MSB S4E08: Gains Weight

It's time for me to take chances, make mistakes, put on a load of pounds! I'm going to be reviewing an episode about how gravity pulls us down. This also centres around Phoebe trying to do a slam dunk. Blog, do your stuff!

47. Gains Weight.
Topic: Gravity.
Written by: George Arthur Bloom.
Guest star: Paul Winfield as Mr. Ruhle.
Aired: 23 November 1997.

Phoebe has been chosen to do a slam dunk for the whole school. But how can she, not being tall enough? She reasons that maybe if she just knew how it felt, then maybe she could do it. Therefore, Ms. Frizzle takes the class into outer space and transforms the school bus into a planet with adjustable gravity. With little gravity, Phoebe finds a slam dunk easy, but with no gravity it is impossible to even make the ball go through the basket. However, when the lever accidentally falls into the position of heavy gravity, the class has trouble even standing up! They will have to restore the gravity to normal so they can return to Earth in time for Phoebe's performance.

If you've seen all the kids slapping the ruler to the hoop, you can see that Wanda's jumped the highest.

But they're all too short to do a slam dunk. As you can see, from lowest to highest is Arnold, Phoebe, Ralphie, Tim, Dorothy Ann, Keesha, Carlos, Wanda. I'm amazed that Wanda's the highest jumper even though she's the shortest in the class, yet Tim and Carlos are the tallest.

Even Carlos can jump lower than Wanda and he's been pumping for so long!

Tim explains the problem. They're all too short, and most basketball players are at least 6'3''.

Turns out Phoebe will have to do a slam dunk for Walkerville! She's shocked because when it comes to the lowest jumper in the class, she's a close second.  Hmm... maybe Phoebe should've stayed home today, and Wanda should've been chosen.

We all know that Ms. Frizzle is magical, and she's landed from the ceiling by foot.

It's Wanda's turn to disapprove of going on a field trip!

Phoebe's still doing a daydream of slam dunk.

Who would've thought Liz could juggle so well?

Come on! Ride on The Magic Rocket Bus!

And the bus has turned into Planet School Bus!

Check it out! The bus is a large basketball arena!

With so little gravity, Keesha can jump over Ralphie!

And Phoebe can do her slam dunk!

"Hey Phoebe! Looks like you've really got the hang of this, Phoebs!"

"Very funny, Carlos!"

Wow. Who would've thought Carlos would make a pun at this time? 

With so little gravity, Tim can lift this weight with one arm.

And Liz can balance this weight on one toe.

And here's a scale to show how much these kids weigh.

With even less gravity, Wanda can dribble the ball easily!

And Carlos can do a slam dunk! From where he is to the basketball hoop on the other side!

"Don't worry, Arnold! Liz is nowhere near the controls!"

Funny considering Liz isn't anywhere near the controls. 

Now Phoebe can't do her slam dunk! There's no gravity!

Uh-oh! Phoebe pulled the lever too hard!

And the bus is gigantic! Too much gravity!

This might be a downer, but there's plenty of popcorn for all!

And the statue broke! The globe fell off and fell into the gymnasium!

"Well, folks! It looks like we officially brought the house down!"

"Carlos!"

It's true. They did bring the house down. 

And Phoebe gained so much weight, she landed in the scale.

That's it, Phoebe! With everyone's help, you can revert the planet to its normal weight!

"To the bus!"

"Ms. Frizzle! This is the bus!"

"Excellent observation, Arnold!"

Funny that Ms. Frizzle didn't realise they were on the bus already! 

Welcome to Walkerville Arena!

With everyone's help, Phoebe can finally do her slam dunk! With this see-saw that Ralphie, Keesha and Arnold landed on.

She did it! She did her slam dunk!

Even the Producer couldn't help but to do a slam dunk on Liz!

And the Producer referenced the moon landing has little gravity.

So Liz decided to slam dunk herself.

One interesting factor about this episode is we find out that Phoebe's surname is Terese, but Mr. Ruhle pronounced it Tur-rez instead of tur-reez.

Even though we didn't see Principal Ruhle in this episode, Paul still voiced him.

One thing I find strange here is that all the kids were wearing basketball clothes in their signature colours, yet Dorothy Ann was wearing normal sneakers.

Also, this is the 2nd episode in a row where they travel into space and the 3rd in a row where Dorothy Ann doesn't wear her normal outfit.

We also find out that Phoebe weighs 65 pounds on Earth.

One thing the caller in the Producer segment questioned was how a Magic School Bus could turn into a planet. Well, again, it's not called "The Magic School Bus" for nothing.

This was a very entertaining way to learn about gravity. We see how gravity pulls on us, and however much gravity there is depends on how much planet there is, yet Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus and Neptune are much much bigger than Earth but are gas giants. Phoebe may have felt nervous about doing this slam dunk, but she managed in the end. And it was great victory in the end.

My rating: 9/10.

Season 4 scorecard:

1. Meets Molly Cule: 9/10.

2. Cracks a Yolk: 10/10.

3. Goes to Mussel Beach: 9/10.

4. Goes on Air: 9/10.

5. Gets Swamped: 9.5/10.

6. Goes Cellular: 10/10.

7. Sees Stars: 10/10.

8. Gains Weight: 9/10.

Season 4 so far: 9.4/10.

MSB S4E07: Sees Stars

It's Dorothy Ann's birthday, and she's sick. Let's see if the class will be able to get her a present. Blog, do your stuff!

46. Sees Stars.
Topic: Stars.
Written by: Noel MacNeal.
Guest star: Dabney Coleman as Horace Scope.
Aired: 16 November 1997.

On Dorothy Ann's birthday, she has, unfortunately, been taken sick and has to stay home. The class does not know what to get Dorothy Ann as a present until they see Horace Scope on S.S.N., the "Star Shopping Network," who is selling the stars for seven dollars each. Tim reasons that if every student puts in a dollar, they will be able to buy Dorothy Ann a star and name it after her. However, Keesha refuses to put in her dollar, as her grandmother was once duped by a similar organization, the Home Mopping Network. Therefore Ms. Frizzle takes the class on field trip to see the three stars being sold by Horace Scope for themselves.

Tim's constructing a present for Dorothy Ann's birthday. It's a musical star that plays Wait Till the Sun Shines, Nellie. Makes perfect sense since Dorothy Ann's a star expert.

Here's why Dorothy Ann didn't come to school on her birthday. And does she look cute in her new pyjamas or what?

This is what Dorothy Ann got for her birthday. A new super powerful telescope. And Liz swiping the candles off her cake.

How does Ms. Frizzle do that?!

Whuh-oh. Tim's stepped on a screw driver, trying to show Dorothy Ann's present he made, but he fell over and broke it, driving the plot. Similar to Taking Flight. 

Meet Horace Scope, the host of Star Shopping Network, where you can buy stars over the phone!

The Magic School Bus has gone out of this world again! But this time, Dorothy Ann's not on board.

And the main class are wearing their space suits again.

The first star is in the Taurus constellation.

Horace's description was funny. It takes 80 years to get there, implying that if this were real life, they'd get to that star in 2077, considering this episode was produced in 1997.

Liz just can't resist eating that cake. I guess she takes the cake, huh?

The first star is sucking them into it!

"At my old school, we never got pulled into the boiling hot centre of a swirling cloud of dust and gas!"

Well, Phoebe's Old School was lucky. 

Clever for the bus to wear sunglasses over its windshield.

And the bus itself is measuring the star with a tape measure.

Keesha doesn't want the star. She thinks it too immature since it's only 2,000,000 years old.

For the next star, go to the Big Dipper.

Cute spaceship that Keesha has. It's even wearing sunglasses.

And the star has its own system of planets, like our solar system.

Too late! The star and its planets were sold to Janet!

"How embarrassing!"

Well, Dorothy Ann's not the one who should've stayed home today. 

The last star Horace is going to sell is a red supergiant!

"But if we were closer, it would look very, very...."

"Humongous, stupendous, astromical, a 20 million year old red supergiant!"

Funny how Dorothy Ann said how large the red Supergiant would look if we were close enough. 

After Tim agreed to buy the star, Wanda and Ralphie looked suspicious. Especially considering the price was dropped.

Here's why the red supergiant was cheaper than the other stars.....

It exploded into a supernova! What happens to stars when they're too old.

And Keesha's gotten an idea. The stars going through their cycle.

"Excuse me, but in case you've forgotten, we STILL DON'T HAVE A PRESENT FOR D.A.'S BIRTHDAY!!!"

Wanda sounded funny when making this quote. 

Keesha got a clever idea. Make a new star out of the remains of this old star.

They've finally made a new star! Dorothy Ann 1.

They're just in time for Dorothy Ann's birthday party!

And Horace Scope is trying to sell Dorothy Ann's star, not knowing it was made out of the last star he sold.

And even the whole class convinced him that it was made for Dorothy Ann's birthday.

Good one, Liz! Turn off the TV on Horace.

Let's see what Liz is trying to make.

Of course! The constellation Magic School Bus!


We've gotten an interesting villain in this episode. Horace Scope, whose name is a pun on horoscope. And he's voiced by none other than Dabney Coleman.

This is for you Jim Henson fans. The person who wrote this episode is Noel MacNeal, whom you may know for doing lots of Jim Henson work.

There is a tiny error about this episode. Valerie stated that stars are made out of gas, when they're actually made of plasma.

It's interesting that this is another episode celebrating a character's birthday. In this case, it's Dorothy Ann's birthday. I've counted the candles on her cake, and there are 7. If there are supposed to be that number, then the main class must be in either Grade 1 or 2, even though it's commonly stated the original series is either Grade 3 or Grade 4.

Out of all the funny moments involving Liz, these ones take the cake! Literally! She was eating Dorothy Ann's cake shaped like a star!

And get this, this is the 2nd episode in a row where Dorothy Ann doesn't wear her normal outfit. She wore her formal outfit in the previous episode because she and the rest of the class were attending an award ceremony to see Arnold win a Rocky award, while in this one, she wore her new pyjamas and pink slippers because she had to stay home sick.

Also, this episode is another sick episode. Inside Ralphie involved Ralphie staying home sick, prompting the entire class to enter his body to see what was making him sick, while in this one, Dorothy Ann stayed home sick, and her body wasn't entered. Hmm....I wonder what kind of illness Dorothy Ann was suffering in this episode?

Throughout this episode, Keesha was teaming up with Tim to buy Dorothy Ann's present. Could this be a little proof that in spite of her love hate relationship with Ralphie, Keesha kind of likes Tim?

What I just said could be tiny ship teases. Since some people who don't ship Tim with either Wanda or Phoebe ship him with either Dorothy Ann or Keesha.

This was an entertaining, yet interesting way to learn about stars, in spite of the error. Tim breaking Dorothy Ann's present out of clumsiness drove the plot. And Keesha was very determined to help Tim out with buying a new star, yet she was very skeptical. And the episode got half of the focus on Dorothy Ann, because it's her birthday. It described how stars live their lives, yet they never stated how old Dorothy Ann is. Some might say that this episode celebrating her birthday makes her the oldest, but I doubt that's the case. Maybe some of the other kids had their birthdays offscreen. Still an entertaining episode. And this further shows how passionate Dorothy Ann is. And I've already said it and I'll say it again, she looks cute in her new pyjamas.

My rating: 10/10.

Season 4 scorecard:

1. Meets Molly Cule: 9/10.

2. Cracks a Yolk: 10/10.

3. Goes to Mussel Beach: 9/10.

4. Goes on Air: 9/10.

5. Gets Swamped: 9.5/10.

6. Goes Cellular: 10/10.

7. Sees Stars: 10/10.

Season 4 so far: 9.5/10.