MSB S5E11: Ralphie Strikes a Nerve

Let's strike a nerve with this review on the episode involving cheerleading. Something to help beat Janet's team! Blog, do your stuff!

63. Ralphie Strikes a Nerve.
Topic: Nervous System.
Written by: Bernice Vanderlaan.
Guest Star: Sandra Oh as Sarah Bellum.
Released: 29 September 2017.

The class constructs a giant cheerleading robot with help from brainy scientist Dr. Sarah Bellum, then takes a look inside Ralphie's nervous system.

Here we are. Walkerville Warthogs are preparing for a volleyball game.

"We got tusks! Can barely see! Haven't won since 93!"

Funny since they hadn't won in 24 years. 

Hep Dude! Ralphie's acting awesome as always.

Turns out they're playing against Janet. Anyone but her team!

But it's a tripping contest.

Since the Walkerville Warthogs don't have a cheerleading squad, Janet's is better.

 

Ralphie has a bright idea! A cheerleading robot!  Er.... I think Ralphie forgot about the time he built a robot to make him a sandwich, but it didn't work out.

Jyoti loves Ralphie's idea. Robots are her thing too.

Arnold wants a hot dog, but it's not his lucky day.

Way cool robots!

This is the robo lab. So many robots built here!

This is a robo table tennis game. Ping! Pong! Ping! Pong! And Fiona Frizzle's taking them to meet Sarah Bellum.

No! Not that Sara Bellum!

Yeah. This Sarah Bellum. Her name being a pun on cerebellum.

A Robo Oboe.

A Robo Dodo.

And a Robo Froyo. Seriously smooth stuff.

This is Ra-Ra Robot 1.0!

It's Ra-Ra time!

But it's a Ra-Ra Klutz here!

Exploring Jyoti's brain signals.

This shows the brain has lots of sections that tell us to do something.

Who would've thought Jyoti could somersault?

"According to my reesearch, it takes a lot of different parts of the brain to do a move like that."

That's a lot for the brain to do. 

"Like my cousin Nasal Hazel used to say, Take no rest! Take no cause! We're on our way to Jyoti's Schnoz!"

Go to Jyoti's nose! 

Funny Arnold should tickle that brain signal.

It's a relay race through Jyoti's brain!

And Jyoti can feel it. She's scratching her nose.

Janet's a powerful volleyball player here. And Tim missed.

Here's the rest Ralphie's getting. But there's more to the brain than just what we know.

They're inside Ralphie again!

Here, the brain's doing things we don't even know we're doing. Especially when we sleep.

"We'll never make it in time! Wait! That's not the kind of thing I usually say."

"We'll never make it in time!"
"That's better."

Funny considering it's something Arnold would say. But Carlos would say it? 

First of all, let's clean up the mess the robot made.

The Cheerleading Ra-Ra Robot is going to cheerlead! Go, Warthogs!

But Janet didn't get the ball.

Robot using pom poms! That's the way!

Janet even bumped into her teammate! She's mad.

Hogs won! Hogs won!

Janet's angry at her teammate for cheering their opponents.

Valerie and Goldie are at the movies. Foreshadowing next episode.

This episode is kind of like a combo of Inside Ralphie and Flexes its Muscles. Only the former, they just went into Ralphie's immune system while the latter had Ralphie building a robot to make him a sandwich. This one's about the nervous system. They did go into Ralphie's nervous system and stomach in this one, and built a cheerleading robot and succeeded.

I have to say, it was funny of Janet to get angry at her teammate for cheering for their opponents' victory.

I wonder if Sarah Bellum's name is also a reference to Sara Bellum from The Powerpuff Girls? Since they have the same sounding name.

Also speaking of references, the way the kids went into Ra-Ra Robot might remind some of Power Rangers. Considering the protective outfits these kids have in this series when required, they wouldn't look out of place as Power Rangers. 

Oh yeah. One thing I really want to address here. This episode has given me one of several reasons to want Phoebe to appear at least once in this series. Janet's still making recurring appearances. If Janet can still appear in this series, why not Phoebe?

Oh well, this was still an edutaining episode. Learning about how the nervous system works, even while we sleep like Ralphie was. And it was awesome to see him and Keesha working the brain of Ra-Ra Robot together. Janet's team managed to score far far ahead, but Walkerville Warthogs still beat them only just.

My rating: 9.5/10.

Season 5 scorecard:

1. Frizzle of the Future: 8/10.

2. Pigs in the Wind: 9/10.

3. In the Swim: 9.5/10.

4. The Battle for Rock Mountain: 10/10.

5. The Magnetic Mambo: 9/10.

6. Carlos Gets the Sneezes: 9/10.

7. Hides and Seeks: 9.5/10.

8. Three in One: 9/10.

9. Space Mission: Selfie: 8.5/10.

10. The Tales Glaciers Tell: 10/10.

11. Ralphie Strikes a Nerve: 9.5/10.

Season 5 so far: 9.1/10.

MSB S5E10: The Tales Glaciers Tell

Let's go on a cold field trip. A trip to help Dorothy Ann with the story she wants to tell. Inspired by her parents who are also good storytellers. Blog, do your stuff!

62. The Tales Glaciers Tell.
Topic: Glaciers.
Written by: Josh Gal, Jocelyn Stevenson, John May, and Suzanne Bolch.
Released: 29 September 2017.

Dorothy Ann is under the pressure of telling a great story, to impress her parents a give a 'wow' across a crowd for the first time in her life- she chooses to tell one of the best stories in the world, that has been passed on from generation to generation since the prehistoric era, via glaciers.

Dorothy Ann seems to be having trouble telling her own rendition of The 3 Bears and Goldilocks. 

It's funny that Dorothy Ann had a percentage chart that Carlos would say about the story and not numbers.

This shows that Dorothy Ann's parents tell stories from time to time.

Fiona's snowboarding into class!

"According to my reesearch, it's a river of ice that only forms on land, and is always on the move."

Yeah. A glacier does form on land and moves all the time. 

It's funny that Fiona would make Arnold drop out of The Magic School Plane.

And the kids have turned into snowflakes.

A good callback to Carlos Gets the Sneezes. Carlos sneezing up pollen.

The class have reached the ground.

This bus is using its caterpillar tracks to go up the icy slope.

How innocent Dorothy Ann begged with "Pleeeease?"

 This must be a gigantic number of snowflakes that fell to the ground.

And upon sledding down the glacier, Bus has gotten a sled.

Luckily, Ms. Frizzle has a Magic Fuse to fix the bus.

Here's something strange. The bag Carlos and Ralphie has can talk to them.

Yep. Ralphie and Carlos are in the age where Mammoths and Sabre Tooth Tigers existed. Eemian Age.

Fiona made it to this age too.

And Jyoti is back 20,000 years ago with this caveman.

But Arnold tried roasting, but no good.

"I knew I should've stayed in my cave today."

Would've been funny if Arnold did stay in his cave. 

They're in the year 1817.

And they're in the 1970s, where disco was at the height of its popularity.

 

Dorothy Ann finds the temperatures in the 70s incredible. The way she looks here kind of reminds me of the way she looked in the first 4 seasons.

Here are some cute polar bear cubs with their mother.

Wanda took a wrong turn and fell!

But she's been saved by the class.

But worse news. Dorothy Ann's Friz Tab is broken. Busted! All info gone!

But they have a plan B.  Dig up some ice to help tell Dorothy Ann's story.

Dorothy Ann's dad hopes the story will be bigger than The Tortoise and the Oryctolagus cuniculus. The European Rabbit.

Everyone's here to watch the story be told.

"Bus, do your stuff!"

We get to hear someone apart from either Friz tell the bus that. 

 Once upon a time, the Earth was a different place, roamed by woolly mammoths.

But they were chased by Sabre-toothed Tigers.

But the ocean got warmer and it rose, for octopuses in the neighbourhood.

Eventually, people got smarter, and built buildings to live or work in, but the problem is they emit greenhouse gases.

Some solutions to the problem will be to walk or ride bikes.

When we're done with our computers, turn them off or put them to sleep.

Do this for the glaciers and for us!

The story gave great applause, and Dorothy Ann's parents couldn't be prouder of their eldest daughter.

Goldie's trying to point to the volleyball.

But Valerie playing volleyball foreshadows the next episode.


We finally get to hear Dorothy Ann's dad speak. Since Dorothy Ann's mum spoke in Out of this World, it took over 20 years for anyone to hear Dorothy Ann's dad speak.

There's one thing I have to question. I've noticed that William was sitting behind Wanda, and their mum was sitting behind them. Yet I didn't see Evan sitting anywhere near Dorothy Ann's parents.

Who would've thought an episode of The Magic School Bus would touch on climate change? Now that's impressive!

Get this. Liz gets even less screentime than she did in In the City. Could it be because she's a lizard?

And I'm even more impressed that Wanda has overcome her hatred of the cold.

The fact this episode touches on climate change could link to that Captain Planet Magic School Bus conspiracy, especially considering that Captain Planet teaches kids to be environmentally friendly, and they say Dorothy Ann grew up to be Linka, and Wanda grew up to be Gi. Dorothy Ann helped Wanda back to the cliff.

A very impressive way to teach kids about glaciers and how they're formed. We also get to learn how they collect stuff like pollen, sediments, and all other things. The story Dorothy Ann told at the end has given me another reason to favour her over the rest of the class. Now that's true science this episode taught. I recommend this episode to anyone. Especially those who really are concerned about global warming.

My rating: 10/10.

Season 5 scorecard:

1. Frizzle of the Future: 8/10.

2. Pigs in the Wind: 9/10.

3. In the Swim: 9.5/10.

4. The Battle for Rock Mountain: 10/10.

5. The Magnetic Mambo: 9/10.

6. Carlos Gets the Sneezes: 9/10.

7. Hides and Seeks: 9.5/10.

8. Three in One: 9/10.

9. Space Mission: Selfie: 8.5/10.

10. The Tales Glaciers Tell: 10/10.

Season 5 so far: 9/10.