| Episode | Gallery | Transcript | ||||
The following is the script for Goldstealer, the fourth episode of the third season of The Magic School Bus Rides Again, which first premiered on November 9, 2021 via DVD release.
Episode[]
| Speaker | Dialogue |
|---|---|
| The theme song plays, and the title screen fades out to the mountain in Tokyo. The Bus paces Angela Franklin for her warm-up lap. | |
| Keesha | [to Ms. Frizzle] We can’t let her get away! |
| Ms. Frizzle and Angela continue their race. Angela spots a fork in the road and turns right, while the Frizz takes the other path. | |
| Keesha | Ms. Frizzle, we lost her again! |
| Ms. Frizzle | Don’t you worry, Keesha! The roads cross up ahead! She’s not gonna get away. |
| Keesha | Can't we go any faster? |
| Ms. Frizzle | You do remember that we took this baby to the Sun and back in a single science class, right? I just need to crank up the hurry-up! |
| Ms. Frizzle pushes the Mesmerglober lever to speed up the Bus. She catches back up to Angela. | |
| Wanda | Guys, check it out! |
| Bus | [honking horn] |
| Carlos | Look at her go! No wonder she’s here at the World Wheel Games with the fastest athletes on wheels! She’s awesome! |
| Keesha | Of course she is, Carlos; she’s my mom—world-class cyclist Angela Franklin—and this is just a training ride. Wait ‘til you see her go for gold in her big race! WHOA! |
| The Bus tumbles around as it makes a sharp turn. | |
| Ralphie | [motion sick] It’s so—whoa!—exciting! We should do this—whoa!—field trip every year! |
| Ms. Frizzle | Well, I’d love to, Ralphie, but the World Wheel Games are only held every 3.14 years! |
| Tim | [motion sick] I bet Keesha’s MOOOOOOMMMMM is the fastest athlete of them ALLLLL…WHOAAA! |
| Ms. Frizzle | Your mom is obviously awesome, Keesha, but there is a little something holding her back. |
| Ralphie | Ooo! I know! A mysterious, invisible force is slowing her down! |
| Ms. Frizzle | As a matter of fact, Ralphie…yes! |
| Ralphie | Really? I thought I was just being funny. |
| Ms. Frizzle | Oh! Here we go, yes! |
| Ms. Frizzle presses the blue button near the steering wheel that activates the windshield projector. The windshield shows lines representing friction coming from Angela’s bike. | |
| Ms. Frizzle | A mysterious force! |
| Keesha | What is that stuff? It’s on her tires, the chain, it’s everywhere! |
| Ms. Frizzle | That's a little something I like to call “friction,” and, as you can see, there’s a moderate amount slowing down Keesha’s mom. |
| Ms. Frizzle and Angela make two turns to get through a wavy road. | |
| Arnold | You mean friction is the thing that slows stuff down and keeps everything where it should be? That’s my kind of force! |
| Arnold tumbles in the Bus as it makes another sharp turn, following Angela as the two pass another Shinto building. | |
| Ms. Frizzle | Hold tight! When we slide out of a turn, it’s because there’s not enough friction between the tires and the road. |
| Keesha | Okay, but…what causes it? |
| The projector shows Angela’s friction levels. | |
| Ms. Frizzle | Well, whenever something pushes or rubs against something else, it creates friction. It can slow you down… |
| Arnold | …but that’s not always a bad thing! |
| Angela squeezes the brakes to slow herself down and add more friction as she makes a sharper turn during her race, preventing herself from potentially falling off her bike. | |
| Ms. Frizzle makes the same turn. The Bus looks scared as its driver tries to maintain a steady friction level on it. | |
| Class | Whoaaaaaaaaaaa! |
| Dorothy Ann | Stop the Bus! |
| Due to low friction levels, the Bus skids off the road and starts to tumble. | |
| Class | [screaming] |
| Arnold | I knew I should’ve stayed home today! |
| Ms. Frizzle | Uh, oh! We’re heading straight for the edge of that cliff! |
| The Bus speeds toward the cliff's edge. Before it could fall, though, Ms. Frizzle has a plan. | |
| Jyoti | Ms. Frizzle! Don’t! |
| Rest of class | [indistinct scared chatter] |
| Ms. Frizzle | Don't worry; we’ve got friction on our side—or, more accurately, the brakes do. |
| Ms. Frizzle hits the brakes (the pedals use the designs from “Inside Ralphie”). A close-up appears, showing how the brakes expand inside the front wheels of the Bus to help it reduce its friction. The wheels stop moving and the Bus continues to slide. | |
| Class | [screaming] |
| The Bus cowers in fear as it approaches the edge of the cliff, slowing to a stop just at the tip. It carefully looks down at the bottom of the cliff. | |
| Bus | [worried beep] |
| Class | Whew! |
| Keesha | That was close. |
| Wanda | Too close. |
| Dorothy Ann | Yay, friction! |
| Arnold | [sighs] As I said, “My kind of force.” |
| Keesha | Okay, sure. Friction is useful, when you want to stop. |
| Arnold | Yeah, exactly! |
| Keesha | But my mom’s in it to win it. She wants to go fast. So that means finding a way to…get rid of friction. |
| The Bus smiles. It backs up, away from the cliff’s edge. | |
Producer segment[]
| Speaker | Dialogue |
|---|---|
| Annie and Liz are skating at the Tokyo skate park as the phone rings. Liz turns on the speaker for Annie to hear while she is skating. Annie does a handstand as she answers the phone. | |
| Annie | Oui, allô ! Magic School Bus! Annie Guglia, PSB, or professional skateboarder, speaking. |
| Caller (Kaden Stephen) | Hello, Annie! I have a question. |
| Annie | Is it about lying down on your skateboard or your bike to go faster? The answer is: don’t do that at home. |
| Kaden Stephen | Good advice, but that wasn’t my question. |
| Annie | Cool! Ask away! |
| Annie starts skating. | |
| Kaden Stephen | Keesha wanted to get rid of as much friction as possible from her mom’s bike, right? But would having no friction even be helpful? |
| Annie | Awesome question! |
| Liz puts on some roller skates and a helmet. She is having trouble getting used to the friction in the skates as she slides down the ramp with the phone. She continues to struggle and slip as Annie talks. | |
| Annie | Racers do try to reduce friction to go faster, but it’s impossible to get rid of friction entirely. As long as two objects are touching each other, there is gonna be some friction. |
| Liz slips, falls upward, and lands on a red flatbar. | |
| Annie | Even in the slippiest of situations. |
| Liz falls off the flatbar. Annie picks her up. | |
| Annie | And you’re right! Cyclists need friction for their bikes to work. |
| Liz tries to adjust herself. | |
| Annie | With no friction against the ground, the wheels would just spin in place, and it would be impossible to push off and move. It’s all about finding the balance: Enough friction to get a grip and not skate out, but not so much that it makes your bike or skateboard too slow. |
| Kaden Stephen | What’s up with air friction? How can something that we can’t even feel or see slow you down? |
| Annie pulls out the FrizzPad. The scene in which Carlos uses his umbrella as a parachute plays on it. | |
| Annie | Air friction, otherwise known as drag, is totally real. Since we can’t see it or necessarily even feel it, we usually take air for granted and push right through it like there’s nothing there, but you can feel air resistance in action by opening your jacket and running! |
| Annie demonstrates. She opens her jacket while skating. | |
| Annie | Try it! The air catches in your jacket and makes it puff out like a parachute. |
| Liz follows Annie. She has the hang of roller skating. Annie stops, while Liz is unable to stop herself. She zooms up the halfpipe, flying upward. She opens a parachute to safely fall down. Annie catches the chameleon. | |
| Kaden Stephen | Thank you so much! I'm going to go out and practice on my skateboard now! Bye! |
| Annie | Bye! Nice talking to you! (hangs up) |
| Liz, wearing sunglasses and holding a cocktail and brochure, rides her own skateboard, lying down. | |
| Annie | Way to go, Liz! |