Airdate: October 18, 1996
Arthur's excited that his birthday is approaching, and is going to have a party that Saturday afternoon. However, it turns out Muffy's birthday is on the same day as Arthur's and is going to throw a party of her own! Now all their friends can't decide if they should go to Arthur's party or Muffy's, and a boy-girl rivalry begins. Can Arthur, with the help of Francine, smooth things over in time for his birthday? Based on a book of the same name by Marc Brown.
Arthur's Birthday contains examples of:
- Action Prologue: The Teaser shows Arthur attempting to drop his note to Muffy in the mailbox unnoticed, with some dialogue modified to hide that it's a Birthday Episode until the very end when Arthur says, "If Muffy catches me, my entire birthday will be ruined!"
- Adapted Out: The book had Arthur getting a birthday card from his Uncle Bud with three dollars in it. This does not happen in the TV version, although Uncle Bud does appear in "Arthur's Cousin Catastrophe."
- Adaptation Expansion: The TV version adds a bit more to the shopping-for-party-supplies scene, along with Arthur attempting to deliver his note to Muffy going unnoticed, and also showing more of the party than depicted in the book.
- Birthday Buddies: Arthur and Muffy have their birthdays on the same day. This becomes a plot point in that their two friend groups can't decide whose party to go to, until Arthur comes up with a solution.
- Birthday Episode: For both Arthur and Muffy.
- Brick Joke: Francine mentions she wants to play Spin the Bottle at Arthur's birthday party. Binky, with some sympathy and humor, tells Arthur to uninvited her but Arthur says he'll make sure they take out bottles for recycling. In the end, Francine insists that Arthur open her present first, revealing it's a glass bottle for a "Spin the Bottle" game! Then among demonstrating the game, Pal kisses her when the bottle goes to him, which she finds Actually Pretty Funny.
- Duck!: When Arthur goes to try and slip his note into Muffy's mailbox as landscapers are working outside the Crosswire mansion, Francine warns him "Duck!" and Arthur hides just as an anthropomorphic worker duck walks by and quacks.
- Early-Installment Weirdness: Grandma Thora bakes a chocolate cake for Arthur's birthday party, exciting him. Later in the season, "The Half-Baked Sale" would establish Thora as a Lethal Chef. Though this could be because the episode was adapted from a book, and Thora's bad cooking/baking skills was created just for the TV show.
- Epic Fail: Arthur's dad tries to knock down the pinata when the kids fail. The kids chuckle, and they cheer when even a hammer doesn't do the trick. In the end, he uses a chainsaw to cut it open as Arthur is opening his presents.
- Girls vs. Boys Plot: A main plot point. For a while, the boys decide they will go to Arthur's party while the girls go to Muffy's party. It gets to the point where a tug-of-war game at recess goes horribly wrong due to the rivalry.Arthur: (after they break the rope and fall on their backs) I guess nobody wins!
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The girls' reactions among learning Arthur's birthday party is the very same day as Muffy's.
- Mundane Made Awesome: After the kids all "oooh" at the prospect of Pickles the Clown (a future semi-recurring character in the series) performing at Muffy's birthday party, Arthur counters that he can't change the date of his party either, as he has relatives coming from Ohio, to which the kids all say in unison "Oooh, Ohio!"
- Spin the Bottle: Francine wants to play this game at Arthur's birthday party. Eventually at the double birthday party for Arthur and Muffy, Francine indeeds get Arthur a "spin the bottle" game as a birthday present, and when showing the others how to play, the bottle lands on Pal, who's more than willing to kiss Francine.
- Surprise Party: Arthur has all the boys and girls sans Muffy show up at his house on the day of his party, so they can make it a surprise double-birthday party for Muffy. Arthur writes on his note to get Muffy to arrive..."I have a special present for you. It is so big I can't carry it by myself. Please come to my house today at noon to get it."
- When the Clock Strikes Twelve: Although it's noon instead of midnight, Arthur's party is supposed to begin at twelve noon, and the grandfather clock in Arthur's living room strikes twelve right when Muffy is scheduled to arrive at his house for the double birthday party.
Mr. Ratburn's class is putting on a school play about the inventor Thomas Edison. Francine, who has a history of getting bad parts in such plays that often lead to physical abuse, is cast as the star of Edison! But the part starts to get to her head and she goes on a power trip and starts acting like she's running the show - with an iron fist. Her classmates are not enjoying being badly treated by "Edison", and all try to convince her that it's not just her show.
Francine Frensky, Superstar contains examples of:
- Actually Pretty Funny: For what it's worth, everyone except Francine finds the dress rehearsal antics hilarious. The cast backstage laughs at her getting squirted with water, and the kindergartners love Arthur as an automated telephone, as well as how the Great Train Robbery went off-script. Mr. Ratburn tastefully describes them as "technical difficulties," showing he didn't mind that much.
- All Part of the Show: The kindergartners enjoy the messed-up show even as Francine is humiliated. They are in hysterics by the end and are applauding.
- Awesome, but Impractical: In-universe, when Mr. Ratburn asks his class for any story ideas for their upcoming School Play. He rejects Sue Ellen's idea of a horror play (with a huge mucous monster) and Brain's of a space travel story (as he can make rocket fuel easily) as he finds them good but too complicated to perform. Both would require extensive special effects way beyond their budget.
- Batman Gambit: The other kids decide to teach Francine a lesson for being Drunk with Power in the role of Thomas Edison and treating the others badly by intentionally screwing up their parts in the performance for the kindergarten kids. Muffy intentionally mispronounces "Menlo Park" as "Mental Park" during the introduction, Arthur acts like a telephone when it's his cue as the phonograph, Buster squirts Francine with a water gun when he is "switched on" as the light bulb, and Binky, playing the train in "The Great Train Robbery" attempts to rob the bandits. It works.
- Corpsing: In-Universe: Sue Ellen is the only cast member to start laughing at the antics onstage. To be fair, Binky as the train was making her crack up by challenging the would-be train robbers to a fistfight, and by then Sue Ellen was part of the cast mutiny.
- The Dog Bites Back: After being subject to Francine's prima donna attitude from getting the role they helped her get, the other kids actively sabotage the dress rehearsal to teach her a lesson. Of particular note is Buster, who was unable to breathe in his light bulb costume when Francine demanded that there be no air holes, squirting a water gun into Francine's face.
- Drunk with Power: Francine begins to take over the play and boss everyone around as if it were her show and she was a Prima Donna Director. She gets a wake-up call when the cast mutinies.
- Exact Words: Francine told Brain no air holes, even when Buster is suffocating. So Brain adds a screen grille instead during dress rehearsal. It also allows Buster to squirt Francine with water during his scene.
- Face Palm: Mr. Ratburn does one when Muffy incorrectly guesses that Thomas Edison created the Dewey Decimal system.
- For Inconvenience, Press "1": Arthur's turn at ruining the play as the first phonograph:Arthur: All operators are busy. Please hang up and dial again. If you are calling from a touch-tone phone, press 1 now.
- From Bad to Worse: The way that Francine's stint as Sir Isaac Newton went. Arthur was on the tech crew and dropped one apple on her, as the script went. Then he stumbles and loses every apple in his bucket. Several apples fall on Francine, followed by the bucket itself, and finally Arthur after he falls off the ladder completely.
- Hidden Depths: The Cold Open shows Buster doing a tap-dance routine as part of his audition for the school play.
- Insistent Terminology: Francine, as part of researching Thomas Edison for her part in the play, soon starts insisting that Buster is not playing a light bulb in the play, but an "incandescent lamp". And then in class when Mr. Ratburn brings up Thomas Edison inventing "the first light bulb," Francine corrects him in that at the time it was called an "incandescent lamp". The rest of the class is horrified in that Francine corrected a teacher in class, but fortunately Mr. Ratburn doesn't mind.
- Kick the Dog: Francine was already somewhat of a bully in the first season (due to Characterization Marches On), but when she's cast as the star in the Thomas Edison play, she firmly grasps the Jerkass Ball and begins abusing others while acting like it's her show.
- When Muffy thinks Francine's research on Thomas Edison is boring, Francine retorts that it's not boring and that "Without lights, you'd have to shop in the dark! Oh, sorry, I guess you already do." Muffy is so offended she starts crying.
- When Francine demands Brain remove the air holes from Buster's incandescent light bulb costume (complete with the Leitmotif usually used for the Tough Customers accompany her yelling at Brain) and even approves of the costume having no air holes despite Buster struggling to breathe.
- When Arthur doesn't want to wear the bell-speaker as part of his phonograph costume due to the echo that ensues in his ears — and besides which he's not even rehearsing at the time— Francine snaps the speaker onto Arthur's head and yells at Arthur's face right through the speaker, proving his point."If you don't do it right, I'll UN-INVENT YOU AND YOU WON'T BE IN MY PLAY AT ALL!"
- She even yells at Mr. Ratburn in the face when noticing a flaw in Sue Ellen's kinetoscope costume. Lucky for her, Mr. Ratburn doesn't mind that much and humors her."Sue Ellen's film has no sprocket holes! How could the pull-down claw move the film without SPROCKET HOLES?!!!"
- Mugging the Monster: Invoked during "The Great Train Robbery" when Binky, Muffy and Jenna go off-script. Muffy and Jenna play the robbers, but they put up their weapons in surrender when Binky goes, "You can't rob this train! Put 'em up! Put 'em up!"
- No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: All of the kids help Francine get a good part in the play. Francine gets the lead role, and ends up turning into a prima donna.
- The Perfectionist: Francine insists that the costumes of Edison's inventions be as accurate as possible, even when it doesn't make sense like Buster's air holes.
- Playing a Tree: Quite a few examples...
- A literal example happens in a flashback to one of Francine's bad play parts in the past, when Arthur recalls the time Buster played George Washington and Francine was the cherry tree for him to chop down.
- For the Thomas Edison play, Arthur is cast as the first phonograph, Buster as the first incandescent light bulb (to which Buster comments, "I'm also very bright!"), Sue Ellen as the first kinetoscope, and Binky as a locomotive for a scene re-enacting The Great Train Robbery, which greatly excites him as he enjoys playing big sturdy objects in class plays...Binky: I was the wall in Humpty Dumpty, I was Plymouth Rock on Thanksgiving. I hope there's a wall in this play, because I'm real steady!
- The Prima Donna: Francine, when she gets the part of Thomas Edison for the class play.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Mr. Ratburn when it's time to put on a school play. He vetoes Sue Ellen's and Brain's ideas because they're too complicated for third-grades to perform while allowing Francine to be the star since her friends asked. Even when Francine gets arrogant and goes off the rails, he humors her. After she's crying following the dress rehearsal, he encourages her and the other kids to talk it out about the "technical difficulties".
- Recycled Soundtrack: The music playing on the phonograph that Francine tests out in the antique store and then is featured when Arthur plays the phonograph in the actual play is just a snippet of regular Arthur background music, featuring a prominent banjo and harmonica (common instruments in the background music cues from the early seasons of the show.)
- School Play: The main plot of the episode involves Mr. Ratburn's class putting on a play about Thomas Edison.
- The Show Must Go On: Credit to Francine that when the show goes completely off-the-rails, she keeps going and stays in-character as Thomas Edison. She only cries afterward in the privacy of backstage.
- Stating the Simple Solution: Arthur resolves to talk to Francine about her grabbing the Jerkass Ball, calling her on the phone before dress rehearsal and then meeting with her. It's only when his Brutal Honesty doesn't work that the entire cast mutinies on her.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Francine insists that Buster's costume as a plastic "incandescent lamp" needs no air holes, even when he's clearly suffocating. Brain mutinies and gives him a screen through which to breathe because he doesn't want a dead classmate on his hands.
- What Are Records?: When Mr. Ratburn talks to the kids about Thomas Edison when bringing up the story idea for their play, he mentions that Edison invented the phonograph. The kids have no idea what he's talking about, even when he tries to elaborate... (Note: This is one of the earliest episodes of the show, from 1996.)Mr. Ratburn: The record player? ... It was before CDs. It played music with a needle.
Binky: Is that a joke? - You're Just Jealous: When Arthur flat-out tells Francine that the other members of the cast are angry at her for mistreating them, she brushes it off saying that they're just jealous of her talent. This proves to be the last straw and the kids conspire to sabotage the dress rehearsal.
