MSB S3E07: Makes a Rainbow

I'm going to take chances, make mistakes, make a rainbow! One where Ms. Frizzle has a unique pinball machine. This is how my review will be coloured. Blog, do your stuff!

33. Makes a Rainbow.
Topic: Colour.
Written by: George Arthur Bloom and Jocelyn Stevenson.
Guest star: Paul Winfield as Mr. Ruhle.
Aired: 17 November 1996.

Ms. Frizzle and Liz have invented a magical pinball machine that uses light instead of balls. (The light travels much slower than in the real world.) The light goes through a prism and the player attempts to bounce the different coloured beams of light into the appropriate eye, in order to "make the rainbow." Ms. Frizzle says if she fails to win the game, it will be taken away. The class decides to help, and they shrink the bus and go inside the machine. Mr. Ruhle, the principal, shows up, and Arnold tries to stall him.

Here, Dorothy Ann is naming all the colours of the rainbow, however, she only names red, orange, yellow, green, blue, and violet. I'll talk more about this later.

Here, Arnold's explaining how the colours of the rainbow come out. It's according to the light-waves. Red is the longest, and violet is the shortest. And this shows that Arnold's favourite thing apart from rocks is colour.

"This could get ugly."

You can say that again, Wanda. She said this because Carlos and Dorothy Ann were fighting. 

This is what started the fight. Carlos turned on his red flashlight and coloured Dorothy Ann's painting with nothing but red light.

"And where did you get this book anyways? It's purple! Whoever heard of a purple book?"

"It's not purple! It's violet!"

Dorothy Ann's name for the colour is factual, and I'll explain that later. 

And Dorothy Ann lightened things up for Carlos by switching off his flashlight.

Look at that! Ms. Frizzle made a pinball machine! Not the usual pinball machine where you flip a steel ball, but with light turning into colour.

Further proof that Dorothy Ann's red-blue book is a plot device for this.

If you see Wanda and Tim move this tomato to reflect the red light, you'll see why we see red things.

Here, we are introduced to the principal of Walkerville Elementary, Mr. Ruhle. And Arnold's doing his best to stall him.

Look! The orange light vanished! The reason for this is because green light enters our eyes when we see something green. The reason we see other colours.

"How about orange and blue? They look nice together!"

"Orange and blue it is!"

Well, that's a clever combination, especially considering orange and blue are complementary to each other. 

That's a useful thing Dorothy Ann suggested. Use Carlos' hooded jumper to reflect the blue light, especially since Carlos' hooded jumper is also blue.

Uh-oh. You shouldn't have done that, Carlos. Now the blue light will hit The Magic School Bus and vanish because the bus is bright yellow.

That's the way, Carlos. Use your jumper to reflect the blue light!

Funny Arnold should hold an orange to a green traffic light. Maybe because if orange light vanishes when hitting something green, then vice versa.

"Man your battle stations!"

"Don't you mean 'Person your colour stations'?"

Funny Dorothy Ann should correct Carlos since this episode teaches kids about colour. 

Dorothy Ann's reddish blue book was a useful plot device. And it is violet!

Finally! The Magic School Bus made the rainbow!

 "Cool! Then I can be my own basketball team!"
"Ralphie!"

Funny since there are 6 buses, 6 chameleons and 42 kids.

This is more interesting. Dorothy Ann is completely in her signature colour! Violet! 

As Tim and Phoebe demonstrate, if you shine normal white light on a prism, it'll make a rainbow, but if you use another prism, normal light will shine out the other end.

Er, the order of these kids isn't exactly right. From left to right (viewer's perspective) should be Wanda, Phoebe, Arnold, Ralphie, Tim, Carlos, Dorothy Ann, Keesha, just to make a rainbow.

Mr. Ruhle is really enjoying himself on Ms. Frizzle's rainbow pinball machine!

  Isn't that cute! Liz made her own pinball machine like the Friz.


It was interesting to see Mr. Ruhle introduced for the first time here. In this series, he's voiced by the late Paul Winfield. I can tell it's Paul because his voice is exactly the same as Lucius Sweet from The Simpsons.

Sadly, Paul Winfield was taken away from us in 2004. Rest in peace, Paul. You'll be sorely missed.


When Carlos and Dorothy Ann fought over the name of the colour Dorothy Ann's book is, Dorothy Ann's more correct, and I'll explain myself: 

The colour on the left is purple, which is a red-violet colour, and the colour on the right is violet, a blue-purple colour.

There is a nitpick some people have with this episode, most specifically a scientific error. This episode said there are 6 colours of the rainbow, when there are actually 7. One colour is missing from this episode:

This colour is indigo, which sits in between blue and violet on the rainbow. Maybe they removed this colour for plot convenience?

If Carlos didn't want to get struck by blue light, then maybe they could've gotten Tim to reflect it with the blue henley he'd usually wear throughout this series. Also, did Dorothy Ann need to use her book to reflect the violet light? I mean she's wearing a violet skivvy.

This big fight between Carlos and Dorothy Ann must be another reason almost everyone ships them.

Despite the flaws, especially the scientific error, this was an entertaining way to learn about colour and how we see them. And Dorothy Ann's fight with Carlos got ugly, yet funny, especially when arguing about the colour of Dorothy Ann's book. And the way Arnold stalled Mr. Ruhle, who was introduced in this episode, was funny. And Ms. Frizzle's epic "Nooo!!!" was another highlight. Too bad we didn't see Carlos turn on any of the other colours of his rainbow flashlights. But I guess you can't have it all.

My rating: 10/10.

Season 3 scorecard:

1. In a Beehive: 9.5/10.

2. In the Arctic: 10/10.

3. Spins a Web: 9.5/10.

4. Under Construction: 9.5/10.

5. Gets a Bright Idea: 10/10.

6. Shows and Tells: 10/10.

7. Makes a Rainbow: 10/10.

Season 3 so far: 9.8/10.