Arthur's First SleepoverArthur is hosting a sleepover in a tent with Buster and Brain. D.W. is on an alien-photographing spree because she wants to make money, and tries to invite herself to the sleepover.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Absurd Phobia: Arthur and Buster laugh about Brain being scared by worms. Then they scream when they think they see one, which is just the shadow of a worm crawling across Brain's lantern.
- Because I Said So: Arthur gets in an argument with D.W. about why she's not invited. He tries to say "because" and she responds, "because why?" As this results in an endless war of “because” from each kid, Brain tells Arthur to say D.W. would be scared of the dark.
- Cold Open: During it, the boys all talk about what scares them as they spend time outside. Arthur says it was the dark, and Buster says he was scared of the dark and Binky Barnes. Brain mentions he has a phobia of worms after watching a B horror movie.
- Doing In the Wizard: This happens several times:
- D.W. shines the flashlight she "borrowed" from the kitchen from her bedroom, scaring the boys into collapsing her tent. Arthur figures out what happened when they hear D.W.'s laughter from outside.
- The boys tape an alien poster to a sleeping bag and hold it outside D.W.'s bedroom. She figures it out after examining her photograph.
- The last one works the best, where the kids jerry-rig a "spaceship" using a pie pan, some kite strings, forks, a toy trumpet and a bicycle horn. Buster and Brain untie the kite string after D.W. excitedly takes a bunch of pictures.
- Faux Horrific: Arthur's idea of a nightmare is being forced to invite D.W. to his sleepover.
- Kansas City Shuffle: The boys tape an alien poster to a sleeping bag and wake up D.W. by growling. She freaks out until she examines her photograph and then goes out to confront Arthur, Buster and Brain. It turns out they lured her out to get fooled by a makeshift UFO and get back at her.
- Newhart Phone Call: Arthur asks Mrs. Read to call Bitzi Baxter after finding out she told Buster he couldn't come to Arthur's sleepover because she's worried he'll be scared due to the recent talk of alien spaceships. We don't hear what Bitzi says other than her answering "Hello?" and a sped-up babble and Mrs. Read barely gets a word in edgewise, but the upshot is that Buster can come.
- Sweet and Sour Grapes: After seeing how disappointed D.W. is that she got fooled by the impromptu model spaceship, Arthur gives her permission to stay in the tent. Only she gets bored as they play cards and goes to bed, leaving the boys alone.
Arthur's New Year's EveEvery New Year, Arthur falls asleep before midnight no matter what he does. He decides to sit out this New Year, while D.W. is disappointed that she has to sleep early. Then Arthur goes around town and hears what everyone is planning for New Year's and decides to make an effort.
Tropes for this episode include:
- Abusive Parents: Buster claims his cousin told him that all the parents attend a big meeting on New Year's Eve where they share the rotten things they did to their kids and scheme up new ideas to make them miserable, and we see an Imagine Spot of such a meeting...Man: I told my kids that spinach is good for them, but everyone knows we just like to watch the funny faces they make when they eat it. Yuck!!!
- Anti-Climax: D.W. is disappointed that nothing happens on midnight exactly, but she lies that Arthur missed a lot when he wakes up.
- Bizarre Taste in Food: When Arthur visit's Buster's place, Buster dips a fried chicken drumstick in vanilla ice cream.
- Brick Joke:
- Buster tells Arthur that the parents are going to a meeting to vent about their kids. When Arthur's parents leave, he wishes them a "nice meeting" before amending it to "New Year".
- D.W. demonstrates to Arthur that she uses ice blocks down her back to keep her awake. She then tries it later on when her eyes are drifting.
- Felony Misdemeanor: Francine says that you have to throw away your old calendar the minute it turns to midnight or the New Year's Police come and check on them. Arthur then has an Imagine Spot of the police arresting Grandma Thora.
- Season Finale: The last episode of Season 1.
- "Shaggy Dog" Story: After all the effort to stay up, Arthur once again falls asleep at midnight.
- Stock Footage: To commemorate the new year and the end of the show’s first season, the ending features a montage of clips from several previous episodes as Arthur is implored by Grandma Thora to remember all his memories from the past year.
- Unreliable Narrator: Each person Arthur meets tells him about a different ritual for New Year's Eve, though they're all rather outlandish so it's hard to say how much of them are true:
- Prunella gathers with her family to see a green light that manifests randomly.
- Francine's family tosses out their calendar before the New Year's Police comes and arrests them.
- Binky says that an old man and a baby wrestle on late-night television, and if the baby loses, he has to live with a groundhog and everyone gets six more weeks of winter. Arthur is very weirded out by this one.
- Buster says he doesn't stay up, but he theorizes the parents gather to trash talk their kids and make resolutions. Arthur calls him out for saying the year before the aliens were in charge of those parties.
