Arthur: The Death of Mr Ratburn

Arthur, one of the longest running cartoons behind the Simpsons. It first aired in 1996 and is running today. Of course, the show is now a complete joke. What I am here to talk about today is a lost episode I found of Arthur.

This was a top secret event that no one other than the Arthur cast and crew have seen. The episode was made in 2011, and was meant to be the series finale of the show. It was completed shortly before 9 Story took over the program. After the cast and crew watched it back together. They were horrified and scarred for life by the episode's graphic content. Marc Brown and Greg Bailey warned them not to watch it again. They too, were horrified and shocked as they thought this was the way to put down the show. The producers made an oath to solemnly swear everyone at Cookie Jar Entertainment to never reveal this episode to the public.

As the move to 9 Story began, they took all of the tapes of all Arthur episodes. Except this one. One employee wasn't aware of the tape and thought it was just a useless blank video. He threw it out and the garbage truck came and picked up the trash from the dumpster. This is where I came across the tape.

I was dumpster driving for some cardboard boxes to give to my Grandfather for his Ebay business.

As I was digging through some cardboard boxes, I noticed a tape. It was crudely marked in sharpie "Mr. Ratburn."

I was a former fan of Arthur, so I took the tape home to watch. After I got home, I turned on my VCR. I rewound the tape before playing it. When it was finished, I pressed play. As soon as I hit it, the PBS contribution screen appeared. It looked and sounded normal, which really baffled me since the tape looked damaged. The intro was normal as well. But after Arthur and Buster swam across the screen, You know, The pool scene. The frame rate slowed down dramatically and the water faded into a blood red color.

The screen then turns red and Mr. Ratburn appears on screen. A very loud TV speaker exploding "HEY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" shouted by Mr. Ratburn shook the whole room. It startled me bad. I think I just skipped a few heart beats! The screen shuts off for about 10 seconds. The real episode starts with an overhead view, similar to the old Resident Evil games.

There is no music or sound what so ever. Only foot steps and doors opening can be heard. Arthur gets out of bed all dressed, ready for school. He was looking a bit uneasy. He leaves his room, goes downstairs, and out the door. When he opens the door, there is an extreme close up of the door opening. As he is walking to school, there is still no music or sound except foot steps. When all the kids arrive at school, they look as if they are about to have a nervous breakdown. They open the doors to the school. The camera again, has an extreme close up of the door in a black background. Now there is music, but super creepy music. It's the Shadow Temple music from Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

The students are walking to Mr. Ratburn's class room. Again another extreme close up of the door's open!

The students take their seats but Mr Ratburn was not there! He arrives late for class...suddenly, The Giygas theme from Earthbound plays!

(More to come)