MAN: ♪ Martha was an average dog ♪ ♪ She went... and... and... ♪ (barking, growls) ♪ When she ate some alphabet soup ♪ ♪ Then what happened was bizarre... ♪ On the way to Martha's stomach, the letters lost their way.

They traveled to her brain, and now... ♪ She's got a lot to say ♪ ♪ Now she speaks... ♪ How now, brown cow?

♪ Martha speaks ♪ ♪ Yeah, she speaks and speaks and speaks ♪ ♪ And speaks and speaks... ♪ What's a caboose?

When are we eating again?

♪ Martha speaks... ♪ Hey, Joe, what do you know?

My name's not Joe.

♪ She's not always right, but still that Martha speaks... ♪ Hi, there.

♪ She's got the voice, she's ready to shout ♪ ♪ Martha will tell you what it's all about ♪ ♪ Sometimes wrong, but seldom in doubt ♪ ♪ Martha will tell you what it's all about ♪ ♪ That dog's unique... ♪ Testing, one, two.

♪ Hear her speak ♪ ♪ Martha speaks and speaks and speaks and speaks and... ♪ ♪ Communicates, enumerates, elucidates, exaggerates ♪ ♪ Indicates and explicates ♪ ♪ Bloviates and overstates and... ♪ (panting) ♪ Hyperventilates!

♪ ♪ Martha-- to reiterate-- Martha speaks.

♪ Hi!

Is it time for the show yet?

Just a minute.

We have to do the introduction first.

And here it is... enjoy!

See you at the end!

We still have time to fill.

Today's show is filled with words like "second," "minute," "hour"-- Eternal?

Is "eternal" one of the words?

Yes!

(yawns) It should be, because this is starting to feel eternal.

Some other words include "infinite," "transpired," "occurred"... Let me guess-- is "endless" one of the words?

Right again!

So listen for all the time words and my rude dog and I will see you at the end of the show.

(Skits barks) Go ahead and pitch.

She just did.

It is officially too dark to keep playing.

One of the best things about summer is playing till you can't see the ball anymore.

The first three weeks of this summer have been perfect.

(gasps) It's been three weeks already?

No!

What's wrong?

Last summer went by too fast, don't you remember?

HELEN: Are you still writing that list?

No, I'm done.

I now have a list of all the great things I'll do this summer.

It would be fun to do all this if school didn't start tomorrow.

Tomorrow?

No!

You spent the whole summer working on that list.

I will never let this happen again!

Next summer I will make every minute count!

So what?

Haven't you been making every minute count?

I forgot.

But summer will not get away from me, starting tomorrow.

Huh, what's he going to do?

I guess we'll find out tomorrow.

(barks) Hey, TD, want to go to the park?

No, I want to go to school.

You never want to go to school.

You've said, "When you're in school, every minute feels eternal."

What's eternal?

"Eternal" means it lasts forever.

So if a minute feels eternal, it feels like it will never end, like it will last for an eternity.

And that's exactly why I want to go there now.

Remember how the last day of school felt?

It was like time almost stopped.

(in slowed-down voice): Let's review our multiplication tables.

Whoa!

Does that really happen?

Does each minute really last forever in school?

Sometimes it feels like that.

So if it feels like it, and we spend the summer in school, summer will feel eternal.

Let's go!

So you don't want an eternal summer?

I want to play outside in the sun.

I'd like to see time stand still, but the janitor won't let dogs in school.

He won't be there.

He's on summer vacation.

Come on, Martha.

I don't know when I'll be back, Helen, since every minute will last forever.

I'll see you both in a half hour.

That's all you'll be able to stand.

I'm so excited about being allowed in school.

(humming) He's riding the infinite imaginary wave no surfer has ever conquered.

TD & JANITOR: What are you doing here?

Shouldn't you be on vacation?

Hey, we're talking at the same time.

Stop.

You stop first.

Okay.

Now.

I'll leave.

I know you don't allow dogs in here.

You can stay.

A few dog hairs can't hurt since I let the squirrels party here all summer.

(squeaking) JANITOR: They sure love air conditioning.

Also, there are no teachers here, so the D-O-G can't learn anything.

Because if dogs knew too much, (whispering): pretty soon people would be waiting on them and cleaning up their mess.

People already do that.

(gasping): Then I'm too late.

Oh, I tried.

(sobbing): I'm only one man.

MARTHA: Are you spending summer here to enjoy the eternal minutes?

No, I'm here to ride the infinite imaginary wave.

Because "infinite" means the wave never ends.

I can surf forever.

Huh, I don't see any infinite wave.

An infinite imaginary wave.

The wave isn't real, it's in my imagination, and it's infinite.

Cool, huh?

Is it okay if we sit in an empty classroom for the rest of the summer?

Sure.

Want to know why?

No.

(ticking) (Skits barks) ALICE: You two sat in school for hours and hours and hours on a summer day?

It felt like the longest day of my life.

Isn't that great?

Sure.

Great.

So, Martha, did the minutes feel eternal in school?

I don't know.

I fell asleep.

You're giving up, right?

We're all playing baseball tomorrow?

No.

I'm going to school.

You know you're not going to do this for the rest of the summer.

Am too.

Are not.

You can't sit in school every day for a whole summer.

I can too.

HELEN: You can't.

Can too!

You're going to give up really soon, so why not give up now and just have fun?

I'll never give up.

You'll see.

I won't come out till school starts.

You can't come out then.

When school starts, you'll have to go to school.

Oh, right.

Then my summer will be truly endless-- that means it will have no end-- because summer and school will be the same thing!

Ha!

Did that make sense to you?

It doesn't matter what he says.

Trust me, he's going to give up.

TD: I will not!

(yawns) You know what a moment is?

A moment is a very small bit of time.

That was a moment.

Another moment.

Moment.

Moment.

Another one.

I've had enough moments.

This day already feels eternal.

That means it's working!

No, that means I'm bored and the day feels like it will never end.

Bye, TD.

I'll see you on the outside when you quit!

I'm never quitting!

I'll stay forever... or something that feels like it.

Whoa!

Easy, Skits!

Easy!

TD said he was staying there forever.

That might be true if forever meant only one day.

But forever means... forever, till the end of time.

TD probably won't last one more day.

If those guys think I'll give up, they don't know me very well.

Moment.

Moment.

Moment and a half.

Half moment.

(kids laughing) I don't think we needed that extra kite for TD.

It doesn't look like he's coming out today.

Maybe you were wrong, Helen.

There's no way he can last another day.

He must be totally bored in there.

I bet Helen, Alice and Martha are laughing and having fun.

Well, I can have fun in here all by myself.

(makes popping sounds to tune of "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star") (sighs) Marco!

Marco.

It's just not the same without TD.

No one's buying any lemonade.

We usually go through two pitchers.

That's because TD always drinks it before anyone can buy it.

Eww!

I never noticed bugs landing in the lemonade before.

That's because TD always drinks it.

(sighs): Jump rope just isn't the same without TD.

Hey, I know!

If we tied one end to the tree, one of us could jump.

Great idea!

We need a longer rope.

Or a thinner tree...

BOTH: Or TD.

(frustrated sigh) To play baseball, you need to have at least three players who have hands.

How do we know TD is really at school every day?

Maybe he's fooling us.

I thought that, too, so I went over there and got proof.

HELEN: How long did you take video?

ALICE: A few hours.

HELEN: It's too boring.

Hit fast-forward.

That is fast-forward.

This isn't like TD at all.

Well, he's doing it.

I think this is changing him, maybe forever.

Hey, TD, want to play accidentally frozen sandwich hockey?

No, thanks.

Think I'll just sit here and scratch my nose.

This is almost too much fun.

(shudders) TD is going to be ruined and there's nothing we can do about it.

Poor TD.

Why don't you just tell TD that you're worried about him?

Because we told him he'd quit and he said he wouldn't.

So he'll think it's a trick to get him to come out, just to prove we were right.

(girls sighing) ALICE: Poor TD.

(sighs) Once again, it's all up to the dog.

Hi, Martha.

So, are you having a fun, endless summer?

Endless, yeah, but I'm so bored I once forgot to exhale.

That was weird.

Why don't you come out and play?

They said I'd quit, I said I wouldn't.

So I can't quit, ever.

MARTHA: He wants to quit, but he won't because you said he would.

What can we do?

I actually have an idea.

The girls need you, TD.

They can't play baseball without a catcher.

I can't, Martha.

I want this summer to go slow.

But you're sad.

Is that what you want: a long, rotten summer?

You're right!

But they want me to quit to prove I was wrong.

They want you to quit because it's making them sad, too.

Really?

You're right, Martha.

That's a great excuse...

I mean, reason, to get out of here.

There's still half a summer left.

What are we waiting for?

Strike two.

Marco.

Polo.

Marco!

Polo!

(kids laughing) Hey, I have the greatest idea for what we can do tomorrow!

You mean after school?

Because tomorrow's the first day of school.

Already?

We've done nothing but play endlessly for a month.

It didn't feel like a month.

See you next summer.

(squirrels squeaking) Hey!

First day of school tomorrow.

No dogs allowed!

I don't have to go to school.

For dogs, summer is endless.

I could have an endless summer.

All I have to do is figure out how to become a dog.

Here we go again.

Why are you watching TV with your eyes covered?

We're watching Attack of the Glooey Goo Monster.

It's too scary to look at.

Then why don't you turn it off?

It's great!

Ah!

Ugh.

Now I'm going to have nightmares.

(thunder) (snoring) Martha.

Martha, Martha, Martha!

Wha... huh... what?

Are you asleep?

Is this a trick question?

I heard something.

Just a second ago.

I'm pretty sure that Glooey Goo from the Modus Dimension is under my bed.

I knew we shouldn't have watched that movie.

Twice.

I'll look under the bed and prove you're safe.

Don't!

If you got gooed, I could never forgive myself.

I won't get gooed, because there is no such thing as Glooey Goo.

I'll look.

But first, I'll feel around.

(something squishing, Helen screams) It's there!

I felt it!

How did they fight it in the movie?

Helen...

I remember.

We need three tons of dry ice and a large, rotating space station.

Helen, calm down.

There is no Glooey Goo under...

I just felt it, Martha.

First I heard that sound, then I felt it.

Ears and hands don't lie.

(chuckling): Oh, don't they?

Let me tell you a story.

Now?

Yes.

It's the story of a girl named Helen and her dog Martha.

MARTHA: One dark night, Helen's Mom came home and got an unpleasant surprise.

(gasps) My vase!

¿Qué pasó?

What happened?

How did it break?

We don't know.

No one was in the room when it happened.

What?

It's true.

We all heard a crash.

A second later, the lights went out.

That's right.

And when I turned them back on, it was like this.

Well, vases don't break themselves.

One of you must have been in this room when it fell.

Not me.

I wasn't.

Me neither.

As spokes-dog for the canines, I must report we were in the hall.

(barks) Maybe an elephant did it.

Elephants like peanuts, and there's an empty jar of peanut butter.

Uh, never mind.

This is a mystery.

How can we resolve it?

Please don't touch the evidence until the mystery is solved.

It's important to review the events as they happened.

Review?

"Review" means you go over something again.

That's right.

I want to hear the events in the exact sequence in which they occurred.

So... Comencemos.

Let's start with you, honey.

Uh... me?

Well, it all started when I was opening the peanut butter.

I wanted to make a sandwich, and the jar was brand new.

(sniffing) But then... (trumpeting) I heard a distant trumpet.

I figured I'd accidentally left the radio on too loud upstairs.

So I went to turn it off.

I hadn't gotten very far when I heard a crash come from the kitchen.

(crash) A second later, the lights went out.

To find out what had happened, I went back toward the kitchen.

(grunts) But somehow I ran into a wall.

A moment later, the lights came on.

And there was no wall there!

I walked into the kitchen... (gasps) Only to find the vase broken and the peanut butter eaten.

It all happened in an instant.

(barks) No, Skits.

What did Skits say?

He wanted to know if you meant "instant" like just-add-water instant.

Like instant oatmeal.

Well, in a way, sure.

An instant is a very short time.

Like a second or a moment.

It all sounds very strange.

A wall?

Mm-hmm, well, I think I know what happened in that instant.

Truman and I were playing catch in the living room.

I accidentally threw the ball over Truman's head.

An instant later, there was a big crash!

(crash) Then the lights went out.

In the dark, someone brushed past me carrying a big banana leaf.

There are no big banana leaves in this house.

You saw a banana leaf?

Well, it felt like a banana leaf.

Then I came in here and switched on the lights and I saw the vase like this.

So, clearly the ball bounced into the kitchen and knocked the vase over.

No, that's not the way it transpired.

Transpired?

Aren't there any small words when you solve a mystery?

What does "transpired" mean?

When you tell how something transpired, you explain how it happened.

And what transpired tonight was this...

I followed the bouncing ball into the kitchen.

I saw the dogs were in there, doing something up on the table.

Ooh, ooh!

They threw the ball!

They want us to play!

(barks) Skits!

Bring it back!

(barking) (crash) TRUMAN: A second later, there was a crash from the kitchen.

And the lights went out.

In the dark, someone came out of the kitchen carrying a palm tree.

Huh?

¿Un árbol?

Someone was carrying a tree?

Either that or it was a walking tree.

But I felt a tree.

Huh.

It sounds like the dogs might have had something to do with this.

Us?

What were you doing up on the table?

Nothing.

MARTHA: Skits and I walked in innocently and smelled a jar of open peanut butter, nearly empty.

DAD: But that was a brand new jar.

MARTHA: Not when we got there.

Skits and I checked to see if we could save you time washing by licking the jar clean.

Then the ball came in and we decided to go play.

Skits!

Bring it back!

(crash) MARTHA: Then there was a crash.

As everyone agrees, the lights went out a second later.

I saw something come out of the kitchen.

There was a rope hanging from the back of it.

I pulled on the rope, but I couldn't hold it back.

It slipped from my teeth and got away.

Now you've heard everything.

I still don't understand how this could occur.

Huh?

When she says she doesn't know how this occurred, she means she doesn't know what happened.

Revisemos esto.

Let's review.

Danny.

You heard a sound like a trumpet and left the room.

You heard a crash.

The lights went out.

You came back, but hit a wall in the dark.

That's right.

Helen, you threw a ball into this room.

You heard a crash and saw the lights go out.

Yes.

Then I felt the banana leaf.

Hmm... Truman, you chased the dogs into the hallway, and felt... a tree?

That was my perception.

It was dark, though.

And you, Martha and Skits.

You claim you were nowhere near the scene of the accident, but you felt a rope.

I know it sounds crazy, but that's what occurred.

Based on what all of you say you saw and heard, it's impossible to figure out what occurred tonight.

Maybe we just need to review the events again.

Before we do any more reviewing, can we clean up this mess?

Okay, let's clean up.

Skits and I are going to review the events in our minds while we go and sit on the nice, soft couch.

(Skits sniffing) (barks) Yes, I do smell peanut butter.

Whoa, Skits, maybe you don't want to open that.

We don't know what makes a bulge like that occur.

(trumpeting) Jeffy?

(trumpets weakly) (barks) Shh!

(whispering): What are you doing in our closet?

(sniffs, then barks) Jeffy, is that... peanut butter?

(trumpets weakly) If you ate the peanut butter, do you know who broke the vase?

(trumpets weakly) You can't tell us because people aren't allowed to know the animals can leave the zoo whenever they want?

(trumpets) (barks) Hey, Skits is right.

We're not people.

We're dogs.

You can tell us.

(trumpets excitedly) Shh!

MARTHA: Jeffy began to tell what really happened.

He left the zoo for a nice stroll.

He didn't even realize he was hungry until he smelled it.

(sniffing) (trumpeting loudly) MARTHA: No elephant can resist peanut butter.

(trumpeting) (trumpets in frustration) Jeffy couldn't reach the peanut butter, even for one little taste.

He knew he couldn't fit in the door.

Or could he?

(trumpets) Vegetable oil makes things very slippery.

But then he heard someone coming.

(barks) TRUMAN: Skits!

MARTHA: Jeffy knew he had to get out of there before anyone else came into the kitchen.

He needed to hide.

Jeffy went into the living room, where Dad bounced off his side.

Helen didn't touch a leaf; it was Jeffy's ear.

Truman didn't touch a tree; it was Jeffy's trunk.

I wasn't biting a rope.

Sorry, Jeff.

So that's the story.

MARTHA (continuing): Everyone thought they knew what they'd felt, but they didn't notice the elephant in the room.

Well, one thing's for sure.

What's that?

That story was so silly, you made me forget to be afraid.

(laughs) Great.

Still, what did it have to do with the Glooey Goo?

Ah.

Glad you asked.

I told you that story so you'd see that things are not always what you perceive them to be.

Like what's under the bed?

Yuh-huh.

I didn't touch Glooey Goo.

It was only peanut butter.

Exactly.

Hey, is that the missing peanut butter jar that Dad was looking for?

You ate it?

Well... (sighs) In a way, yeah.

You are going to tell him the truth, right?

Of course.

I was just practicing admitting my guilt to you first-- in a colorful way.

Maybe too colorful.

Why did you add a broken vase?

Oh, well... Martha!

I had a bad day.

(sighs) We'll deal with it tomorrow.

Together.

Thanks, Helen.

MARTHA: Helen?

Would you like to hear a story about a chewed-up shoe?

HELEN: Martha!

Hey!

Check out this song.

♪ Riding to the top of the hill ♪ ♪ My friends said, "You can't" ♪ ♪ "Hey, you bet I will" ♪ ♪ My pedals and chains spun endlessly round and around ♪ ♪ Well, it was endless ♪ ♪ "Endless" means a long time ♪ ♪ And when I made it, that endless hill was mine.

♪ ♪ Now it's time to head on down ♪ ♪ Everything's a blur, wheels spinning around ♪ ♪ It was over in a flash as I blew right by my friends ♪ ♪ It was instant ♪ ♪ "Instant" means it was fast ♪ ♪ I really wish I could have made that moment last.

♪ Did you catch all the words that have to do with time?

Here are a few of them.

Then my summer will be truly endless.

That means it will have no end.

When you tell how something transpired, you explain how it happened.

Because "infinite" means the wave never ends.

I can surf forever.

Well, that's our show.

It's over?

Already?

See you tomorrow.

That wasn't a half-hour.

No way!

Sorry, Martha.

That went way too fast.

♪ Who's that dog?

♪ ♪ Who's that dog?

♪ ♪ Dog, d-d-dog, d-dog.

♪ That dog is Bert.

We're at Children's Hospital Boston.

He's not a doctor.

Bert is a volunteer with the volunteer services department, the Pawprints program.

BOY: "My name is Bert.

I love to walk on the beach and go swimming."

Bert is in the hospital because he's a friend.

MAN: I think that it makes them feel for a little bit like they're not in the hospital and they can take their mind off things.

Bye, Bert.

MAN: He enjoys coming to see the kids because he gets to be petted by a lot of children.

That's the spot he likes-- look at his leg.

(laughs) Bye, Bert!

♪ Hey, ho!

Bert, go!

♪ BOY: "I also enjoy treats."

MAN: He gets to have little doggie treats when we get back to the office.

♪ He's that dog... ♪ ♪ Dog, d-d-dog, d-dog.

♪ To dig up some more fun words and games, visit pbskids.org or check out your local library for the "Martha Speaks" books.

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