Airdate: October 28, 1996
Arthur tries to write a jingle for Crunch Cereal.
"Arthur and the Crunch Cereal Contest" provides examples of:
- Adaptational Jerkass: Invoked by Arthur to fuel his Jerkass Realization in the chapter book novelization; he imagines that he allows an ill D.W. to be tossed out of his Crunch Cereal Contest and goes My God, What Have I Done?. This motivates him to put her name on the entry form.
- Bookends: The episode starts and ends with David making oatmeal for breakfast. In the beginning, it's too sticky to serve but in the end, he reassures everyone that it will taste delicious.
- Cool and Unusual Punishment: D.W. is mad that Arthur stole her song, but he explains he couldn't go through with it and put her name on the entry form. He apologizes as they stack up the lifetime supply of Crunch Cereal that she won. Her response is that she thought the song was crummy and makes up a new song that she finds better, about how her friends think that her brother stinks like a piece of yellow cheese. The novelization shows the Reads find it Actually Pretty Funny as the parents wonder how they're going to eat up all this cereal.
- Creative Sterility: The only thing Arthur comes up with for his jingle is "Eat Crunch!" and that it should start with a bang.
- Imagine Spot: After D.W. gives him an apple, Arthur imagines becoming famous at a symphony concert because of his jingle. His moment in the spotlight is interrupted when an ailing D.W. makes her way through the crowd and dramatically collapses. When Arthur comes to her side, she dramatically uses her remaining strength to weakly give him an apple. In the present, this makes Arthur realize he wouldn't feel good claiming a prize that rightfully belongs to his sister, especially after she gave him an apple.
- It's All About Me: It's safe to say that Arthur becomes obsessed with winning the contest."I've got the entry form! I've eaten 15 boxes of Crunch, and this is MY JINGLE! So we're gonna do it MY WAY!!"
- Lethal Chef: In a rare case of this, David's oatmeal sticks to the pot, and he can't get it out to serve to anyone. He's very confused since that's never happened before. Jane suggests quickly they get storebought cereal instead for breakfast, though he dislikes the idea. At the episode's ending, he gets the recipe right and everyone is looking forward to the meal.
- Never Say "Die": A humorous variation; when Arthur is rushing to deliver "his" entry in the contest and he trips and falls, D.W. is passing by and she comments that Arthur should be more careful, asking "You want to end up a pile of roadkill?"
- Oh, Crap!: When Arthur comes downstairs on a Saturday morning some time after submitting his entry, he hears "his" winning jingle starting to be sung on the TV in the den and does his signature gasp, knowing D.W. will realize the truth. Fortunately for him, D.W.'s only reaction is that the new commercial isn't as good as the old one.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: Between his bossiness and inability to write a good song, Grandma Thora is disappointed in Arthur and joins the rest of the band in walking out on him. She tells him gently it could use more work, but when Grandma Thora has no faith in him, that's a problem.
- Plagiarism in Fiction: Arthur ends up stealing the song that D.W. was singing, but when he feels guilty, he credits her as the one who came up with the jingle.
- Screw This, I'm Outta Here: Arthur forms a band with his friends and Grandma Thora. They all leave when they realize he has no actual tune for them to play.
- Terrible Interviewees Montage: Arthur and Buster audition most of the school for their band, but several have much to be desired. George even passes out while playing a flute.
- What You Are in the Dark: Arthur was going to submit D.W.'s song as his own submission of the new jingle for the Crunch Cereal Contest. But just as he's about to put his submission in the mailbox, D.W. gives him an apple out of pure spontaneous kindness, which unwittingly gives Arthur pause. He realizes he doesn't have it in him to steal the song of someone who thought of his well-being and swaps D.W.'s name at the last minute. This also counts as D.W.'s moment, as it reflects she can be kind when she wants to be.
- With Lyrics: The tune D.W. is often heard humming in the first season is given lyrics in this episode...Oh, I have a hunch
Breakfast, dinner and lunch
Will be so much fun to munch
If I had it with Nadinenote / Crunch!note - You Were Trying Too Hard: It's implied that Arthur was trying too hard to get out that perfect song to win the contest. If he had sat back and relaxed, then a melody would have come to him the way that one came to D.W. while she was combing Nadine's hair.
D.W. signs up for gymnastics after watching the Olympics. Based on the picture book of the same name.
"D.W. Flips" provides examples of:
- Adaptational Expansion: The picture book only had D.W. learning how to do "flips" in the sense of somersaulting on the mat. Here, their instructor also teaches them how to do cartwheels.
- Aesop Amnesia: After giving up trying to do flips and receiving a lecture from Jane for disobeying her teacher, D.W. sees a horse and decides she wants to learn horseback riding.
- Anger Born of Worry: Jane gives D.W. a lecture for ignoring her teacher's instructions and climbing on the balance beam.
- Break the Haughty: Downplayed. Emily is a show-off and The Ace when it comes to gymnastics. Even so, she is shocked after their instructor tells her off for showing off during D.W.'s turn and feels bad. Her apology to D.W. is sincere. Then the Tibbles try to call her The Stool Pigeon, only for D.W. to tell them to back off because Emily saved her.
- Character Development: This is Emily's first appearance. D.W. is initially jealous of her, calling her "Miss Perfect," but after this, they become best friends.
- Emily realizes that her arrogance has consequences. She's ashamed when their instructor tells her, "Showing off is very impolite!" and D.W. storms off in near-tears. When she and D.W. make up, Emily agrees to be less of a show-off.
- Jane tells D.W. that the reason none of her other lessons worked out is that she refuses to practice. Here, she does actually work hard and masters a basic cartwheel. "D.W. Rides Again" shows that she took this lesson to heart and worked to learn how to ride a bike.
- Epic Fail: D.W.'s first attempt at a cartwheel goes poorly. She attempts it and rolls off the mat with a grunt. The instructor reassures her it was "not bad" and she just needs practice.
- Failure Montage: D.W. goes to ask Jane for gymnastics lessons. Jane then reminds her what happened with tee ball, ballet, and violin. Cut to a flashback of D.W. not doing well at any of those hobbies.
- Fleeting Passionate Hobbies D.W. decides she wants to do flips on the balance beam after seeing an athlete do it on television. When she tells Jane about this, Jane reminds her of the other times she wanted to do things, but didn't want to practice them, and gave up after just a few days. First, it was tee ball (D.W. claimed she could only hit balls that moved), then it was ballet (D.W. claimed to have weak knees), and finally, it was violin lessons (D.W. claimed she could have been good at it if her music teacher didn't make her use the bow). By the end of the episode, D.W. gives up after nearly falling off the balance beam in an attempt to do a cartwheel, but when she sees a horse, she decides she wants to learn horseback riding. Jane refuses to sign her up for lessons.
- Hard Work Hardly Works: D.W. spends a few days if not weeks working on her cartwheels so that she won't have an Epic Fail. She actually succeeds, and her instructor praises her. Cut to the class applauding... because Emily is showing off she can do cartwheels longer.
- Here We Go Again!: The episode ends with D.W. asking for riding lessons when she sees horses saddled up on a nearby ranch.
- Oh, No... Not Again!: Arthur says this when D.W. sees the gymnastics competition on television and goes to talk to her mom.
- Only One Name: In her Imagine Spot of winning at the Olympics, one of the sportscasters calls Emily "Emily... what's her name, not quite perfect." Her surname would be revealed in "Arthur's First Day" to be Leduc.
- Pass the Popcorn: The Tibble Twins, as usual, show a Lack of Empathy that D.W. is about to fall off the balance beam. They gain identical Psychotic Smirk expressions while she wobbles. Then they mock Emily for ruining their fun since she got help for D.W..
- Rule of Three: Prior to wanting to learn how to do flips, D.W. had three hobbies she wanted to learn but didn't want to practice. First playing Tee Ball, then ballet, then finally violin lessons.
- This Is Reality: D.W. sees the balance beam in gymnastics class and has an Imagine Spot about winning a gold medal in the Olympics for doing flips on it. Then their instructor orders her off the balance beam; the preschoolers are too little, and they need a year to prepare. D.W. protests but reluctantly listens.
- We Are Not Going Through That Again: After giving up trying to do flips, D.W. sees a horse and asks Jane if she can take horseback riding lessons. Jane refuses to sign her up for them.
- What the Hell, Hero?: Ms. Morgan calls out Emily on overshadowing D.W.'s efforts to do a cartwheel by showing off and doing multiple cartwheels. D.W. understandably yells out, "It's not fair!", given she practiced her cartwheel all week.Ms. Morgan: Emily, showing off is very impolite.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: D.W. is thrilled that she actually mastered a cartwheel. Her instructor says So Proud of You, and everyone starts applauding. D.W. turns around to thank her classmates, only to see they're applauding Emily who is doing an overly long cartwheel. You can't blame D.W. for being upset at Emily stealing her thunder, even Ms. Morgan had to tell Emily off for showing off.
