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Brain introduces this episode. He's talking to us, apparently.

Brain: I know what you're thinking.

Brain thinks we're wondering why we have night and day.

Suddenly, we see Brain standing on a smallish model of the world, near the sun in outer space. Brain's about as tall as the diameter of the Earth he's standing on. Brain explains how the Earth rotates so that during the day, we are pointing towards the sun. That's daytime, and it's sunny. Then when the Earth rotates (The Earth rotates with Brain standing on it, so he's pointing away from the sun.) we're away from the sun, and that's night.

Arthur's head appears in the frame from the left, and he interrupts Brain. He wants to know what Brain's up to.

Back to reality.

Brain explains that he was just explaining day and night.

Arthur: Why are you wasting your time?

Arthur thinks Brain's wasting his time with his scientific explanations; they won't understand... Brain says that on the contrary, he thinks they're very smart...

Who? Us? The viewers?

The camera pans out to see who Brain actually was explaining day and night to. He's in Arthur's garden, and Baby Kate and Pal are Brain's audience... Were they enjoying Brain's scientific explanation? Who knows. They look happy enough...

* * * Prove It * * *

Brain and Arthur are at Arthur's house, watching TV. They're watching the science show "NOVA" on PBS.

(What's interesting is that it's not a cartoon version of "NOVA", it's the actual real-life show, superimposed into the cartoon, so it looks like it's actually on their TV.)

The announcer on "NOVA" says that tonight's episode is about scientists being "crazy for dinosaurs".

D.W. walks into the room, and Arthur immediately starts yelling for his parents. He and Brain have to watch "NOVA" for homework, and Arthur figures that D.W. is just going to bother him with a lot of dumb questions.

Arthur: D.W.'s about to bother us.

D.W.: I didn't even say anything!

Dad: Please don't bother them.

* * *

Later on, Arthur's out playing catch with Francine. D.W. is playing off in one corner of the garden with Baby Kate. D.W. and Kate are playing with a ball. D.W. rolls it to Baby Kate, expecting her to roll it back. But instead, Baby Kate starts sucking on the ball.

As Arthur and Francine play catch, Francine tells Arthur about Muffy losing her Mom's P-E-N ... (Francine spells out "pen")

D.W. complains out loud that when Arthur and his friends spell things out, she can't tell what they're talking about.

Err, D.W., that's kind of the intention.

D.W. feels so alone sometimes. Baby Kate's no fun, what with prefering to suck on toys rather than play with them... and Arthur and his friends don't like having her around.

* * *

While having dinner, Arthur asks Mom and Dad if he can go to the movie theatre. He wants to go see "5000 Explosions and a Supernova". Arthur tries to justify going to see this fine movie since it's got some science in it.

D.W. says that she wants to go see it too. Arthur says she can't come with him. She wouldn't understand it, and she'd be bored.

D.W. grumbles that Arthur "treats me like I'm Kate or something"...

* * *

Brain comes over to do his math homework with Arthur. When he arrives, D.W.'s very polite to him, and addresses him as "Alan".

Arthur wonders what D.W.'s talking about. Alan who?

Brain: My name is Alan!

Brain, or Alan, whichever you prefer, goes to do his homework with Arthur. They start to work, but D.W. keeps trying to annoy them, at least, that's what Arthur thinks.

D.W.: Alan, did you always know you were smart?

Arthur says that D.W. should go away -- they've got plenty of homework. Arthur says he still has 50 questions to go.

Brain: I'm done.

Arthur makes a shocked face... but he should have been expecting Brain to finish far faster than him: Brain did much the same thing when he came to stay with Arthur in #12102 - "The Perfect Brother".

Brain: I'll keep her out of your hair.

Brain and D.W. go downstairs.

* * *

Brain figures that D.W. would like to play a board game. He and D.W. get out the board games "Confuse the Goose" and "Tower of Cows". But D.W. asks if they could watch "NOVA" on TV instead.

Brain's surprised. That's a science show. Surely that's not something she'd be interested in?

D.W. explains that she'd wants to watch NOVA, but Arthur won't let her, since "he thinks I'm too dumb".

Ok then. They put the TV on. Today's episode of "NOVA" is about the "mystery of the icy depths". It looks very interesting.

D.W.: I always thought science was boring!

Brain says no, that science is all action. It's all about arguing, and then struggling to prove who's right with exciting experiments...

D.W. likes the sound of that.

D.W.: Being right is so cool!

* * *

Did D.W. know that she could do science right in their own house? Brain shows her some neat experiments.

In the kitchen, Brain magnitizes a needle by stroking it with a magnet. Then he pokes it through a cork, and floats the assembly in a bowl of water. He's made a compass! D.W.'s impressed. It's cool.

Then they go build a sundial in the sandbox outside using a stick to cast a shadow.

Arthur comes out to see what's happening.

Arthur: Well, I finally finished.

D.W. looks at the sundial, and does a calculation in her head. She concludes that judging by the sundial, it took Arthur more than a half hour longer than Brain to do the exact same homework.

Arthur's annoyed by D.W. making him look bad. He tells D.W. that now he's the one who'll be playing with Brain, so she should go away and stop bothering them.

Brain says that actually, it's time he was going anyway. He says goodbye to both Arthur and D.W.. After he's gone, Arthur turns to D.W.. He's peeved that Brain wasn't playing with him, but her instead. He figures all she must have done was annoy him.

Arthur: I hope you didn't bother the Brain!

* * *

D.W.'s still feeling scientific at dinner. She comments on Baby Kate's behavior to Mom and Dad.

D.W.: Have you noticed that Kate throws her food, but tries to eat her play ball? Fascinating.

Arthur tries to get D.W. in trouble for bothering Brain while he was over, but D.W. points out that Arthur's incorrect, that Brain and her were doing science together.

D.W.: Arthur is not correct. I can prove it with one phone call to Alan.

D.W. then asks Dad if he can pour her some more "H₂O". Dad's impressed. H₂O's the formula for water. Fancy D.W. knowing that!

Dad: That's very impressive, D.W.!

Dad pours D.W. some water. Arthur figures that D.W. must just have overhead him or Brain saying that, and now she's just mimicking them, like a parrot.

D.W.: No, I'm as smart as you.

Arthur isn't particularly interested in D.W.'s claims. After dinner, while Mom and Dad do the dishes, Arthurs asks if he can go with Brain and his Mom to the Science Centre Exploratorium on the weekend. The Exploratorium is a neat science museum that shows how things work.

D.W. sounds interested in that! She wants to go as well.

Arthur says she wouldn't understand the science, and she'd be bored. D.W. disagrees. She bets that they'd be happy to have a smart kid like her visiting. Arthur whines at Mom and Dad to make them prevent her from going with him. They agree with Arthur. They suggest to D.W. as gently as possible that she might find it boring.

D.W. takes this news surprisingly well. She predicts that someday, Arthur'll be begging her to go with him to the Exploratorium. Then she leaves the kitchen.

Arthur for one is surprised at D.W.'s behavior. He figured for sure that D.W. would throw a tantrum or something. She was very reserved just then.

Dad: Maybe you underestimate your sister...

Arthur sniggers.

Arthur: Good one, Dad.

* * *

Arthur leaves the house, and walks down the sidewalk in front of the house. For some reason, the Tibbles, Emily, and some of the rest of D.W's friends are all standing around in a line near the driveway. Arthur's intrigued.

Arthur: What are you doing?

They tell Arthur that they're in line.

Arthur: In line for what?

Strung across the driveway from one fencepost to another is a skipping rope. D.W. unhooks one end, and lets her friends into the garden.

D.W.: Prepare to fill your brains...

D.W.'s created her own version of the Exploratorium in the backyard. Arthur tries to follow the Tibbles and Emily, but D.W. blocks his way, and refastens the skipping rope across the driveway to restrict access.

D.W. tells him that it's "ticket holders only".

From the backyard are the sounds of people being amazed by all the neat things D.W.'s come up with. Cries of "unbelievable" are audible.

Arthur wants to see what all the fuss is about. He asks how much a ticket is.

D.W. tells him that for kids her age, it's 50 cents. But for older brothers Arthur's age, it's $5.

Arthur: No way! No way am I giving you five bucks!

No $5, no ticket, no admission. D.W. stands there with the "velvet rope" keeping Arthur from all the science. Arthur can still hear people being amazed by D.W.'s exhibits. He has to see what D.W.'s set up.

Arthur's prepared to negociate. He looks through his pockets, and takes out the contents. He offers what he has to D.W..

Arthur has:

• 73 cents,
• A ring that goes "whirrr" when you blow in the top,
• A sticker of a horse that got ripped, so that Arthur only has the back end,
• And a used sour ball that Arthur "borrowed" from Buster.

Good enough for D.W.. D.W. accepts Arthur's stuff, and undoes the skipping rope to let him in. She and Arthur go around to the backyard.

* * *

Arthur and D.W.'s friends stand around near the back door of the house, all watching D.W.. D.W. has an empty bucket. She's about to give a scientific demonstration.

D.W.: Who can tell me how to make water?

Timmy and Tommy both put up their hands. Then they start arguing about who's hand is higher. They get loud and obnoxious very quickly, as is the norm. D.W. wants them to be quiet. She figures that Timmy had his hand up first, so she'll ask him.

D.W.: Timmy, how do we make water?

Timmy doesn't know. He just repeats that his hand was higher.

D.W. ignores them, and goes on with the show. She tells everyone that as everyone knows, the formula for water is H₂O.

D.W.: O means "Oxygen"; that's air.

D.W. says that right now, the bucket is full of air. It sure is. No argument there.

D.W.: The H stands for "Hose".

D.W. goes over to the house, uncoils the hose from its rack, and puts the nozzle into the bucket. Then she turns on the tap. The bucket fills up with water. D.W. says that what she's doing is combining "H" with "O". That makes water! And sure enough, the bucket is full of water. Everyone in the audience thinks D.W.'s explanation is great science. Except Arthur that is.

Arthur: That's not right!

D.W. tells him to explain it then. Arthur says that D.W. didn't make water...

Arthur: There's water... in... the... hose!

D.W.'s friends mock Arthur. The Tibbles think he's especially dumb. D.W. asks rhetorically who should be believed? Arthur, or her? All Arthur can do is talk, whereas she has successfully filled the bucket with water.

D.W.: You haven't proven your theory.

Arthur doesn't know what to say! He can't explain how water is really formed to D.W. and her friends, so in the meantime, D.W.'s getting away with making up fake science!

* * *

D.W.'s next scientific demonstration answers the question "Where does hair come from?". Like the H₂O "experiment", D.W. has a visual aid to help her answer the question. It's one of her dolls. D.W. flips the head open, and inside are spools with hair wrapped around them. (This is one of those dolls that "grows" hair that you can cut and style, and then wind out more hair by winding its arm.) D.W. says that inside our heads are "miles and miles of hair". It unwinds over time, and when it runs out, you're bald.

All of D.W.'s friends accept this the truth.

Arthur: That's not how hair works!

D.W.: Prove it!

Arthur's unable to explain how hair does grow. D.W. wins again.

(Arthur shouldn't have tried to step into this field of science anyway -- it's not like Arthur can say he's an expert at growing hair) :)

* * *

D.W. continues to "prove" lots of things with bad science...

This all comes to a head when D.W. declares that she will now explain why the sky is blue. The reason is that the other colours were already taken:

• Brown by dirt
• Green by grass
• Yellow by bananas.
• Red by apples.

Arthur thinks he can trip D.W. up on this one, since Arthur knows she's wrong this time. He tells D.W. and her audience that the sky is blue because the air molecules reflect blue light.

The Tibbles think that's ludicrous. D.W. doesn't believe Arthur either.

D.W.: Prove it.

Arthur: You prove yours.

D.W. has an apple and a banana hanging on strings from a tree. D.W. says that you can't disagree with the fact that the dirt IS brown, the grass IS green, and the sky IS blue...

The Tibbles: (flabbergasted) She's right again!

Arthur can't win with this crowd. D.W.'s making a mockery of science, and there's nothing Arthur can do about it.

* * *

Arthur leaves, and comes back a little later with someone who CAN set D.W. right. He brings Brain along to see what D.W.'s doing. By now, there's quite a crowd lining up to see D.W.'s exhibits.

As they look for D.W., the Tibbles caution them to look out for the trees... D.W.'s been telling everyone that trees generate wind by moving their branches.

Tibbles: Look out! That tree is blowing on you!

Arthur says that he isn't worried about people their age being tricked by D.W.'s made up stuff, but that little kids could be easily influenced; D.W. shouldn't be allowed to just make things up. Brain agrees.

They encounter Buster however, and perhaps things are worse than Arthur thought. Buster's looking at D.W.'s exhibits and seems to be accepting everything D.W.'s putting out as the truth.

Buster: Hey, this is great!

Buster says he never knew that the ocean was made by sand moving out so fast that it turned into liquid. Brain and Arthur say that that's wrong though. Buster's not about to dismiss all of D.W.'s explanations; to him, some of it sounds right... Buster says he can fall on his backside all day and never get sore!

Feeling even more concerned than before, Brain and Arthur eventually find D.W., who's explaining that night occurs when the sun runs out of gas, and turns off.

Brain can't let this travesty of science go on -- Brain begins to explain what really causes day and night.

D.W.: Oh yeah, prove it!

Brain: I can't exactly prove it...

D.W.: You can't prove it, because you're wrong.

Brain goes on to say that he can't prove it himself, but other scientists have, by doing experiments.

The point is made that all of the things that D.W. has wrong explanations for in Arthur's backyard are on display at the Exploratorium... Perhaps D.W. should visit it? Then she could see the error of her ways?

* * *

Arthur begs Mom and Dad to let D.W. go with him when he visits the Exploratorium with Brain on the weekend. They say ok.

* * *

There are lots of neat exhibits at the Exploratorium. Arthur, D.W., Brain, and his Mom check everything out. There are loads of experiments that they look at; here's a sample:

• A giant working model of human lungs, inside what looks like a clear plastic Francine.
• A big model of DNA.
• A display that spins a spiral very fast; you look at it, and then fall down.
• A giant model of a human heart.
• A room where everything is upside down -- this must be a perception exhibit.

After checking out loads of neat science exhibits, and hopefully learning stuff too, everyone's bushed. Brain sits down to watch a giant pendulum -- over the course of 24 hours, it knocks over lots of little sticks as the Earth turns.

Arthur comments that now D.W. can see that all of her experiments in the backyard were wrong.

D.W.: I only had one experiment, Arthur.

D.W. says that she said originally that eventually Arthur would beg for her to accompany him to the Exploratorium. That was her experiment.

D.W.: ...and here I am!

D.W. continues, saying that her experiment was a "complete success", which proves that:

D.W.: I proved I'm smarter than you.

Arthur ponders this uneasily.

Arthur: A smart D.W.... Hhhhooaa... I don't know if the world is ready for that!

End.

D.W. complains of being bored and lonely while playing with Kate again this season... see #40601 - "D.W. Tale Spins"... Something that's worth pointing out is that in both situations, Baby Kate causes D.W. to complain after choosing to suck on something as opposed to playing with it.

As D.W. says, being right is "cool" -- Arthur took this too far in #21702 - "Arthur the Loser".

It should be pointed out that D.W. wasn't conducting experiments; she was just making hypotheses... The "sky is blue" logic that D.W. used could have been brought into question by mentioning that apples can be green, as can bananas.

Still, all in all, this episodes not half-bad. It has its moments. The superimposing video footage is a neat effect, just one of many funky effects this season. Odd that real humans can appear on Arthur though.

At $5 a head, D.W. must have made a fortune in her backyard -- not a bad byproduct if your intention was just to get Arthur to agree to let you go to a museum with him. :) Funny that D.W. was able to set the entire thing up without anyone else in the family even realizing what she was doing. The crowd of people that eventually formed would have made me wonder what was going on if I was D.W.'s Mom or Dad. ;)

The Ontario Science Centre in Toronto is a lot like the "Exploratorium" in Elwood City; I know there are hands-on science musuems like this all over the world, but I thought I'd plug my local one. :)