Arthur Gets Spooked (2003)

TV. Three Arthur episodes on the theme of scary things teach kids the value of finding the courage to go against the flow: The Scare Your Pants Off Club (Arthur and his schoolmates love the SYPO book series so much they fight a parental book ban that turns out to be misinformed), Friday the 13th (the Brain tries to debunk superstition and briefly reconsiders whether bad luck is real), and The Boy Who Cried Comet (beginning with a Rod Serling homage called The Buster Zone, space-alien-crazy Buster discovers a real comet). Now A Word From Us Kids takes a field trip to the Ladd Observatory. These episodes contain the situational inventiveness that's common to Arthur programs but the comet episode adds a couple extra twists, including a shaggy alien ending. 4 stars.