The Magic School Bus Getting Energized
Original airdate: November 11th, 1995
Subject: Energy
Focus Student(s): Carlos, Mikey
At the local carnival, the class is running a Ferris Wheel for charity. They realize that Carlos forgot to plug in the Wheel, however, and when he tries, the cable shorts out. With the crowds demanding refunds on their tickets, the class enlists Carlos's brother Mikey to find an alternative energy source.
Producers Segment
The male producer answers the questions from the fairground while Liz sets off a Rube Goldberg Device.
Tropes
- Anything but That!: The class's initial reaction to Carlos calling Mikey for assistance.
- Bad "Bad Acting": Carlos does an Arnold Schwarzenegger impression, complete with "I'll be back".
- Big Damn Heroes: The bus and Ms. Frizzle save Ralphie when the catapult launches him over the cliff.
- Butt-Monkey: Again, Carlos, as he attempts to entertain the crowd, given their Lame Pun Reactions and Produce Pelting.
- Crazy Enough to Work: Mikey seeing the rock's gravity making the Ferris Wheel turn says that it should work.
- Crazy-Prepared: Mikey has an inflatable raft hidden in his wheelchair for emergencies, which comes in handy when the wind-powered conveyor belt dumps the rocks and the class into the river.
- Didn't Think This Through: After the electric cable shorts out, the class tries to manually run the Ferris Wheel. As they quickly realize, it's too heavy and that it would take "a day" for them to make a full turn.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: Not only does the class create an assembly line to move the Ferris Wheel with rocks, but the ride becomes crowded as more people line up to ride.
- Failed a Spot Check: Carlos forgot to plug in the Ferris Wheel before the fair's electricity was turned on. When he does, the current shorts out the cable.
- Handicapped Badass: Mikey, as shown when he rescues the class from river rapids.
- No OSHA Compliance: Parodied when Arnold points out that having rocks go down the Ferris Wheel is potentially dangerous. Mikey then suggests having the rocks go in one car, and people ride in the other.
- Noodle Incident: Mikey apparently messed up a campout with marshmallows, which gave DA a rash for two weeks. She blushes when he says he's glad her rash is gone.
- Produce Pelting: The increasingly-impatient crowd throws food at Carlos.
- Product Delivery Ordeal: In this episode, a short circuit renders an electric generator unusable to fuel a Ferris Wheel. Mikey then suggests Ms. Fizzle and her classmates bring an alternate source of energy to make the Wheel operate again and satisfy the impatient customers. They then choose to use the large boulders located behind a small mountain to make the Wheel move with their kinetic energy. After lots of thought and some trial and error, by the end of the episode, the kids end up placing a waterwheel next to a river to move a conveyor belt that transports the boulders into a catapult (powered by water boiled with sunlight) that launches them to seats of half of the Ferris Wheel to move it while the customers safely ride in the seats of the other half. The episode is meant to showcase the applications of energy, hence the assets used by the kids to solve the problem at hand.
- Too Dumb to Live: Yeah, Ralphie; the catapult jammed, and it has enough potential energy to throw a rock over a mountain - Get on top of it to unjam it. You're lucky to be alive! This is literally something Wile E. Coyote was known for doing! That's how bad of an idea that was!
