Arthur's Eyes

"Arthur's Eyes" is the first half of the first episode in the first season of Arthur. It is based on the book Arthur's Eyes.

Summary
Arthur recounts to D.W. the story of how he came to wear glasses, and of the teasing that followed when he began wearing them.

Plot
The episode opens with D.W. waking Arthur up with a flashlight in the middle of the night. She shows him some old family photos of Arthur with no glasses on from when he was little, which D.W. thinks are evidence the two of them must have a lost brother.

Arthur denies this, telling her he's the one in the pictures. D.W. doesn't believe it; she says Arthur was born with glasses.

Arthur tells D.W. she was only two years old when he started wearing glasses, so she doesn't remember him ever not having them. So Arthur begins to tell D.W. the story of how he first came to wear glasses.

After the title card, Arthur's tale starts with him and his friends in Mr. Marco's math class. Arthur has trouble reading the numbers on the blackboard and has to ask Francine which is which, which annoys her.

The math quiz results come in, and Arthur did poorly. Later all of the kids are in the gymnasium playing a game of basketball, but due to Arthur's poor eyesight, he plays clumsily. When Arthur tries to do a free throw he misses completely, disappointing his team.

Arthur's class begins their eye examinations in the nurse's office by reading a visual chart. Arthur comes up to the chart and is unable to read the chart properly, which results in him being sent to the optometrist.

The eye doctor tests out Arthur's eyes and finds that all Arthur needed was glasses. Arthur browses and tries out different frames. He comes across a pair of circular frames which he likes and accepts. But Arthur's troubles begin when he returns to school.

Francine and the other kids begin to tease Arthur about the way he looks and call him 'four eyes' (Francine even says in a sing-song voice, "Arthur's a four eyes! Arthur's a four eyes! Arthur's a four eyes!"). Even Buster starts imitating him in the cafeteria by taking two water glasses to his eyes, which makes Arthur upset.

Reluctantly, Arthur returns home covering his face with his jacket, which scares D.W.. Arthur chooses that it would be better to lose his glasses than wear them to school and get teased.

So he places them in a case and launches it with a slingshot, which amazingly hits a telephone line, bouncing it into his room and landing next to his stuffed bear Stanley. Arthur is frustrated and tosses the case out the window, which lands in the pile of leaves his dad was raking.

Arthur enters the kitchen, only to find his glasses again on the kitchen table. He tries again by putting his glasses on a hammer and nails toy, trying to get D.W. to smash them. She closely misses.

Arthur's mom sees this and asks Arthur what he was doing; he makes an excuse that D.W. took them and that he was recovering them. His mom asks him to be more careful with his glasses. D.W., being only 2, hits Arthur on the hand with the toy hammer, hurting his hand.

The next day, Arthur walks to school, but on the way he takes off his glasses while sitting down on a bench behind the tree. At school Mr. Marco asks him where his glasses are, and Arthur says he lost them as an excuse. Buster asks Arthur why he won't wear them, and Arthur claims he doesn't need them and that he knows where everything is in the school.

He even tries to prove this by finding the boy's restroom, since he knows that it is the third door from the corner. Arthur miscounts this though for Mr. Marco and Mr. Haney were talking at the first door, blocking Arthur's view.

He walks over to the fourth door from the corner and enters, but it turns out to be the girl's restroom with Muffy and Francine within. Both Arthur and the girls are frightened, but Arthur couldn't get out fast enough and three other girls walk in, getting the same results as Francine and Muffy.

They all scream and run out of the restroom because Arthur was in there. After they were all out, Arthur walks out to see a large crowd of students and teachers before him, startling him. But suddenly, he is unable to see them because he gets blind again.

Back at home, Arthur is gloomy that he will just have to be a 'four eyed weirdo', he watches TV and begins to watch the making of the Bionic Bunny Show, but he then sees that Wilbur Rabbit, the actor portraying Bionic Bunny, wears glasses just like his.

On the next day of school, Francine calls Arthur 'four eyes' again, but Arthur ignores it. Binky begins to tease him too, but again, he is not bothered by it. Arthur tells Binky that Wilbur Rabbit wears the same glasses too; Binky says he has seen it too, although Francine hasn't.

Back in Mr. Marco's class, there is another math quiz, but this time, Arthur can read the blackboard clearly. In the gymnasium, Arthur plays basketball with his friends. Unlike before, Arthur plays much better and scores a point against Francine.

Mr. Marco begins handing out the quiz results to the students and is delighted to see that Arthur got every question correct. Right then, Francine asks Arthur if he wants to play on her team at the next basketball game.

Arthur sees that Francine is wearing movie star glasses (with no glass of course). Francine reminds Arthur that Wilbur Rabbit wears glasses. Arthur responds that his glasses are just like his.

Arthur's story ends and we see Arthur and D.W. looking at the photo album. Arthur tells D.W. that he has worn glasses ever since. D.W. looks at the photos again and notices a picture of their mom and dad dancing together.

D.W. doesn't recognize their dad though, for he had brown hair, a mustache, and a beard then, and thinks their mom is divorced. She runs to their parents' room to demand an explanation. Arthur runs after D.W. to prevent her from doing so.