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"Arthur's Big Hit"
Season/Series: 4
Number in season: 1b
Original Airdate: United States October 4, 1999[1]
Canada January 17, 2000[2]
Credits
Written by: Joe Fallon
Storyboard by: Robert Yap
Episodes
Previous
"D.W.'s Library Card"
Next
"Hide and Snake"
Read transcript

"Arthur's Big Hit" is the second half of the first episode in the fourth season of Arthur.

Summary

Arthur wonders if it's ever okay to hit someone. Sometimes you just get so mad, you wanna...Pow! Arthur experiences considerable confusion, and finally clarity, as he finds himself on both ends of the hitting question.[3]

Plot

The episode starts in a boxing arena with Francine as the referee, and Arthur vs. D.W. set to duke it out in the ring. Buster is in Arthur's corner, while Nadine is in D.W.'s. Arthur and D.W. have their mouthpieces put in and the fight is just about to start when Arthur sees another D.W. also apparently sitting in the crowd, and then finds out that the one in the ring with him is actually Binky Barnes in a D.W. costume. Binky says he figured Arthur would rather fight someone his own size. The real D.W. laughs while Binky chases Arthur.

Arthur's Big Hit

After the title card, Arthur is seen building a scale model of the Bell X-1 Model Plane, which broke the sound barrier. D.W. thinks the set, which is still mostly in pieces in its container, is a broken game. Arthur angrily kicks D.W. out of his room. The next day as Arthur is putting together the plane, D.W. accidentally spills one of his paint bottles and runs out of sight.

A few days later, D.W. plays with the plane while its paint is drying, which forces Arthur to repaint. The next day, Arthur completes the plane and fantasizes about receiving a blue ribbon for it and perhaps getting to fly the real thing.

Despite being told multiple times not to touch Arthur's model plane, D.W. deliberately disobeys him. She holds it up and pretends to fly it around the room, then allows the plane to fall out the window, under the mistaken assumption it will actually fly. The model crashes to the ground, and D.W. finds Arthur to tell him he made the plane all wrong since it doesn't fly. Arthur is about to reply that there's nothing wrong with the plane, only to stop short when he realizes the implications of what D.W. has said, and exclaims in a shocked voice, "What?"

The two of them run outside to survey the damage. When Arthur sees his plane destroyed on the ground, he gasps and picks up one of the broken pieces, shocked, angry and devastated. D.W. tells Arthur she can't understand why, if the plane broke the sound barrier, falling out of a window would break it.

Arthur loses his temper and scolds D.W., but D.W. doesn't acknowledge how angry he is, and continues going on about how Arthur obviously made the plane wrong since it didn't fly. She asks him if he even read the instructions, and says it's not her fault if he made a plane that doesn't fly. Arthur, reaching his breaking point, punches her in the arm, screaming, "I told you... NOT TO TOUCH IT!" D.W. falls to the ground, then runs inside, wailing in pain. A few moments after that, Jane calls for Arthur to come in the house while using his full name, and he realizes that he's in trouble, saying "Uh-oh — middle name."

In the kitchen, David is about to apply ice to the spot on D.W.'s arm where Arthur punched her. She asks him if they'll "amputake" her arm. He says no, and that the correct word is "amputate". She asks again, this time using the right word, and he says no; he will just put ice on the sore spot. She howls when he puts it on her wound; when he asks what's wrong, she calmly says that the ice is cold.

Jane tells Arthur to apologize to D.W. for being aggressive, but he refuses because she destroyed his plane, which took him a week to build, and then claims D.W. should apologize to him, since he repeatedly warned her not to touch it, and her failure to comply resulted in the destruction of all his hard work. As David passes by holding D.W. in his arms, she bitterly says to Arthur, "You're bad!"

Arthur and his parents go into the living room to further discuss what happened. Because Arthur refuses to own up to his actions, David severely scolds Arthur and punishes him for his actions by telling him that he can't watch TV for a whole week. Arthur thinks that's unfair, and that his parents are not even acknowledging what D.W. did to his model plane. Jane tells him they will deal with what D.W. did, but what he did was wrong too and didn't solve his problem. Still, Arthur disagrees that he overreacted by being brutal to D.W.

The next day, on the walk to school, Arthur talks with Buster about what happened the other day, and sulks about the punishment he got. Buster, however, refuses to listen to Arthur's side of the story. Binky overhears Arthur and Buster's conversation, and thinks it's shocking that Arthur hit his sister. One of the Tough Customers asks how Binky could be shocked, given his tough reputation. Molly realizes that she can't remember the last time Binky hit someone. Later, Binky's friends dare him to hit the next person that walks by (which happened to be Arthur). Molly says that if Binky doesn't, he will be kicked out of the Tough Customers club. Binky protests that he is the one who founded the club in the first place. Molly tells him that since there are other members in the club, Binky can't have everything his way. She orders Binky to punch Arthur the next time he sees him. Binky refuses to hit Arthur, so he avoids looking at Arthur for the rest of the school day (reasoning that if he doesn't see Arthur, he won't be forced to hit him.)

Francine asks Arthur why he wouldn't apologize to his younger sister. Arthur complains that no one is taking his side, and Muffy replies it's because Arthur is the one in the wrong. Francine discusses with Binky what Arthur did, and Binky says that he hasn't seen Arthur and, as far as he knows, Arthur isn't there. Francine thinks Binky is avoiding Arthur because he's disgusted by what he did to D.W. At lunch, when Binky won't eat near Arthur, Buster thinks Arthur and Binky need to be brought together.

After second recess, Arthur talks with Fern, trying to get her to sympathize with him. She tells him that D.W. is "just a little girl," to which Arthur retorts that calling D.W. a little girl is like calling a tornado "just a little wind."

After school, right by The Sugar Bowl, Arthur runs towards Binky and the Tough Customers and tells Binky that he dropped his pen when he ran out of school "kind of sideways." Binky's friends urge him to hit Arthur — although reluctant at first, he finally does, making Arthur feel hurt and humiliated.

When Arthur is home and getting an ice pack from David, he reflects on the embarrassment he felt, and his dad tells him that maybe D.W. felt the same way, when Arthur punched her. Arthur tries to deny that there's a comparison, saying Binky is "huge", but then admits he understands.

Now knowing that hitting her was never the right way to solve his problem, Arthur finally apologizes to D.W., and she apologizes to him in return for wrecking his plane. She asks him what kind of plane doesn't fly, and he tells her "a model plane." D.W., now having learned her lesson, responds by saying that she didn't know and that she was a child, after all, and to give her a break.

The next day, Binky tells Arthur he wants to apologize, and Arthur ends up thanking him for making him understand how bad he made D.W. feel. The other Tough Customers stop by, and think Arthur is tough, because he survived being hit by Binky. Molly invites Arthur to join the Tough Customers, but Binky dissolves the club and tells them that making someone to do something they don't want to do is really, really wrong. Binky decides to found a new club with no aggression, and will "clobber" anyone who breaks that new rule.

Characters

Major

Minor

Cameo

Trivia

  • Arthur's middle name is revealed to be Timothy. This is mentioned again in "Arthur Changes Gears" and in "Tales of Grotesquely Grim Bunny."
  • Both Arthur and D.W. were punched on the left arm.
  • This is the first episode to have Buster narrating the title card.
  • This episode is the first of Season 4 to have Brain speak. Luke Reid's voice has deepened further since the previous season, and this is the last season Reid voices Brain.
  • Arthur saying that Binky is "huge" is a reference to "Bully for Binky."
  • In "Bleep," Arthur works on a model plane that looks identical to the one in this episode. When it breaks, D.W. says, "It happened again!" This can refer to the model plane breaking again, or something breaking because of D.W. saying a bad word.
  • Arthur gets banned from watching TV for a week after punching D.W., this can be kind of similar to him and everyone not watching TV for a whole week in "Arthur's TV-Free Week."
  • D.W. also gets banned from watching TV for a week in "D.W. and Dr. Whosit."

Gallery

Main article: Arthur's Big Hit/Gallery

References


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