Line #13 Recap/TheMagicSchoolBusS2E4GoingBatty


1	!!The Magic School Bus Going Batty
2	->'''Original airdate:''' September 30th, 1995
3	->'''Subject:''' Bats
4	->'''Focus Student(s):''' Keesha, Ralphie
5
6	In the show's second Halloween special, it's parent-teachers night and the class is preparing their exhibit on nocturnal animals. When Ms. Frizzle shows up in a vampire cape, though, Ralphie becomes convinced that she has become a vampire.
7	[[folder:Producers Segment]]
8	The male producer answers the questions about the episode from the castle while being stalked by a bat, which turns out to be Liz in costume.
9	[[/folder]]
10	----
11	!!Tropes
12	* ActuallyPrettyFunny: The Producer laughs when Liz dressed as a tiny bat manages to scare him. She's rolling on the floor in stitches as he is joining her.
13	* ArbitrarySkepticism: About vampires. Although this is more justified in that Ms. Frizzle before has appeared during the day and drunk things that are most definitely not blood-related. Also that she dressed in the cape for an exhibit on nocturnal animals.
14	* BatmanGambit: Ms. Frizzle pulls one by "acting like a vampire" as Ralphie puts it. By appearing as a classic villain and whisking the parents away to visit bats at a castle, she started the class on another field trip. This is confirmed when she and Liz share a wink.
15	* BorrowedCatchphrase: Phoebe says a bad pun that sounds like Carlos's kind of joke.[[note]]"Fangs for reminding us Carlos."[[/note]]
16	* TheCape: Ms. Frizzle wears one for this episode.
17	* DoingInTheWizard: At the climax, where it seems that the parents have been turned into bats and are hanging from a chandelier, Ms. Frizzle then undoes the shackles that are tethering her and the parents, and they take off their fake bat features.
18	* DramaticThunder: Happens a couple of times outside the castle (complete with Creator/HannaBarbera's "Castle Thunder" StockSoundEffect).
19	* EverybodyLaughsEnding: {{Lampshade\|Hanging}}d. The episode ends on Ralphie and Ms. Frizzle sharing a hearty chortle as his mother looks at them, puzzled.
20	* ExpressiveMask: The rubber vampire mask Ralphie goofs around in at the start of the episode.
21	* ExtremelyProtectiveChild: Keesha finally believes Ralphie when she thinks that Ms. Frizzle is going to bite her grandmother. She then swoops into the dark and charges.
22	-->'''[[LeeroyJenkins Keesha]]''': DON'T YOU DARE BITE MY GRANDMOTHER!
23	* FaintInShock: Seeing Ralphie in a vampire mask horrifies Arnold, causing him to faint.
24	* ForcedTransformation: Ralphie turns himself and the entire class into bats. He thinks this will happen to their parents, but they're just wearing costumes.
25	* FriendlyScheming: See BatmanGambit and TricksterMentor; it is strongly implied that Ms. Frizzle deliberately led Ralphie to believe that she was a vampire as a pretext for another field trip.
26	* FrothyMugsOfWater: In one scene, the kids see Ms. Frizzle and the parents drinking a red beverage from what are clearly wine glasses. Ralphie is led to believe that Ms. Frizzle is drinking blood. Keesha in turn [[ChildrenAreInnocent deduces that the drink is actually tomato juice]]. [[SarcasmMode Yeah, right]]. Of course, taking the meta-nature of the producer characters into account, it could actually just be tomato juice.
27	* GenerationXerox: Most of the parents and grandparents are much like their young charges. Mr. Ramon, with his bad puns and identical looks, is the most blatant.
28	* ImagineSpot: Ralphie has several: first is Ms. Frizzle with vampire fangs and giving an evil laugh; then seeing her sprout wings and swoop at the camera; and third, picturing her drinking blood and changing their parents into vampires.
29	* NobodyPoops: Averted with the bats. Ms. Frizzle corrects Mr. Ramon by calling it "bat ''[[InsistentTerminology guano]]''".
30	* NoisyNature: The bats audibly squeak at times, not unlike the bats in the ''WesternAnimation/ScoobyDoo'' cartoons (complete with similar StockSoundEffects).
31	* NotHelpingYourCase: As Ralphie points out, Ms. Frizzle didn't just wear a cape. She took the parents to a deserted castle, proposed a toast with a drink that resembled blood, and was talking very much like Dracula. Ms. Frizzle doesn't seem to mind the accusation, though, and implies that it was a BatmanGambit.
32	* OnlySaneMan: Keesha for most of the episode, though at one point she has a NotSoAboveItAll moment. She points out that the bats are mammals since their babies drink milk, and that the parents are drinking tomato juice.
33	* OutOfGenreExperience: For Ralphie at least, up to the point where the class follows Ms. Frizzle and the parents to the spooky castle. The minute the bus turns into a bat, though, as Arnold puts it, [[HereWeGoAgain "And THIS is turning into a field trip."]]
34	* PlatonicDeclarationOfLove: Some of the children are convinced by Ralphie's assertion that Ms. Frizzle is a vampire and go to rescue their parents before she can turn them. However, when they get there, their parents are already hanging from the ceiling with bats' wings wrapped around them. Phoebe's response?
35	-->'''Phoebe''': I love you anyway, Daddy. I'll love you forever.
36	* SharedFamilyQuirks: Most of the parents (at least the ones with speaking roles) share their kids' catchphrases: Dr. Tennelli opens a statement with "Is it just me, or...?", Mr. Perlstein remarks that maybe they should have stayed home that night, Mr. Ramon makes corny puns and is [[PhraseCatcher groaned at by the other parents]], and Mr. Terese compares the parent-teacher activities to how things were done "at Phoebe's old school."
37	* SayMyName: This is how the rest of the parents react to Mr. Ramon's corny puns and jokes, very similar to the FirstNameUltimatum reactions his son Carlos gets.
38	* TricksterMentor: Ms. Frizzle. Given Bat Liz lands on her shoulder and they share a wink, she likely knew that Ralphie would inadvertently allow the class to learn about bats.
39	* VampireEpisode: In this episode, Ralphie suspects that Miss Frizzle may be a vampire, thanks in part to a series of [[ContrivedCoincidence contrived coincidences]].
40	* VampireVords: How Ralphie says all of his vampire lines.
41	* WatchOutForThatTree: While wearing earmuffs, Arnold as a bat runs into a pillar in the dark. Tim pulls off the earmuffs and reminds Arnold that as bats they need to be able to hear in order to navigate.
42	* WhatMeasureIsANonCute: When the class find a live bat in their attic, Carlos says it's creepy, but Phoebe says it looks kind of cute.
43	* WrongGenreSavvy: Ralphie. He compares Ms. Frizzle's new look to the vampires in his comics, forgetting that he's in an educational environment, not a horror story. Keesha lampshades this.

Context Recap / TheMagicSchoolBusS2E4GoingBatty