Flippity Francine

This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the song.

"Flippity Francine"
Main image Title card
Season/Series:	16
Number in season:	2a
Original Airdate:	October 16, 2012 December 13, 2012
Credits
Written by:	Matt Hoverman
Storyboard by:	Allan Jeffery
Episodes
Previous "Based on a True Story"	Next "Muffy Takes the Wheel"

Read transcript

"Flippity Francine" is the first half of the second episode in the sixteenth season of Arthur.

Summary

Francine tries to regain her dignity after Muffy posts a goofy video of her online.

Plot

Muffy is about to take a video of Francine doing the pinwheel kick, but instead she flips and lands in the mud. Francine is then counting the number of views on YouWhoTube that evening and gets worried, saying "I'm doomed!"

Flippity Francine

After the title card, Francine wears a disguise to school so she will not be embarrassed, but many people notice her. They call her "Flippity" and Francine gets embarrassed. Then Francine falls on Muffy and Binky laughs. Francine tells Muffy that she has been ruined in the entire school, but Muffy corrects her by saying that she is a hit all over the internet. An adult walking by outside says "Flippity, you're hysterical!" and laughs.

After school, Francine goes to the Crosswire estate and Muffy shows her that the video has 574 views, which is more than "Tiny the Xylophone-playing cat", which she claims is a classic. Then Ed Crosswire comes in wearing a duck costume for an ad for Crosswire Motors. It was Muffy's idea. Then Mr. Crosswire adds that Francine is an internet celebrity. Francine says that she still does not want people laughing at her, so Muffy shows her the comments that people have left. One said that Francine should have her own show.

Francine is then brushing her teeth at home that night and sees Binky, Mr. Crosswire, and Muffy saying things about her in the mirror. Francine goes to her room to sleep, but flips when she trips on her shoe. Her older sister Catherine laughs and says that she sees why everyone likes her video. Francine then has a fantasy where she has her own show. In that fantasy, Timmy and Tommy Tibble, dressed as cowboys, are stealing money from the Crosswires. Suddenly, Francine flips on them and saves the Crosswires. The fantasy ends, then Francine asks Muffy if she has taken the video down yet, and Muffy says no, but promises to do it in the morning. Francine says that she should not. Muffy then gets up and watches the video again.

The next day at school, Mr. Ratburn asks the class who wants to solve the problem. Francine does and she puts a banana peel on the floor and bumps on the blackboard. Mr. Ratburn asks if she has hurt anything, and Francine says only her dignity. Everyone laughs and cheers for her. Then it is lunch time and Francine flips over a bench and everyone cheers and laughs again. Then Buster says that he will never get tired of this.

However, at a soccer game, Buster says that he got tired of this. Arthur agrees. Muffy says that the video now has 15,000 views. Then Mr. Crosswire calls them over and says that they are facing Mighty Mountain and they will climb that mountain, knock it over, and come back down the other side. Brain is kicking the ball and Francine calls that she is open, but she gets distracted and flips by accident. Mighty Mountain ends up winning the game as the score was 5–6. Arthur is not happy about this, and tells Francine that they could have won if she was not such an attention hog. Francine then tells Muffy that this has to stop. Muffy agrees, but then tells Francine that many people had filmed her, not just Muffy, including the adult who said "Flippity, you're hysterical!". Francine groans.

Francine has a dream that night where Muffy rebuilds her as a clown and she flips for the enjoyment of little kids. Francine wakes up from the nightmare. She looks at the computer the next day and finds that somebody is copying her. She asks Buster for advice and he tells her to do something that she is really proud of. Francine then tells Buster that he is a genius and takes his advice.

Later, at the soccer field, Francine is practicing her soccer kicks. Lakewood is facing Mighty Mountain and then Francine does the pinwheel kick to win the soccer game. Later, after the game, Muffy says that Francine was right about the pinwheel kick, and is disappointed that she was not able to film it. Arthur can not believe the 5:00 news did get the footage, and Buster says that his mom tapes every game. They rewatch it again, but Francine wants to back it up to her favorite part: the Crosswire Motors commercial. As they are watching the commercial, the episode finishes.

Characters

Major

• Francine Frensky
• Muffy Crosswire
• Buster Baxter
• Arthur Read

Minor

• Binky Barnes
• Mr. Ratburn
• Ed Crosswire
• Catherine Frensky

Cameo

• George Lundgren
• Sue Ellen Armstrong
• Jenna Morgan
• Fern Walters
• Alex Davidson
• Maria Pappas
• Slink
• Timmy and Tommy Tibble
• D.W. Read
• Edwin
• Emily Leduc
• Jane Read
• Brain
• Thora Read

Songs

• "Flippity Francine"

Trivia

• D.W. is the one telling Francine off-screen "Don't flub it, Flippity!" while she's kicking the soccer ball.

Episode connections

• Buster mentions the events of "Buster Baxter, Cat Saver," implying that it happened a while ago.
• The duck costume that Ed Crosswire wears in the commercial is also seen in "Based on a True Story."
• A bowl of spaghetti lands on Francine's head, and a bowl of spaghetti lands on Arthur's head in the opening of "D.W.'s Imaginary Friend."

Cultural references

• Association football (soccer) has a difficult move called bicycle kick, overhead kick, or scissors kick, in which a player kicks an airborne ball by throwing their body backwards up into the air and making a shearing movement with the legs. Unlike Francine, the player rarely kicks up the ball themselves in order to make the bicycle kick. The term pinwheel kick is usually associated with martial arts, rather than soccer.
• YouWhoTube is a parody of YouTube.
• The video "Tiny the Xylophone-playing cat" referenced by Muffy and the "Virtuoso cat" briefly seen on the YouWhoTube homepage is a parody of the viral video "Keyboard Cat".
• Another video shows a dolphin named Flupper, which is a reference to the Flipper franchise.
• Francine's sitcom where she flips over furniture when entering the room is a reference to The Dick Van Dyke Show.
• The dream where Muffy "rebuilds" Francine is a reference to The Bionic Woman.

Errors

• The scoreboard reads 'Elwood City' and 'Mighty Mountain', instead of 'Home' and 'Visitor'.
  • Even if the words were changed for clarity, 'Elwood City' should have been 'Lakewood' in that case.

Production notes

• In Korean, this episode is called "인터넷 스타, 프랜신," which translates to "Internet Star, Francine."

Gallery

Main article: Flippity Francine/Gallery