The Magic School Bus Gets Charged
Original airdate: November 15th, 1997
Subject: Electricity
Focus Student(s): Wanda, Tim
The class is stuck with selling lightbulbs on Valentine's Day. They soon come across Ms. Frizzle's house, and realize that her doorbell is broken. With a potential "boyfriend" on the way to see their teacher, they have a limited amount of time to fix the doorbell for a romantic visit.
Producers Segment
The male producer answers the questions about the episode while Liz makes a Valentine's Day project.
Tropes
- Call-Back: Ms. Frizzle's yard has many items from previous episodes, including a bridge made of gumdrops and hairpins and a giant beanstalk
- Chekhov's Gun: Ms. Frizzle's candy box—Wanda uses a foil wrapper from one of the chocolates to fix the doorbell current.
- Does This Remind You of Anything?: Ms. Frizzle talking about the repair guy, period.
- Don't Try This at Home: A variant—both Ms. Frizzle and the kids go out of their way to emphasize that the switch should be off before messing around with circuitry, "just to be safe". Even though for simplicity's sake Ms. Frizzle's house is off the grid and powered by batteries, given that the target audience of the show are kids who live in homes that are connected to a high-powered electrical mains network this is well-justified.
- Everybody Cries: The entire class and Liz after an Imagine Spot Wanda has of Ms. Frizzle's boyfriend leaving.
- Exact Eavesdropping: Wanda and the class overhear Ms. Frizzle's Innocent Innuendo to her repairman and think that their teacher has a boyfriend who's coming over.
- Imagine Spot: Wanda imagines Ms. Frizzle's "boyfriend" coming to the door, unable to ring the doorbell, and leaving with a sorrowful expression on his face.
- Innocent Innuendo: Ms. Frizzle's conversation with the repair guy on the phone sounds very suggestive, which is why the class mistakenly think that he's her boyfriend at first.
- Laser-Guided Karma: A positive example—the class fixes the doorbell in time for the repairman to show up, at least as well as tinfoil can bridge a current, and said repairman ends up buying all their lightbulbs.
- Shipper on Deck: The entire class (and Liz) for Ms. Frizzle's potential boyfriend.
- Valentine's Day Episode: Complete with a misunderstanding about love and a happy ending.
