| "Freaky Tuesday" | |
| Season/Series: | 24 |
|---|---|
| Number in season: | 3b |
| Original airdate: |  March 9, 2021[1] April 16, 2021[2] |
| Credits | |
| Written by: | Peter Ferland |
| Storyboard by: | Allan Jeffery |
| Episodes | |
| Previous "D.W.'s New Best Friend" |
Next "Binky Wrestles with a Story" |
| Read transcript |
"Freaky Tuesday" is the second half of the third episode in the twenty-fourth season of Arthur.
Summary
Buster switches bodies with Mr. Ratburn for a day and learns how hard it is to be a teacher.
Plot
Mr. Ratburn hands out a test and goes to the teachers' lounge while the class works on it. Buster remarks that teachers have it easy.
Buster's pencil tip breaks as he starts to work on the test. He tries to use the sharpener in the classroom, but it falls apart.
Buster wants to ask Mr. Ratburn for help so he goes to the teachers' lounge. There, he finds a lightning-cooked spanakopita on a table, which was part of a science experiment by the new teacher Mr. Rambacher. Mr. Ratburn allows Buster to use the pencil sharpener in the lounge. When Buster drops pencil shavings on the spanakopita, Mr. Ratburn tries to stop him. Both touch the pie pan and end up switching bodies, though each of them keeps his usual voice.
Ms. Tingley arrives and Mr. Ratburn takes Buster back to class. He tells Buster to supervise the test while he goes to find Mr. Rambacher. The class finishes the test unusually early, so Buster improvises a lesson on ancient Egypt.
Mr. Ratburn finds Mr. Rambacher and learns that the transfer may be reversed with another charge of lightning, or possibly the Light-o-Tronic 9000 in the old science lab.
Ms. Tingley will not let Mr. Ratburn (who she thinks is Buster) take the spanakopita, so he runs away with it. She stops him just as he is charging the pie using the machine.
Ms. Tingley takes Mr. Ratburn to class, where the class is reenacting ancient Egypt using materials from the classroom. Mr. Ratburn is annoyed that Buster keeps mispronouncing "pharaoh". Ms. Tingley tells the real Buster (whom she thinks is Mr. Ratburn) about "Buster"'s exploits and also reminds him to get the tests graded. Meanwhile, Mr. Ratburn as Buster gives a Ratburn-style lesson.
Once Ms. Tingley is gone, Mr. Ratburn lets Buster continue and runs to the teachers' lounge. There, he distracts Ms. Tingley and gets the spanakopita. Since Ms. Tingley knows where to look for him, he leaves the pie pan in the lab and only takes two slices with him.
Buster corrects tests while the kids are playing on the playground. Mr. Ratburn brings two pieces of spanakopita. They eat them together, but stay as they are. Mr. Ratburn reasons that the pan is needed to conduct the electricity. He runs away as Ms. Tingley approaches. Binky asks Buster how he does the grading. Buster grades penmanship and completeness rather than correctness. Mr. Ratburn returns with the pie pan, but he and Buster just get an electric shock from touching it.
Buster is unhappy, because teachers do not have it as easy as he thought. When the wind blows the tests away, he chases after them and wakes up in the classroom. The body switch had been a dream and Mr. Ratburn is still passing out tests. Buster is so happy to be himself that he is actually happy to take the test. As he starts working, his pencil tip breaks and he yells "No!"
Characters
Major
Minor
Cameo
- Muffy Crosswire
- Ladonna Compson
- Maria Pappas
- Alex Davidson
- Jenna Morgan
- Fern Walters
- Sue Ellen Armstrong
- George Lundgren
Trivia
- Running gags:
- People walking (or running) through the wet cement, with Buster (in Mr. Ratburn's body) warning everyone about it.
Episode connections
- Buster goes inside the teachers' lounge. He and his friends previously wondered what it was like in "Buster the Lounge Lizard".
Cultural references
- The title and main plot of the episode is a parody of the 1972 children's novel Freaky Friday.
- Instead of being about a mother and her daughter switching bodies, it is about a teacher (Mr. Ratburn) and his student (Buster) switching bodies.
- Buster and Mr. Ratburn switching bodies via spanakopita references how the mother and daughter did so via magical fortune cookies in the 2003 Disney film adaptation of Freaky Friday.
- The body switch is also similiar to the Gilligan’s Island episode "The Friendly Physician," in which the castaways and Igor switch bodies with each other.
- Spanakopita is a Greek spinach pie.
- Mr. Rambacher’s wild hair and German accent may be a reference to Albert Einstein.
- The flag in the classroom is that of modern Egypt, which fits well with Buster/Mr. Ratburn’s lesson on ancient Egypt.
- Mr. Ratburn as Buster shows a slide of the Abu Simbel temple.
Gallery
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Promotional Images
Screenshots
References
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