Prunella's Prediction

	"Prunella's Prediction"
	Main image; Title card;
Season/Series:	4
Number in season:	8B
Original Airdate:	October 14, 1999;
	Credits
Written by:	Jennifer Barnes
Storyboard by:	Stefanie Gignac
	Episodes
Previous; "1001 Dads"	Next; "What is that Thing?"

"Prunella's Prediction" is the second half of the eighth episode in the fourth season of Arthur.

Summary

Inspired by a fortune teller's prediction, Prunella confidently tells everyone that she'll be getting a pair of oh-so-fashionable flashpants for her birthday. When she gets a watch instead, she can't face the other kids.

Plot

Intro

The audience takes a ride into a haunted house from a first-person view. Arthur, dressed as a vampire, recites a rhyme during the ride: Welcome to the House of Fashion Horror Step inside and see clothes That will curl your hair And hair that will curl your toes!

(audience enters)

Here is a girl who did her own hair

Keep your eyes open – that is if you dare

( Francine sitting in an open coffin with a hair dryer attachment, shocked to see her odd hairstyle)

Behold the boy who dressed himself

Now his only friends are a skunk and an elf

(Arthur opens a curtain, revealing Binky in a tacky outfit, with an elf and a skunk in a graveyard)

There’s Bathing Cap Boy – it’s his mother’s rule

(A spotlight reveals a nervous Buster in swimming trunks, flippers and a pink floral bathing cap)

And the absent-minded genius who wore PJs to school

( The Brain screams at when he sees himself in pajamas)

Now it’s time to be scared – this is the worst

Prunella finds out what it’s like to be cursed!

It’s not what she has; it’s what’s missing that’s scary

Hold on to your hats; she’s in the library!

(The doors open to the library, but Prunella is nowhere to be found.)

Main Story Prunella and Rubella are watching an episode of Silver Hills: a girl named Tally complains about her ordinary outfit for a dance, while another girl named Tiffy wearing Flashpants. Prunella gets excited about them, and Rubella realizes that Prunella has been hinting about getting them for her birthday. Tiffy encourages Tally to go to the dance, saying that a boy named Jake will not care about what Tally is wearing, but Prunella reacts saying that he will care, and urges Tally not to go. Rubella decides to go to the kitchen for a snack, where she overhears her mother talking on the phone. Her mother talks about “silver”, one of Prunella’s hints, happy that Prunella will be surprised about what the postman will bring that week. Rubella hovers her hands over the house mailbox, predicting that something is coming for Prunella, having to do with “the day you were born” and from “someone older”. Rubella then gives up, knowing that Prunella is not focusing, guessing that she won the sweepstakes or that she is getting something from Mr. Ratburn. Later, Prunella figures out that something is coming for her as a late birthday present from her grandparents. Rubella tells Prunella that the gift is “silver”, which is what she overheard their mother talking about. Prunella gets excited, guessing that the gift will be Flashpants! Arthur’s mom and dad leave for a trip, and Grandma Thora is staying with Arthur and D.W. while they are gone. She happily lets Arthur go to an ice skating party tomorrow with Muffy and their friends, and also lets D.W. play outside in the snow. When Arthur, Grandma and D.W. see that Arthur has grown out of his winter coat, Grandma finds a big, soft coat from her attic: a coat based off the comic book superhero Mr. Puffy. D.W. calls Arthur “a big, green marshmallow”, eager to throw snowballs at him, while Arthur feels embarrassed in it. At the mall, Prunella and Muffy see the Flashpants on display in the store window. Prunella mentions that she will get them for a late birthday present from her grandparents, and that she doesn’t think anybody at the ice skating party tomorrow should be seen without Flashpants. Muffy suddenly goes off to buy something. At home, Prunella finds a small package in the mail. To her disappointment, her grandparents’ gift is not Flashpants, but a silver watch. Meanwhile, Muffy calls Prunella, and tells her about her new Flashpants. Muffy assumes that Prunella got hers, but Prunella refuses to talk. Arthur gets a nightmare: a supervillain named Mr. Melt cracks up an ice skating rink that Arthur’s friends are skating on. Arthur, as Mr. Puffy, bellybumps Mr. Melt into the water, and floats on the water so that he can rescue his friends. Unfortunately, Francine passes Arthur off as “Mr. Moldy Marshmallow Man”, and his friends throw snowballs at him. Rubella encourages Prunella to go to Muffy’s party, telling her to have fun and not worry about whether people will care about what Prunella is wearing. Eager to see what Prunella is wearing with Flashpants, Muffy calls her, but Prunella still refuses to discuss or meet up. Prunella chooses to stay in her room all winter. She stocks up on peanut butter and soup from the kitchen, and goes to the supermarket in a wig and sunglasses for crackers. Arthur finds Prunella when she knocks into a pyramid display of cans. An employee calls for a clean-up where Arthur is, calling him the “puffy, green boy”. Prunella recognizes Arthur is wearing a Mr. Puffy coat. To Arthur’s surprise, she claims that she loved the comics and TV show of the Terrific Three. Arthur tells Prunella that he was planning to stay home for the weekend, but finds that people will not think his coat is weird. Prunella takes some of the crackers he wanted to buy, and he puts back the rest. At the checkout, Prunella then leaves all the crackers she wanted to buy with the cashier, and happily decides to go with Arthur to Muffy’s ice skating party. At the ice skating rink, Prunella sees Muffy wearing her Flashpants, and is nervous about skating without her own pair. Arthur then tells her that she can’t turn back now, and that everybody else is wearing whatever they want: for example, Binky is wearing a polka dot shirt, checkered pants and a fur trapper hat; and Buster is wearing a helmet, knocking his head into a branch. Francine tells Arthur and Prunella to join in on the fun, and they both finally start skating. Francine tells Prunella that Muffy doesn’t want to ruin her pants while skating. Muffy and Prunella meet up, and Muffy is surprised to see Prunella without Flashpants. Before Prunella could confess that she never got any, Muffy rides away in her limo to change into old clothes to skate in. Arthur claims that he told Prunella first about not worrying about what you wear, but Prunella quickly says that she told him first. To Arthur’s annoyance, D.W. and the Tibble twins start throwing snowballs at him.

Characters

Major Characters

Minor Characters

Trivia

In the episode intro, Buster's bathing cap is the same one he wears in the episode D.W. All Wet.
In this episode, Arthur's normal winter coat is shown to be too small for him, yet in other episodes the coat is a perfect fit.
This is the only episode written by Jennifer Barnes.
This is the only appearance of Flash Pants.

Cultural references

In the episode intro, Francine has a hairstyle like that of the Bride of Frankenstein.
Mr. Puffy is one of the Terrific Three - a spoof of the Fantastic Four from Marvel Comics. It is possible that Mr. Puffy's character design spoofs Bibendum, also known as the Michelin Man of the Michelin tire company.
Mr. Melt is a spoof of Mr. Freeze - a Batman supervillain from DC Comics.