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NOTE: In this page, Ms. Frizzle refers to Professor Frizzle.
Transcript[]
Act 1[]
(The episode opens on the school playground. Cut to the school as the bus dances to "William Tell Overture." Inside Ms. Frizzle's classroom, the students are playing this tune. As Dorothy Ann conducts, Ralphie plays the xylophone, Arnold plays a sousaphone, Phoebe plays the saxophone, Keesha plays the clarinet, Tim plays the violin, Liz plays the drums and cymbals and Wanda plays the trombone. Carlos has an instrument he made himself.)
Dorothy Ann: Are you ready, Carlos?
Carlos: Almost.
(As the rest of the class reaches the end of the tune, Carlos gets his instrument ready. But when his cue is up, his instrument makes really clunky sounds. Everyone stops playing their instruments.)
Phoebe: Um, Carlos, was it supposed to sound like that?
Carlos: No way! I don't get it. It looks incredible, but it sounds...
Ralphie: Ploopy?
Carlos: Exactly. What did I do wrong?
(Ms. Frizzle enters playing a drum and castanets.)
Phoebe: Wow. She's amazing.
Arnold: That's one way to look at it.
(Ms. Frizzle puts the drum away in her desk.)
Ms. Frizzle: Good morning, class.
Class: Good morning, Ms. Frizzle.
Ms. Frizzle: Ah, Dorothy Ann, I take it that was your new piece, Concerto for Inventive Instrument.
Dorothy Ann: Well, it was the concerto part alright, but...
Carlos: But the inventive instrument was ploopy.
Dorothy Ann: And there's almost no time to fix it before the concert at the sound museum tomorrow.
Keesha: Yeah. (shows her watch) And we've got a rehearsal there this afternoon.
Ms. Frizzle: So, what's the problem, Carlos?
Carlos: Well, I have a great idea for a sound.
Ms. Frizzle: Hmm, and I see you're building an impressive instrument to make it. Marvelous.
Carlos: That's the problem. I can here the sound in my head, but...(he plays the instrument again, making more clunky sounds.)
Class: Ploopy.
Carlos: What am I gonna do?
Ms. Frizzle: Well, if you keep asking questions, Carlos, you'll keep getting answers. (chuckles)
Dorothy Ann: But there's no time for questions, Ms. Frizzle. We're going to be late for the rehearsal at the sound museum.
Ms. Frizzle: And as we all know, those who are great are never late. Come along, class. To the bus.
(Everyone heads out of the room.)
Carlos: We're going now? But- but Ms. Frizzle!
(Cut to the bus as it heads for the sound museum.)
Wanda: But what if the sound of Carlos' instrument stays...(instrument makes clunky noises)...just like that?
Dorothy Ann: Oh, our concerto will be ruined. All the other schools will laugh at us and it'll be the end of the world as we know it. Other than that, nothing.
Carlos: What else can I put on this thing to get it to make a terrific sound? (Liz comes out of a box with a tall, blue hat. Carlos puts it on the instrument.) Let's see. Okay, there. (the instrument falls over) If I only had more time.
Ms. Frizzle: Hmm, more time. (her earrings light up) Okay, bus. Do your stuff. (She presses a button.) WA-HOO! (After the bus stops spinning, it's shown sporting bell and music note decals. The bus starts flailing around in the street.) An award-winning performance, bus!
Tim: Hold on!
(As the bus shakes, some pieces of Carlos' instrument fall off.)
Ms. Frizzle: And now, for the grand finale.
(She presses a button that makes the bus turn into a giant whistle. Suddenly, the bus overheats.)
Class: What happened?!
Ms. Frizzle: Not to worry, class. I'll just be a moment. (As she hums, she looks through her medical bag and pulls out a giant thermometer to take the bus' temperature. The bus then spits it out when the mercury reaches the top.) Hmm, just as I thought. Overheated. Well, I believe we'll be here for quite a while. (pulls out a giant ice pack)
Dorothy Ann: We're going to miss the dress rehearsal.
Ms. Frizzle: (to the bus) Oh, now rest up. You'll be fine.
Carlos: Alright! Time to work on my sound. (digs through the box)
Dorothy Ann: Ms. Frizzle, isn't there something we can do?
Ms. Frizzle: Well, now that you mention it...
(Later that night, everyone is pushing and pulling the bus. Ms. Frizzle pulls with a rope, while the class pushes.)
Wanda: It's really quiet, isn't it? There's hardly a sound.
Arnold: Just us. Desperate, alone, (gulps) vulnerable.
(Suddenly, Carlos' instrument breaks the silence.)
Tim: What was that?
Carlos: It was me. How was that, Dorothy Ann? I want my instrument to have the power of a thunderstorm, so I put an umbrella on it.
Dorothy Ann: That sounded more like drizzle, Carlos.
Carlos: Oh. How about this? I wanted it to have the roar of a lion, so I gave it a mane.
(Instrument plays again.)
Dorothy Ann: It's a kitten, Carlos.
(Everyone continues moving the bus through the forest. As they do so, Carlos keeps trying to improve his instrument, but to no avail.)
Class: Forget it, Carlos!
Carlos: It looks better and better, but it sounds worse and worse.
(Suddenly, a strange sound is heard, but not from his instrument, Carlos gets out of the bus.)
Carlos: What was that?
Tim: All right!
Dorothy Ann: That's a great sound.
Carlos: But it wasn't me. It came from there (He points over to a mansion as the strange sound plays again and lightning flashes.)
Ms. Frizzle: Oh, isn't it mellifluous?
Arnold: That's not exactly the word I'd use for it.
Ralphie: Come on, Arnold. It's just a house. You're not scared of a house are you? (Arnold nods.) Me too.
Ms. Frizzle: What's wrong with you, class? Where's your spirit of adventure? Take chances, make mistakes.
Ralphie: Get scared out of our wits.
(He tries getting back in the bus, but Wanda stops him.)
Wanda: Don't be such a chicken, Ralphie.
Dorothy Ann: There must be a phone in there. We can call a tow truck. Come on.
(As Wanda pushes Ralphie away from the bus, Arnold picks up Liz. Soon, the whole class reaches and gets past the gate.)
Keesha: What a weird place.
Carlos: (points to a bat statue with moving ears) Kind of ear-ie, isn't it? Get it, ear-ie? (laughs)
Class: Carlos!
(Arnold walks past chimes that make ghostly noises before he bumps into a tree, waking up an owl and bats.)
Arnold: All I've got to say is if I ever meet anybody I can see through, I'm outta here.
Ms. Frizzle: Whoa, no need to be hasty, Arnold.
(She presses a doorbell button, which makes the windows close and open loudly and a giant bell on the top to ring loudly.)
Carlos: That is some doorbell!
Arnold: Oh, well. Nobody home. Let's go.
(Tim and Ralphie follow.)
Tim: Good idea.
Ralphie: I'm with Arnold.
Carlos: But I need to know what made that sound. (He opens the door.) Come on! (He enters the house.)
Ms. Frizzle: How nice. Shall we?
Ralphie: Must we?
(Everyone enters the house. After Arnold, Liz and Ralphie enter the house, the door slams shut by itself. Arnold jumps into Ralphie's arms.)
Arnold and Ralphie: (scream)
Act 2[]
(After a commercial break, fade back to the haunted house as lightning flashes. Inside, Ms. Frizzle lights a candle. As the class gets a good look at the place, Ralphie tries opening the door, but it's stuck.)
Ralphie: Open! Open! Open! (grunts) It's stuck! What do we do now?!
Ms. Frizzle: We say "hello." (echo) Well, that sounds friendly enough.
(Ralphie tries opening the door again, but no luck. Carlos and Dorothy Ann check out the library.)
Carlos: What a place!
Dorothy Ann: We've gotta call for help. (finds a phone book) Oh, good. Here's a phone book.
(She opens the book and it makes phone sounds, startling her.)
Phoebe: What was that?!
Ms. Frizzle: That was a tantalizing tintinnabulation.
(She pulls a book off the shelf.)
Tim, Wanda and Arnold: No, don't!
(Ms. Frizzle opens the book. As fog rises from it, the book makes a foghorn sound.)
Ms. Frizzle: Ah, foghorns. One of my favorites. Such a big deep sound.
Carlos: Maybe one of these books was making the sound I heard.
(He opens a book and it screams like a girl.)
Ralphie: That's it! I don't need to know how this turns out! I'm outta here!
(He trips on a book Liz was looking at. When it falls on the floor, it shows two pink heads laughing evilly.)
Ralphie: What kind of place is this?
(Arnold closes the book.)
Keesha: I wonder who lives here.
Ms. Frizzle: Lived here, Keesha. (She shows her a photo of the house's owner.) Professor Cornelia C. Contralto. Eccentric and collector of sounds. Born in 1807. Disappeared 1892.
Ralphie: How do you know that, Ms. Frizzle?
Ms. Frizzle: Because after she vanished, they turned her house, this house, into the sound museum.
Wanda: This is the sound museum?
Dorothy Ann: I knew it! We missed the rehearsal.
Tim: Well, where is everyone?
Ms. Frizzle: Gone for the night, Tim. Which means we have the whole place to ourselves.
Carlos: Oh, boy!
Arnold: Oh, boy.
(Liz looks at another book with a ghost on the cover. But when it floats, she bolts off and grabs onto Arnold, scaring him. The class heads upstairs and through a hallway of photographs.)
Ms. Frizzle: Professor Contralto devoted her entire life to sound.
(As Tim walks past another photo of said person, her eyes move and watch him. When Tim looks back, the eyes freeze.)
Tim: Huh?! What happened to her?
Ms. Frizzle: No one knows.
Keesha: (gulp)
Ralphie: I'll bet you anything she's a ghost, wandering around this house, seeking the perfect sound.
Class: (gasp)
(Everyone enters another room.)
Carlos: Seeking the perfect sound, just like me.
Ms. Frizzle: Well, Carlos, you'll have plenty of time to find it. We're spending the night.
Arnold: The night?! Here!? But our permission slips didn't say anything about haunted houses.
Tim: Besides, there's no place for us--(He steps on a fireplace tile, which activates a rotating platform.)
Class: (scream)
Tim: ...to sleep!
(The platform has brought them to a bedroom which has eight beds.)
Ms. Frizzle: Why, look. Eight student sized beds, (enters another bedroom) and a teacher sized annex.
Dorothy Ann: It's almost as if someone were...
Arnold: Expecting us.
Dorothy Ann and Keesha: (gulp)
(Cut to an exterior shot of the museum. Fade back to the bedroom as the whole class is in their beds.)
Ms. Frizzle: Be sure to get lots of rest, class. We have a concert tomorrow.
(She closes the door, the lights go out and the class covers their heads with their blankets. Carlos puts his blanket on his instrument.)
Carlos: Now maybe it'll sound like a ghost.
(But as usual, no perfect sound.)
Dorothy Ann: Carlos, that's the ploopiest yet. It's too late anyway. You'll never find a sound now.
Carlos: Cornelia, if you're out there, will you help me make this thing sound right?
(Thunder booms and lightning flashes. Arnold is shown wrapped in his blanket.)
Arnold: Um, Carlos, Ms. Frizzle said if you kept asking questions, you'd keep getting answers. Was that an answer?
(Carlos shrugs. Suddenly, the strange sound is heard again.)
Tim, No, but that was.
Wanda: Don't be silly. It's just--(The sound plays again.)
Both: Yikes! Ahhh!
Ralphie: A crazed ghost, bound forever in the chains of eternal torment, coming to get us!
Carlos: Listen! It's, it's...
Arnold: Yeah, terrifying. We know!
Carlos: No! It's the call of Cornelia!
Ralphie: Carlos, where are you going?
Carlos: I've got to find out what's making that sound.
(Thunderclap)
Phoebe: Um, shouldn't somebody tell Ms. Frizzle?
(As the sound plays again, the rest of the class follows Carlos.)
Carlos: Listen. It's getting louder.
Dorothy Ann: And according to my research, if it's getting louder, we're getting closer!
Arnold: Is that good or bad?
Ralphie: Bad.
(Suddenly, they hear yodeling.)
Both: What is that?
Carlos: It's coming from in there. I'm going in!
(Carlos heads for a door with a knob shaped like a music note.)
Class: No, Carlos! No!
(The class enters a jungle themed room.)
Class: Wow.
Ralphie: Incredible.
(They walk through the room and find a beach, a city and snowy mountains. The yodeling is heard again.)
Tim: This is one weird house.
Ralphie: You mean your house doesn't have a jungle, an ocean, a city and an alpine wonderland?
Tim: Nah, the landlord wouldn't go along with it.
Class: Tim.
(Carlos climbs up a hill.)
Wanda: An echo. Maybe it was an echo we heard.
Keesha: Yeah, but who made it?
(A grappling hook on a rope appears before them. Ms. Frizzle is shown climbing the hill and wearing Mid-European attire.)
Ms. Frizzle: Class, did I wake you?
Carlos: Ms. Frizzle, was that you?
Ms. Frizzle: Ah, yes. Nothing like a good yodel before bed. Toodle-oodle-loo. (echo)
(The strange sound is heard again.)
Carlos: Listen! There it is again! The call of Cornelia. Uh, how do we get out of here?
Ms. Frizzle: The only way is up.
(She pulls a red rope which activates a ski lift. The ski lift picks up Carlos and Wanda.)
Both: Whoa!
Ms. Frizzle: Come along, class. Two by two, please.
(Keesha and Ralphie are picked up by the lift. Suddenly, Carlos and Wanda fall out of the lift and into a room filled with giant instruments. They bounce off a drum and slide down a xylophone. The rest of the class follows.)
Wanda: Where are we?
Ms. Frizzle: Professor Contralto built every room in this house to show different things about sound. (She rings a gong.) Ah, simply somniferous.
(Dorothy Ann spots a giant harp.)
Dorothy Ann: Hey. I've always wanted to play a harp.
(She pulls the string and it vibrates.)
Carlos: Look at that string moving back and forth.
Ms. Frizzle: That, class, is a vibration. You can feel it.
(Carlos grabs the string as it keeps vibrating.)
Carlos: Vi-i-i-i-bra-a-ation.
Keesha: Let's get the facts. When the string stopped vibrating, the sound stopped.
(Carlos pulls the string again.)
Carlos: The vibration of the string. That's what's making the sound.
Ms. Frizzle: Very good, Carlos. Sound is vibration. Hear it. Feel it.
Carlos: Are all sounds made by something vibrating?
Ms. Frizzle: Oh, good question, Carlos.
Tim: Come on, Phoebe. Let's try out that drum.
(They climb up on it, pick up the drumstick and drop it, making the drum vibrate.)
Both: Whoa-a-a-a!
(Wanda tries a giant gong.)
Wanda: Th-th-there-re-re's yo-o-our answer, Ca-a-arlo-o-os.
Carlos: So, I've got to make my instrument vibrate to make my sound. But how?
Ms. Frizzle: As I always say, behind every successful sound is a vibration.
(She rings a bell. The loud sound suddenly causes the room to quake.)
Keesha: What's happening?!
Arnold: Now what?
(Arnold and Wanda scream as the wall behind them cracks. When that shaking stops, the class goes through the crack. Arnold is shown covering his eyes.)
Arnold: Can I look now?
(Ralphie taps him lightly on his left arm and Arnold uncovers his eyes. The class enters a stage.)
Tim: Hey, it's showtime!
(Carlos spots red glasses on a gargoyle.)
Carlos: Why the glasses?
Ms. Frizzle: You heard sound, you felt sound, now...
(She puts the glasses on Carlos. As they both speak, yellow soundwaves are shown.)
Carlos: Whoa!
Dorothy Ann: Carlos, what is it?
Carlos: I can see sound!
(Liz hands two pairs of glasses to Phoebe and Dorothy Ann and puts a pair on herself. Arnold tries putting on a pair over his own glasses.)
Wanda: Watch this! (As she claps, blue soundwaves close to each other appear.)
Ralphie: Look at me. (As he plays a bass, red soundwaves further apart from each other appear.)
Ms. Frizzle: Listen. (sings high) Hi-dee-hi-dee-hi-dee-hi. (sings low) Low-dee-low-dee-low-dee-low. (As she does, blue and red soundwaves appear.)
Dorothy Ann: Hey, they're different.
Carlos: Yeah. When you sing Hi-dee-hi-dee-hi-dee-hi, (the same blue soundwaves appear) look, there are lots of vibrations close together.
Phoebe: But when you sing low-dee-low-dee-low, there are fewer vibrations further apart.
Ms. Frizzle: Ah, excellent. High sounds are made by something vibrating fast. (blue soundwaves appear as the glass on a chandelier tinkles as it moves) And low by something vibrating slow. (she bumps an armor suit, which makes a thud sound)
Ralphie: You know what? These vibrations move kind of like ripples on a pond. (He pictures a pond with a rock being thrown into it.) The waves start in one place and move out in all directions.
- In the original version:
- Ralphie: You know what? These vibrations move kind of like ripples on a pond.
- Ms Frizzle: An observation worth commendation, Ralphie!
- Ralphie: Making a sound is kind of like dropping something into a still pond.... (Ralphie jumps into the water) The waves start in one place and move out in all directions.
(Cut to Carlos as he goes back into the room with the giant instruments.)
Carlos: If sound is a vibration, and it moves through the air in waves, and different vibrations make different sounds,..(Dorothy Ann rings the gong. Carlos then touches it, making it stop vibrating.) Stop the vibration and you stop the sound. I've got it! It doesn't matter how looks as long as it can vibrate. DA, I know what to do! I've got to get my instrument!
(He leaves the room and heads back to the bedroom. But when he arrives, he finds his instrument gone.)
Carlos: (gasp) It's gone!
Act 3[]
(After another commercial break, fade back to the outside of the museum. Cut back to the bedroom as the rest of the class enters.)
Carlos: Where could it be?
Ms. Frizzle: There's an explanation, class. The question is, what is it?
Ralphie: First, Carlos' instrument disappears, then each of us, one by one.
(A gust of wind blows out the candles.)
Arnold and Dorothy Ann: Ahhh!
Dorothy Ann: There's that sound again.
(Carlos opens a wardrobe door.)
Carlos: It's coming from in (he suddenly falls down) heeerrrrrreeeee!
(He falls past a jackhammer, a noisemaker, small drum, a big drum, an electric guitar and a bike horn before falling in a pile of hay.)
Dorothy Ann: CCarlos, are you alright?
Carlos: I'm fine. I'm just in some sort of dungeon or something.
Arnold: Well, if they torture you, don't tell them anything! I'll learn to be a lawyer and meet you back here when we're grown-ups.
(Ms. Frizzle stops him.)
Ms. Frizzle: This way, Arnold.
(She jumps down into the dungeon. The rest of the class follows.)
Ms. Frizzle: Coming, Arnold? We're waiting.
(Arnold picks up Liz.)
Arnold: I think I should have stayed home today.
(Reluctantly, he jumps down the hole and into Ms. Frizzle's arms.)
Arnold: Thanks, Ms. Frizzle.
Ms. Frizzle: Ah, don't mention it, Arnold.
Keesha: Well, Carlos, you got us into this. Any ideas how to get us out?
(The strange sound is heard again.)
Carlos: Listen!
Dorothy Ann: Where's it coming from?
(Carlos puts on the sound glasses.)
Carlos: It's hard to hear exactly. Wait here.
(As Keesha puts on her glasses, we see red soundwaves bouncing off the walls of the hallway.)
Carlos: It's coming from along there.
Keesha: He can't go down there alone.
Arnold: You're right, Keesha. Why don't you go with him?
Wanda: Come on, you bunch of weasly wimps! Let's follow Ms. Frizzle.
(As they head down the hall, the strange noise plays again.)
Carlos: You can see the soundwaves bouncing off the walls. There, from there, (points to a door) from there!
Keesha: Soundwaves bouncing. I bet that's how an echo is made.
- In the Original, this is what follows...
- Keesha: In an echo, the sound bounces off something like a mountain. So if you blow into an alpine horn... (Keesha blows an alpine horn) ...it makes the air vibrate! The sound waves travel to the mountain then bounce back. Sound takes time to get from place to place.... Oops!
(As the strange noise plays, the soundwaves go through the door.)
Dorothy Ann: Those soundwaves are travelling through that door.
Ms. Frizzle: Good observation, Dorothy Ann.
Ralphie: Just so long as we don't travel through that door.
Carlos: No! We've got to see what it is!
(Carlos opens the door and sees an old lady playing an organ. She gets up to greet the students.)
Woman: Hello.
Carlos: It was you?
Ralphie: Wait a minute. Is it just me, or are you a...? Are you...?
Cornelia C. Contralto II: Professor Cornelia C. Contralto, the Second. (Points to the photo of the original Cornelia) And that is my great-grandmother.
(Cornelia C. Contralto waves to the students, surprising them.)
Cornelia II: Now, listen. You've got a concert tomorrow, right? (Carlos nods.) Are you ready to make your instrument sound richly resonant and resoundingly reverberant?
(She hands him his instrument.)
Ralphie: How'd she know about Carlos' instrument?
(Liz points to Ms. Frizzle.)
Arnold: You asked a question.
(Carlos looks over his instrument.)
Carlos: Let's see.
Ms. Frizzle: Don't you mean "let's hear?"
(Carlos starts removing items from his instrument.)
Carlos: Right. To make a sound, I need to make something vibrate. My instrument couldn't vibrate because it had too much stuff on it. I don't need that, don't need that, that goes, that goes.
Cornelia II and Ms. Frizzle: I think he's got it!
(The next day, the concert takes place. The whole class plays "William Tell Overture.")
Dorothy Ann: Ready, Carlos? Go!
(This time, when Carlos' cue is up, his instrument plays the perfect sound. Everyone applauds as they finish their performance. Dorothy Ann gives Carlos a hug.)
Dorothy Ann: Carlos, that was the perfect sound.
Cornelia II: And so, young man, if it's alright with you, I would like to add that wonderful sound to my grandmother's collection.
Carlos: Well, I couldn't have done it without you, Doctor Contralto.
Ms. Frizzle: As I always say, hit it, Cornelia!
Cornelia II and Ms. Frizzle: Hi-dee-hi-dee-hi-dee-hi. Low-dee-low-dee-low-dee-low. Hi-dee-hi-dee-hi-dee-hi. Low-dee-low-dee-low-low-low.
(The episode ends with one more exterior shot of the museum as the sun rises.)
Producer Says[]
(The segment opens in the producer's office late at night. Like normal, the phone starts to ring as thunder can be hear outside. The phone is picked up off-screen. The character is unidentified officially, but for the sake of argument, let's assume she's the original Cornelia C. Contralto.)
Cornelia I: Hello, Magic School Bus.
Caller: Hi, are you the one responsible for that show on sound?
(Liz walks by, and notices/overhears the phone call at present)
Cornelia I: *giggles a little* You might say that, yes.
Caller: Well, what's the deal with that house? I mean, you can never SEE sound. It goes way too fast.
Cornelia I: Oh, you're right. That's why they had magic glasses.
Caller: I don't get something. If sound is a vibration, just what's doing the vibrating?
(the chair, that is turned away from us, starts rocking a little.)
Cornelia I: Thin air. A sound is made when something pushes back and forth on the air, and makes the air vibrate. This vibration travels through the air to your ear as a soundwave.
Caller: So a loud sound is a just a big vibration?
Cornelia I: Right! And a soft sound is a very tiny vibration.
Caller: And, what about our ears? You hardly mentioned them.
(Liz starts trying to climb up the office chair as the conversation continues)
Cornelia I: Ears are very important. They turn soundwaves into something our brain can handle. That's how your hear.
Caller: But not everyone's ears work the same, do they? My grandmother wears a hearing aid to help her hear better.
Cornelia I: And some people can't hear anything ever, even with a hearing aid. They use their brain with their other senses to replace hearing.
Caller: And another thing. There are lots of differences and sounds besides loudness and pitch. A violin and a saxaphone sound very different, even when they're playing the same note.
(Liz ends up getting knocked off the chair once she reaches the top. As Cornelia answers, Liz recooperates herself and gives a sullen look in their direction.)
Cornelia I: True. There are enough different kinds of sounds to fill the world. But we only had half-an-hour, and we had to leave room for all those...ehem...hilarious jokes.
Caller: Okay. But one last thing.
Cornelia I: Yes?
Caller: About that ghost. Well that can't have been true. I mean, everybody knows there's no such thing as ghosts.
(thunder claps outside once more)
Cornelia I: Certainly not.
(Liz then jumps onto the armrest of the chair. At last the chair turns around, revealing that... no one was there at all! Realizing this, Liz freaks out, and runs away in fear. As soon as the chair was turned around, Cornelia starts laughing in a very spooky manner. Once Liz is offscreen for a bit, the phone is hung up as the laughing continues until the screen fades to black.)