The Magic School Bus Kicks Up a Storm
Original airdate: December 3rd, 1994
Subject: Weather
Focus Student(s): Ralphie, Keesha, Tim
A heatwave has hit the school. Ralphie dreams up a superhero persona to bring a necessary thunderstorm, and it turns out Ms. Frizzle's next field trip involves weather. Though Keesha is a doubter, Ralphie aka Weatherman takes water, wind and heat to create the perfect storm.
Producers Segment
The producers answer questions about the episode while a thunderstorm occurs outside.
Tropes
- Actually Pretty Funny: One of few episodes where everyone reacts positively to Carlos's puns.
- The Adjectival Superhero: Weatherman is one.
- And I'm the Queen of Sheba: Courtesy of Keesha, "If Ralphie's Weatherman, then I'm the Queen of England." Ralphie responds by kneeling and promising "his dear queen" to make it rain.
- Art Shift: Tim's comic book pages look better fit for an audition to Marvel or DC than pinned to a classroom wall.
- The Cape: Ralphie wears a purple one as Weatherman.
- Chekhov's Gun: Rain starting as ice crystals that melt as they fall. Ralphie thinks to land on them to get rained out of the storm.
- Desperate Plea for Home: When the storm Ralphie created gets too much for him to handle, he moans, frightened "I just wanna go home!"
- Fear of Thunder: Arnold doesn't particularly like thunderstorms. Even Ralphie's idea of one makes him nervous.
- Funny Background Event: While inside Carlos' rain-catcher, Ms. Frizzle can be seen happily doing a backstroke when Tim asks her a question.
- Gone Horribly Right: Ralphie after he manages to create a perfect thunderstorm. As he quickly realizes, thunderstorms are loud, wild and hard to stop.
- Heroic BSoD: Ralphie goes through this when he thinks he can't really be Weatherman.
- Hidden Depths: Tim's drawing shows that he can render panels just with pencil and computer paper.
- How Do I Shot Web?: It takes a while for Ralphie to figure out how to manipulate the wind, water and heat controls. While experimenting he also creates an updraft.
- Imagine Spot: Ralphie images himself as Weatherman, complete with the Leotard of Power and tossing lightning bolts. Ms. Frizzle snaps him out of it.
- Leotard of Power: Tim's drawings of Weatherman feature this.
- Not Now, Kiddo: DA and Arnold quickly realize what happens when you summon a storm, but Ralphie doesn't listen until the bus is trapped in said storm.
- Ship Tease: When Keesha sarcastically tells Ralphie that she's "waiting for that thunderstorm!", Ralphie blushes.
- Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: One fun bit of being in a thunderstorm, according to Carlos, is that it's like being on a rollercoaster. Problem: Ralphie hates rollercoasters and gets sick.
