♪ Every day when you're walking down the street ♪ ♪ Everybody that you meet has an original point of view.

♪ ( laughs ) ♪ And I say hey!

♪ Hey!

♪ What a wonderful kind of day ♪ ♪ If we could learn to work and play ♪ ♪ And get along with each other ♪ ♪ You got to listen to your heart ♪ ♪ Listen to the beat ♪ ♪ Listen to the rhythm, the rhythm of the street ♪ ♪ Open up your eyes, open up your ears ♪ ♪ Get together and make things better by working together ♪ ♪ It's a simple message and it comes from the heart ♪ ♪ Believe in yourself ♪ ♪ For that's the place to start ♪ ♪ And I say hey!

♪ Hey!

♪ What a wonderful kind of day ♪ ♪ If we could learn to work and play ♪ ♪ And get along with each other.

♪ Hey!

♪ What a wonderful kind of day ♪ ♪ Hey!

What a wonderful kind of day.

♪ Hey!

ARTHUR: Hey, D.W. Hey!

Whoa!

( crash ) ( Binky sighs ) Too bad this isn't TV.

Why?

Then I could change the channel.

This is the boringest day ever.

Can't you think of anything to do, Buster?

Buster?

I bet that rat's doing something cool without us.

Buster, where are you?

Buster, where are you?

Buster!

Buster?

Where are you?

Buster?

Where are you?

Buster!

Hello?

Oh, my gosh!

MUFFY: Look, Francine found something.

Is he doing what I think he's doing?

Maybe we should call the nurse.

FRANCINE: Calm down, guys He might not be doing homework.

No, no, it's not homework.

It's this contest in TV schedule For the Andy and Company show.

You're supposed to... oh, no!

It's starting right now!

( laughing ) Mom!

Why does he always call his mother when his sister bothers him?

She's like a slave.

Shh!

TV!

If they're animals, does their school serve bugs and garbage for lunch?

I'd like to know How a mouse has a pet dog.

Wouldn't the dog eat him?

Andy's not a mouse, he's a... Something.

I forget.

TV ANNOUNCER: Hey, kids come up with a story about you and your friends and we'll announce the winner's name right on our show.

It could be you!

FRANCINE: Wow, that is so cool!

What story did you write, Buster?

Well, like they said, it's a story about us.

KIDS: How does it go?

Buster, read us the story.

It's called "The Day the Earth was Saved."

Hello!

Hello up there!

Hey, I'm talking to you!

You're not waiting for aliens again.

They've got to come sometime.

I'm out of here.

ARTHUR: Yeah, let's go.

Arthur!

Hey, look, they're here!

I told you!

Hey, aliens!

Over here!

Land here!

Hurry!

( squish; Buster groans ) Hey, you squished Buster.

Hey, come out!

ARTHUR: Hey, let go!

Hey, you're not going to eat me.

( zapping; Arthur yells ) ( high-pitched whir, then buzzing ) ( yells, then grunts ) What the...?

You were too high in cholesterol for them.

These aliens, though evil, are health-conscious.

ALL: The earth is saved!

( Buster groaning ) What happened?

Ouch.

The end.

What do you mean I'm high in cholesterol?

I want to write one.

When is the contest over?

Mail it by tomorrow.

You don't think aliens would eat me?

I'll write one, too.

I could write a great story about us.

Let's get together and read them.

I'm just as edible as anybody!

I mean...

I'm writing one, too.

That was a really cool story, Arthur.

Do you want to hang out with us and be our friend?

Yeah!

Uh... hmm.

( laughs nervously ) Ma!

MUFFY: Maybe they'll let me write for the show.

BRAIN: First you have to win.

Why not read us your story?

Gladly.

"My Life as a TV Show," by Muffy Crosswire.

( music with heavy beat plays ) ANNOUNCER: And now the new fall fashions.

( applause, cameras clicking ) Hey, look, it's the fifth Teletubby!

( laughing like Beavis and Butt-head ) Hmph!

( audience cheers ) Wow, look at that!

I knew this was going to happen.

Well, time to switch to plan "B."

FRANCINE: What's plan "B"?

MUFFY: Stink bomb!

That's totally you.

It's so believable that you'd do that.

I am a jealous person.

But kids believe what they see.

If kids watch your story instead of trying to figure out how to solve a problem They might send out an evil robot.

That's ridiculous.

What kind of kid has an evil robot at home?

( whistling quietly to himself ) What's your story, Brain?

I have a story that's exciting but won't give kids bad messages.

It starts with me in my laboratory.

It's my latest formula.

It grows hair on anything.

I discovered it when I was inventing a new kind of cherry soda.

ALL: Ugh!

It works on anything.

Why would anybody want hairy carrots?

To go with hairy fish.

ALL: Ugh!

Like most scientific discoveries this one is not appreciated.

Hey, Brain, sorry I'm late.

( glass shatters ) Is this your new invention?

Yes, it's something useful-- a new deodorant.

That's great, because I ran all the way here and I stink.

( gasps ): No, stop!

Brain, I hate to tell you this but this new perfume Of yours smells awful.

Hey, nice couch.

( screams ) BRAIN: But Arthur's so embarrassed about the way he looks that he runs off to the woods to hide.

( grunts ) There he meets Bigfoot.

Hair-growth formula?

See?

that not only entertains, it educates.

You're right!

That's great!

Uh, what did I just learn again?

It shows how crazy legends start.

They aren't true but they're based on things that really happened.

Francine and I have a better story.

I had the idea and Binky went to the library and researched the names.

"The Amazing Fight."

( Arthur growls, heavy metal music plays in background ) ( growls ) FRANCINE: Our story begins with Arthur in the ring face-to-face with Hulk Hogan.

( both growling ) ( shrieks ) ( audience cheers ) Yeah!

And now Arthur will face John L. Sullivan, Floyd Patterson, Barney Ross and the United Press International.

He fights United Press International?

Oh, I must have copied that from under the picture.

Guess I was on cruise control.

Maybe he fights a cameraman who gets into the ring because he's trying to get a better picture.

Good idea!

I don't think it's a good idea to show hitting on a kids' show.

It's not a good idea to show hair-growth formula.

I have a story that has a lot of conflict and drama, but no hitting.

It takes place ten years from now, when I'm 18.

Arthur, you seem troubled.

What is it?

Aah, the usual thing.

The sister?

The sister.

Uh-huh.

ARTHUR: You know, my life is, like, busy.

PSYCHIATRIST: Uh-huh.

So D.W. picked up my car while I get the new house.

Uh-huh.

She arrives and I'm, like... where's my car?

Uh-huh.

Your car was just blah.

I traded it in for something much nicer.

( yells ) So, what do you think?

Francine?

Huh?

Oh, it was okay.

Mine was much better, of course.

Mine was the most dramatic.

No, mine was better.

Mine's the best.

We'll win by a mile.

Wait, wait!

We don't have to decide which one is best.

The TV will decide for us.

( sighs ): Oh, TV.

It knows everything.

ARTHUR: One, two, three, go!

How long before we find out who won?

MUFFY: ANNOUNCER: And now to announce the winner of our story contest here's Andy!

BUSTER: At last.

He better pronounce my name right.

And the winner is... Holly Holland!

( all gasp ) Holly Holland?!

That's not one of us.

She must be related to somebody.

MUFFY: My idea is better than anything Holly Holland came up with.

What was her story?

Did they say?

It doesn't matter.

My idea is better than Holly's.

What was your idea?

I don't know.

It was too long ago.

( Binky sighs ) What do we do now?

Why don't we call Holly Holland?

I hear she has great ideas.

Hey, I know what we can do.

Let's create more stories.

Without a contest?

Don't you remember how much fun we had?

Arthur's right-- who cares who won?

We could write about things that happened to us.

There's only one problem.

Nothing's ever happened to us.

ARTHUR: Are you kidding?

What about when we first had Mr. Ratburn?

We thought he was a monster.

BUSTER: Or when I moved away.

FRANCINE: Or about when I taught Arthur to play baseball.

We'd like to thank everyone who sent in their story ideas for our show.

And to thank the kids who came up with our stories today.

Jared Delello of Whitehouse Station, New Jersey.

Kiera Carry Of Long Beach, New York.

Daniel Hanson of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Corey Baldwin of Hartford, Michigan.

And Lauden Belongia of Kewaskum, Wisconsin.

And Holly Holland of Canadian, Oklahoma who had the idea for a show about a contest.

Although my story was the best.

You didn't even write it.

It was the performance.

( all arguing at once ) See you later!

Holly Holland, in Canadian, Oklahoma.

( laughs ) Okay, Arthur enters a contest in the story that I wrote.

Okay, this is confusing.

And my story that I wrote for the contest was that Arthur enters a contest.

Now do you get it?

Do you want to see what a typical day is like In Canadian, Oklahoma?

This is Canadian Public School, and this is my classroom.

This is third grade.

My teacher is Mrs. Defrange.

She reminds me of mr. ratburn.

I think I'm a lot like Mr. Ratburn.

She's a great teacher.

We'll discuss speaking and listening on the telephone.

Hello, this is Holly.

Are your parents there?

No, they're out.

I mean... Whoopsie!

( laughing ) This is where I live.

Sitting on the porch is my family: my mom, Cookie... my dad, Randy... ( wrench racheting ) And my brother, Bryce.

These are my friends, Kayla, Michael and Bailey.

We're just about to play a basketball game.

Game!

After a long, hard day nothing beats fishing with my dad.

Oh, yeah, I've got clogging practice every Monday night.

( music playing ) KIDS: And now, back to Arthur.

I know what you're thinking.

You're wondering what causes night and day.

Very simple.

During the day, we see the sun in the sky, right?

That's because in daytime the part of the earth that we're on is facing the sun.

We are right here, sunny but the earth rotates, so we move away from the sun... see?

And it gets dark where we are because the other side of the earth is now facing the sun.

Brain, what are you doing?

Explaining how the rotation of the earth causes day and night.

Why waste your time?

They don't understand what you're saying.

Of course they do.

They're smarter than you think.

Would you like to hear about gravity?

( barking ) TV ANNOUNCER: On Nova, "Crazy for Dinosaurs"... Arthur.

Dad, D.W.'s about to bother us!

I didn't even say anything!

I know you.

You'll start asking "What are you watching?

"What's that?

What's happening?"

Please don't bother them.

They're watching it for school.

What are they watching?

What's that?

What's happening?

Muffy lost her mother's expensive p-e-n.

Her what?

If you spell stuff I can't understand you.

That's exactly why we spell stuff.

( Kate cooing ) Buster's mom will drive us to the theater.

What movie will you see?

5,000 Explosions and a Supernova.

It's got science in it, okay?

I want to go, too!

You wouldn't understand it.

Would so.

Just because I haven't learned all you learn at school doesn't mean I'm not as smart.

Yes, it does.

It's not fair.

I'm smart and everybody treats me like I'm Kate or something.

( door hinge creaks ) D.W.: Hi, Alan.

Who are you talking to?

Me-- my name's Alan.

( laughing quietly ): Oh... right.

Alan, did you always know you were smart?

D.W., we're trying to do homework!

We've got 50 more math problems to do so don't bug us.

It's okay.

I'm done.

I'll keep her out of your hair.

D.W., let's play a game.

( grumbling ) D.W.: You know what would be fun?

Let's watch NOVA.

You really think that's fun?

Arthur never lets me watch with him.

He thinks I'm too dumb.

NARRATOR: On Nova, a mystery in the icy depth...

I'd seen something... D.W.: I always thought science was just a lot of people sitting and thinking.

Oh, no.

Science is all action.

One person develops a theory.

Another person dares them to prove it then they struggle to develop experiments to prove they're right.

Being right is so cool!

BRAIN: See?

It's magnetized-- it always points north.

That's how you make a compass.

Whoa... And that tells what time it is by where the sun is in the sky.

Exactly.

ARTHUR: Well I finally finished.

Wow, Arthur, it took you... more than a half hour longer than Alan to do the same exact homework.

Why don't you play with Kate?

Brain and I are playing now.

Actually, it's time for me to go home.

See you, Arthur, bye, D.W.

I hope you didn't bother the Brain.

Hmph.

( Kate cooing ) ( Kate laughing ) Have you noticed that Kate throws her food but she tries to eat her ball?

Fascinating.

The Brain and I were trying to do homework today and D.W. kept bothering him.

D.W.... Arthur is not correct.

I can prove it with one phone call to Alan.

Dad, could I have a little more H2O?

What?!

That's the formula for water.

I know that.

I didn't know you knew that.

H2O... that's very impressive, D.W. Aw, she just heard me say it; she's like a parrot.

No...

I'm as smart as you.

( blows raspberry ) May I go to the Science Center Exploratorium with Brain and his mom on Sunday?

That's the place where you see how things work and stuff!

I want to go, too!

No!

They don't want little kids like you there.

Prove it-- I bet they'd be happy that a smart kid like me is interested.

Make him take me!

Make him!

No, she can't go!

Mom... Dad!

Well, sweetheart, it might be boring for you.

I'm too smart to get mad.

Arthur, my theory is someday you're going to be begging to go to the explora- ror-rorium with me.

Wow...

I thought she'd come running back in all mad.

Maybe you underestimate your sister, Arthur.

( chortling ): Yeah.

Good one, Dad.

What are you guys doing?

We're in line.

Oh.

In line for what?

Step right this way and prepare to fill your brains with...

Excuse me, son.

Ticket, please.

I don't have a ticket.

Sorry...

Ticket holders only.

EMILY AND TIBBLES: Wow!

Cool!

Unbelievable!

What's going on back there?

All right, how much is a ticket?

For kids younger than seven, 50 cents.

For brothers over the age of seven... five bucks.

What?!

No way am I giving you five bucks!

EMILY AND TIBBLES: Wow!

Look at that!

D.W.!

I have 73 cents; a ring that goes "hoo" when you blow it; a horse sticker that got torn in half and all I have is the back end; and a sourball from Buster.

Okay.

Welcome to D.W.'s Explainarorium.

All the mysteries of the world proved-- with real science experiments!

Who can tell me how to make water?

( grunts ) My hand's higher!

No, mine!

D.W.: Timmy?

You were first.

I can raise my hand higher.

Fine...

But how do we make water?

I don't know...

But I can raise my hand higher!

The formula for water is... H2O.

The "O" means "oxygen"-- that's air.

This bucket is full of air, see?

The "H" stands for "hose."

So, I turn on the hose which combines "H" with "O" and makes water!

Ooh!

Ooh!

Ooh!

Hold it!

That's not right.

Prove it!

There's water in the hose.

That's it.

Water in the hose...

Right!

You haven't proven your theory yet I have filled a bucket with water.

Who should we believe?

Where does hair come from?

The inside of your head is filled with miles and miles of hair.

Once all of it grows out of your head, then you're bald!

That's not how hair works.

Then how does it work?

Uh... You know...

Uh...

It hurts more to fall on your knees than your behind because bones are sensitive and your behind's not.

No bones!

"Why snakes have no feet."

A gazillion years ago, snakes used to have feet but they ran so fast to escape dinosaurs that they fell off.

KIDS: Wow!

No two snowflakes are alike because the guy running the factory can't remember how to do it because it's so complicated.

Rather than just fire him we get these crazy snowflakes.

Why is the sky blue?

Because brown was already taken by dirt; green was already taken by grass; yellow by bananas and red by apples.

D.W., the sky is blue because air particles reflect blue light.

Prove it.

Well... you prove yours.

Is dirt brown?

Is grass green?

Are bananas yellow?

Is the sky blue?

She's right again!

Ohh!

D.W.: Wind is made by trees blowing.

Look, they're going... ( blowing ) ( yells in frustration ) You have to explain to her that she just can't make stuff up and call it... science?

Look out that tree's blowing on you!

This is terrible!

Tiny little kids believe what she says.

Hey!

This is great.

I never knew the ocean was made by sand moving away from the beach so fast it turns to liquid.

No!

Buster she's making it up!

Really?

Some of it sounds right.

I can fall on my behind all day and never feel a thing.

Then the sun runs out of gas and turns off, and it's night.

Day and night are caused by the earth's rotation.

D.W.: Oh, yeah?

Prove it!

I can't exactly prove it... but other people have.

It's in books and museums...

I don't believe you.

You can't prove it because you're wrong.

I know how we can prove she's wrong!

They have all this at the Exploratorium!

Mom, Dad, can D.W. please come to the exploratorium tomorrow?

You want to take D.W. with you?

Yes, please!

Tell her she has to go!

( static crackling ) ( liquid gurgling ) ( liquid bubbling ) Now do you see how stuff really works and how all your crazy experiments were wrong?

I only had one experiment, Arthur.

I said one day you'd beg to take me here, and here I am.

My experiment was a complete success: I proved I'm smarter than you.

Did what I think happened... happen?

Maybe she's a lot smarter than we think.

A smart D.W.?

( moans ) I don't know if the world is ready for that.

Hi, everyone, it's me, Buster.

If you like all the traditions we have in Elwood City, you'll love what I've seen on my travels with my dad.

There are all sorts of cool things other kids are doing with their families and friends to celebrate their way of life.

I've filmed amazing things with my video camera and I'm sending it all back to my friends on my very own video postcards.

They're Postcards from Buster.

Captioned by The Caption Center WGBH Educational Foundation] ♪ What a wonderful kind of day ♪ ♪ If we could learn to work and play ♪ ♪ And get along with each other ♪ ♪ You got to listen to your heart ♪ ♪ Listen to the beat ♪ ♪ Listen to the rhythm, the rhythm of the street ♪ ♪ It's a simple message and it comes from the heart ♪ ♪ Believe in yourself ♪ ♪ For that's the place to start ♪ ♪ And I say hey!

♪ ♪ Hey!

What a wonderful kind of day ♪ ♪ If we could learn to work and play ♪ ♪ And get along with each other ♪ ♪ Hey!

What a wonderful kind of day!

♪ ♪ Hey!

♪