Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurous

"Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurous"
Main image Title card
Season/Series:	3
Number in season:	3b
Original airdate:	November 18, 1998 September 8, 1999 February 25, 2002
Credits
Written by:	Chris Moore Ken Scarborough
Storyboard by:	Robert Yap
Episodes
Previous "Arthur Goes Crosswire"	Next "Background Blues"

Read transcript

"Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurous" is the second half of the third episode in the third season of Arthur.

Summary

Sue Ellen is at first thrilled that Brain is her partner on a school project, but then wonders whether he's going to let her help at all.

Plot

Brain films Arthur doing the introduction. He keeps correcting Arthur, and eventually replaces him in both the intro and on the title card.

Sue Ellen and the Brainasaurous

Sue Ellen and Brain are assigned to work on a project together (the same assignment as in "Arthur Goes Crosswire"). They decide to build a model dinosaur. Francine and Buster tell Sue Ellen that it will be easy, since Brain does almost all of the work himself.

Sue Ellen constantly wants to help with the project, but Brain doesn't let her because he keeps thinking she'll ruin it and get them both a bad grade. He tries to avoid her so she doesn't interfere with his work. Meanwhile, Buster keeps trying to avoid Francine because he doesn't want to work on their project.

One day, Sue Ellen finally visits Brain and tells him she'll work on the dinosaur's head. However, he doesn't trust her to do a good job and stays up all night to make his own version anyways. The next day, Sue Ellen visits him and shows him her work, but he is dissatisfied with it and insists he won't use it. Sue Ellen protests that the heads she and Brain made both look the same and it's their project (not just his), but Brain doesn't listen.

Brain brings his dinosaur to school, but he and Sue Ellen fight over it and it falls in the mud. He tells Francine about what happened, but she just laughs and even admits that she would have pushed him in the mud, not just let him fall. Brain doesn't understand, but Francine explains that Sue Ellen is right about him being a "report hog". For example, a year earlier he and Francine were doing a project about France - he played Napoleon and made her play France, not even giving her any lines (she just lay on the floor under his boot). Even when they were little, he would fix other kids' finger paintings without their permission. Francine then asks Brain how he would like it if Sue Ellen treated him the way he treated her. Brain imagines that he is working on the project but then Sue Ellen comes in demanding him to go home because she doesn't want him to fiddle with her "precious A+" and doesn't trust him.

Brain understands and apologizes to Sue Ellen for not letting her help, admitting he would also feel bad if nobody trusted him to work on a report. She in turn apologizes for calling him "a report hog." Brain says that since the model is wrecked, they now don't have any report to present. She tells him that she'll fix it as long as he trusts her. Though Brain is reluctant at first, he smiles and lets her take care of the situation. When the time comes to present their project, Sue Ellen asks Nigel Ratburn to take the class outside. There, she shows their new project - a fossil dig, made out of the model dinosaur's bones in the mud they fell into earlier. She explains that paleontologists dig up sites like this, and tells Brain to show the class the proper way to do it. While he does that, Francine tells Buster that after school they'll finally finish their project. Buster tells her that he'll meet her at her house, but Francine has had enough of his stalling and proceeds to handcuff him to herself so he won't run away anymore.

Characters

Major

• Brain
• Sue Ellen Armstrong
• Mr. Ratburn

Minor

• Buster Baxter
• Muffy Crosswire
• Francine Frensky
• Fern Walters
• Mrs. Armstrong
• Arthur Read

Cameo

• George Lundgren
• Binky Barnes
• Maria Pappas
• Alex Davidson
• 3rd Grade Male Dog (Number 3)
• Jessica (3rd grader)
• Kenny
• Bailey
• Mary Perchanok
• Mary (3rd grader)
• Paul Jacobs
• Jenna Morgan

Trivia

• The slate during the intro is labeled "57B". 57B was the production code for this episode.

Episode connections

• Morals:
  • Don't be a "report hog". When doing projects in groups, trust others to take part of the project instead of leading the project your own way.
• The project Sue Ellen and Brain are working on is assigned at the same time as Arthur and Muffy's project from the first half of the episode. Their project is shown right before Brain and Sue Ellen's near the end of this episode.
• This whole episode, like "Arthur's Baby"/"D.W.'s Baby," has both segments taking place at the same time but with different points of view.
• Sue Ellen and Brain's dinosaur project is seen again in "Muffy's Classy Classics Club."
• Brain mentions to cue the title, similar to Arthur mentioning to move over to the title card in "The Last of Mary Moo Cow," and Fern mentioning that as well in "Fern's Slumber Party."

Cultural references

• The first dinosaur head Sue Ellen makes from clay resembles the children's TV character Barney.
• The talking dinosaur in the imagination scene mimics comedian Jackie Mason. The joke the dinosaur tells about the elephant is based on a joke Groucho Marx told in the movie Animal Crackers.

Production notes

• This is the first episode to use Brain Underwater as a title card. It comes right after the introduction, in which Brain dresses as Arthur, and only differs from the Arthur Underwater card by replacing Arthur with Brain.

Errors

• During the Brain Underwater title card, the video description describes the Arthur Underwater title card

Home video

VHS:

• Arthur Learns Teamwork

DVD:

• Arthur: The Complete Series 4
• Nerves of Steal (DVD)

Gallery

Screenshots

Sue Ellen visits Brain working on the dinosaur

Brain tired after working all night

Brain's finished dinosaur

Sue Ellen and Brain's finished project