Arthur's Eyes; Francine's Bad Hair Day
From Sugar Bowl Encyclopedia
"Arthur's Eyes; Francine's Bad Hair Day" is the first episode of Arthur, first aired on September 2, 1996. It consists of two mini-episodes: "Arthur's Eyes" and "Francine's Bad Hair Day".
Contents |
Plot
Arthur's Eyes
The episode begins with D.W. waking Arthur in the middle of the night. She thinks that their family has a long lost brother. She leads Arthur to the living room for proof: a family photo album with pictures of an aardvark boy. Arthur explains that the boy is him before he got glasses. D.W. doesn't believe him, so Arthur explains with a story.
In the story, Arthur is in first/second grade class taking a math quiz with the rest of the students. He has trouble reading the board and asks Francine what it says. Francine is annoyed by this. When the quizes are handed back, Arthur recives a poor score. The next scene shows the class in gym playing basketball. Arthur loses the game for his team by missing the shot.
Later, students are lined up in front of the nurse's office for an eye examination. Everyone seen does well except for Arthur. He must now go to the eye doctor. After school, Arthur and his parents go to an orthoptist, Dr. Iris. She tells Arthur that he needs glasses. Arthur searches through various frames and chooses his trademark brown glasses. During the ride home, he points out all the things he can now see that he's never noticed before.
The next day at school, students make fun of Arthur and his glasses, including his best friend Buster. Arthur is now embarassed by his glasses and tries to cover his face with his coat on the way home. He tries various methods to get rid of his glasses, but fails. He decides to not wear his glasses anymore at school to avoid insults, and ends up getting in trouble.
Back at home, Arthur sits with greif while watching a television special of the Bionic Bunny Show. The actor of Bionic Bunny turns out to wear the same glasses as Arthur. Arthur is happy to see this and walks to school the next day with his glasses and confidence. The students gradually stop making fun of Arthur and his glasses.
The story ends, and D.W. comments that having a lost brother is more interesting than Arthur's explanation. She then sees a photo of a young aardvark couple. Arthur knows that the couple are his parents, but D.W. thinks it's her mother and another man. The episode ends with Arthur chasing D.W. to prevent her from waking up their parents.
Interstitial
Local optometrists read Arthur's Eyes and do a show-and-tell with optometry instruments. Students also use feathers, glitter, and other scrap materials to make cardboard "movie star" glasses like Francine's. Students describe and draw pictures of a classmate and an Arthur character and talk about appearances.
Francine's Bad Hair Day
In class, Mr. Ratburn announces that school pictures will be taken the next Thursday. Later during recess, the 3rd graders win a kickball game against the 4th graders.
Francine walks into the bathroom, where Prunella, Sue Ellen, and Muffy are talking about what they'll do and wear for school pictures. Muffy asks Francine what she'll do for school pictures, and Francine says she doesn't care. Prunella begins to question Francine's femininity, but Muffy cuts her off by offering to help Francine look nice for school pictures.
After school, Muffy and Francine go to Francine's house to look for a dress to wear for school pictures. Francine is not happy with the dress they've found, but Muffy insists that it'll look fine with some minor fixings. Later, Muffy brings Francine along to her appointment at Salon de Beauté (a beauty parlor) after a failed attempt with styling Francine's hair At the salon, Francine chooses a wavy, medium-length hairstyle with a bouffant, but the result is a short, curly, afro-like hairstyle. Francine does not like her new hairstyle while Muffy disagrees. Back at Francine's house, Muffy forbids Francine to do activities such as riding bikes and playing kickball, and uses Francine's last school photo to keep Francine from breaking her rules.
The next school day, Francine's new look is laughed at by classmates. The front of her dress becomes ruined during lunch, and her whole self during recess when she joins the kickball game to save the 3rd graders from losing. When it's time to take the pictures, Muffy makes a frustrated look because of Francine's enthusiasm of her now ruined look. Muffy is displeased of her photo and Francine's, but Francine likes hers because it reflects her personality and brings back memories of the kickball game.
Production
"Arthur's Eyes" is based off the 1979 book of the same title by Marc Brown.
Differences between the book
Even though "Arthur's Eyes" wasn't the first book in the Arthur Adventure series, it was the first to feature Arthur's trademark glasses. Many of the elements in the book are the same as this episode, except Arthur tries to destroy his glasses by putting them in the laundry (instead of having D.W. try to smash them), and Arthur notices that his teacher's reading glasses look exactly like Arthur's own glasses (like Wilbur Rabbit's glasses in the TV show.) The book version also ends with the class having their school picture taken (and Francine wears her movie star glasses for them.)
Cultural References
- The television special that Arthur watches on "Arthur's Eyes" is a reference to The Bionic Bunny Show by Marc Brown, where readers get to see how television programs are made.
- On the second time Arthur walks to school with glasses on, Francine comments, "Old Four Eyes is Back". A record album by Mike Harding has the same title, though it is unknown if the reference was intended.
Goofs
- Sue Ellen was seen in Arthur's first/second grade class. On "Sue Ellen Moves In", it was revealed that Sue Ellen moved to Elwood City during 3rd grade.
- Muffy was seen before Arthur got glasses. On "Arthur and the True Francine", Muffy transferred to Lakewood Elementary after Arthur got glasses.
External links
- Arthur Episodes on PBS Kids
- TV.com
- IMDb
- YouTube
- Arthur's Eyes on ECDC
- Francine's Bad Hair Day on ECDC
