kenny
• Portia Demwiddy
• Paul Jacobs
• 3rd Grade Female Aardvark

Trivia

Episode connections

• Mr. Ratburn does not bring it up, but the Lakewood students were in Mighty Mountain's shoes in "April 9th" when they had classes at Mighty Mountain after a fire at Lakewood Elementary.
• Buster holds up a bag of jelly beans from Patrick's Chocolates.
• The events of "Brain's Chess Mess" are mentioned to have happened "a few months ago."
• Ladonna does not mention that she is friends with Danny, or that Francine had accused Danny and Ladonna of spying for Mighty Mountain in "Francine & the Soccer Spy", an accusation which also turned out to be false.
• The rat boy presents a project called 'Rocks Near School'. That was also Binky's project in "Love Notes for Muffy".

Home Video

DVD:

• Arthur Celebrates Community

Gallery

Screenshots

External links

• Transcript: When Rivals Came to Roast / The Longest Eleven Minutes. TVOKids. Archived from the original on November 18, 2020.