The Andy and Company show is having a contest: whoever comes up with the best story idea will get to appear on the show! Arthur and his friends get to writing their own episodes — parodies of popular shows ensue.
The Contest contains examples of:
- Animated Actors: After the Time Skip epilogue, we see Arthur and his friends standing in front of a stage resembling Arthur's living room. Arthur and Binky thank the viewers for submitting their story ideas.
- Art Shift: Each Affectionate Parody features a slight animation shift.
- Buster's story is animated like South Park, with the characters as cutouts.
- Downplayed with Muffy's story. It looks like the regular show, but Arthur and Buster are modeled after Beavis And Butthead.
- Brain's segment is a take on Dexter's Laboratory, using a similar Thick-Line Animation style.
- Francine and Binky's story, while not based on anything specific, is a wrestling story using a more dramatic and realistic art style.
- Arthur sees himself getting therapy, Dr. Katz, Professional Therapist style. In addition to using Squiggle Vision, the backgrounds are grayscale while the characters are full color.
- Continuity Nod: The end of the episode has Arthur and his friends remembering the events of past episodes. Francine recalls the time she helped Arthur learn how to play baseball, which was the focus of "Arthur Makes the Team" in season 1. Buster mentions the arc from seasons 2-3 where he went away to live with his dad. Arthur brings up when they first got Mr. Ratburn and all thought he was a monster, which happened in the very third episode, "Arthur and the Real Mr. Ratburn".
- Eat the Camera: When Arthur sees that D.W. has traded his car, he screams as the camera zooms into his mouth.
- Self-Parody: Andy and Company is animated in a slightly simpler style than Arthur, and even its cast of characters resemble their Arthur counterparts. Watching the show, Arthur and his friends comment on the
Fridge Logic present on the show.Muffy: Why does he always call for his mother when his little sister bothers him? She's like a slave.
Brain: If they're animals, does their school serve bugs and garbage for lunch?
Francine: I'd like to know how a mouse has a pet dog. Wouldn't the dog eat him?
Arthur: Andy's not a mouse! He's a... something. I forgot. - "Shaggy Dog" Story: In the end, none of the kids win the contest. They are disappointed at first, with Muffy saying it's worse a complete stranger got the prize instead. Then they talk about how they still have many stories to tell.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Each of the main cast assumes they have written the story that will win the Andy contest. Muffy even says that she has the best tale by default because it's about fashion and drama. While each is a decent effort, they find out they weren't competing against each other but kids throughout the country. Ergo, one random kid named Holly Holland wins and no one else is even mentioned.
- Time Skip: The episode ends with Arthur and his friends, five years in the future. The results of the Andy contest are finally announced, and none of them have won. However, they reminisce on how much fun they had writing their own stories.
- Viewer Species Confusion: In-universe. Francine thinks that Andy is a mouse, but Arthur counters that he's something else (although he forgot what it is). Fittingly enough, this is a meta-joke at real-life viewers not knowing what species Arthur is (he's an aardvark).
When Brain comes over, D.W. is impressed by how smart he is, especially compared to her own brother. D.W. gains a new interest in science, and Arthur doesn't believe it, insisting that he'll never take her to the museum. D.W. challenges this by hosting her own backyard "Explainarorium". All her science is completely wrong, and when Arthur challenges it, she maintains that she's able to prove it. Arthur begs his parents to let D.W. go to the museum with him so she can see how stuff really works... proving her point all along.
Prove It contains examples of:
- Armor-Piercing Question: Arthur protests all of D.W.'s false facts by giving real, scientific explanations. D.W. simply says, "Prove it!" Arthur isn't able to demonstrate it, while D.W. can point to her inaccurate models and visual proof. When she tells Brain to prove his theories, Brain says that he can't prove it, but other scientists already have. D.W. still refuses, and that's what finally gets Arthur to take her to the museum.
- Batman Gambit: D.W. tells Arthur that one day, he'll be begging to take her with him to the museum. Towards the end of the story, he does indeed beg their parents to take D.W. The twist is, it has less to do with wanting D.W. to come and more to do with desperation to make her stop spouting Know-Nothing Know-It-All facts at her "museum". Just as she anticipated.
- Blunt "Yes": When D.W. gets offended by Arthur saying she wouldn't understand a movie he wants to see:D.W.: Just because I haven't gone to school and learned all that stuff that you learn doesn't mean I'm not as smart as you.
Arthur: Yes, it does. - Censorship by Spelling: Francine spells a word out loud when talking with Arthur while D.W. is in earshot.Francine: Muffy lost her mother's expensive P-E-N.
D.W.: Her what? If you spell stuff, I can't understand what you're talking about.
Arthur: That's exactly why we spell stuff. - Comically Small Bribe: Because he's Arthur, D.W. charges him five bucks to enter her Explainarorium. Arthur offers her some garbage in his pocket, including 73 cents and half of a horse sticker. D.W. accepts it and lets him in.
- Crossover: D.W.'s interest in science begins when she watches NOVA, another PBS show produced by WGBH, complete with live-action footage on the Reads' TV.
- Delayed Reaction: Arthur sees the Tibbles and Emily standing in front of his house and asks what they're doing. Timmy tells him, "We're in line!" Arthur says "oh" and walks off, but then he returns to ask what the line is for.
- Exact Words: "One day, you'll be begging to take me with you." D.W. never said he would be begging her (he begs their parents) and she didn't say he would do it because he wants her to come (he does it to prove her Explainarorium wrong).
- Fourth Wall Psych: In the episode's opening, Brain teaches about the rotation of the Earth. Arthur says that "they" don't understand it, while Brain asserts that "they're a lot smarter than you think!" The final shot reveals that "they" are not the audience, but Pal and Kate.
- Know-Nothing Know-It-All: Invoked. D.W. deliberately tells the other kids "facts" that are inaccurate or simply untrue at her "Explainarorium", knowing it's only a matter of time before Arthur grew irritated with it and took her to the museum just to prove her wrong.
- Little Known Facts: D.W.'s "Explainarorium" includes "facts" such as that snakes used to have feet but ran so fast that they disintegrated, and that wind is made by trees blowing.
- Museum of Boredom: Subverted. D.W. wants to go to the Exploratorium so she can learn about science and how the world works. His dad warns her that she might find it boring, but D.W. insists on going. When she finally gets to go, she finds it pretty cool and has fun.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: When Arthur refuses to let her come along to the museum with him, D.W.'s response is not throwing a tantrum or whining to have her way. Instead, she matter-of-factly declares that one day, Arthur will beg to take her along, indicating she's taking on her dilemma with a more logical and even strategic approach.
- Prefers Proper Names: When D.W. befriends Brain, she calls him by his first name, Alan, rather than his nickname. Arthur is so used to calling him Brain that he isn't even sure who "Alan" is at first, and Brain has to tell him. Arthur gets annoyed with D.W. calling him this, finding it pretentious.
