The Magic School Bus Works Out
Original airdate: November 9th, 1996
Subject: Circulation
Focus Student(s): Ralphie
It's time for the annual Teacher-athalon, and Ms. Frizzle is one of the competitors. Her opponent is the incredibly muscular Mr. Sinew, who is being supported by none other than Janet. The class is convinced that Ms. Frizzle stands no chance against a man who accidentally rips his shirt when he moves, but takes a field trip inside the Friz herself to learn about how the lungs relate to muscles.
Producers Segment
Mr. Sinew and Liz use exercise equipment in the Walkerville Elementary School gym while the former answers the phone calls about the episode.
Tropes
- Book Ends: Fitting as a demonstration of how the respiratory system works, the field trip begins and ends with the bus riding a breath current by Miss Frizzle. She takes the class into her lungs by sniffing deeply while they're inside her nose (inhalation). As they are leaving her body through her windpipe, she yells out a "Wahoo!" which blows the bus out through her mouth (exhalation).
- Borrowed Catchphrase:
- The students (sans Tim) get to say "Wahoo!" as the bus rides a breath current through Ms. Frizzle's nose as she inhales deeply.
- Ralphie urges the Frizz to "take chances, get messy and get us out of here" as the class is leaving her lung.
- Call-Back: To the time they went inside Ralphie.
- Card-Carrying Villain: Between events, Janet tells Tim and Mr. Sinew that complaining is a strong suit for her before invading the commentator's booth to grab Ms. Frizzle's attention.
- Chekhov's Gun: The air used to fill the bus tires ends up helping Ms. Frizzle combat the lactic acid in her leg muscles.
- Epic Fail: Ralphie when telling Ms. Frizzle to hold her breath in the middle of a canoe race. Keesha lampshades this.
- "Fantastic Voyage" Plot: This time the class goes inside Ms. Frizzle's body to learn how the lungs relate to muscles.
- Hiccup Hijinks: Ms. Frizzle develops hiccups in the middle of the canoe race. In an attempt to get rid of them, Ralphie first tries surprising her, then tells her to hold her breath. They end up losing the race due to the latter try.
- Pet the Dog:
- The other teacher after losing the bike race checks on Ms. Frizzle when she collapses and is a Graceful Loser.
- Janet hearing Tim talk to the class on a headset she can't see tells him brusquely that he may need a vacation. She then takes the time to check his forehead for a fever.
- Protagonist-Centered Morality: This episode involves Ms. Frizzle competing against Mr. Sinew in an event called the Teacherathalon. When Ms. Frizzle doesn't have enough energy to win the final event, the class (who are shrunk down inside her body) devise a scheme to clean the lactic acid off of her muscles and give them a boost of oxygen, rejuvenating her enough to win the final event. We have a word for objectively giving an athlete an edge in an event via an artificial boost of oxygen in the bloodstream: Blood Doping
. Ms. Frizzle didn't win due to her determination (as her good sport opponent congratulates her for), but rather for cheating. Of course, cheaters in other episodes (particularly Janet in "Makes A Stink", who pulls a similar stunt to win a competition), are called out for it and treated as morally wrong, though in those cases such cheating is done with clearly malicious intent, while here it was done merely as part of a science exercise regarding the human body, and it's possible Mr. Sinew understood that. - Same Content, Different Rating: Some broadcasts are actually rated TV-MA on account of an unusually detailed view of Ms. Frizzle's body even with certain parts obscured by her circulatory system, as well as drug references. Others are either TV-Y7 or TV-PG.
- Shut Up, Hannibal!: Harry Arm loses his patience with Janet when she threatens to have Ms. Frizzle disqualified between events for slacking off.Harry: Go away, Janet.
- Took a Level in Badass: Ms. Frizzle works out and wins the competition. Now that's teamwork!
- Villainy-Free Villain: Janet's "muscle man". He's not a bad guy, and not even a Jerkass. He just happens to be her competitor for charity.
