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Takes a Dive |
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- "It's very nice, you guys, but it's nothing like a coral reef."
- —DA
Takes a Dive (Coral Reefs) is the thirteenth and final episode of the fourth season of The Magic School Bus. It first released on all PBS stations in the USA on December 6, 1997.
In production order, it is MSB-50, and the eleventh episode of the original Season 4.
It is also the final episode to be rated TV-G.
Plot[]
The kids are decorating an aquarium as a class project. Wanda and Dorothy Ann are supposed to do a part of it together, but Wanda made a treasure chest herself. This reminds Ms. Frizzle a treasure map left from her ancestor Red Beard, the pirate in her family a long, long time ago. Wanda wants to set off to find his treasure. Dorothy Ann is even more upset when Wanda doesn't want to work together to find the treasure, as the other pairs are all working well together (Keesha and Ralphie, Tim and Carlos, and Arnold and Phoebe). Wanda claims she doesn't need a partner, because she's a pirate, not a weaselly wimp. When Ms. Frizzle comes around, she shows the class the map of her great-great-...great-grandfather Red Beard, who was the pirate. Wanda is engrossed and is convinced that there is real buried treasure at the ocean.
Ms. Frizzle leads the class to The Magic School Bus, which transforms into a ship, and they navigate through the ocean. When they get to their designation, Liz drops the anchor and the class partners up. After they dive in to the water, they notice that fish are absent in the deep end, and Dorothy reads in her book that there's scanty food and shelter for fish to survive in the deep end. Wanda reads the map and the class comes across a school of fish and the coral reefs. Wanda and Dorothy swim to the coral reefs and the two spot a gold chain with a pirate design. Wanda is convinced that the chain leads to the treasure and attempts to swim to it. But Dorothy stops her, reminding her that the two are partners. When Wanda asks what good a partner would do, The Magic School Ship changes everyone into animals that have natural partnerships, much to Wanda's dismay.
Half of the class have been transformed into sea anemone and Dorothy reads in her book that it is a sea animal that looks like a plant. The rest of the class is hermit crabs. Since Wanda is an anemone and can't move, Dorothy, as a hermit crab, attempts to follow the chain, only to get suppressed by a crowd of fish. The class also find that the fish don't swim near anemones because they sting them. Tim notices a hermit crab placing an anemone on its back to protect itself from an octopus. So the students who are hermit crabs place their partners (who are anemones), on their backs. Wanda conceives the idea that Dorothy could place her on her back so the latter could get to the treasure. Liz then arrives with the bus and transforms the class into pistol shrimps and Goby fish. They manage to dig up the hole and hide inside to protect themselves from an upcoming shark. They crawl through the small opening where the chain leads to and follow it. Since Wanda can't see, Liz uses The Magic School Manta Ray to transform the students into sharks and remoras, who attach themselves to sharks. Keesha jokingly says "Those bugs were really starting to... bug me." Then the class says "Keesha!"
The class finally finds the treasure, only to find that it has damaged the coral reef. Dorothy and Wanda inadvertently cause an avalanche attempting to haul the treasure, and the bits and pieces of the reef fall apart and crumbles right on top of them.
The two swim out of the fallen bits of reef and the treasure is buried under it. Liz uses The Magic School Manta Ray to transform everyone back to their human form, and Ms. Frizzle offers the students their magnifiers. Carlos notices that the reef is made of tiny animals called polyps. Tim and Wanda both notice a substance the polyps have on each of them, which Ms. Frizzle informs is called algae; Arnold then wonders if the algae is the same as the scum on his shoe when he stepped into the pond (from the episode Gets Eaten). After remembering the animals they were make great partners as well, the class wonders if algae has any partnership with the polyps. Ms. Frizzle explains that algae makes its own food from sunlight and gives out wastes to help the polyps make the reef. Ralphie then notices that the sick part of the reef has no algae partners and Dorothy reads in her book that the polyps get rid of their algae partners once the coral reef gets polluted. The class then digs up the treasure from the bits of coral and learns that the treasure has been polluting the reef due to its copper chest, to which Ms. Frizzle comments that Red Beard wasn't very educated on the environmental effects of copper. Thanks to the bus, the class manages to restore the reef, giving the polyps to partner with the algae, and take the treasure home.
When they get back inside the classroom, they open the chest. Inside is a portrait of Red Beard and a model of his ship, The Magic Spanish Galleon as Ms. Frizzle calls it.
Trivia[]
- During the transition from The Magic School Bus to The Magic School Bus Rides Again, a few things were removed and changed.
- Instead of Nelvana, Rides Again will be co-produced by 9-Story.
- Professor Valerie Frizzle, PhD. retires from being a teacher, and, after hiring her sister, she replaces Malcolm-Jamal Warner in the Producer Says segments.
- Jyoti is enrolled at Walker after Phoebe transitions back to Phoebe's Old School.
- Arnold's scum from "Gets Eaten" is mentioned.
- In the beginning of this episode, Ms./Professor Frizzle mentioned Red Beard as her "great ×17"-grandfather, but at the end she only said 16 "great"s.
- This episode is the final episode of the third-grade year.
- This is the final episode of the second millennium, the twentieth century, and the 1990s.
- Coincidentally, Season 4 of The Magic School Bus and Season 1 of The Magic School Bus Rides Again both have their airing years ending in "7" (1997 and 2017).
- This is the last episode of the original series because PBS wanted more programming aimed towards younger children. A year after this season aired, the series moved to Fox Kids due to their demand for educational shows.
- In this episode, Wanda initially did not like being Dorothy Ann's partner. However, in "Gets Eaten", she seemed to like being Tim's partner.
- This is the only episode where Phoebe's scuba suit is red with yellow accents. In previous episodes on aquatic field trips, her scuba suit was yellow with red accents. The change is likely to because of red being her primary color, and yellow her secondary color, based on the number of outfits she's worn for field trips.
- This is the only episode where the kids return to the classroom in their scuba suits.
- This is the only episode where two students on the same gender pair up for a project. In this case, Tim and Carlos and Dorothy Ann and Wanda.
- Going by production order, this is the 11th episode of Season 4, and the 24th episode to be switched in streaming order. However, this episode was completed on November 25, 1997.
- This is the first and only episode which Keesha ends up on the receiving end of the "Carlos!" gag.
- Despite Jyoti not being in their class, this is her final absence.
- This is the series finale of the original The Magic School Bus.
- This is the last episode to feature several things.
- This is the last episode to feature Phoebe Terese.
- This is the last episode to feature the original looks and outfits of Mrs. Frizzle's class.
- This is the last episode to be in SD.
- This is the last episode where Danny Tamberelli voices Arnold before Miles Koseleci-Vieira takes over.
- This is the last episode where Daniel DeSanto voices Carlos before Leke Maceda-Rustecki takes over.
- This is the last episode where Tara Meyer voices Dorothy Ann before Gabby Clarke takes over.
- This is the last episode where Erica Luttrell voices Keesha before Mikaela Blake tales over.
- This is the last episode where Stuart Stone voices Ralphie before Matthew Mintz takes over.
- This is the last episode where Andre Ottley-Lorant voices Tim before Kaden Stephen takes over.
- This is the last episode where Lisa Yamanaka voices Wanda before Lynsey Pham takes over.
- This is the season 4 finale.
- In the Producer says segment, there were two signs that showed this being the end of TMSB:
- The Producer makes a sand display of the show's logo.
- Liz waves to the camera at the end of the segment.
Goofs[]
- In one scene, Wanda's scuba suit is black instead of dark red.
- When Carlos says, "It's a model of his ship!" Dorothy Ann's flippers reappear in her feet.
Gallery[]
