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Arthur's Perfect Christmas

Episode Number: 85    Season Num: 5    First Aired: Thursday November 23, 2000    Prod Code: 5-11
The Arthur's Perfect Christmas special opens with scenes of citizens of Elwood City busy preparing for Christmas, while Pachelbel's Canyon is played in the background on piano. Arthur then sings the first of many of the special's musical numbers, "Perfect Christmas," in which he lays out his list of the things he wants in the upcoming Christmas:

A large amount of snow
An amazing dinner, turkey and the whole works
A spectacular Christmas tree- most importantly without tinsel
Everyone will love the presents he gets for them.

However, things don't always work out quite as we always want them to. Meanwhile, as the special progresses, a number of other storylines are revealed, perhaps so many that the show's younger target audience might find it difficult to follow:

D.W. wants a new toy, "Tina the Talking Tammy," for Christmas and Jane Read is unable to find it at stores anywhere.
Uncle Fred is going on a trip to Florida, but his car just so happens to break down on the way there. So for the meantime, he and his dog, Roarie, are staying at the Reads' for Christmas.
The timing of Francine's family's celebration of Hannunkah conflicts with that of Muffy's "holiday extravaganza," causing Francine to miss the party. When Muffy states that Hannunkah isn't as important as Christmas, Francine stops speaking to her.
Ever since Buster's mother and father got divorced, Christmas has been a difficult time for Buster and his Mom. Buster's Mom wakes up him up early on the days before Christmas and makes him pancakes, thinking that it's Christmas, then Buster has to explain to her that it's not Christmas yet. Arthur and his friends suggest he create his own holiday- Baxter Day. Buster is sceptical, but he agrees to give it a try.
Every Christmas, Binky volunteers at a homeless shelter with his Dad, and this year, he's trying to bake something special to bring. However, he's been taking cooking lessons from the "Thora Institution" (For example: He makes a pecan pie without shelling the pecans first...)
Brain's family is celebrating Kwanzaa.
George's family is revealed to Swedish and they celebrate Sankta Lucia Day.

In the end, things don't work out quite as everybody may have hoped they would, but it seems to be for the better. Well, maybe, assuming Arthur can ever get D.W. to stop her new toy, Quackers, from singing "Quick, quack, quaddy-quack..."

Cast and Crew

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Writer: Peter K. Hirsch
Director: Greg Bailey
Star: Jodie Resther (Francine Alice Frensky),  Jason Szwimer (Dora Winifred Read (2002-)),  Alexina Cowan (Catherine (2003-)),  Sally Isherwood (Emily (2003- )),  Evan Smirnow (George Nordgren (2003- )),  Tamar Koslov (voice of Prunella (credited as Tammy Kozlov)),  Cameron Ansell (Arthur),  Alex Hood (Alan "The Brain" Powers (2002-)),  Mitchell David Rothpan (George (2002-)),  Oliver Grainger (Dora Winifred Read (1999-)),  Arthur Holden (Mr. Nigel Emil Ratburn),  Michael Yarmush (Voice of Arthur Timothy Read (1996-2001)),  Sonja Ball (Janet Read),  Bruce Dinsmore (David Read / Binky Barnes),  Danny Brochu (Buster Baxter),  Patricia Rodriguez (Sue Ellen Armstrong),  Michael Caloz (Dora Winifred Read (1996-1998)),  Joanna Noyes (Grandma Thora Read),  Melissa Altro (Mary "Muffy" Alice Crosswire),  Stephen Crowder (Alan "Brain" Powers (2000-)),  Justin Bradley (voice of Arthur Timothy Read (2001-)),  Mark Rendall (Arthur Timothy Read (2002-2004 )),  Lou Reid (Alan "Brain" Powers (1996-2000)),  Tracy Braunstein (Kate Read (2001- ))
Recurring Role: Mitchell David Rothpan (George Schmegengi Nordgren),  Ricky Mabe (Timmy Tibble),  Jonathan Koensgen (Tommy Tibble)
Guest Star: Harry Standjofski (Uncle Fred),  Sonja Ball (Quackers),  Ellen David (Bitzi Baxter / Old Woman),  Mark Camacho (Oliver Frensky / Security Guard)

Notes

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During Muffy's song about Francine, there is a wipe that involves a jigsaw puzzle full of her 'grand nieces'. Among those characters are charicatures of much of the show crew, and directly in the center is a 'muffy'ized version of Angela from "Mona the Vampire" (edit)
The given title for the special on the title screen is "Marc Brown's Arthur's Perfect Christmas." (edit)

Quotes

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Uncle Fred: Remember Arthur, you don't always get what you want in life. Sometimes, you get somethin' better. (edit)
D.W.: (yelling loudly) I wanted Tina the Talking Tabby! (edit)
Waiter: Here you are, Monsieur. Perring puree with melted gruyere... (A bit of Buster's omlette drops into the puree, spilling it all over the customer's clean, white shirt.)
Customer: Whoa!
Waiter: On your clean, white shirt.
Buster: Sorry! (edit)
Arthur: (singing "Perfect Christmas (Reprise)) Sometimes the thing you hope for / Isn't the thing you get / But after today I just have to state / This was the best Christmas yet. (edit)
Muffy: (singing "What's the Use of Presents?") Look at this puzzle / It's in fifty million pieces / Maybe I'll finish it / By the time I have grandnieces. (edit)

Trivia

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Some have noted that Arthur's Uncle Fred is very clumsy and tends to break everything, but when asked what he does for a living, it turns out he works in a china shop. This was, however, a joke by the writers. (edit)
In Elwood City Turns 100!, Arthur sang horribly, but in this episode, he sings just great. (edit)

Allusions

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Muffy: How RUDE!
This may be a reference to the early Full House episodes. In them, whenever Stephanie is annoyed, she says "How rude!" (edit)
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Community Reviews (1)

 

CURLYHURLEY
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10.0
Perfect
Arthur's Perfect Christmas
"Another great installment"
Christmas time
Continue » Posted Apr 29, 2007 2:37 pm PST
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Episode Vital Stats

 
Episode: Arthur's Perfect Christmas
Season Number: 5
Episode Reviews: 1
Episode
Score:
8.9 Great 20 votes
Rating Statistics:
perfect: 10 (50%)
fair: 3 (15%)
great: 3 (15%)
good: 2 (10%)
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