http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Recap/ArthurS6E5TheBoyWhoCriedCometArthurAndLosVecinos
The Boy Who Cried Comet
Buster's obsession with
UFOs leads to him getting a telescope to find them. Instead, he discovers a comet which he finds is going to hit the Earth.
- Accidental Misnaming: The newspaper mentions The Brain in its story about the comet, but calls him "The Bran."
- Call-Back: The newspaper headline announces "Cat Saver Discovers Comet."
- Catapult Nightmare: Buster has one in which Bionic Bunny fails to stop the comet.
- Chekhov's Gun: A small piece of the telescope is overlooked by Buster and falls out of the treehouse when he's putting it together. Fern finds it and they determine that this missing component was giving them false readings about the comet.
- Crying Wolf: Given how Buster embellishes what are clearly fantasies about UFOs, no one takes him seriously when he claims a comet is going to hit the Earth.
- The End of the World as We Know It: After finding and tracking the comet, Buster's computer calculates that it will hit the Earth in just over a month. He's not comforted at all when his mom tells him what will happen if a comet were to hit the planet.
- Gainax Ending: The episode ends with the reveal that Arthur as a series is being filmed by aliens.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The Brain double-checks Buster's findings, and concludes that he was right about the comet. All of the kids immediately begin panicking.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed: The President in Buster's nightmare resembles George W. Bush.
- Sherlock Scan: Fern buys a book about detective work to help her become more observant. She determines that Arthur overslept his alarm clock one morning because he didn't brush his teeth and his socks don't match.
- Shout-Out: Arthur introduces the teaser in a style similar to The Twilight Zone.
- Surprisingly Realistic Outcome: Buster gets a telescope to prove that UFOs are real, but becomes impatient, thinking anything he finds is one. Even if they were real, stargazing is a very slow hobby of careful observation.
- You Have to Believe Me!: Buster tries warning everyone about the comet. Fern lampshades this by that telling Arthur, according to her detective book, Buster has "lost his cookies."
Arthur and Los Vecinos
The Reads get new neighbors, the Molina family from Ecuador.
- Bilingual Bonus: This episode's title is partly written in Spanish. It translates to "Arthur and the Neighbors."
- Continuity Nod: Jane states that the glass bird the Molinas have looks like the one she had that Arthur and D.W. broke. This happened in Arthur's Perfect Christmas.
- Instant Expert: D.W. is excited to teach Vicita how to play games and "be a good older sister" (by blaming things on her brother). However, Vicita immediately wins every game D.W. plays with her, which frustrates her.
- Strange Minds Think Alike: What was setting off Molina family's youngest daughter to scream her head off during an outdoor dinner? As D.W. figures out, she didn't like her green food (peas) touching her white food (mashed potatoes). And how did D.W. know this? She doesn't like her green foods touching her mashed potatoes either.
- Wedgie: Arthur thinks Alberto will do this to him before he meets him, then mentions he doesn't even know what it is (and doesn't want to know)
- We Hardly Knew Ye: Like with Spanky's death, the start of the episode treats Mr. Sipple's departure a sad moment. But the audience never knew much about him aside from a few small cameos. Though, unlike with Spanky, he was a recurring background character prior to his move.
- Wham Episode: The Molinas stay as recurring characters for the rest of the series.
