|
In the Zone |
|
- "There isn't a pickle a song can't fix."
- —Professor Frizzle (through Maven)
In the Zone (Time Zones) is the third episode of the third season of The Magic School Bus Rides Again. It first released on Netflix worldwide on December 26, 2020.
It’s the final episode of Season 3 to release on Netflix, the third and last of the Joanna Cole specials trilogy, and the season finale in production and packaging order.
Descriptions[]
Netflix (variant 1).: "It's the longest New Year's Eve ever as Ms. Frizzle and the class travel back in time — hour by hour — to save their beloved bus!"
Netflix (variant 2).: "Ms. Frizzle's class sees every show on a pop star's New Year's Eve tour, learning about time zones as they attend all of her concerts on the same night."
Plot[]
Jyoti is excited to know that Ms. Frizzle's class is on tour with the latter's cousin, a singer named Maven, on her New Year's Eve tour. As the Bus travels from time zone to time zone, it starts to go haywire because it undergoes a software update every New Year.
Episode[]
It’s New Year’s Eve. The episode opens with Ms. Frizzle and her other cousin, Maven, performing on a tour in New Zealand ("One Time Only"). They are applauded by the class, and Jyoti is the most excited, as she shows Ms. Frizzle a special end-of-year video thanking the Bus for her wild rides. Jyoti rewinds the video to the beginning to show the Frizz all the footage she has gotten so far, to the time before the concert. The video plays from the start.
The start of the video takes place at Walkerville Elementary, inside the Magic School Bus. Jyoti thanks the Bus for the most amazing field trips. The kids cheer excitedly when Jyoti treats them to Maven's concert in New Zealand, but Ralphie is not excited and is quite tired, because the concert happens to be at 11:00 p.m. After wondering how long it would take to get to New Zealand, Ms. Frizzle says that it's already 11:00 in New Zealand because of how time zones work, and then employs the Bus to teleport there, where they arrive right on time.
Is This the Magic School Bus?[]
- Hosts: Maven and Liz
- Phone Voiceover: Lynsey Pham
At Walkerville Elementary School, Maven watches Liz practice the drum set as she hears a phone ring. Liz presses speaker, gives the phone to Maven, and she answers the viewer's call. The viewer (voiced by Lynsey Pham) is excited to be talking to "the Maven" who was in the show about time zones, and asks her about the origins of time zones. Maven tells the viewer, in the form of a song, that a group of people met together and discussed that the world needed different time "zones" in the year 1886 ("They Needed Time Zones"). After the song finishes, Lynsey Pham applauds Maven, and then Pham asks another question - how Antarctica's time zones work, and if Antarctica has multiple time zones. Maven remarks that having multiple time zones would get confusing to those who live there, causing them to "pick one time and stick with it". She sings another song to explain it further ("Antarctica"), which gives Lynsey Pham an understanding of it more, and then hangs up. Maven notices that it's getting late and that she should wrap it up because she has another concert. But when she hears the beep of the Magic School Bus, she realizes that "it may be late here, but it's early somewhere else!" The "camera" zooms out at Walkerville Elementary School, and the episode ends.
Appearances[]
Debuts[]
- Maven
- Season 3 background characters
Returners[]
- Fiona Frizzle
- Fiona (cameo through recycled footage)
- The Reliable Teacher (cameo through recycled footage)
- Valerie Frizzle (mentioned)
- Liz Ard
- Agent L
- The Magic School Bus
- Compass Bus (cameo through recycled footage)
- Apple Bus (cameo through recycled footage)
- Arnold Perlstein
- Carlos Ramón
- Dorothy Ann Hudson
- Jyoti Kaur
- Keesha Franklin
- Ralphie Tennelli
- Tim Wright
- Wanda Li
Flashbacks[]
- Frizzle of the Future (shown in "The Best Times" twice. Recycled footage from it appeared on Jyoti's Frizz Phone, and at the end of the song, it is remastered in the 2020 style.)
- Kids in Space (two recycled clips, seen when Jyoti rewinds the video at the beginning of the episode and in "The Best Times")
- Three in One (The Bus uses its 2020 design. Ralphie appears in his 2017 design. Seen in "The Best Times")
- Hides and Seeks (shown in "The Best Times" with the characters' 2020 designs)
- Pigs in the Wind (shown in “The Best Times” with Ms. Frizzle’s 2020 design)
- Space Mission: Selfie (remastered in the Season 3 style. Also, Ms. Frizzle is wearing an orange flight suit in the remastered clip instead of her usual blue one)
- The Frizz Connection (two recycled clips, seen when Jyoti rewinds the video at the beginning of the episode and in "The Best Times")
- The Good, the Bad, and the Gnocchi (remade in the 2020 art style at the end of "The Best Times", but when it plays on Jyoti's phone, footage is recycled.)
- Goldstealer (As this episode is third in the season's production order, scenes are reused in this episode. Two recycled scenes are shown in "The Best Times": the scene where the Bus paces Angela on her warm-up lap, and the scene where the Bus arrives to induct Keesha into the MI5. These are the only available scenes from this episode in HD.)
Songs[]
| Song | Performers | Scene |
|---|---|---|
| One Time Only | Lights, Kate McKinnon | The Auckland, New Zealand concert |
| Time Zones | Kate McKinnon, Gabby Clarke, Matthew Mucci | When the Bus turns on its disco ball to answer Ralphie's question |
| Time to Go | Lights | The Sydney, Australia concert |
| No Better Time to Fly | Lights | the Beijing China concert when Jyoti Kaur saved the Frizzle classroom from going toward the light when they became moths |
| In the Zone | Lights, Kate McKinnon, cast of students (minus Roman Lutterotti), Amos Crawley | When the Bus possesses Maven's body during the trip south |
| Our Time Has Just Begun | Lights, Kate McKinnon, students, The Bus | The Bus starts glitching after Captain Rock Man lifts it to the magnetic South Pole, where all longitude lines meet |
| The Best Times | Lights | Jyoti's video |
| They Needed Time Zones | Lights | During the Producer Says segment, when Lynsey Pham calls MSB and asks Maven about the origins of time zones |
| Research Stations | Lights | When Lynsey Pham asks about Antarctica |
Bus forms[]
Allusions[]
Pop culture[]
- Disney/Pixar: The device that restarted the Bus from glitching, the Bingbongifier, is powered by sound waves from the class and Maven's singing to it. It is possibly named after Bing Bong from Disney/Pixar's 2015 film, Inside Out, a pink elephant who rides a wagon-shaped rocket that runs on song power. Also, the Bus's freeze-up when it fails to update is considered a Disney Death on TV Tropes.
- Fortnite: Epic's 2017 game featured an emote based on the Backpack Kid Floss dance, which Ralphie did during the song, “Time Zones.” This dance was popular in the late 2010s through Fortnite, and could also reference the release year of The Magic School Bus Rides Again, 2017.
- Google's old emoji designs: The emoji versions of Ralphie and his nonna during "Time Zones" resemble old Android emoji fonts which feature the blob- or raindrop-shaped faces instead of circular ones.
- LIGHTS: Maven wears a necklace with the logo of singer-songwriter LIGHTS, who provides her voice.
In-franchise[]
- Season 1 of The Magic School Bus: Elderly Arnold is voiced by Amos Crawley, his voice actor in that season.
- "Wet All Over": One of Carlos's transformations from the glitch is a cloud, though it is much less humanoid than in that episode.
- "Cold Feet": One of Ralphie's transformations from the glitch is his turtle form that debuted in this episode, redesigned in the Rides Again Season 3 art style.
Trivia[]
- This episode marks the third appearance of the Bus in an "Is This The Magic School Bus?" segment; the first was in Rocks and Rolls and the second was in the previous episode, The Frizz Connection.
- The Bus’s MagicWare crash appearance could be a reference to how it looked in the book series by Cole and Degen.
- This episode takes place after the events of the next episode, as this episode was still in production right after it was finished.
- Amos Crawley reprises his role as Arnold when the Bus ages him into an adult. This is the first episode since "Kicks Up a Storm" to have Arnold be voiced by Crawley, but only temporarily. When Arnold returns to his normal age, Roman Lutterotti continues voicing him.
- The Bus's transformation sequence plays backwards when it transforms from a plane back into its original form as the class and Maven exits it when they arrive at the South Pole.
- This episode features most of the Bus's season 3 transformations (rocket, space pod, hot-air balloon, plane, submarine, helicopter, wagon, UFO, convertible, Space Bus, and bulldozer) except for the surfboard and the bracelet. In addition, two 2017-era forms (the flying machine and the 2017 default form) make cameos on Jyoti's phone.
- The Bus continuously transforming into different things upon leaving Beijing is reminiscent of its also doing so in Spins a Web (though it was not caused by a glitch in that episode; instead General Araneus was trying to start it).
- This episode premiered on December 26th, which happens to be Boxing Day in some countries. So, this is the second episode that was released on a winter holiday.
- Walkerville is shown to be located in the eastern United States (the Ralphie emoji points to it in the song "Time Zones").
- Ralphie brings up his love for calzones and pickles (Ups and Downs, In a Pickle).
- Ralphie mentions his grandmother in this episode. He refers to her using the Italian word for grandmother, "nonna".
- Jyoti is the second character to cry after Wanda did in the Holiday Special. Wanda also cries in this episode as well.
- This is the first and only time Jyoti, Tim, Carlos, Ralphie, & Arnold cry (not counting Send in the Clouds since Jyoti was sad and not crying).
- This is the second and final time Keesha cries. The first being Gets Charged.
- This is the third and final time that Wanda cries. The first two are Holiday Special and Gets Charged (not counting Send in the Clouds since Wanda was sad not crying).
- As of this episode, Dorothy Ann is the only student not to cry. She is also the only female student not to cry in an episode.
- This is the first time when all students (except Dorothy Ann) cry.
- This is the first time in which Ralphie uses his catchphrase while Matthew Mucci is voicing him.
- In order of the screenshots of the episodes in the credits, this is the fourth and final episode to be showcased in the credits. It was teased in the previous two episodes.
- These are the fourth and fifth times when Ralphie sleeps or acts tired. The first was in Inside Ralphie, the second time was in Ralphie Strikes a Nerve, and the third was in Kids in Space.
- This is the fifth and final time when Arnold and Keesha sit next to each other in the Bus. The first was Gets Eaten, the second was Goes on Air, the third was The Good, the Bad, and the Gnocchi, and the fourth was Send in the Clouds.
- This episode also marks the first clip show in the series, in the form of Jyoti's video.
- It is also revealed that the Bus can possess the bodies of others. It possessed Maven during the episode's titular song.
- The "Carlos!" gag is used for the first time in the "new era" of Rides Again. It is used thrice.
- Walkerville Elementary School is shown for the first time in the new era.
- Scenes from Season 1 and 2 appear in Jyoti's thank-you film, as well as the already-released episodes of Season 3.
- It is revealed that when the Bus freezes during a MagicWare update, it transforms into a normal school bus.
- Valerie "Lights" Poxleitner-Bokan, a Canadian musician who collabbed with British rock band Bring Me the Horizon, plays Maven.[2]
- She is the third musical celebrity to guest star in The Magic School Bus + Rides Again; the second being Wynonna Judd (Molly Cule) and the first being Dolly Parton (Murph).
- The Producer Segment is told mostly in a song.
- It is revealed that the Bus's magic comes from a software called MagicWare, which powers the MagBatt. This might have caused the Hinkoblemonflemonjab to malfunction in Gets Ready, Set, Dough.
- Arnold makes his second and final appearance as Captain Rock Man, the first being The Battle for Rock Mountain. Now he and Weatherman (Ralphie) are tied with two appearances.
- This is the series finale of The Magic School Bus Rides Again in USA.
- This is the final episode to release in the year 2020. The next released in November 2021.
- This is the first episode to air in a December since Takes a Dive, and the first Rides Again episode of the month of December.
- Both Takes a Dive and In the Zone serves as the series finale in December in USA, respectively.
- This episode marks the final appearance of Ms. Frizzle, Liz, Arnold, Wanda, Ralphie, Dorothy Ann, Carlos, Tim, Keesha, Jyoti and The Magic School Bus in USA.
- For its representation in the credits for this and other episodes, Jyoti is shown as a moth flying over the stage.
- This is the second episode to feature a pop star. The first is Meets Molly Cule, another episode focusing on a different pop-star.
- The kids wear new winter outfits in this episode, but they have the MSB logo, similar to the raincoats in Gets Swamped.[1]
- This episode has a similar title to In the Haunted House, In the Arctic, In the Rainforest, In the City, and In the Swim. It is the sixth episode with an "In the..." title.
- This is the second episode in a row after the previous episode to be in the Holiday and Occasion Themed Episodes category. This episode focuses on New Year's Eve and Day, and the previous focuses on Arnold's birthday and the Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta (an October event).
- This is the third episode to be dedicated to Joanna Cole. The previous two are the first.
- This is the fourth episode to focus on the concept of time. The first three are The Busasaurus, Frizzle of the Future, and The Land Before Tim.
- This streamed one day after the 24th anniversary of the holiday special.
