Calvin is irritated by the distinct lack of snow on the ground, despite it being late winter.
Meanwhile, Sherman has invented a radio that is powered by the brain. Andy is the test subject, sitting next to the machine with several wires connecting his head to it. The only problem is that while it can read thoughts, it apparently misreads them and gives the listener the wrong kind of music. Calvin, Hobbes and Socrates come over, and they use it to listen to a local weather report that says that a blizzard is going to hit the town overnight. Calvin is thrilled.
His prayers are answered the next morning when he wakes up and finds that schools are closed. At first, he and everyone else is thrilled. But then it turns out the power is down all across town due to a power line having been blown over during the storm.
This realization is made all across town. Andy, Sherman and Socrates find all their beloved electronic possessions are effectively useless, leaving them with very little to do on a snow day. Since Sherman's Cerebellum-Powered Radio still works (as it runs on brain power), they use it to find out what's happening. It is speculated on the air that it will take four days for the power to come back on. They are less than impressed.
Calvin and Hobbes try to make the best of a bad situation, but after they're done sledding and having snowball fights, they find themselves bored with no television. Andy starts to go a little strange without video-games or his iPod, causing Sherman some concern. Socrates finds himself unable to plan any pranks because he can't print off any fresh blueprints. The only person happy about any of this is Calvin's dad, who loves not having technology.
After a few days, they use the radio again to find out how much longer they have to wait. It turns out to only be three or four more hours.
They nearly go mad waiting. Calvin ends up arguing with the MTM about his lack of helpfulness. Socrates keeps tripping over things in the dark.
Finally, they struggle to get the radio working one more time (in the process finding out via MTM that it would be impossible to successfully market a brain-powered radio due to how many thoughts the average person has in a day being around 6000). They learn that the power will be restored in ninety seconds.
They're thrilled.
But will they do for ninety seconds?
Tropes:
- Agony of the Feet: Socrates does this while tripping around in the dark.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall/No Fourth Wall: See Shout-Out.
- Declarative Finger: Sherman while delivering the Aesop.
- "Hell, Yes!" Moment: When Calvin first learns of the snow day.
- Pretty much everyone also does this at the end, when it's announced that the power will come on.
- Ignored Aesop:Sherman: Well, you know, there is a lesson to learned from all this.
MTM: Really? What's that, then?
Sherman: That mankind has developed a too much dependency on electricity. We should all learn to be a little less conditioned to be so electric and so forth. This three days without electricity actually could have done us some good.
(Beat)
Socrates: Who cares? THE ELECTRICITY'S COMING BACK ON IN 90 SECONDS!!! - Innocuously Important Episode: The episode may seem like filler at first glance, but it gets a Cerebus Retcon come "Our Solemn Hour".
- iProduct: Calvin wants to name the radio the iRadio.
- Irony: Socrates' mood at one point shifts from "It's like I'm living in 1879!" to "Good god, what did people do back in 1879?!?"
- One-Word Title
- Reverse Psychology: The radio works on this.
- Sanity Slippage: Andy ends up staring at a blank screen pretending to play a video game.
- Calvin's dad veers sharply in the opposite direction, with ironically similar results.
- Shout-Out: Calvin wears the Fourth Doctor's scarf.
- A lot of bands get brought up - this can overlap with Take That!.
- The MTM references A Summer of Kings and Juno.
- Wasn't That Fun?:Calvin: (after crashing the toboggan) HOO! THAT WAS GREAT! LET'S GO AGAIN!
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Lampshaded/parodied: the weather reporter lists the nearest county as "that unnamed county that's next to us".
- White Collar Worker: The reporter again - he really hates his job."And now that that's all done with, please enjoy this song from Lonestar, while I sit in my little cubicle, only being paid minimum wage to tell you ungrateful fools this stuff!"
- You're Just Jealous: Andy claims this of Sherman."You're just jealous because you can't play Wii."
