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

Hey, D.W.!

Hey!

Whoa... (bell ringing) Oh, there's nothing like the first day on the set.

Coffee.

Script.

Pen.

Cut lines 16, 24 and 113.

Bobby, I need you to be angrier in this scene.

You've lost everything.

You're a man on the edge.

Meryl, you're doing great.

But say your lines faster and stop touching your hair.

Are you in this film, kid?

Huh?

Oh.

No, sorry.

I just...

I'll come back later.

Relax, we're not filming just yet.

Tufton Sinclair, director.

I know.

You directed my favorite movie ever: Flight of Dreams: The Tale of Pietro Pigeon.

One of my best.

It tanked at the box office, but it was honest and beautiful.

You've got good taste, kid.

Thanks.

Could you...?

You want my autograph?

Usually people just want the stars.

Let me guess: you're an aspiring director.

Um, I don't know.

Maybe.

I love making up stories.

Well, if you're working on a project you love, it's the best job in the entire world.

All right, places, everyone!

Let's make a movie.

And... action!

MUFFY: So which video camera would you like to borrow?

The Ultrazoom Zoltrex SL-90 or an Okita 612 with a magnachrome pixelator?

Uh...

Which is better?

Beats me.

I haven't opened either of them.

Uh... That one, I guess.

I'll get you a bag.

What do you need it for, anyway?

I'm going to make a movie.

Really?!

Can I be in it?

Um, well... (clears throat) I'm not sure there's a part...

Okay, I'll produce it.

Did you see the film I made for Matt Damon?

It was a short, and Matt Damon's lawyer's assistant loved it.

But I don't need a producer.

It's just a small... Of course you do.

Movies just don't make themselves, silly.

Besides, I've already invested in the film.

You have?

(clears throat) Yay!

This is going to be so much fun.

Now, you let me focus on all the details; just make sure it's a great story.

Whoa, look out!

I'm comin' at ya!

Now I'm going back.

Now I'm comin' at ya again.

Now I'm going back.

Comin' at ya.

(clinking) GEORGE: Wally, cut it out.

This isn't a 3-D film.

I'd like another take.

Here, let me help.

I should get used to your camera anyway.

It's pretty different from mine.

MUFFY: George, over here!

Meet your crew.

My crew?

Your cameraman.

Your actor.

Your stuntman.

And your adorable little girl.

GEORGE: Huh?

Trust me, every movie needs an adorable little girl.

But you haven't even heard my story yet.

I know.

And we're dying to.

Okay.

Wow me.

Well, it's kind of a fairy tale.

There's this kid who lives in a village and he doesn't have any friends, but he loves taking long walks in the woods.

(birds chirping) One day, he's walking along when he runs into this old woman, who's actually a witch.

She says she'll make a friend for the boy, but only if he promises to bring her a red rose on the exact same date next year.

The boy agrees.

And the witch creates this other boy from a pile of wood.

The boy has an amazing time with his new friend, who's just like a real kid except made out of wood, but then the year is up and he's forgotten to get the witch a rose.

He tries everywhere, but he can't find one.

So he and his friend go back to the witch to explain things.

But she doesn't want to hear it.

She takes her wand out an d turns the boy into a statue and his friend back into a pile of wood.

But the boy's friend isn't just wood now.

He's known what it's like to be a person.

He has feelings.

He gives the witch a splinter.

(screams) And then rolls onto her foot.

And while she's hopping around in pain, she drops her wand right on the pile of wood.

The wood forms into a hand and grabs the wand.

He releases the boy from the spell.

The witch tips over the cauldron, starts a fire and escapes.

The house goes up in flames.

The boy gets out just in time, but he only manages to grab one stick, and he carries that stick around for the rest of his life because he knows that somewhere locked inside that hardwood is his best friend.

(clapping) I love it.

George, I know I speak for the whole crew when I say we are honored to make your movie.

Thanks.

Great.

Now, let's talk about the ending.

Huh?

GEORGE: He should seem small at first, but then I'd like to see his face close-up.

D.W.: All right, everyone!

Places!

Action!

Boy, I sure wish I had a friend.

Hi...ya!

Oh, no!

A ninja!

Take that, Lonely Village Boy!

Surrender, Forest Ninja!

(grunting) Cut!

What are you doing?

There's no ninja in this movie.

Well, yeah, there is.

See?

It says, "Enter Ninja."

I added that.

I just thought we should have a little action here.

I think it really works.

It's so surprising.

BUSTER: That looked great!

Let's do it again just so we have it twice.

Well...

Okay, so long as it doesn't take up too much time.

This is where you first meet the witch, so you should be afraid, but kind of curious, too.

Okay?

Action!

I've never seen this house before.

I wonder who lives here.

I do.

Sparkles, the Adorable Witch.

(gasps) (laughing) Cut, cut!

Where's the black cloak I gave you to wear?

It smelled like mothballs.

But I need you to look like a witch, not a princess.

And your name is "Grizzelda."

"Grizzelda"?

I can't say that.

It's too hard.

You just said it.

George, George... Let me handle this.

D.W., you're doing great.

And you can wear whatever you want.

That was "handling" it?

How was that "handling" it?

A happy actor will give you a better performance.

Isn't that more important than what she's wearing?

BINKY: We're out of sandwiches.

This ninja's hungry.

They'll be here in a second.

Go to the deli and pick up two ham and cheese and two tuna fish.

But, but...

I'm the director.

George, remember whose camera it is.

Now hurry.

We're wasting precious daylight.

(sighs) This has been the best year of my life.

I've never really had a good friend before.

I know the feeling.

Even when I was part of a tree, all the flowers ignored me.

Oh, no!

The rose!

GEORGE: Cut!

That was great!

Did you get it?

(laughing) You aren't scary at all.

GEORGE: Buster!

Huh?

What?

Are we ready?

Just a sec... Uh-oh.

(camera beeping) Battery's dead.

(gasps) One little rose.

Is that too much to ask for?

Why didn't you write it down?

I should have sent the ninja.

I think it's pretty funny.

Yeah, but I didn't want to make a comedy.

TUFTON SINCLAIR: Mind if I join you two?

Huh?

Oh, Mr. Sinclair.

Of course.

I was just, um, practicing a... a talent show.

You don't have to explain.

I take Preston everywhere I go.

Ah, the Zoltrex SL-90.

Pretty fancy camera.

You making a movie?

I was.

I borrowed it from a friend, but I think I'll give it back to her tomorrow.

No one listens to me.

I know the feeling.

A director needs a lot of help, but it's still your story.

You have to put your foot down sometimes.

I'm not very good at that.

Well, have you tried it yet?

Well... Then how do you know?

I'd like a chicken sandwich on toast with butter.

No mayo, and hold the chicken.

He'll have a tea with lots of honey.

George!

I had a great idea for the end.

What if the witch has a song... No!

But audiences will love it and...

I don't care.

This isn't a musical.

George, need I remind you whose camera it is?

(sighs) You can have it back.

I don't want it if I can't make the movie I want to make.

Hah!

Well, good luck.

We'll see how far you get without me.

Come on, everyone!

This movie's over.

Well?

It's not as good as Muffy's, but you can borrow my camera if you like.

Wait!

Maybe we can come to some sort of compromise.

Buster, as head of the craft services you're in charge of food.

I want plenty of juice and snacks for everyone.

Thanks for helping with the music.

(playing clarinet melody) D.W., get everyone in place.

Places!

Places!

GEORGE: Wally, you're not in this scene, so I want you to be quiet.

And... action!

I wonder whose house this could be?

I will give you all that you want, my dear.

Your wildest dreams.

But for a price!

(cackling evilly) She's perfect.

And now... Today we're going to be working on making decisions, just like George.

He was the director.

Ms. Chester formed some committees to make decisions.

This is the math committee.

MS. CHESTER: You're going to work together as a team to choose four games.

Each of us will write one game on the board.

I think that will work.

And then assign people to the games.

It's fair because we each get to pick a game we want to play, and then we'll assign partners for each one.

The committee picked the games, and now we're playing them.

MS. CHESTER: So the next activity that we're going to work on is writing.

Whatever you decide, that's what we're going to work on as a class.

STUDENT: We were having a discussion.

I think we shouldn't do poetry.

I think we should do autobiography, maybe.

We could easily write about yesterday when we opened the door and there was a fire alarm.

All you can do is vote.

We the writing committee have agreed that we will write about yesterday when we walked into the building and there was a fire alarm that immediately went off.

(students cheering) This is the recess committee.

I think we should have free play.

I agree.

The recess committee decided that we would play free play.

(class cheering) MS. CHESTER: Our student of the day is Stephen.

I'm going to have you decide which line order we should line up in.

First name backwards.

Z for Zachary, V for Valentina, S for Sophia.

So the first letter of the alphabet is A and the last is Z, so it'd be backwards so the Z would be first and A would be last.

A for Anna.

Making decisions should be fair and it should be fun.

And now... (feedback squealing) Testing, testing.

Good morning, class.

Every year, we give out the George Lundgren Award to that student who has been the nicest all year.

And this year, the award goes to... George Lundgren?

What?

Me?

This is such a shock.

(class clapping) You deserve it.

Thank you, thank you.

I don't know what to say.

There were so many other more deserving candidates...

Knock it off.

You know you're the nicest kid in the school.

That's why they named the award after you.

(police sirens) POLICEMAN: George Lundgren.

We know you're in there.

The cops!

(door opens) Easy there, Mooseboy.

You're under arrest for being mean.

Cuff him, Caroline.

And the dummy, too.

BUSTER: There must be some mistake.

George is the nicest kid in school.

Just look at his ribbon.

Nice, huh?

You wouldn't say that if you knew what he'd done.

Tell him, Big Horns.

I'm afraid he's right.

I am guilty.

Take me away, officer.

(gasps) Relax, George.

It was just a bad dream.

If only that were true, Wally.

(sighs) ARTHUR: Wow!

I can't believe we actually made this.

The cars even rock.

Careful!

It's really fragile.

BINKY: Big deal.

It's just a bunch of toothpicks.

MUFFY: You wouldn't say that if you had worked as hard as the rest of us.

GEORGE: Binky contributed, Muffy.

Remember, he gave us that toothpick.

Yeah, and it was holding my sandwich together.

I lost a tomato because of that thing.

I can't wait to see how it looks at the fair.

Mr. Ratburn said they're putting it right underneath the real Ferris wheel.

Why?

So the little mice can ride on it?

(chuckling) Come on, Binky.

What do you think, Wally?

I think there's a diner somewhere where all the customers have food stuck in their teeth.

Check this out: the cars even rock.

(gasps) No...!

(ripping) Huh?

ARTHUR: George?

We have some bad news.

It's about our Ferris wheel.

(gasps) Yeah... that.

Well, I was just...

It's destroyed.

But they caught who did it.

What?!

I knew Binky thought it was a goofy idea, but I don't know why he had to destroy it.

Maybe he was still upset about that tomato.

It must have been an heirloom.

Binky?.

But he... Was caught red-handed this morning in shop class.

He's in Principal Haney's office right now.

I'm sorry, Mr. Barnes, but we just cannot tolerate such behavior in this school.

Hello, George.

Is there something you wanted to talk to me about?

Yes, Mr. Haney.

It's... Well, you see, I... Let me guess: you forgot.

(laughing) Happens to me every day.

If I didn't write everything down, I'd just... Oh dear.

I'm late for that bake sale meeting.

(humming) I know what you're going to say, but I didn't break the Ferris wheel.

I believe you.

I came to tell you that... And when I find out who did, I'm gonna twist them into... What did you just say?

Uh, I believe you.

I mean, it probably just fell over, right?

Uh-uh.

It was on the floor all the way at the other end of the table.

Someone broke it, all right.

But it wasn't me.

So why does everyone think you did it?

I was standing right over it this morning when the shop teacher came in.

(gasps) I had a piece of bacon stuck in my teeth.

I thought there might be a stray toothpick lying around.

Now I have to stay after school and clean up the shop classroom for a week.

I'm never eating bacon again.

I'll help you if you want.

Why?

It wasn't your fault.

Um, well, I guess it just seems unfair that you got blamed for something you didn't do.

Okay.

Boy, you really are nice.

It's weird.

(sipping) Thanks.

BINKY: George!

Look at this.

I don't remember that being there yesterday.

We probably didn't see it.

It's just a little piece of fabric.

I've seen this green somewhere before.

I bet this belongs to the real criminal.

I've got it!

And then, as you were running away, you tore your shirt on the vise, leaving this behind.

Case closed.

Okay, okay, I admit it.

I broke the Ferris wheel.

(crying theatrically) No, you didn't.

I know.

But Binky's such a good interrogator, I felt the need to confess.

How did you know he didn't do it?

GEORGE: Because... because the green of the shirt he's wearing is completely different from that piece of fabric.

Aw, you're right.

But I did take your juice box in first grade.

Oh, boy, it feels so good to get that off my chest.

And then in second grade, I... (sighs) Well, I guess we'll never know who did it now.

(with French accent): Ah!

But Watteau thinks there is more to this case than is meeting zee eyes.

Fern?

What are you doing here?

I am not Fern.

I am zee great detective Virgule Watteau.

And you are my sidekick Bastings.

So, Monsieur Binky, I hear that you believe you have been framed, no?

Yes.

Can you help us, Fern-with-a-funny-accent?

Zee name is Watteau.

Virgule Watteau.

And yes, she will help you.

Come to my office.

Yes, très intéressant.

Can you tell us who it belongs to?

No.

Okay, that's that.

Boy, am I tired.

FERN: But...

I can say this: zee material, it is very cheap.

And zee stitching is sloppy, amateur.

No, it isn't.

I mean, you can't tell.

It's just a piece.

The whole suit probably looks much better.

How do you know it's a suit?

May I keep zis?

I would like to run some tests on it.

Okay, if you think that will help the investigation, Whatso.

Watteau!

Zee name is Virgule Watteau!

FERN: Bastings?

Is everything okay?

You are acting... un peu strange.

Me?

Strange?

I'm not acting strange.

Why do you think I'm acting strange?

Do I look like I'm acting strange?

No.

But your accent.

It is very American.

Oh, that.

(in British accent): Righto.

Didn't even notice.

Well, cheerio.

Hmm... WALLY: George, I'm disappointed in you.

It's time for you to fess up and apologize.

I know.

I feel terrible.

I'll tell Binky tomorrow.

Binky?

I was talking about me.

You ruined a perfectly good suit.

You can't tell Binky the truth.

He'll twist you into a pretzel.

GEORGE: I don't care.

I can't stand feeling guilty all the time.

Can I stay in the sock drawer tomorrow?

And then I kept covering it up.

Anyway, I'm really sorry.

I'll tell Principal Haney first thing Monday morning.

Well?

Are you angry?

(doorbell rings) Hi, George.

Detective Wattles called me.

She wants me to meet her at the fair.

Want to come?

Uh... Great.

Let's go.

BINKY: She should be here any minute.

She told me she knows who did it.

(George sighs) Binky, I have something to tell you...

PRINCIPAL HANEY: Hello, boys.

Enjoying the fair?

Oh, you're probably waiting for an adult to take you on the Ferris wheel.

Um, actually...

It's no trouble at all.

I've been on it four times already but I just can't get enough.

Here we go!

I just love Ferris wheels, don't you?

Didn't always, though.

I used to be terrified of them.

But then I took up tight-rope walking, and before I knew it...

I did it!

I broke the Ferris wheel.

Seems to be running smoothly to me.

No, what I mean is... What he means is that he broke his streak of not riding in Ferris wheels.

Right, George?

Oh, congratulations.

If you boys want to go again, just give me a holler.

Why didn't you let me tell Principal Haney?

You've always been pretty nice to me, George.

And, well, I haven't always been that nice to you, so I'm returning the favor.

Oh, you also have to clean up my room for a month.

How long have you known?

I only figured it out last night when I remembered where I'd seen that color green before.

Wally.

I'm sorry.

I didn't mean to get you in trouble.

And you could've gotten away with it, too.

But you fessed up.

That takes guts.

FERN: Me s amis.

I am sorry for zee tardiness.

But Watteau, she has solved zee crime.

Zee breaker of zee Ferris wheel is...

Him!

You see?

Zee green.

It is zee same as his jacket.

Ingenious, no?

Eh, who cares who did it?

It's a beautiful day and we're at a fair.

Let's go on some rides, Bateau.

Okay, time out.

It's Watteau.

Why is that so hard?

If you don't get it right, I'm not playing anymore!

♪ ♪ ARTHUR: To watch more Arthur and play games with all the Elwood City friends, visit pbskids.org.

You can find Arthur books and lots of other books, too at your local library.

Captioned by Media Access Group at WGBH access.wgbh.org