"Arthur" Season 17 Trivia Quiz

Answer: Killer

There is a dog show in Elwood City. Arthur and Alberto plan to enter Pal and Amigo in it. While waiting in line, a poodle mocks them. Pal and Amigo learn that they cannot enter the show because they are not purebreds. Killer explains that a purebred is a dog that only has one breed of dog in their personality. She also explains that her ancestors won a lot of dog shows, but they hated them. Pal and Amigo try to convince Killer to enter this show because they want someone to beat the poodle. She is adamant about not joining until she meets the poodle and the poodle insults her. Then, she joins.

The poodle brings a toy wind-up mouse, which distracts Killer and gets her disqualified. Pal brings some roast beef. When it's the poodle's turn to impress the judges, Pal throws the roast beef onto the field. A judge picks up the roast beef, so the poodle attacks the judge. He gets disqualified too. The winner of the show is a dachsund who is not a major character in this episode. Pal is just happy that the poodle lost. Killer does not care that she lost because she thinks dog shows are ridiculous. She thinks a dog show should be about which dog has the nicest personality. Kate, Amigo, and Pal look at Killer in a way that lets her know that they don't think she has a nice personality.

Answer: Amigo

Alberto goes on vacation for a week and he leaves Amigo with Arthur. Amigo is astonished to learn how much better the living conditions are at the Read place than at the Molina place (the Reads give him a dog bed while the Molinas make him sit on the floor, and the Reads have dry food and wet food while the Molinas have just one kind of food). At first, Pal is happy that Amigo is there. Over time, Pal gets jealous because Arthur plays with Amigo more than he plays with Pal. Pal decides to run away.

Amigo overhears Pal's conversation with Kate and Amigo decides to sleep on the Molinas' doorstep so that he does not upset Pal anymore. It rains, so they decide to both go back into the Read house. They leave a lot of water on the floor, which worries Amigo. Pal reminds Amigo that they are dogs and that humans expect dogs to be messy once in a while. They play for a long time and make a huge mess in the living room. When Amigo goes home, he and Pal are on good terms again.

Answer: Arthur

Fern, Muffy, and Binky all invite Ladonna to do something on the same day. Ladonna agrees to do all of these things. She quickly learns that it's hard to do three things on the same day. She does part of what she promised to do for all three of them, but she always ends up leaving early and/or arriving late. All three of them are disappointed in her. Arthur offers to help Ladonna rake leaves. Ladonna goes home and takes a nap.

When she wakes up, Arthur is at her doorstep. She expects to learn that everyone is mad at her. Arthur says he was just there to comfort her because she was exhausted. He also says that no one is mad at her and that everyone he knows has bitten off more than they can chew. He also says that everybody likes her, which is why they all invited her to their favorite fall activity. Ladonna savors her walk with Arthur.

Answer: Golf

Alberto starts playing golf in this episode and instantly becomes great. His problem is that his father gets overly enthusiastic every time Alberto succeeds at a sport and it embarrasses him. When Alberto tells his father how he feels, his father decides not to attend his next golf match. Alberto starts playing poorly.

His caddie, Arthur, gives Alberto's father a call. Alberto's father shows up at the match and gives Alberto some support without going over. Alberto comes back and wins the match. His father rewards him with an empanada.

Answer: He stops trying to be funny

Buster is known for telling jokes. One day, he loses the ability to make his friends laugh. He tries harder and harder to come up with new jokes, but no matter what he does, he still cannot get a laugh. All he can do is make a big mess wherever he goes.

His favorite comedian does a book signing in Elwood City. When Buster asks the comedian how he got out of his slump, he explains that he stopped trying to be funny. He explains that the harder you try to be funny, the less funny you are. Buster takes this advice and the next day at lunch, he makes everybody laugh.

Answer: kids are free

Arthur, Buster, Francine, and Brain are tired of doing chores at home. They decide to start their own country in the tree house and they call it "Kidonia". Kidonia's constitution simply says "No rules no law no chores." They make hats, a flag, a national anthem, money, and passports. Buster embraces his newfound freedom by wearing his socks on his ears. This causes the whole treehouse to smell bad and it eventually causes Francine to leave Kidonia and renounce her citizenship. When the kids try to tell their parents that they do not have to do chores any more because they are now citizens of Kidonia, that does not work. Kidonian money also does not work in other countries.

One day, the only snack they have is a pretzel. They attempt to split it three ways, but Arthur accidentally breaks it in four pieces. They each take one piece and to decide who gets the fourth piece, Arthur and Brain must guess what Buster is thinking. Brain says that it goes against the laws of science. Buster says that there are no laws in Kidonia (Buster does not understand that laws of science are not the same thing as man-made laws and laws of science do not just go away). Arthur just guesses "Aliens eating pizza." That guess turns out to be right and Arthur gets the fourth piece, so Brain renounces his citizenship too. Buster spills apple juice and attracts ants to the tree house. When Arthur tries to make Buster clean it up, Buster leaves and renounces his citizenship too. Arthur declares the "Kidonia" idea a bust and goes home. His parents tell him that he can live with them until he is 30 as long as he follows rules and does chores. Arthur agrees to this.

Answer: Earth Day

While Arthur, Buster, Francine, and Muffy are in a nice-looking park, Buster notices a lot of dead fish in the creek. When Francine goes home and tells her father about it, he says that he knows about this and it is caused by lawn fertilizer. According to him, when people use to much of it, the chemicals get in the water and kill the aquatic life. The four kids make a video about the situation urging people not to use lawn fertilizer. It becomes a hit and they are asked to have one of them give a speech at Elwood City's Earth Day rally. The other kids choose Francine and say that she is perfect for the job. Francine agrees to do it, but later learns she has a problem.

It turns out that Francine Frensky, one of the most fearless kids at Lakewood Elementary School, has a fear of public speaking. Ladonna becomes Francine's coach on public speaking. Francine appears to get better at it. When Ladonna invites a few of Francine's close friends over to her house so Francine can give it in front of the audience, Francine panics and runs into Ladonna's room. Francine asks Ladonna to give the speech. At the rally, Ladonna is prepared to give the speech and she credits Francine for it. Just as Ladonna is starting it, a big gust of wind blows the written speech into the water. Without the paper, Ladonna cannot give Francine's speech because she does not know it. Francine steps in and tells Ladonna that she can give the speech now. Francine gives a slightly different speech than the one she wrote. It gets a huge round of applause and Ladonna says that Francine's improvised speech is even better than her written one. Muffy films the speech and posts it online.

Answer: Ladonna

Ladonna is new to Elwood City and she is waiting to experience her first snowstorm ever. She used to live in Louisiana where it doesn't snow. For most of the episode, it appears that she will have to wait until next winter for that to happen. Arthur and Buster try multiple things in an attempt to cheer her up, but none of those things work. At the end of the episode, there is a big blizzard and Ladonna is thrilled. She goes sledding and skiing for the first time in her life. Her friends are thrilled that she is happy.

Meanwhile, D.W. teaches Bud how to make snowballs. D.W. warns Bud not to save his snowball in the freezer like she did with her snowball. Bud tries this anyway. His mother does not allow it. He ends up saving the snowball in his room, where it is not freezing. The snowball melts and he feels sad. D.W. makes another snowball for him and tells him to throw it at her so he'll feel better. He does that and starts a snowball fight with D.W.

Answer: General Higgins

There is a mouse in the Read house which causes everyone to panic except Kate and Pal. The Reads try various mouse traps, but none of them work. Arthur then goes to Francine's apartment and borrows Nemo to get rid of the mouse. Nemo is terrified of the mouse. He and Pal come up with a plan to get the mouse out of the house. It works, but then the mouse finds a tiny hole in the wall and it goes right back inside the house. Nemo and Pal think it teleported in the house and they are terrified.

The next day, Ladonna comes over with her pet rat, General Higgins, to show the tricks that he can do. General Higgins escapes Ladonna's purse and meets Pal and Kate. When Pal tells him that there is a mouse in the house, General Higgins finds the mouse and talks to him. General Higgins convinces the mouse to leave the Read house and go to Mr. Ratburn's house. Arthur takes Nemo back to Francine. The parents call an exterminator, unaware that the mouse has already left. D.W. see the mouse in the yard and then she sees the mouse leave the property.

Answer: Carl

In the introduction, we see a kite fly away. We also see the left arm and the mouth of the owner. If it was supposed to be a mystery to the audience as to who owns the kite, the writers did not do a good job. We can clearly tell that's Carl's light blue t-shirt and it's Carl's mouth.

It is, however, a mystery to Binky, Muffy, and Ladonna. They find the kite. For most of the episode, they cannot find the owner. So, they decide to take turns. The Crosswire lawyer writes a contract that says that Binky gets the kite for a week, then he must give it to Muffy and she gets it for a week, and then Ladonna gets it for a week, and they presumably intend to rotate turns in that order. Various mishaps and unfortunate events happen during the next three weeks when each of them attempt to fly the kite. Eventually, Carl shows up and claims to be the owner of the kite.

He lets them fly it, but he gets to go first.

Answer: George

When George meets his favorite film director, Tufton Sinclair (a parody of Upton Sinclair), George is inspired to make his own movie. He asks Muffy if he can borrow her camera. She says yes and she brings in Buster, Binky, Arthur, and D.W. to help make the movie.

They all say they love George's story, but none of them pay much attention to George's direction. George goes to the Sugar Bowl to think things over. Sinclair joins him. When George tells him that no one listens to it, Sinclair tells him to put his foot down. George returns Muffy's camera, saying that he does not want it if he cannot make the movie he wants to make.

This is when everyone starts listening to him. At the end of the episode, we see Muffy delivering a perfect performance of the witch and George is happy.

Answer: No

George, Arthur, Muffy, and Binky make a toy miniature Ferris Wheel. After the other kids leave, George accidentally breaks it. As he runs off, part of Wally's green suit is torn off and left on a table. Binky returns to scene, sees it broken, and uses one of the tooth picks to clean his teeth. The shop teacher walks in and sees Binky standing over the broken Ferris Wheel, so Binky gets blamed and punished for it. George tries to tell the other kids that Binky is innocent, but they don't listen. At lunch, George sits with Binky and tells him that he believes him. George volunteers to help Binky clean the shop class. George also says he will help Binky find the person who actually broke it, although he actually means that he will help find another innocent kid to take the fall (George is the culprit but he does not want Binky to know that because Binky vowed to kill the culprit).

Binky finds the green piece of fabric. He says he has seen it somewhere before but he is not sure where. Buster wears a green shirt, so Binky interrogates him. George tells Binky that Buster's shirt is a different shade of green than the fabric. Fern waits outside of Buster's house and offers to help them.

During all this detective work, Binky notices some strange things about George. George is quick to say that Buster's confession is false. George knows that the piece of fabric is from a suit. Binky eventually remembers where he'd seen that shade of green before: Wally. However, Binky realizes that he has bullied George a lot in the past but George has always been nice to him. So, Binky returns the favor, does not tell Principal Haney the truth and willingly takes the fall on the condition that George clean Binky's room for a month. George agrees to this and apologizes to Binky, saying that he did not mean to get Binky in trouble.

Fern then appears and she tells them that she has solved the case. She tells them that Principal Haney broke the Ferris Wheel. His suit is the same color as the fabric left at the scene. She never finds out that she is wrong. Binky decides not to tell her the truth and let her think whatever she wants.

Answer: Buster

Buster becomes an artist and he wins an award for best young artist. Muffy hires him to paint a picture of her. He does not paint Muffy in the way she actually looks. What Muffy does not know is that Buster has a unique style. He does not paint people as they actually look. He has his own style. He paints them as aliens with the characteristics that these people have. For example, he paints Francine as an alien with 18 arms (because she is great at sports) and an exploding head (because she has quite a temper). He paints Arthur as a transparent alien so you can see the inside of his body (because Arthur is honest and rarely hides anything) with a big heart (because he is usually very nice), big glasses, and two left feet (this isn't explained and I don't get it). He draws Muffy as a green car (her family sells cars and the green represents all the money that they have) with a ribbon.

Arthur and Francine like these paintings after Buster explains them. Muffy does not feel the same way. She promises a big party for him if he paints the way she wants him to paint. Buster has a dream in which Vincent Van Gogh and other famous artists convince him to paint the way he wants and not worry what other people want. He listens to his dream and does not change the painting. Mr. Ratburn sees the painting and he loves it. He thinks the car represents Muffy as a driving force in the world and the ribbon represents her softer side. After Mr. Ratburn's explanation, Muffy changes her mind and her family has an unveiling party for the painting. Buster enjoys the party but he really enjoys that Muffy now likes his art.

Answer: Bang on a Can

Muffy takes Francine to a concert by Bang on a Can. They perform Avante Garde (experimental music). Muffy does not like it at first, but Francine loves it. After the show, she meets Wolfe and Ziporyn and asks them to come to Lakewood Elementary. They agree to do this. At school, Francine tells everyone about this and she plays their music for all her friends. Muffy has changed her mind and she now loves it. All of Francine's friends love it except for Binky.

In the introduction, Arthur says that Binky knows more about music than anyone he knows (this is strange because Sue Ellen outperformed Binky on saxophone in "Bully For Binky" and Arthur knows her, but I guess continuity does not matter here). It's ironic that he is the one person who did not like the music. Francine tells him that this music will grow on him. For most of the episode, he is adamant that it's bad music. After listening to it, he starts going crazy. Every single sound bothers him (cars driving, birds squawking, wind blowing, clocks ticking, even water dripping). He cannot believe that all of his friends like it.

To prove to his friends that Bang on a Can is bad music, Binky records some ordinary sounds (dog barking, toilet flushing, thunder, Mr. Frensky's garbage truck, bacon frying, even his stomach rumbling). He then puts all these sounds on his computer and uses software to turn them into one big piece of music. He puts it on a CD, he calls the CD "Gesundheit," and then he then plays it for his friends. He intends for them to hate it and then hate Bang on a Can and music like that. He does not intend for it to be good.

To his shock, they all love it. Bang on a Can hears it from just outside the room and when they enter the room, they tell Binky that they love it too. Although Binky did not consider this to be a composition, Julia Wolfe tells him that it is indeed a composition and she encourages him to do more compositions because he has talent. This thrills him. They tell him that they want to combine their music with his composition. Binky is thrilled by this. Francine tells Muffy that the music finally grew on Binky. The episode ends with Binky, Arthur, Muffy, Francine, Buster, and Bang on a Can playing Avant Garde music and combining it with Binky's composition. Mr. Haney and Julia Wolfe are in the audience loving every minute of it.

I did not know this fact until I made this quiz, but Bang on a Can are a real band and Julia Wolfe and Evan Ziporyn are real people. They look very different in real life than on an animated cartoon.

Answer: By allowing them to blend ice cream flavors

A new ice cream shop called Yumbobo opens across the street from Brain's ice cream shop. Yumbobo has someone dressed up as a blue penguin dancing and offering free samples outside the shop. Their ice cream is more expensive than Brain's ice cream, but they trick people into buying it by having fancy names for the ice cream. They have a flavor that they call "Tahitian Trance", which is just plain vanilla ice cream. Other flavors like chocolate and strawberry also have fancy names at Yumbobo. They also have a greeter named Mustard Seed who says "Yay!" all the time.

Brain is enraged by all of this. This place is ripping people off, yet almost all of his former customers stop going to his place and start going to Yumbobo. Brain tries a few different things to try and get customers back. Most of his ideas fail. His last customer, Buster, juggles two ice cream scoops, one of which has coffee ice cream and the other one has pistachio ice cream. They land on the counter and the two flavors get mixed. Buster tries the mixture and says it's the best thing that he has ever tasted. This gives Brain an idea.

Brain creates a blending lab where customers can mix two flavors of ice cream, write down which flavors they mixed, give it a name, and Brain posts it on the wall behind the counter so that other customers can try these mixtures. This idea is a huge success and business and Brain's ice cream shop is better than ever. At the end of the episode, two people wearing fake beards enter Brain's shop. One of the fake beards slips and Brain recognizes her as Mustard Seed. This suggests that Yumbobo's business is so bad, even their employees are now going to Brain's ice cream shop instead. The episode ends with Brain mockingly imitating Mustard Seed's "Yay!"