| This article is about the episode. You may be looking for the book or the podcast. |
| "Locked in the Library!" | |
| Season/Series: | 1 |
|---|---|
| Number in season: | 6a |
| Production code: | 10A[1] |
| Original airdate: |  October 14, 1996[2] January 13, 1997[3] December 14, 2001[4] |
| Credits | |
| Written by: | Kathy Waugh |
| Storyboard by: | John Flagg |
| Episodes | |
| Previous "D.W. the Copycat" |
Next "Arthur Accused!" |
| Read transcript |
"Locked in the Library!" is the first half of the sixth episode in the first season of Arthur. It was later adapted into the book Locked in the Library!.
Summary
Arthur and Francine have been fighting, but getting locked in the library convinces them to settle their differences in a hurry.
Plot
The episode starts with Arthur walking down the sidewalk when Francine rides past him on her bike and splashes water from a puddle on him. She quickly apologizes.
To the viewers, Arthur says that it is hard to be angry with Francine, because, besides Buster, she is his best friend.
He remembers the day he and Francine met when they were in preschool. His mom introduced her when she first moved in. After getting acquainted, Francine licked her sucker and stuck it to Arthur's head.
Despite that, Arthur claims he can always trust her, but before he enters the school, Francine (who is with Sue Ellen and Muffy) angrily asks Arthur if he told everyone she looked like a marshmallow.
Arthur is too anxious to say whether he did or did not, but Buster says he did when she was wearing a weird sweater; this makes things even worse. Livid, Francine threatens Arthur to apologize to her or else.
During class, Arthur blames Buster for the conflict between himself and Francine. Buster angrily fires back, saying it was Arthur who called Francine a name in the first place. Suddenly, a paper plane flies around and hits Arthur on the nose. He opens it and sees that it is a rather grim warning from Francine.
Buster and Arthur see that the girls are all giving them nasty looks. Mr. Ratburn grabs everyone's attention and asks everyone if heroism is something one has from birth, or if it is something that is developed. He asks everyone to write an oral report about the hero or heroine of their choice and has them working in pairs that he will assign.
He has Binky paired with Sue Ellen, Muffy with Buster, and Arthur with Francine. They are all shocked at these choices, whereas Arthur is worried due to Francine's wrath.
When Arthur returns home, he sees D.W. talking on the phone with Francine. They are talking about what Arthur did. Before Arthur can talk to Francine, D.W. hangs up and tells him that Francine will meet him at the library at three o'clock. She also tells her brother not to talk to Francine, for she does not want to speak to him. D.W. bitterly calls Arthur a worm for insulting Francine.
On Saturday at the library, Arthur meets up with a waiting Francine. Ms. Turner asks what kind of hero they are looking for in their report. Arthur suggests a man, but Francine disagrees and insists on a woman.
Ms. Turner suggests Arthur read about Joan of Arc, on whom he can find information downstairs, and for Francine to check out Harriet Tubman, which she can find upstairs. She also reminds them that the library is closed at five o'clock.
Arthur and Francine read in separate areas, but they do not notice when the library closes, for Arthur falls asleep, while Francine is listening to music while reading. When Arthur wakes up, he goes to check out the book, but Ms. Turner is not there.
Arthur also sees that it is nighttime now. He rushes to the door and attempts to open it, but it is locked. In the dark, he imagines the trees moving frightfully and the grandfather clock coming alive and acting like a growling monster.
He quickly convinces himself that it is only a library. His imagination stops and everything is back to normal. A sudden thumping noise is heard and Arthur goes to see what it is. While looking, he bumps into Francine, scaring them both. Francine and Arthur blame each other for not telling them what time it was.
They then walk their separate ways to find a way to escape. They both first try using the books to reach the window handles. Arthur makes a tower, while Francine makes a staircase. After Arthur finishes, he climbs up to the top, but before he makes it, Francine pulls one of the books from his tower to add to her staircase, thus having the tower collapse.
Finished with her staircase, Francine runs to the top and unlocks the window. But before opening it, a fly flies around her head and Francine falls while attempting to swat it. While she is down, Arthur runs up the staircase and tries to open the window, but with no success.
Francine gives it a try with all her might, but instead, the handles break off the window, having them both fall and the staircase collapse.
Arthur then remembers that it is Saturday, this means that the library is now closed until Monday, (their shouting of "Monday" echoes throughout the library) having them worry in despair about hunger and their families.
But Arthur does not think D.W. will miss him, and he imagines her taking his room. Francine gets an idea. She runs to the card catalog drawer containing the book locations and discovers that there is a book about escaping from a library.
Francine stands on Arthur's shoulders to reach the shelf to find it, but the book is gone so someone checked it out. Francine comments that no one should need a book like that unless they are actually in a library. Arthur begins to lose strength and falls.
They both then hear ringing in their ears, but it turns out it is the telephone. They race for it, but Francine gets it first and answers it. It is Muffy, calling the library to deliver some books for her since she didn't make it. Francine tries to talk to her, but once Muffy knows it is Francine, she thinks she got the wrong number. She hangs up before Francine can explain the predicament that she and Arthur are in.
Arthur then panics in despair, but Francine calms him down and tries to call her mom. After dialing, she is disappointed to find out that she has to enter the right user code to dial out.
Arthur then worries again, yet Francine calls him a wimp. in reaction, Arthur, in his fury, calls her a bossy know-it-all and, again, a marshmallow. In her fury, she leaves Arthur all alone, and vice versa.
While reading a gourmet magazine, Arthur imagines a set of books as a gourmet meal. To satisfy his hunger, he takes a page off the magazine and chews it up. He then begins to worry about Francine and explores the library to find her.
He suddenly hears a scream, and he runs to rescue her. He runs down the halls, checks closets, and ends up opening the door to the staff room. He falls over and lands face-first into a pizza. It turns out that the screaming was from a horror show that Francine was watching.
Arthur then scolds Francine for having him worried. Francine argues back with him, but then soon realizes that Arthur was worried about her. She then stops her anger against him and offers a slice of pizza. Arthur willingly accepts.
Later that night, the two children are enjoying themselves with all the snacks and wonder where they are. All of a sudden, D.W., along with Ms. Turner, Arthur's parents, and Francine's parents, enter the room and are heavily relieved to see that Arthur and Francine are alright. D.W. does not seem to care much, though, thinking Arthur and Francine were doing "perfectly fine" with the luxuries of the staff room.
On Monday, Arthur and Francine tell their friends about being in the library and even make up scary parts about their ordeal. Class begins, but then Francine and Arthur remember that they have no report.
Muffy and Buster's report is about the Crosswires' benefits to Elwood City, yet Muffy does all the talking, while Buster is barely involved.
Francine and Arthur's turn come up next and they both explain that they could not do a real report, for they were too busy learning the true virtues of heroism. They further explain how Arthur came to rescue Francine when he thought she was in trouble and how Francine was brave to find the food.
Mr. Ratburn congratulates them on their presentation. As a reward, he gives them until next week to finish their report.
Walking home, Buster and Arthur admit that Francine is not so bad and that she is actually very fun. Francine zooms by on her bike and splashes mud on them both by accident. Like before, she quickly apologizes. Arthur, dripping with mud, then angrily adds that Francine is fun most of the time.
Characters
Major
Minor
- Buster Baxter
- Muffy Crosswire
- D.W. Read
- Ms. Turner
- Sue Ellen Armstrong
- Binky Barnes
- Mr. Ratburn
- Jane Read
- David Read
- Oliver Frensky (debut)
- Laverne Frensky (debut)
Cameo
- Brain
- Fern Walters
- Prunella Deegan
- George Lundgren
- Jenna Morgan
- Maria Pappas
- Pal
- Ken (debut)
- Jessica
- Alex Davidson
- Russell
Trivia
- At the end of the 2000 rerun intro on PBS Kids before this episode, Arthur’s crashing sound changes to pots and pans.
- Moral: It is important to set aside differences with others quickly, especially when dealing with a very difficult or even dangerous situation.
- After Muffy and Buster's presentation, the scene cuts to Binky clapping rapidly while George looks at him, irritated. According to storyboard supervisor, Peter Huggan, the original scene was longer, with Binky sleeping through Muffy's presentation until George wakes him up. [5]
- On Arthur's page at the PBS Kids site, Arthur lists being trapped in the library as his favorite adventure.
- Even though Francine and Arthur should be reading books based on their report, Arthur is seen reading a Scare-Your-Pants-Off Club book while Francine reads Scared Silly.
- Francine also read Scared Silly in "Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn."
- The exterior scene of the library where a man is walking his dog is recycled in later episodes.
- When Francine tries to open the windows, she presses her foot against them, thus preventing the windows from opening.
- In the home video release and versions of the title card for this episode, Binky does not read the title card.
- This is the first episode to not have anyone's name in the title.
- When Sue Ellen reacts to being paired with Binky, she gasps using one of D.W.'s stock gasps, recorded by Michael Caloz.
Storyline analysis
- According to the preschool flashback, Francine was introduced to Arthur when they were four years old, but according to the later episode "Desperately Seeking Stanley," Francine had attended Arthur's third birthday party.
Errors
- Prunella is seen in Mr. Ratburn's third-grade class, although she should be in the fourth-grade class.
- The writings that Mr. Ratburn makes on the blackboard change and disappear in different scenes.
- When Arthur is about to unlock the window before Francine grabs a book from his stack, the window lock and handles switch from their original positions; but after Francine unlocks the window as she swings her hands to unsuccessfully swat the fly, they return to their original positions.
- In the preschool flashback, after Francine licks one side of the lollipop, she puts the opposite side on Arthur's head.
- When Francine is stacking books up to reach the window, one of the books she puts down flips the opposite direction for a frame when she puts it down.
- The library's telephone is shown to only have 9 buttons; yet a telephone is supposed to have 12 buttons where the bottom row's three buttons are the * (asterisk), 0 (operator), and # (pound).
- The letter Q on the alphabet line on the wall in the background in the preschool flashback is mirrored.
- After Francine orders Arthur to apologize to her, when she says "Or you're going to get it!", she has an overbite – likely, due to a sketching issue by the animators.
Episode connections
- Arthur telling Francine about when she called him "four-eyes" is a reference to "Arthur's Eyes."
- Arthur also mentions when his loose tooth would not come out from "Arthur's Tooth." Strangely, "Arthur's Tooth" aired after this episode.
- Sue Ellen gasps over being teamed with Binky. In "Bully for Binky," Sue Ellen is deemed an "anti-Binky weapon" and she is the only one who intimidates him.
- Francine was called a marshmallow because of a weird sweater she wore. In "Meek For a Week", she has to hold back from making fun of Arthur for wearing a weird sweater himself.
- This is the first time Arthur teases one of his friends for wearing unique clothes (even if it was offscreen). The second and more infamous time would be in "So Funny I Forgot To Laugh".
Cultural references
- Ms. Turner suggests to Arthur and Francine about writing about Joan of Arc and Harriet Tubman respectively.
Differences from the book
- The scene where Arthur recalls meeting Francine is removed in the book.
- In the book, Francine says "Arthur! Arthur Read!" In the episode, she just says "Arthur Read!"
- In the book, Arthur asks "I did?" In the episode, he stammers until Buster interrupts.
- In the book, the sweater is described as "puff[ing] up everywhere" and "ha[ving] padded shoulders and wool that fluffed out like frosting."
- In the book, Francine tells Arthur to "say you're sorry" instead of "apologize."
- In the book, after Francine threatens Arthur, Buster defends him. Francine, Muffy, and Sue Ellen ignore him and Buster says "I guess we told them" and that Arthur "doesn't have to thank" him, as Arthur sighs.
- In the book, in class, Arthur gets upset at Buster for "talk[ing] so tough." Buster argues he was standing up for Arthur, and Arthur says he can do that himself.
- In the book, Mr. Ratburn is less sarcastic while telling Buster to sit down.
- In the book, Mr. Ratburn says "Are people born brave and generous, or do they become this way later on?" instead of "Are you born with these characteristics, or are they something you develop?"
- In the book, the class wonders if Mr. Ratburn is asking a rhetorical question or talking to himself.
- In the book, Arthur and Buster talk about heroes as they go home from school, such as Robin Hood, Hercules, and Bionic Bunny. Arthur says he likes heroes because he could never do most of what they do, and asks Buster if heroes ever "call their friends a marshmallow." Buster says that if they do, they do not worry about it later.
- In the book, D.W. tells Francine that Arthur looks like "a soggy dumpling" in his pajamas.
- In the book, Arthur is surprised that Francine was offended by her insult. D.W. argues that marshmallows are good to eat instead of look like. Arthur asks how he and Francine are supposed to work if she does not speak to him, and D.W. responds, "You should have thought of that before you started calling people names."
- In the book, Arthur plays with Pal and is nearly late to meeting Francine at the library.
- In the book, Arthur and Francine argue while at the library desk. Francine looks at the biographies and Arthur goes to the medieval French history section. Arthur imagines himself and Buster in the book while he reads it, and Francine listens to music on a Walkman.
- In the book, Francine accidentally knocks over a stack of books before she finds Arthur, scaring him.
- In the book, Francine does not mention her ears ringing after falling.
- In the book, Arthur and Francine say "PHONE!" In the episode, they say "THE TELEPHONE!"
- In the book, Muffy does not talk on the phone for very long and mentions that she "hear[s] the bell for dinner" before hanging up.
- In the book, after Francine dials the phone, she shouts "User codes! Passwords! What's the world coming to, anyways?"
- In the book, Arthur spits out the page of the book in disgust. After he hears a noise, he is startled, but then wonders if the picture of mashed potatoes and gravy tastes better.
- In the book, Arthur and Francine talk about the horror movie.
- In the book, Arthur and Francine's conversation in the staff room is different.
- In the book, Binky says that he thinks characters in books come out after the library is closed.
- In the book, while talking in front of the class, Arthur says that he picked Joan of Arc. In the book, he says that he "didn't get to do a real report."
- In the book, Mr. Ratburn gives Arthur and Francine until tomorrow for their report. In the episode, he gives them until next weekend.
- In the book, Arthur says that Francine is a good friend, "but nobody's perfect." In the episode, he says "most of the time."
Home video
VHS:
DVD:
Gallery
References
- ↑ MS148.001, Arthur print material, 1994 -- 2007, bulk: 1994 -- 2000. Marc Brown Papers, MS148. Tufts Archival Research Center. https://archives.tufts.edu/repositories/2/archival_objects/31977 Accessed March 23, 2025.
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/19970723021343/http://www.ket.org/Visions/Oct96/VL961014.html
- ↑ https://web.archive.org/web/20130719100407/http://ww3.tvo.org/program/157024/arthur/#1997
- ↑ https://www.fernsehserien.de/erdferkel-arthur-und-seine-freunde/episodenguide/staffel-1/3906
- ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/Arthur/comments/1clzu4e/comment/l2zw257/