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Recap / Arthur S2 E6 - "Buster Baxter, Cat Saver" / "Play it Again, D.W."

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Airdate: October 27, 1997

Arthur and Buster are walking home from school one day, when they run across a woman who is yelling for help when she's got a Cat Up a Tree. Due to a Contrived Coincidence, Buster is holding ice cream that the cat happens to like, and it jumps down to his arms as a result. The cat's owner calls him a hero, leaving Buster dumbfounded since he doesn't feel like one. Bitzi runs the news story in the paper, and he becomes an overnight celebrity. Soon, the fame gets to his head as he starts acting egotistical: he cuts the line for the movies, asks for others to do his homework, and even thinks up a TV show for his heroic deed. This quickly wears thin on the others, and when attempts to get him to stop don't work, they pull together a Batman Gambit by creating a fake cat and place it in a tree. At first, the plan seems to work, but a wind gust knocks the fake cat off the tree, exposing it for what it actually is. Buster is upset at his friends for pulling such a trick, but they finally get it across to him that they want him to quit acting so conceited. It seems to work...until he narrowly saves them from a runaway piano.

Buster Baxter, Cat Saver contains examples of:

  • Accidental Hero: The plot begins when a Cat Up a Tree jumps into Buster's arms. He gets praised for a hero and, without realizing how he did it, he let the fame goes to his head.
  • Batman Gambit: The fake cat trick, where they were hoping Buster would fail and realize he isn't a cat saver after all.
  • Biting-the-Hand Humor: Arthur and his friends gag when they hear Buster is going to turn his show into an Edutainment Show. Note that this show runs on PBS...a network full of these.
  • Broken Aesop: Somewhat. While Buster shouldn't be acting the way he does in this episode, a large chunk of that blame falls on the townspeople for building him up so much in the first place.
  • Cat Up a Tree: Of course.
  • Edutainment Show: Arthur talks to his friends about Buster wanting this when his good deed goes to his head. They react in disgust.
  • Episode Title Card: After the runaway piano incident, the show ends on Buster standing inside what we assume is the title card of his new show...and it's done in the exact same style as this show's title cards!
  • Foreshadowing: A Running Gag in this episode is D.W. annoying the heck out of Arthur with her "Crazy Bus" CD. Guess what the very next episode in this duo is about?
  • Fun with Palindromes: Subverted. "Rat is 'art' backwards...almost."
  • Gone Horribly Right: While the Batman Gambit fails, it still ends with Buster learning what his friends were trying to tell him the whole time.
  • Here We Go Again!: The episode ends with Buster saving Francine and Arthur from a runaway piano. Yes, it's as silly as it sounds...and unlike the cat saving case, he actually does save the kids on his own, where the cat simply jumped into Buster's arms without him doing anything.
  • Latex Perfection: Buster imagines the villain in the "Cat Saver" episode he's thinking up to Arthur as an evil female rat who disguises herself as a beautiful bear woman when pretending to be a damsel in distress to lure Buster/Cat Saver to her lair, claiming her car is stuck up a tree.
  • Shout-Out: The Fun with Palindromes moment above shows a logo quite similar to the Columbia Pictures Vanity Plate. In addition, the name of the made-up company is "21st Century Rat Productions", an obvious take on 20th Century Fox.
  • Spinning Paper: After Buster gets printed on front-page news.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Buster, to a degree. He doesn't become mean in this episode, but he does grow a Small Name, Big Ego tendency.

Also known as "D.W. and the Crazy Bus Song".

D.W. plays Crazy Bus nonstop, it seems. In fact, she's played it 532 times this week! Every corner Arthur turns, she seems to play the song. When he is dragged to Crazy Bus Live with her, he also learns that Buster has started to enjoy the song too. Fed up with her constant playing of the CD and attempting to focus his homework, he threatens to wreck it if she doesn't stop playing it. This gets the attention of Dave and Jane, who punish him for threatening to break D.W.'s property. However, her CD ends up going missing, and she immediately blames Arthur for it. Arthur swears by his innocence, but D.W. doesn't buy it. Later, Catherine comes over to babysit while Dave and Jane go to their high school reunion. D.W. continues to follow Arthur around, still convinced he took the CD, which Catherine repeatedly tries to keep under control. Meanwhile at the reunion, Dave gets ready to dance to the songs they danced to in high school...only to realize he accidentally brought D.W.'s Crazy Bus CD to the party instead! They call back home and apologize, and the two make amends. Dave and Jane tell D.W. nonetheless that she should still not disturb others with her constant playing of the song. She abides, and at first it seems she's grown tired of the song. However, she then plays a VHS tape that Grandma Thora sent her...of a movie about Crazy Bus.

Play it Again, D.W. contains examples of:

  • Amusing Injuries: Twice. First when Arthur gets hit in the head with a basketball, and second when he gets flung into the closet.
  • Call-Back:
    • When D.W. announces to Arthur they're going to the Crazy Bus Live concert, she reminds him of the time Arthur took the whole family to see Bionic Bunny On Ice, previously referenced in "Buster's New Friend", and we can even see Bionic Bunny's autograph to Arthur on the show's poster in his room (though in "Buster's New Friend," the poster looked different when Arthur and Buster had the Bionic Bunny actor sign it.)
    • D.W. accuses Arthur of stealing her CD on the basis of her prior accusation of him stealing her snowball. Arthur only replies with a stern "Let's not start that again."
  • Flippant Forgiveness: Rather than apologizing after she finds out Dave and Jane mistakenly took the CD, D.W. forgives Arthur.
  • Freeze-Frame Bonus: The tagline on Dave and Jane's 1978 compliation CD case? "Songs You Can't Believe You Liked."
  • Here We Go Again!: The episode ends by first setting us up to think D.W. isn't going to play the song anymore...which is true From a Certain Point of View. Instead, she plays the new videotape that Grandma Thora sent her...which happens to be "Crazy Bus: The Motion Picture."
  • Karma Houdini: Probably the show's first major case. D.W. clearly causes problems with her constant listening to the song, but nobody really seems to do anything about it. Plus, Arthur takes the bulk of punishment when he's pretty clearly done a lot less wrong in the episode than D.W. has. Subverted in that by the end they do give her at least some talking to, but at that point it's too little too late, and it still doesn't address all the earlier cases where Arthur gets punished and D.W. gets off scot-free.
  • Once Done, Never Forgotten: In the cold opener, D.W. beats Arthur at checkers one single time, and she makes absolutely sure he doesn't forget.
  • Running Gag: Much like how "D.W.'s Snow Mystery" kicks off the snowball running gag, this episode kicks off the running gag of D.W. being obsessed with Crazy Bus in future episodes. However, it was dropped following the fifth season due to Joe Fallon leaving (which actually happened a season earlier, but the fifth still credited him so they were likely still allowed to use it). The final time we ever hear the song in the show is during "Arthur's Perfect Christmas"; it does get mentioned in "It's Only Rock and Roll" though.
  • Sequel Episode: Of sorts. The prior episode sets up the scene, but it is otherwise unrelated to the plot of "Buster Baxter, Cat Saver".
  • Shout-Out: Possibly unintentional, but Dave and Jane's past high school friends dance the Macarena to Crazy Bus.
  • Stalker without a Crush: D.W., when she thinks Arthur took her CD.
  • This Is My Side: Catherine attempts to do this when D.W. follows Arthur everywhere. It quickly goes awry when the two fight over a jacket that belonged to Arthur but was sitting on D.W.'s side.

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