| "The Contest" | |
| Season/Series: | 4 |
|---|---|
| Number in season: | 4A |
| Original Airdate: |  October 8, 1999[1] January 20, 2000[2] |
| Credits | |
| Written by: | Ken Scarborough |
| Storyboard by: | Robert Yap |
| Episodes | |
| Previous "The Fright Stuff" |
Next "Prove It" |
| Read transcript |
"The Contest" is the first half of the fourth episode in the fourth season of Arthur.
Summary
The kids think about entering a contest to write story ideas for their favorite TV show.
Plot
It all started when Arthur and his friends were outside in the park when they saw Buster writing something down, and it turns out it was the story that he writing for the Andy and Company contest.
After the title card, Arthur and his friends are watching Andy and Company when Buster presents his story.
The Day The Earth Was Saved (South Park)
Buster is waiting for aliens to come down to earth. The aliens don't come at first, and Buster gets frustrated. Francine, Arthur and the Brain leave, thinking that Buster is just telling a lie. The aliens come after they leave, and the UFO crushes Buster. Francine comes back and says "Hey, you squished Buster!" The aliens come out of the UFO, and 2 of them carry Arthur into their UFO. They take of his clothes. The aliens did not want to eat Arthur, so they through him out of the UFO. The UFO flies away and then Arthur says "What the!" And Brain replies "It appears you have high cholesterol forming Arthur. These aliens must be health conscious!" Arthur, Brain, and Francine then scream "THE EARTH IS SAVED!" Buster then wakes up from being knocked out and asks his friends "What happened?"
THE END.
After Buster's story, Arthur questions it. Everyone wants to write a story. In the kitchen, Arthur is writing a story when D.W. appears to get a cookie, bothering Arthur. He begins to call for his mom, but then, he looks at the camera, smiles, and continues his story. At the Sugar Bowl, Muffy presents her story.
My Life As a TV Show (Beavis & Butthead)
At a fashion show Muffy comes out on stage dressed as the green Teletubby Dipsy and in the audience Buster and Arthur make a comment about her and laugh to which Muffy hears this and goes back stage upset. Then D.W. appears on stage with a white and purple dress on and a purple hat on to which Buster and Arthur find her to be attractive and behind stage Muffy reveals that she knew that D.W. would be better than her and decides to switch to plan B, which is stink ball.
THE END
.
After Muffy's story, everyone argues until Brain interrupts with his story.
Hair Growth Formula (Dexter's Laboratory)
In his laboratory scientist Brain shows his friends Francine, Muffy, and Binky his new invention which his hair growth formula which he discovered when he was inventing a new cherry soda. He turns a bowling ball into a hairy bowling ball and a carrot into a hairy carrot to which Binky asks "Why would anyone want hairy carrots?" To which Brain replies "To go with hairy fish." And he shows his friends a hairy friends which makes them feel sick and they leave. Brain then reveals to the viewers that his new invention is really unappreciated. Later on Arthur shows up and asks Brain if the formula is his new invention. To which Brain replies "Yes. It's some kind of Deodorant." Arthur replies "Good. Because I ran all the way here and I stink." And before Brain can stop him Arthur uses the formula and gets turned into a hairy couch with glasses. When Arthur sees his reflection in a mirror he runs into the woods to hide and meets Bigfoot who looks like a big hairy couch himself. Arthur asks Bigfoot if he used Brain's hair growth formula invention too to which Bigfoot nods in agreement.
THE END.
After Brain's story, Francine and Binky present their story.
The Amazing Fight (WWE)
In a wrestling match Arthur faces off with the famous wrestler Hulk Hogan and Arthur manages to win the fight by just kicking his right foot on the mat which causes Hulk to scream like a girl and run away scared. The announcer then announces that Arthur will fight John L. Sullivan, Floyd Patterson, Barney Rose, and the United Press International.
THE END.
After Francine and Binky's story, Francine questions why Arthur fights the United Press International, to which Binky admits he copied that from under the picture, then Arthur presents his.
The Troubled Sister (Dr. Katz)
10 years into the future, Arthur (who is now 18 years old) visits his psychologist, and tells him that his sister D.W. has been troubling him. He then tells the psychologist a story of how last week Arthur had D.W. go and get his car while he went to get his new house. When D.W. gets to Arthur's new house Arthur asks "Where's my car?" And D.W. replies "Your car was just blah! I traded it in for something much nicer." The new car that D.W. bought for Arthur is a girl car with a pony on it, to which Arthur lets out a horrified scream.
THE END.
After Arthur's story, everyone mails their story. Five years later, they heard the winner was Holly Holland. While they're in the park, Arthur says they could come up with more stories, and Binky replies, "Without a contest?" Arthur then asks if they remember how much fun they had, and Buster says that Arthur's right: "Who cares who won?"
Muffy then suggests that they can write about things that really happened to them; Francine replies that there is just one thing wrong with that: "Nothing's ever happened to us."
Arthur replies with "Are you kidding? What about when we first had Mr. Ratburn? We thought he was a monster."
Buster adds, "Right, or when I moved away."
Francine says, "I guess you could do something about when I taught Arthur to play baseball."
The episode then ends.
Characters
Major
Minor
- D.W. Read
- Dr. Katz
- Holly Holland (mentioned)
- Hulk Hogan
- John L. Sullivan
- Floyd Patterson
- Barney Ross
Trivia
- In The Amazing Fight, everyone (except Arthur) are cartoon humans.
- Arthur and his friends did not actually write the stories for the contest. Five children from across America and Canada wrote them for the show - and one girl, named Holly Holland, had an idea for an episode about a contest. This was mentioned in the And Now a Word from Us Kids segment following it.
- The show Arthur and his friends watch (Andy and Company) is clearly a parody of the show itself (that, and it has the art-style of "The Little Lulu Show" which was also produced by Cinar.)
- The way Francine says that Andy is a mouse (Arthur correcting her of him being something else) may refer to the fact how people mistake Arthur as a bear or a mouse instead of an aardvark.
- Jodie Resther the voice of Francine provided the uncredited screaming voice of Hulk Hogan.
Cultural References
- Each of the kids' stories reference other TV shows: Buster's story resembles the premiere episode of the series South Park, Muffy's resembles Beavis and Butt-head, Binky's resembles WWE (then known as WWF), Brain's resembles Dexter's Laboratory, Arthur's resembles Dr. Katz and Arthur resembles King of the Hill.
- In My Life as a TV Show, Arthur and Buster call Muffy the 5th Teletubby (which makes sense because her dress resembles Dipsy from Teletubbies) as Beavis and Butt-head.
Home Video
VHS:
DVD:
Gallery
- Main article: The Contest/Gallery
References