The Magic School Bus Gains Weight
Someone in the class has to throw a slam dunk for a school event, but none of the kids in Ms. Frizzle's class can make the jump, not even Wanda. Everyone is surprised when Phoebe gets chosen, and Phoebe's understandably nervous. Discussing among themselves, the class concludes that given their height and the effects of Earth's gravity, making the jump isn't possible. Entering the scene, Ms. Frizzle decides to take the class on a field trip.
With only hours left to go before the event, Phoebe reasons that if she could go somewhere where the gravity is weaker, like the Moon, she'd be able to practice how it feels like to make a slam dunk - the trouble is, there isn't enough time for the class to visit the moon so she can practice. Instead, Ms. Frizzle has the bus travel out into space and turn into a planet itself, with its own customizable size and basketball stadium, complete with a giant popcorn machine.
Now that the bus is the same size as Earth, Phoebe once again fails to make the slam dunk, demonstrating that gravity affects her even when she's not on Earth. Ms. Frizzle introduces a machine that changes the bus's size, along with a camera system to show the bus's size to the class in real-time. At the push of a lever, Liz shrinks the bus down to the size of the Moon, allowing Phoebe to make the slam dunk and everyone to join in the fun, learning that the size of a planet affects its gravitational pull. Ms. Frizzle demonstrates with a scale attached to a rope and pulley system that the kids' weight is also affected by gravity. Phoebe is convinced that she'd be able to perform better without gravity, but she is quickly proven wrong; with the bus shrunk down to almost nothing, Phoebe discovers that she can't dribble the basketball properly or dunk the ball under a zero-gravity environment, as those actions also rely on gravitational pull to work.
Having learned her lesson, Phoebe tries to pull her way to the gravity machine, but ends up turning the bus into a planetoid the size of Jupiter. The rest of the previously-suspended class plunges into the popcorn machine, and the basketball stadium begins collapsing on itself, sending everyone crashing into a crater in the middle of the stadium. Phoebe is likewise knocked off the gravity machine and onto the weighing scale, with the class nearly immobile under the crushing weight of the increased gravity. Phoebe realizes that the only way for her to reach the gravity machine again is for the rest of the class to pull down on the weighing scale rope, leveraging their combined mass to create a force larger than the gravity pulling her down. Combining their effort, the class barely manages to pull Phoebe up before the rope breaks, and she successfully returns gravity to normal, in time for the class to head back to Earth for the exhibition.
That evening, Ms. Frizzle introduces Phoebe as the chosen representative for the event, but Phoebe takes a moment to explain why she can't do the dunk. Despite the crowd booing her, Phoebe explains that she's limited by her height and Earth's gravitational pull, which is determined by the size of the Earth, and she can't change that - but what she can do is use another way to push herself upwards despite the force of gravity. Phoebe jumps on a teeter-totter, and with Arnold, Keesha and Ralphie jumping on the other side, the greater force propels Phoebe high enough to make the slam dunk to the cheers of her friends and the audience.
Tropes
- Ain't No Rule: The rules say Phoebe has to throw a slam dunk; they don't say she can't have help.
- Continuity Nod:
- In "The Magic School Bus Goes Upstream" DA pointed out that they were already on the bus when Ms. Frizzle says "To the bus". Arnold says it this time at the end of the episode.
- Phoebe's Performance Anxiety returns when she has to do what seems like an Impossible Task.
- Foreshadowing:
- Initially, Arnold is reluctant to join the rest of the class in having fun while gravity is almost zero, concerned about the inevitable fall when the gravity is turned back on. Sure enough, Phoebe accidentally switches the gravity to its highest setting and sends everyone crashing into the popcorn machine.
- When the class is trapped with the gravity at maximum, they manage to get Phoebe to the gravity level by pulling her towards it as a team. At the performance, the class does the same thing.
- Gravity Screw: Seriously, there is a lever on the Planet Bus to change the bus planets' size, and therefore changing the gravity.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: Phoebe trying to reset the gravity lever while there is no gravity accidentally overdoes it and turns the Planet Bus into the size of Jupiter, which means that no one can move.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: Wanda mentions this; she may have outjumped all of her classmates, but she still can't make a slam dunk.
- Oh, Crap!:
- Phoebe at first when she's chosen to make the slam dunk.
- Phoebe again when she makes the slam dunk with reduced gravity and realizes how far the hoop is from the ground while she's hanging. Wanda assures her that the fall will be safe since the reduced gravity makes them "light as a feather".
