The Magic School Bus Inside Ralphie
We join Ralphie in his bedroom, as he is hard at work on his computer, trying to come up with an idea for the class' "broadcast day" project. There's just one problem: he's sick.
His mother—voiced by Tyne Daly—is not helping his stress, as she urges him to hurry up and get ready to go to school. As she enters, Ralphie explains the broadcast day project to her and his role in the whole thing, all the while coughing. His mother, being a doctor, effectively puts a stop to that idea by telling him that he's staying home and going back to bed. She believes that his class can do broadcast day without him.
Turns out, they can't. Not only that, with an hour to go until they go live, they are very worried that he has not shown up yet. Just in the nick of time, Ralphie's mom—henceforth known as Dr. Tennelli—calls Ms. Frizzle and informs her that he is sick and won't be in today. So with Ralphie staying home, what will the class do?
Why, take school to Ralphie, of course! (This is, of course, the first time in the series where "take chances, make mistakes, and get messy", or a variation thereof, is spoken.)
On the way to Ralphie's house, Arnold asks Ms. Frizzle if this is a field trip.
Back in Ralphie's room, Dr. Tennelli gives Ralphie some medicine, which he pretends makes him all better. Of course, his mom doesn't buy it, and leaves to tend to her patients. Immediately after, Ralphie gets out of bed and begins to work on the broadcast day project and decides to phone in his part to the class. However, at that point, he hears a honking sound from outside. He goes to check... Only to see that it's his class, outside laughing and waving.
Ralphie can't believe his eyes. He believes that he is so sick that he's started to hallucinate, and goes back to bed. ...Right before his class enters his room. Keesha notes that Ralphie does look sick, but that's no problem for Dorothy Ann; she puts makeup on him as the rest of the class sets up their broadcast equipment in Ralphie's room.
Having a change of heart, Ralphie is excited that his class is doing broadcast day in his room, and perhaps moreso that he can be a part of it after all. However, Keesha asks him what his idea for broadcast day was, but he is hit with a coughing spell (though he may have been faking it to BS his way out of answering Keesha), and Ms. Frizzle tells him to take it easy. Ralphie can't, because they still have a show to do. Ms. Frizzle then tells him that inside of his body there is a huge battle going on, filled with action, excitement, and adventure. Just what they need for their show, Carlos notes. Then we come full-circle; D.A. asks Ralphie what his idea was, but Ralphie is hit with another coughing spell (yep, definitely faking it) and wonders what's going on in his body. Ms. Frizzle declares that an excellent question and orders the class back on the bus, to the bewilderment of them all.
With the class seemingly gone, Ralphie becomes depressed that he can't do broadcast day by himself, because he's sick. Just then, he hears a sound from his window, which turns out to be the bus, now shrunken and donning a large propeller on top of it. From the bus, Ms. Frizzle announces that they are going to get the "inside story", which confuses Ralphie. He's still concerned about broadcast day, but Ms. Frizzle reminds him that the action is going on inside of him, which Ralphie believes is a great idea for a broadcast day subject.
And then...
With Ralphie and the class now reporting for FNN—the Frizzle News Network—on Ralphie's sick body, they ask the viewers (and themselves) what is causing his illness. So, the first thing on the agenda: Ralphie's sore throat. The bus shrinks even smaller and charges into Ralphie's mouth, who is rather impressed to see the whole process from the outside. Inside of Ralphie's mouth, the class drops down his throat and arrive at his vocal chords, which are red and swollen. As Tim records this, Ralphie posits the question why they're swollen and why it— He is interrupted by another coughing spell, which expels the class from his body.
Flying across the room at high speed, they are rescued by Liz wearing a baseball glove, who then presents them to Ralphie. They are pretty annoyed that he chose that moment to cough, before realizing that the throat is not a good way to enter his body. Ms. Frizzle reiterates that it is not easy for them or germs to enter the body, and Ralphie ponders that—since he's covered by skin—how are they going to get inside. At that moment, he notices a band-aid on his knee, covering up a scabbing wound surrounding a pool of blood. He puts the class on his knee and pulls back the band-aid.
Ms. Frizzle shrinks the bus even smaller, and drops into the pool of blood. Ralphie is again impressed, and then asks how they are going to get from his knee to his throat. Ms. Frizzle pulls up a map of Ralphie on the bus monitor, which also displays his bloodstream. D.A. wonders if they could travel from the knee to his throat using the bloodstream, which Ms. Frizzle confirms as completely possible.
With that, the bus sinks into the blood and begins its trip through the bloodstream (and again, the inside of a person's body is very well-lit). Eventually, they come to tiny blood vessels in the "walls" of the bloodstream, at which point Ms. Frizzle shrinks the bus even further to fit in, making the class so small that they can see the individual red blood cells.
Watching the whole thing on his TV, Ralphie is surprised to see what his blood really looks like, specifically that it's clear instead of red. Ms. Frizzle tells him that the liquid part of the blood is clear, and confirms Ralphie's question that it's the red blood cells that give blood its color. Additionally, in the stream with them are white blood cells and platelets, the latter of which help the body heal scrapes and cuts. However, they don't answer why Ralphie is sick, and he is a bit depressed over that.
At that moment, Dr. Tennelli returns home to check up on him.
Ralphie rushes to cover all of the equipment with bedsheets and tells Liz to hide, before his mom enters the room. She notices the strange setup in his room, which he explains as a "game", and tries to get her out of the room by saying that he's going to sleep. However, she notices the class' broadcast on the TV, still showing the corridor of blood cells. It's just a movie, Ralphie says, one she wouldn't like. But she's a doctor, and is very much into this kind of stuff, not to mention being in awe at how realistic its visuals are.
The class finally arrives at Ralphie's throat, where there are even more white blood cells than before, and they appear to be looking for something in the walls. Ralphie tells the class to follow the white blood cells... except he says this out loud while Dr. Tennelli is still in the room. He plays dumb after she questions him about that, before turning back to the TV and noticing "that truck thing" following one of the white blood cells through the vessel wall to the location of the infection. Ralphie is excited about this development and proclaims that they're getting the inside story. Dr. Tennelli again finds his strange outburst suspicious, but Ralphie plays it off.
Arrive at Ralphie's throat tissue, Ms. Frizzle pulls out equipment for some of the class to go out and do on-the-scene reporting. Arnold tries to get out of it by avoiding eye-contact and whistling, but he gets picked anyway.
Ralphie encourages his class and tells them not to mention his name, but since he said this out loud, his mom heard all of this and wonders if he's talking to himself. Wanda appears on the screen, which gets Dr. Tennelli's attention. Ralphie denies that it is Wanda, because Wanda is shorter than that girl is. Carlos appears next on the TV and states that they are trying to figure out what's going on in the throat when he notices green pea-like creatures clinging to the tissue and destroying it. Dr. Tennelli notes that those green things are bacterial cells and adds that they resemble the bacteria that's causing Ralphie's illness.
The class reiterates this, adding that once inside of the body they can make a person sick. They then realize that Ralphie has a bacterial infection. Unfortunately, they mention Ralphie's name, which—perhaps combined with the girl that looks like Wanda and the boy who looks like and is even named the same as his friend Carlos—gets Dr. Tennelli wondering. Ralphie fumbles through a TV guide and says that the show is actually about someone named "Alphie".
The infection is getting worse, but just in time, white blood cells arrive and start firing Y-shaped rods at the bacteria and eating the ones that are covered in them. The battle rages on as Arnold tries to interview two bacterial cells. ...No wait, four bacterial cells. ...No wait, eight? They're multiplying, much faster than the white blood cells can fight against all of them. Ralphie is losing the battle. The class retreats to the bus, as the news that his body is losing to the bacteria horrifies Ralphie. Noticing the stress that the program is putting him under. Dr. Tennelli turns the TV off, and tells Ralphie to get some rest despite his protests, because the body needs to conserve as much energy as it can to battle the bacteria.
With his mom gone again, Liz turns the TV back on, where D.A. reports on the situation and that they need back-up support. She pleads with Ralphie—by now about to doze off—for the back-up, who has no idea where to get it from. Right on cue, the medicine that his mom gave him earlier floods in and destroys much of the bacteria, giving the white blood cells a second chance at victory. Those Y-shaped "stick things" are antibodies, and by now the area is completely filled with them. Ms. Frizzle notes that they are used to mark the bacteria... Right as the bus is being covered with them. Looking at this through the bus window, Arnold realizes what's about to happen, and sure enough, the bus starts to get swarmed by white blood cells.
The class pleads for help from Ralphie, but no one is home; Ralphie has completely dozed off.
But not to worry. Ms. Frizzle tells the class that the white blood cells will have to catch them first, before stepping on the bus' gas pedal and pulling the bus from the grasp of the white blood cells. The bus drives off—white blood cells in tow—and manages to escape by squeezing through the cell walls.
Meanwhile, Liz manages to wake up Ralphie by banging a gong. Ralphie is a bit disoriented as he tries to see the status of his class' broadcast day. Ms. Frizzle appears on the TV screen and recaps their escape and informs the viewers (Ralphie and us) that they are now in Ralphie's nasopharyngeal passages—wait, what? D.A.'s research quickly reveals that that's his nose, which Squicks out the class greatly (though his nose is surprisingly clean).
Ms. Frizzle hints to Ralphie that he will have to sneeze the class out, which Ralphie eventually gets, but he does not feel like sneezing at the moment. Well, it's a good thing that Liz has a pepper shaker, with which she throws its contents into his face. The plan is a success; Ralphie sneezes the class out into his socks, and they increase in size a bit to get one last word from the man of the hour.
Ralphie, now back in bed, apologizes that his body messed up their FNN broadcast so many times, but Carlos is surprised to hear that Ralphie thinks that his body is working against him. Wanda reminds him that his body is built to keep out germs as well as "a bus full of kids", and Phoebe tells him that his throat is sore because his body is sending extra blood there to fight the infection. He is still guilty over the whole thing, because the class almost got eaten by his white blood cells, but Arnold tells him that it was only because they thought it was bacteria. Wanda tells him that his body was just trying to protect him, and Ralphie finally gets it.
Ms. Frizzle leads the class away, because, with their broadcast over with, it's time for Ralphie to get some rest. Ralphie goes to sleep satisfied that they have gotten "the inside story", and the class leaves the bedroom; they may have won that battle, but Ralphie still has a war to finish. As the class flies back to the school, Wanda cooks up concepts for an "Inside Ralphie" series, as the class laughs.
- The first caller wonders why the class visited him when he was so sick and tired. The producer tells her that he was not infectious.
- The second caller tells the producer that Ralphie should not pick his scabs, because that's an easy way for germs to get in. Both scabs and bandages help keep pathogens out of the body.
- In addition to bacteria, viruses, parasites, and fungi can also make a person sick, as can their own body not working properly.
- The third caller notes that medicine can be dangerous, and children should not take it without adult supervision.
- One could help their body fight against and prevent infections by eating the proper foods, getting enough sleep, and exercising, in addition to getting all of their shots. Shots help the body become prepared against the more serious infections. Shots may sometimes hurt, but it's better to get a painful shot than it is to get a serious illness.
Ralphie of course got better and was back to his old self. The caller then asks if Ms. Frizzle ever gets sick, which the producer quickly denies. After all, Ms. Frizzle takes good care of her body, gets all of her shots, and she's magic. Okay, then.
Tropes
- Ambiguously Human: Ms. Frizzle is implied to be this in some shape or form by the producer at the end.
- Big "WHAT?!": Ralphie gives one when his mom tells him that he's staying home.
- Chekhov's Gun: The medicine that Ralphie's mom gives him early in the episode, which comes into play towards the end of Act 2 to turn the tide in the battle in Ralphie's throat.
- Dissonant Serenity: As the bus is getting attacked by white blood cells, the class is very freaked out while Ms. Frizzle is completely calm and marvels at the human body. Of course, soon after, she gets the class to safety. She likely knew that there was no way the white blood cells could break into the bus.
- Exhausted Eye Bags: Ralphie started to have noticeable shadows under his eyes midway through the episode all the way to the end.
- Failed a Spot Check: Played for Laughs; a later episode reveals that Dr. Tenelli has seen Ralphie's classmates, and in this one Ralphie said he was working on a project for the broadcast day. She assumes the movie he's watching have kids that look like his classmates.
- "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: Second episode in a row.
- Feigning Healthiness: Once he's had bitter medicine, Ralphie tells Dr. Tenelli that he's already feeling better and that he can go back to school. Dr. Tenelli is not fooled and just tucks him back into bed.
- Got Volunteered: Arnold doesn't want to go out to view the infection in the bloodstream. Ms. Frizzle dumps a uniform and microphone, telling him he's on interview duty.
- Hammerspace: Liz produces an endless array of objects from seemingly nowhere late in the episode, including a gong, a feather, and a pepper shaker.
- Hidden Depths: Ralphie is chosen to find an idea for the broadcast day. This is the same Ralphie that cares about sports and being on the field.
- Hollywood Darkness: When the class is inside Ralphie.
- Ironic Echo Cut:Dr. Tennelli: I'm sure your class can do broadcast day without you.(cut to the classroom)Wanda: We can't do it without him!
- Lame Pun Reaction:- Before Dr. Tennelli gives Ralphie his medicine.Dr. Tennelli: And don't forget to shake well before using it.Ralphie: (does a lame shaking dance while salsa music plays in the background) Like this?Dr. Tennelli: (rolls eyes) Even your jokes are sick.
- Mathematician's Answer: When a suspicious Arnold asks Miss Frizzle if their going to see Ralphie is a field trip, she just smiles and responds "What do you think, Arnold?"
- Pajama-Clad Hero: Ralphie spends the episode in his pajamas due to being sick.
- Pepper Sneeze: How Liz gets Ralphie to sneeze the class out of his nose.
- Pig Latin: What Ralphie uses to tell his class to stop using his name on the broadcast while his mom is in the room.
- Playing Sick: Inverted; after receiving his medicine, Ralphie says he feels better and is ready to go to school. Dr. Tenelli doesn't buy it and tucks him back into bed.
- Rule of Three: While the rest of the class flies back to school, Wanda suggests three potential health problems that an 'Inside Ralphie' TV mini-series could focus on: a charley horse, tennis elbow, and athlete's foot.
- Seeker White Blood Cells: The classroom piles into their bus and goes micro to figure out what's making Ralphie get sick. They encounter white blood cells, which identify the bus as a pathogen and start a chase scene. The white blood cells are shown "sniffing" for pathogens, even though they don't have noses. White blood cells don't actually move as they do in this episode; they mainly just float along and consume any pathogens they come across.
- Shout-Out: The class' "FNN" appears to be a reference to the cable news channel CNN.
- Shown Their Work: In-universe, Dr. Tennelli compliments the special effects of the movie that Ralphie is seeing, saying it's accurate showing the bloodstream.
- Sick Episode: Dr. Tenelli sees that Ralphie has a fever and puts him to bed. He keeps trying to insist that he's fine. His class ends up witnessing a battle between his white blood cells and the bacteria infecting him, and by the end of the episode, he's dozing off from exhaustion, proving Dr. Tenelli was right. Always listen to your doctor, folks, even when she's your mother.
- Title Drop - Wanda's "Inside Ralphie: The Series".
