THE BOY AND THE BOY KING

A young museum visitor meets and bonds with Tutankhamen.

Hardly has his “Mum-Mum” left to find a water fountain than a mystical light within the Metropolitan Museum’s Temple of Dendur draws Arthur and his sentient plush toy, Bun-Bun, back to ancient Egypt for a play date with the lonely child pharaoh. Having been mocked in school for still carrying a toy, Arthur is ready to leave Bun-Bun behind as a gift at the end of a day full of magical adventures that is capped by the boy king’s vision of a world at peace: “Somehow, I believe it’s my destiny to help the world by living as a boy, and thus a king, for all time.” Arthur returns to New York, where he learns from Mum-Mum (who happens to be an Egyptologist) that because Tut was killed young he “became a boy living as a boy forever, reminding us of the innocence and beauty of childhood.” What children (never mind adults) will make of this is anybody’s guess—particularly since the episode mixes baby talk with language that is bombastic to the point of parody. “How resplendent are our auras,” declaims Bun-Bun, “full of so many inexplicable emotions.” Yup. Illustrations are appropriately portentous, apparently created from heavily processed photos of solemn-looking models and silhouettes, all White (including Tut, though his painted advisers are depicted, ancient Egyptian–style in twisted postures, with dark brown skin).

Murky messages embedded in goo.