The Magic School Bus in the City
Original airdate: November 29th, 1997
Subject: Urban Wildlife
Focus Student(s): Tim
While at the zoo, the class views animals in safe habitats. This gives Ms. Frizzle the idea to turn the class into wild animals, to show how nature survives in the city. Things go awry, however, when the bus turns into a bear and goes out of control. The class then has to go find the bus in the middle of their survival adventure before the zoo does.
Producers Segment
The male producer answers the questions about the episode outside while he observes wildlife and Liz watches scenes from the episode on a nearby TV set.
Tropes
- Bears Are Bad News: Liz ends up losing control of the Bear-Bus, causing it to roam the city.
- Beware the Nice Ones: Ms. Frizzle is so protective of her Bus and students, she'll put up any defensive mechanism she knows of if she believes they're in any real danger she can't teach them out of.
- Chekhov's Gun: The class remembering how the habitats looked in the woods.
- Chekhov's Skill: Raccoons' ability to hiss and warn people away. This saves the Bear-Bus when Ms. Frizzle is a raccoon.
- Continuity Nod: Ms. Frizzle finds that raccoons can't whistle, any more than crabs could in the mussel episode.
- Mass "Oh, Crap!": The class gets a few:
- When two people find the Bear-Bus and decide to call the zoo.
- When a dog chases them through the streets.
- The Mind Is a Plaything of the Body: A couple of the transformed students start showing instincts related to what they transformed into, like Carlos as a falcon trying to hunt other birds to eat.
- Weirdness Censor: The couple that notices the Bear-Bus doesn't notice the lizard trapped inside, or that the "bear" has glass windows.
