The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten
The episode opens up with Liz eating a fly buzzing past as Ralphie and Wanda arrive to the classroom, carrying some beach equipment that causes them to get stuck in the doorway. After freeing themselves, they become excited because Ms. Frizzle is taking the class to the beach. But not until after their reports are done, Dorothy Ann reminds them. As more and more of the students start to come in, it is revealed that their reports involves them pairing up and bringing in two beach-related things have have something in common with each other: Dorothy Ann and Carlos brought in sand and a crab, Ralphie brought in a yellow balloon to act as the Sun for Phoebe's dune grass, and Tim brought in a picture of a rock (why not a real rock?) to go with Wanda's mussel.
Finally, Keesha arrives, and once she's reminded of the project, she starts to panic because she totally forgot about the report. Oops. All she brought was a swimsuit and a towel. ...And a tuna fish sandwich. Carlos tries to calm her down, and learns that her partner is Arnold (though by process of elimination, that should have been obvious), and everyone becomes confident that Arnold would come through for Keesha.
Just then, they hear a squishing sound from the doorway as Arnold enters the room. One of his shoes is covered with a green slime, a result of him stepping into a pond while running. Keesha takes his haste as a good sign, because obviously it means that Arnold could not wait to do the report and save her hide.
...Actually, turns out that he forgot about the report as well. Double oops.
But what DID he bring? A bathing suit and a towel. ...And the gunk on his shoe.
So aside from their beach stuff, they brought in a tuna fish sandwich and the pond scum. The class starts to wonder if those two have anything in common, and Keesha tries to think up what makes the two related, but draws a blank.
Keesha takes off Arnold's slime-covered shoe and places it in a plastic bag, before telling him that they have to work with what they have. Ms. Frizzle arrives—dressed for the beach—and is excited about their day ahead. Keesha hopes that Ms. Frizzle will forget about the reports, but no such luck. Much to their relief, however, she calls on Ralphie and Phoebe to go first.
Phoebe explains that like all plants, dune grass need the Sun in order to make the energy it needs to live (as we will find out in much greater detail in season 3); without the sun, the dune grass will die, and Ralphie adds that without the Sun there would be nothing, before releasing the balloon and letting it fly across the class, until it lands right in front of Keesha and Arnold. And what luck; Ms. Frizzle calls on them next.
Keesha meekly explains that they brought in a tuna fish sandwich and the pond scum, which Ms. Frizzle considers "absolutely fantastic", surprising the duo. However, Ms. Frizzle asks them what they have in common, which Arnold answers with "adjectives".
Luckily, they are saved by the bell, as the alarm clock notifies Ms. Frizzle that it is time for the beach trip. But the reports will be finished once they come back. For once, Arnold is glad to go on a field trip (seems that Arnold forgot about the incident with Janet, unless this episode actually does take place before that one in canon).
Arnold is looking forward to relaxing at the beach, but Keesha quickly reminds him that they need to focus on working out the connection between their two items. Ms. Frizzle for seemingly no reason tells the class that their trip will give them the answer they're looking for.
Ms. Frizzle tells them that she actually doesn't know everything, but it is their job—as scientists—to look for connections.
As the class arrives at the beach, the other groups find their own reports in physical form; Ralphie and Phoebe's dune grass bathing in the sun, Tim and Wanda's mussels attached to a large rock, and a crab burrowing into the sand just like in Carlos and D.A.'s report. They spot a seagull flying overhead, which swoops down and takes the crab away in its beak.
Keesha is deep in thought over their report, as Arnold is hit with a hunger spell and tries to eat Keesha's tuna fish sandwich. She quickly snatches it away and reminds him that they need to figure out the connection between the sandwich and the pond scum. At that point, Ms. Frizzle pulls up in the bus and tells them that they are going to explore the environment in "a bit more depth". The class is somewhat confused, and Arnold immediately becomes suspicious. With the class back on the bus, Ms. Frizzle transforms it into a fish and dives into the water.
The fish-bus jumps in and out of the water a few times, before transforming into a boat (making one question the point of the previous transformation; perhaps just for fun?). Inside of the boat-bus, the class observes the ocean floor through the glass floor in the bus. Tim is awed by the sea urchins, which eat seaweed; and in turn, sea otters eat the urchins.
Ms. Frizzle asks Arnold what he sees in the water, but his sight is obscured by a green liquid. Wanda calls it "scummy", which causes a lightbulb to light up in Arnold's head. Ms. Frizzle grabs a net and scoops up some of the scum, explaining that it is phytoplankton, which are very tiny plants. Keesha wonders if the scum on Arnold's shoe is phytoplankton, and Ms. Frizzle gives her her mega-magnifier for her to check out. Through the magnifier, she is able to see that the cells of both scum are similar, but at the same time different. Ms. Frizzle asks her if she wants to take a closer look, and Keesha agrees. Arnold recognizes Ms. Frizzle's tone of voice and realizes that "something weird" is going to happen. Sure enough, Ms. Frizzle transforms the bus into a submarine and shrinks it to the size of phytoplankton.
With the class now donned in scuba-gear, Ms. Frizzle orders the class out of the bus to study the phytoplankton up close, and reminds Keesha and Arnold to look for connections. He is confused at how they're supposed to find such a connection when they are so small, while Tim and D.A. are amazed at how all of those individual phytoplankton look like green scum to a normal-sized human. Soon, the phytoplankton start to get eaten by slightly bigger creatures, and Ms. Frizzle rescues the class before one of the creatures can chow down on them.
Arnold is relieved that he was not eaten, as Ms. Frizzle makes the bus a bit bigger, to the size of those creatures called "zooplankton", which are tiny aquatic animals that feed on phytoplankton. She sends the class back out to look for connections, but Keesha is unsure if they'll be able to find the connection between the scum and the tuna fish sandwich what with how big the ocean is.
As the class fools around with the zooplankton (with Wanda and Tim even riding two of them), they note that there is not as much zooplankton as there is phytoplankton. Just then, Phoebe notices fish swimming around: anchovies. Ralphie is unknowingly almost eaten by one before he is pulled to safety. The anchovies start to eat the zooplankton, at which point Ms. Frizzle takes the class back into the bus for lunch and makes the bus the size of an anchovy.
Keesha is not hungry, because she is still concerned about their report. As she ponders over the connection between the scum and sandwich, she asks Arnold what's in a tuna fish sandwich. ...Really, Keesha? Anyway, Arnold lists off the ingredients: mayonnaise, tuna fish, maybe a little vinegar, some chopped celery- wait, tuna fish? Keesha is stunned to find that there is tuna fish in a tuna fish sandwich (yes, really), and wants to know what a tuna fish looks like. She calls on D.A. to see if there is a picture in one of her books, while outside the anchovies start to get eaten by an even bigger fish...
D.A. find a picture and shows her. Keesha looks outside, and right then she figures out the connection between her and Arnold's report items. Zooplankton eats phytoplankton, small fish such as anchovies eat the zooplankton, and what eats little fish like anchovies? ...The class is stunned silent, before they scream "tuna fish" in horror. Keesha is briefly confused, before she looks at the window behind her and sees why; the bus has been eaten by a tuna fish. She promptly joins in on the screaming (though like with the white blood cells last episode, Ms. Frizzle is very calm and perhaps even excited about the situation).
Inside of the fish, Arnold is bummed out about the whole thing, but Keesha is now calm and tells him that they now know how their items are connected. Because the scum gets eaten by zooplankton, the zooplankton gets eaten by small fish, and the small fish get eaten by tuna, they now have a clear connection between their pond scum and tuna fish sandwich. Ms. Frizzle asks the class what you call something that's linked together, and Tim responds with "a chain". Correct, because as Ms. Frizzle explains, tuna are linked to phytoplankton by what they eat; after all, they belong to the same food chain. In fact, even humans are connected to the food chain, because humans eat fish and pretty much everything else; as a result they are usually at the very top of the food chain. But the class' current situation is the exception; they are inside of a tuna. Ms. Frizzle declares this the perfect opportunity to study the tuna's digestive system, but Keesha wants to go back to school because now she is very confident in their report. Ms. Frizzle decides to grant her her wish, to the relief of the class, and looks for a way out.
Spotting a fish hook through the bus' periscope right in front of the tuna, the scope transforms into a claw that grabs the hook and pulls it out of the fish and out of the water. The fisherwoman throws it back into the water—because she already caught a bus beforehand—before it rises to the surface back at its normal size and transforms into a large surfboard (the reaction of the fisherwoman from before is not seen, considering that they could not have been too far from her after being tossed). The class surfs back to land, with the class awed at Ms. Frizzle's surfing skills.
Back at the school, Keesha and Arnold give their report, and recap the food chain as shown in the episode thus far. Ms. Frizzle shows a picture of a land-based food chain: a mouse eating grass seeds, a snake eating the mouse, and a hawk eating the snake. The hawk is at the top of that particular food chain, so what's at the bottom, Ms. Frizzle asks. Grass, Carlos answers.note So, what's at the bottom of the ocean food chain, Ms. Frizzle adds. Phytoplankton, Wanda replies note . Finally, Ms. Frizzle asks what grass and phytoplankton have in common.
But seriously, D.A. answers that they're both plants, and Keesha wonders if all food chains begin with plants, to which Ms. Frizzle enthusiastically confirms. The class is very happy that they figured it out, and Arnold muses that everything must be connected somehow, before noticing that his shoe is missing.
Meanwhile, back with the tuna in the ocean, it's shown that Arnold's shoe—sans pond scum—has somehow gotten outside of the bus and was still in the tuna. It burps it out in a bubble, and it floats to the hook belonging to the same fisherwoman from before. She tosses it into her stockpile, before it is stolen by a seagull. The seagull flies back to where the school is and drops the shoe just as the class is leaving. The shoe grows back to its normal size and falls into Arnold's hands.
- Humans are at the top of every food chain, and a group of chains combined is called a "food web".
- If something happens in one part of the chain, it will have consequences for the other part(s) of the chain.
- Not all food chains begin with plants; some life forms get their energy from chemicals from hydrothermal vents
. The producer's response? "They're weird." (And while we're at it, plants on land get their energy from the Sun, so in a way, the Sun is at the bottom of the land food chain; no Sun, no plants; no plants, that mouse won't have anything to eat, which would cause that snake and in turn that hawk to starve.)
The caller then brings up the tuna eating the school bus, which just can't happen. The producers says that it could, if the bus looked like an anchovy. True, but the kid then says that buses can't really shrink or go into the ocean, but the producer points out that it is a magic school bus (the kid must have missed that).
On that note, the kid then says that Ms. Frizzle must be magic, because no other teacher can "hang ten between math lessons and report marking". The producer gives an ambiguous confirmation, and then sends the caller on his way.
The producer then turns and sees the magnificent sandwich that Liz has made. However, before he can chow down, Liz wraps the sandwich up, puts it in a wagon, and pulls it off to parts unknown, leaving behind the hungry producer.
Tropes
- Beach Episode: Even though they don't spend too much time at the beach.
- Big "WHAT?!": Phoebe gives this when Ms. Frizzle suggests going through the tuna's digestive system.
- Dagwood Sandwich: Liz builds one out of the producer's sandwich...then takes it away, leaving the producer hungry.
- Dissonant Serenity: Ms. Frizzle once again, as the class is eaten by the tuna.
- Eaten Alive: Pretty much the subject of the episode. Additionally, the bus is swallowed by a tuna at the end of Act 2.
- "Everybody Laughs" Ending
- "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: Third episode in a row, but to a much lesser extent. Ms. Frizzle tries to invoke this further by announcing a trip through the tuna's digestive system, but Keesha talks her out of it.
- Hollywood Darkness: The inside of the tuna is pretty well-lit.
- Oh, Crap!: Keesha's catchphrase appears for the first time when she realizes her beach-related items might not be up to snuff.Keesha: Oh, no! Oh, help! Oh, bad! Oh, bad, bad! Oh, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad, bad!
- They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: That tuna fish sandwich was never eaten, as far as we know.
- Wrong Restaurant: In the "Producer Says" segment, a viewer calls the show's producer, asking if he called Big Al's Total Pig-Out Emporium, as he wants to order a toasted Big Al special. The producer tells him that he dialed the wrong number, as this is the Magic School Bus show. The viewer then says that he was just watching the show, and his appetite made him dial the wrong number.
