Airdate: October 8, 1996
Both episodes start out Arthur's new school year in the third grade.
Both episodes contain examples of:
- Adaptation Distillation: Both episodes are based on the same book, but the stories split as the original book was mostly on the spelling bee.
- Adaptation Expansion: Both episodes are based on the same book (Arthur's Teacher Trouble), but the first episode in particular is by far the more expansive compared to the original book. Where as the book starts at the end of the first day of school, this episode actually establishes the moments preceding the cast finding out who their new teacher is, which actually comes from the 1981 book The True Francine, where Arthur and his friends start third grade (when that book was adapted into an episode, it was told as a flashback to when the gang was in second grade.) . Also, Ratburn is a much more fleshed out character in this episode, as this is where we learn he's also a puppeteer and coach. The sister episode is much more tied to the original book.
- Divided for Adaptation: Both episodes are based on the same book, but are divided up to give Mr. Ratburn a better introduction.
Arthur and his friends believe Mr. Ratburn to be an Evil Teacher, and are horrified when they learn they have his class. Pretty soon though, it becomes apparent that there is more to Mr. Ratburn than they thought.
Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn contains examples of:
- Brick Joke: Early on in the episode, Arthur and Buster choose to "face horrifying scary danger" over doing their homework. At the end of the episode, Mr. Ratburn reminds them of what they had skipped out on, much to their horror.
- Either/Or Title: The original home video title of the episode was "Arthur's Teacher Trouble" like the original book, most likely to tie it together.
- Evil Teacher: Arthur and his friends initially believe Mr. Ratburn to be this. They realize that while he is tough, he isn't a vampire.
- Heroic BSoD: Arthur and his friends start muttering "Ratburn" and tuning out of things.
- Hidden Depths: Ratburn is a teacher, a coach, and a puppeteer. He also hand-carves his puppets when his supply company doesn't have the necessary parts.
- Iris Out: The first episode to end this way.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Mr. Ratburn, though "jerk" may not be the right word, initially appears to be a very stern teacher, but when Arthur and Buster accidentally infiltrate his puppet show, they learn he has a fun-loving side to him too.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": Arthur and his friends scream in unison when they find out they're in Ratburn's class.
- Misplaced Kindergarten Teacher: All of the other teachers seen in this episode are pretty much this.
- Off with His Head!: Jack's head flies off mid-show, and it's unclear if he meant to do that or not. Mr. Ratburn needed boy heads because the heads keep cracking due to the stunt.
- Poor Communication Kills: Arthur and Buster overhear Mr. Ratburn talking to someone on the phone saying that he "must have boys' heads," and fear that he is a cranium-chopping monster. It's only later that they discover that he was talking about puppet heads, not living ones.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: Mr. Ratburn turns out to be this, rather than the Evil Teacher that Prunella built him up to be. He assigns a lot of work, but when Arthur and Buster accidentally crash his puppet show, he shoos them off stage, talks to them about all the things he does, and reminds them about their geography project.
- Stab the Salad: A variant; Mr. Ratburn buys nails and a saw at a hardware store. Arthur and Buster immediately clutch their necks. They find out later he was hand-carving and repairing puppet heads.
- Throw It In!: In-universe. When Buster and Arthur mistakenly get on Ratburn's puppet stage, he starts improvising a few lines to help shoo them off and make it look like it actually was part of the show.
- Troll: Prunella tells a series of myths about Mr. Ratburn to mess with Arthur and his friends: Ratburn eats nails for breakfast without milk, he will put failing students on death row, and is a vampire with hypnotic powers.
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: In the climax, when Arthur says that he can't find time to do homework and eat, Mr. Ratburn tells him that he's capable of more than he thinks.
Arthur is chosen to compete for the school spellathon, and must study hard in order to prepare. When he finds himself faced against Prunella and the Brain, his skills are put to the test.
Arthur's Spelling Trubble contains examples of:
- The Artifact: The Brain misspelling "fear" as "fere" in the original book seemed reasonable when he had yet to get the Character Development that made him the genius, but in this episode it seems somewhat out of character for him. Especially the "What dictionary are you using?" line.
- Aw, Look! They Really Do Love Each Other: Despite teasing Arthur, D.W. ends up cheering for him loudest at the spelling bee and says that now Arthur knows he can "do it".
- "Begone" Bribe: Jane offers D.W. ice-cream so that the latter won't bother Arthur.
- Break the Haughty: Prunella assumes she will win this year because she won the previous year. Then she messes up the word "preparation," which she only realizes after she spells it.
- Epic Fail: Brain is the first one out of the spelling bee because he misspells "fear".
- Fear-Induced Idiocy: Brain, despite usually being The Smart Guy, gets such bad stage fright during a spelling bee that he forgets how to spell "fear" (spelling it "F-E-R-E".)
- Irony:
- Arthur only memorizes one word, while Francine studied her whole book. He happens to get the word he memorized, while she misspells "pleasant".
- Brain due to nerves misspells "fear". He then walks off the stage, protesting.
- Prunella loses the bee by misspelling "preparation," which Arthur spells flawlessly.
- Misdirected Outburst: While Arthur is practicing his spelling, D.W. comes in, and he tells her not to bother him. D.W. leaves, and when Arthur hears Buster enter, he starts to repeat not to bother him until he turns around.
- Not So Above It All:
- Buster convinces Arthur to goof off studying by going to the arcade.
- Genius Brain gets knocked out of the spelling bee due to flubbing up the word "fear", after sweating from nerves.
- Pet the Dog: D.W. genuinely cheers on Arthur during the spelling bee.
- Retcon: Mr. Ratburn announcing plans of teaching kindergarten in the future at the end of the original book is absent in this version. In "The Last Day" it's instead announced that he plans on moving to 4th Grade.
- Rouge Angles of Satin: The title of the episode, of course.
- Spelling Bee: The main plot of the episode revolves around Arthur preparing for, and competing in, a spelling bee.
- Spelling Song: The Aardvark Rap. "A-A-R-D-V-A-R-K!" Even David and Mr. Ratburn are entertained by it.
- Taught by Experience: When Buster invites Arthur to goof off studying again by playing football, Arthur bluntly turns him down and says he needs to study.
- Tyop on the Cover: Invoked. Since the episode is about a spelling bee, the episode title deliberately misspells "trouble" as "trubble".
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: After he wins the spelling bee in class, Arthur gets panicked on hearing that he and Brain will be competing with the other grades. He tells Mr. Ratburn that he didn't study, and that he can't spell. Mr. Ratburn tells him that he knows Arthur can do it, provided by studies.
