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Inside Ralphie |
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- "Any good doctor knows—the best cure is complete rest."
- —Dr. Tennelli
Inside Ralphie (Human HealthVHS/GermsDVD & Digital) is the third episode of the first season of The Magic School Bus. It first released on the Fox Kids Network in the USA on September 10, 1994.
It premiered on Fox Kids the same day "Gets Lost in Space" aired on PBS[2], intended to promote the original series' premiere on the channel. It later premiered on PBS on September 24, 1994. The original series wouldn't officially move to Fox Kids until October 5, 1998, when it became a mainstay on the channel from then until September 6, 2002. Despite this airing being its premiere, many physical and digital outlets for the show use its PBS number, episode 3, in episode packaging order, and digital outlets mark its release date as the PBS one to stay consistent with the rest of the series.
Recap[]
Main Episode[]
It's Broadcast Day and the class is relying on Ralphie to help them come up with an idea for the two hours of live television they're doing. The trouble is that he's sick, so his mother, Dr. Tennelli, says that he can't go to school. So she calls Ms. Frizzle to tell her he won't be at school, and Ms. Frizzle takes her class to his house.
When Ms. Frizzle says that there is an amazing battle going on inside him, the class decides Broadcast Day should be about whatever is making him sick. They go back to the Bus, making him think they are leaving him. It later returns as a shrunken helicopter through his window. Ms. Frizzle tells him to say, "Ahh!," and it enters his mouth, approaching his red and swollen vocal cords, but he coughs, sending it flying out. Afterward, it reenters via a cut on his leg, to which Carlos jokingly says "It's a shortcut! Get it? Short cut?" causing his classmates to groan "Carlos, yuck!". The Bus travels up Ralphie's bloodstream to his throat. While watching a video of his bloodstream, he notices that the blood inside is clear rather than red, the cells are red and white blood cells, and the jagged cells are called platelets, which help the body heal scrapes and cuts. Meanwhile, Dr. Tennelli returns and notices the television. She remarks that the stuff on it is "remarkably realistic".
As the Bus enters the throat tissue, the class attempts to do the report. Ralphie and Dr. Tennelli watch this on the television and notice that bacteria are destroying his throat cells, which is what is making him sick. He doesn't want her to know that the Bus and his classmates are inside him. Just then, the white blood cells come around and try to eat the bacteria. Unfortunately, they multiply and begin chasing the class. Dr. Tennelli then turns the television off and tells Ralphie that the best cure for a bacterial infection is complete rest. As she leaves, Liz turns it back on and the inside story continues, where the medicine Dr. Tennelli gave Ralphie earlier destroys the bacteria. The white blood cells also see the Bus as bacteria, spray it with antibodies, and attempt to devour it. The class calls for help, but Ralphie is unaware since he is sound asleep. The Bus barely manages to escape from the white blood cells' grip and rides off, with them chasing after it. They make it to Ralphie's nose, and thanks to Liz banging a gong, he wakes up just in time to listen to the report on the television.
The bus travels through Ralphie's nasopharynx, and through the footage on television, he is shocked to see that this is what the inside of his nose looks like. After Liz tries tickling his nose with a feather, he initially yells angrily that he's trying to think but then realizes what Liz was trying to do and says, "I get it — I got to sneeze them out," but then looks puzzled while adding "But I don't feel like sneezing."
Liz solves that problem by sprinkling black pepper in his face. The class, still shrunken, is now back in his room and interview him. They tell him that his body is built to keep out things such as germs, his throat is sore because of his body sending extra blood there to fight off the infection, and the white blood cells almost ate the Bus because his body thought it was bacteria. They also tell him that his body was doing all this to protect him.
As Ralphie finally gets some rest, the class hops on the bus and leaves through the window.
Is This the Magic School Bus?[]
At the office, the male producer is using a stethoscope to listen to Liz's heartbeat, only to tell them that he can't hear anything. Just then, he gets a call from a girl who was wondering why the class would take a trip inside Ralphie's ill body, to which the producer responds he wasn't infectious. He then gets a call from a kid who reminds him that if the Bus could find its way through Ralphie's cut, then so could more germs. The producer agrees and states bandages are made not just to heal cuts and wounds, but to also keep germs out of the body as well. The caller also adds that viruses, parasites, and fungi are other diseases that could make a person sick. The producer also adds that some sickness is not only caused by infections, but also due to the body not working correctly. The producer later gets a call from a girl, who informs that medicine can be dangerous and children should never take it unsupervised. The producer also informs that Ralphie became robust sometime after the episode. The caller then adds that keeping the body healthy should include things like eating better, getting enough sleep and exercising. The producer also adds that getting shots is another way to keep healthy, as they help the person be prepared for tougher germs. When asked if Ms. Frizzle ever gets sick, the producer says she takes care of her body and "is magic". When the producer pulls up a photo of her on the monitor, Liz reaches over and gives it a kiss.
Bus Forms[]
Home Video[]
VHS[]
- “Inside Ralphie” standalone release (Warner, 1995)
- Body Basics (20th Century Studios, 1999)
DVD[]
- Body Basics (20th Century Studios, 1999) - Region 4
- Human Body (Warner, 2005/Radical!, 2011 [India/South Asia]/New Video Group, 2012) - Regions 1 and 2
- TMSB: The Complete Series 1, "In the Haunted House!" disc (Delta Leisure, 2011) - Region 2
- TMSB: The Complete Series, Disc 1 (New Video Group, 2012) - Region 1
- TMSB: Season One, Disc 1 (New Video Group, 2015) - Region 1
- Greatest Classic Episodes (New Video Group, 2017) - Region 1
- ”Inside Ralphie” standalone release (Innoform Media) - Region free
Allusions/References[]
- The white blood cells' would-be consumption of the Bus is a reference to Fantastic Voyage.
- The song that plays while Arnold is whistling to himself is Ed Haley's "The Fountain in the Park", famously sung by Schmitt and Cernan on the Moon during the Apollo 17 mission.
- The FNN station is a parody of CNN (Cable News Network).
- The Ride of the Valkyries plays when the Bus flies through Ralphie's window and into his bedroom.
- The William Tell Overture plays in one scene where the medicine destroys the bacteria. It also plays during "In the Haunted House" as the concerto for Carlos' invented instrument.
- Some of the spaceships on Ralphie's pajamas are Tie-Fighters from Star Wars.
Trivia[]
- Ralphie's illness and the medicine Dr. Tennelli gives him aren't specified in the episode, however, the illness may very well be strep throat, with the bacteria being streptococcus ("coccus" means "ball" and "strep" means a long chain). The medicine is most likely an antibiotic.
- The events of this episode are the cause of the Bus' dented fenders, as mentioned by Mr. Junkett in "Revving Up".
- This is the first episode with the Carlos gag in aired order.
- Music from the Producer Segment is reused in "Works Out".
- The Bus' pedals do not have the "purple foot" design; instead they are rectangular and black like in any other vehicle. This error is also present in "Goldstealer" when Ms. Frizzle hits the brakes.
- This episode and "Flexes Its Muscles" are the basis for "Ralphie Strikes a Nerve" because they travel inside the human body (former) as they struggle to build a robot (latter).
- Ralphie's last name is revealed when Ms. Frizzle talks to Dr. Tennelli on the phone (albeit spelled Tinelli in the captions, which is also a corruption of Tonelli). His middle name is revealed in "Kids in Space". This makes his full name be Ralphie Alessandro Giuseppe Tennelli.
- This is the second episode that takes a field trip inside a human body and the first one to do so other than Arnold's which was first seen in "For Lunch".
- Ralphie is the first of Ms. Frizzle's students to get sick. The second is Dorothy Ann in "Sees Stars". Carlos seems sick to the class in "Carlos Gets the Sneezes", which is why Wanda suggested she and the class go inside him in that episode. However, Ralphie's illness is more prominent, as this episode is about the immune system and germs while "Sees Stars" is about stars, and it wasn't explained how Dorothy Ann was sick. In the latter, Carlos has an allergy to pollen and doesn't have an illness.
- This is the only episode in which the class (except for Ralphie and Liz) doesn't return to normal size at the end (not shown).
- This is the second time in PBS order in which the Bus uses the Shrinkerscope, but the first in which it does so with Arnold and without Ralphie or Liz.
- This may not be true, but Mr. Junkett ("Revving Up"), mentions about the Bus' fenders being dented in the next season, but nobody knows where it's from. It could maybe be from the white blood cells/T-cells trying to tear the Bus apart. Assuming it's a bacterium, Ralphie’s T-cells spray antibodies on it to mark it as a threat, which attracts more of them to break or "destroy" it, and in the process of doing so, the white blood cells could possibly have put damage on or around the Bus while attempting to destroy it.
- Kevin Zegers who would later be the first voice of Mikey is heard as one of the callers in the Producer Segment.
- The computer in Ralphie's room appears to be a PC compatible bearing some resemblance to the IBM PC/AT judging from the darker notch on its right side.
- In this episode, Ralphie sneezes his class out like he does in the theme song.
- In the intro, he's wearing his regular clothes when he does this as his signature crewneck "R" shirt, while in this episode he has his V-necked Star Wars pajamas.
- This is the first episode to feature blood and the inside of the bloodstream.
- This is the first episode to feature its name in it, at the end when Wanda suggests a name for a mini-series of exploring Ralphie's body.
- It could be argued that "Gets Lost in Space" was the first to do so, however, the word "gets" is omitted in exchange for "we're", so it's not so much of a title as it is a slight paraphrase.
- This is the first time Ralphie doesn't wear his standard clothes other than his trademark red baseball cap being worn backwards for the entire episode.
- This episode was technically the first to be aired, as it was shown as a special sneak-peek on Fox Kids in September 1994.
- The book adaptation features a different Carlos gag, about Ralphie being a pony because "he's a little hoarse". Wanda scolds him for it, because it was starting to make the others feel sick.
- This is the first episode not to feature the classroom at the end. However, the class, except Ralphie, is seen headed back to school at the end.
- Tim has only has three lines of dialogue and is silent for most of the episode, giving the possibility of his voice actor, Max Beckford, having limited availability.
Errors/Goofs[]
- When Ralphie is about to pull the bandage, two hair follicle stems are layered over his finger.
Extras[]
