The Magic School Bus Gets Swamped
Original airdate: October 11th, 1997
Subject: Wetlands
Focus Student(s): Carlos
Carlos is excited about a town meeting, because he's going to argue in a debate to get rid of a "mucky swamp" and build a lovely new mall in its place. Janet then steps in, and she ends up winning Carlos's coveted spot in the debate, so that Carlos has to argue to "keep the swamp." Along the way he learns about the importance of wetlands.
Producers Segment
Liz struggles to get a glass of ice cold juice to drink while the male producer answers the phone calls from the shore of the swamp.
Tropes
- Artistic License – Biology: The class is horrified that the destruction of the swamp will mean the destruction of the marshmallow plants there. Just think about all the marshmallows that could have been made! However, modern marshmallows have nothing to do with marshmallow plants; they are made from gelatin and sugar.
- Bait-and-Switch: After Ms. Frizzle's class explains that getting rid of the wetlands to build the mall would put the town in danger of flooding, Janet still says to build the mall...but concedes that they should do so somewhere else.
- Borrowed Catchphrase: The judge shouts "What are we gonna do, what are we gonna do, what are we gonna dooooo?!" at the sight of the flood coming to their town. Wanda even lampshades this.
- Courtroom Episode: If you speak out of turn in the courtroom, the judge will not accept your arguments. When Ms. Frizzle's students try to make their argument about the wetlands after the council begins to show support for Janet, the Judge refuses to hear their arguments, tells them they're "out of order", and orders them to sit down. Ms. Frizzle reluctantly admits they have to abide by the rules of the debate.
- Duck!: Tim shouts "Duck!", and the kids all duck... only for Tim to point out that there's a family of ducks.
- Foreshadowing: The tree from which Tim films is old and rickety, and Carlos warns Tim that it might crash any minute. In the second half of the episode, the tree crashes and blocks the river, causing a flood.
- Everyone Has Standards: The council, Janet and the judge go back on their decision to argue for the mall when the city nearly gets flooded, because there's no point to getting rid of a wetland that prevents flooding.
- Heads or Tails?: Ms. Frizzle uses this to decide who will argue for getting rid of or keeping the swamp. Carlos guesses "heads" when it's tails, meaning that he has to argue to keep the swamp.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": Everyone in the courtroom when they realize Liz is telling them about the flood using a model of the city.
- Model Planning: The council has one. Liz uses it to communicate about an ongoing flood.
- Near-Villain Victory: Janet nearly wins over the council to get rid of the swamp, despite Carlos's debating. Then the flood happens, and even Janet admits that there's no point to having a mall when there is no wetland to prevent flooding.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Carlos when he loses the coin toss and his debate spot.
- Liz when she sees the flood.
- Running Gag: Nearly everyone in Ms. Frizzle's class, including Ms. Frizzle herself, gets told they're "out of order" at one point by the judge. Janet does as well at the end.
- Throw the Dog a Bone: At the end of the Producer segment, a thirsty Liz finally manages to have some ice-cold juice.
- Yank the Dog's Chain: In the Producer segment, a parched Liz is about to have a drink when the Producer snatches it away for a demonstration to a caller.
