Season 4 (The Magic School Bus)

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Season 4 is the fourth season of The Magic School Bus, and the fourth season overall. It was produced from late 1996-mid 1997, and aired on PBS from September 13, 1997 to December 6, 1997.

Cast

Character	Voice actor
Professor Frizzle (known as Ms. Frizzle)	Lily Tomlin
Mr. Ruhle	Paul Winfield
Arnold Perlstein	Danny Tamberelli
Dorothy Ann Hudson	Tara Meyer
Carlos Ramón	Daniel DeSanto
Keesha Franklin	Erica Luttrell
Ralphie Tennelli	Stuart Stone
Phoebe Terese	Maia Filar
Tim Wright	Andre Ottley-Lorant
Wanda Li	Lisa Yamanaka
Janet Perlstein	Renessa Blitz
Liz
The Magic School Bus
Producer	Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Callers

One-Time Characters and Guest Stars

Character	Voice	Episode
Molly Cule	Wynonna Judd	"Meets Molly Cule"
Horace Scope	Dabney Coleman	"Sees Stars"
Mr. McClean	Malcolm McDowell	"Gets Programmed"
Flora Whiff	Bebe Neuwirth	"Makes a Stink"
Mikey Ramon	Kevin Zegers	"Gets Programmed"

Episodes

No.	Episode name	Topic	Airdate (PBS)
1	Meets Molly Cule	Molecules	September 13, 1997
When Wanda's favorite singer, Molly Cule, comes to town, she chooses Ms. Frizzle's class to wash her famous car. They clean it from top to bottom, but when she insists they missed a spot, they shrink down to see the molecules that make up the car. Only then can they discover how to clean it down to the very last bit. But time is running out, and they'll need a molecular miracle to get it clean before her concert begins!
2	Cracks a Yolk	Eggs	September 20, 1997
When the principal, Mr. Ruhle, has to go out of town for a few days, he leaves his beloved pet chicken, Giblets, in Dorothy Ann's care. Unfortunately, the minute he leaves, Giblets flies away. How will Dorothy Ann ever find another prized Rhode Island Red to replace him? Where do you get chickens anyway? And which comes first, the chicken or the egg? The next thing Dorothy Ann knows, Ms. Frizzle and the class are on a field trip to see how eggs are made—from the inside out! But will the one they pick have everything it needs to become "Giblets the Second"?
3	Goes to Mussel Beach	Tidal Zones	September 27, 1997
The class is enjoying a normal summer day at the beach until Ms. Frizzle discovers a letter from her Uncle Shelby, who wants them to look after his beachfront property. They soon discover that this "luxurious" accommodation is only a tiny spot on the shoreline. Why would anyone want to live in a spot where they're battered by waves at high tide and baked by the sun at low tide? To find out, Ms. Frizzle turns the class into...mussels!?
4	Goes on Air	Air	October 4, 1997
"We got assigned air, and it's not fair!" The only contribution Ms. Frizzle's class has made to the Walkerville Space Capsule is an empty jar. "It's not empty," argues Keesha. "It's filled with air!" "But air doesn't do anything!" wails Ralphie. They discover that's not true when the bus shrinks and gets stuck inside the jar—and they find that their only hope for escape is⁣ air!
5	Gets Swamped	Swamps and Wetlands	October 11, 1997
The debate is intense: Should Walkerville get rid of the swamp by the river and replace it with a fantastic new shopping mall or build the latter somewhere else? Carlos, representing his class, is given the thankless task of persuading the town council to keep the smelly old swamp. If he loses the debate, he'll do so to Arnold's pesky cousin, Janet! The class learns that the swamp is an important habitat and natural water filter, but the council's not convinced until...FLOOD!!
6	Goes Cellular	Cells	October 18, 1997
It's the night of the rock lovers' annual Granite Awards, and Arnold is about to become the first kid ever to win the coveted Rocky Award. He's so excited that all he's been able to eat for weeks are Sea Wheedies—and lots of them! When he arrives for the big event, he's totally nervous and totally...orange! Once the class determines that it isn't on his skin, they shrink down to explore what's underneath. They discover that his whole body is made of living cells—and they're all orange! But where is the orange coming from...and how can they make it go away?
7	Sees Stars	Stars	October 25, 1997
When the class sees Horace Scope on the Star Shopping Network, they decide to buy Dorothy Ann a real twinkling star for her birthday. Before doing so, they blast off in the bus to inspect the merchandise. They visit a young star, a middle-age star, and decide that the third and last star is the one they want to buy. But when they give Horace their money, KABOOM!, the star explodes! Have they lost it forever?
8	Gains Weight	Gravity	November 1, 1997
Guess who's selected to give an exhibition of a slam-dunk during half time of the big basketball game? Phoebe! The problem is she can't jump high enough. "If only gravity didn't pull on me!" she moans. Never one to be tied down, Ms. Frizzle sends the class into space and turns the bus into a planet with adjustable gravity! Basketball's a snap with low gravity and a riot with none at all, but when there's way too much, things get really heavy!
9	Makes a Stink	Smelling	November 8, 1997
Flora Whiff, the famous expert on smell—whose "nose knows"—comes to school to judge the Smell Search. Ms. Frizzle's class creates a unique smell which is bound to take first prize, but Arnold's cousin, Janet, determined to win by herself, changes it to an odor only a skunk could spray. The class discovers the secret to what makes things smell...now they have to make sure their creation doesn't make a big stink!
10	Gets Charged	Electricity	November 15, 1997
"It's Valentine's Day and the class is selling light bulbs. When they stop at Ms. Frizzle's house to sell her one, they find that her battery-operated doorbell doesn't work. While looking for her to tell her it's broken, Wanda overhears her talking on the telephone. "Ms. Frizzle has a boyfriend," she says, "and he's on his way over to see her! We've got to fix the doorbell or she'll never know he's here!" But first they have to figure out how it works.
11	Gets Programmed	Computers	November 22, 1997
"Ms. Frizzle's class arrives early to open the school for Mr. Ruhle. But there's so much to do! "There must be a way to do all of these chores without actually doing them," says Carlos. The janitor, Mr. McClean, is in total agreement. Enter Mr. Ruhle's new computer and Carlos' whiz kid brother, Mikey, who programs it to do all the chores! But when Ms. Frizzle shrinks him and the class and sends them inside it for a guided tour, everything goes haywire. The only person who can fix the problem is Mikey–and he just landed somewhere between the CPU and hard drive!
12	In the City	Urban Wildlife (some releases) City Critters (some releases)	November 29, 1997
Ms. Frizzle's class is visiting the zoo, which is, according to Tim, the only place in the city where wild animals can survive. To test this idea, Ms. Frizzle turns the class into opossums, foxes, and falcons! The bus, with Liz inside, becomes a bear and wanders off, looking for food. Will the class be able to find it before the zookeeper does? And is Tim right? Can animals (like themselves) survive in the city?
13	Takes a Dive	Coral Reefs	December 6, 1997
When Wanda discovers that one of Ms. Frizzle's ancestors was Redbeard the pirate, she naturally wants to follow the treasure map he left. It leads the class to a coral reef, where they learn first hand that life there is risky. They find that many plants and animals form surprising partnerships to survive. But Wanda is not interested in that—she just wants to find the treasure! When Ms. Frizzle turns the class into different sea creatures, Wanda begins to understand that partnerships are more valuable then she thought.

Trivia

This is the final season of The Magic School Bus. Season 5 would be considered Season 1 of The Magic School Bus Rides Again.
The color scheme is overall is more vibrant and more saturated in this season. A notable example is Arnold's hair, which is a brighter red. However there can be some scenes in each episode that the lighting can get a little pale.
New music tracks play in this season, with the exception of "Takes a Dive", which plays the regular Walkerville Elementary School opening cue.
In the DVD releases, the audio goes back to mono after Season 3 used a stereo codec with voices on the right track and music on the left.
Throughout this season, Arnold and Tim's voices are noticeably deeper this season, because Danny Tamberelli and Andre Ottley-Lorant were going through puberty at that time in production, they are eventually replaced by Miles Koseleci-Vieira and Kaden Stephen in the next season, respectively.
The reason this was the last season of the original series was because PBS demanded more programs aimed towards younger kids. A year after this season aired, the series repeated on FOX Kids from 1998 to 2002, and then repeated in syndication on TLC and Discovery Kids from 2003 to 2009. It then repeated on Qubo from 2010 to 2012. In 2013, it streamed on Netflix and has been doing so ever since, eventually announcing The Magic School Bus Rides Again.
The book promo at the end of the PBS broadcast version of each episode features The Magic School Bus at the Waterworks, The Magic School Bus Inside the Earth, The Magic School Bus Inside the Human Body, The Magic School Bus on the Ocean Floor, The Magic School Bus in the Time of the Dinosaurs, The Magic School Bus Inside a Hurricane, The Magic School Bus Inside a Beehive, and The Magic School Bus and the Electric Field Trip.
- In this season only, the book promo at the end of the PBS broadcast version of each episode is followed on the master tapes by a series of spots produced for the PTV Park block by ITVS, such as It's All How You Look At It (1996–2013).
This is the only season to have slates on all of its episodes' master tapes.
Keesha, Tim and Arnold's voice are deeper and sounding more teenager-like due the actors Erica Luttrell, Andre Ottley-Lorant, and Danny Tamberelli getting puberty.
The original producer is present for all segments in this season.
This is the last season...
- ...to feature Phoebe.
- ...in 480i standard definition.
- ...of the original series.
- ...of the 1990s.
- ...to be featured in the 4×3 aspect ratio: 640×480.
- ...in cel animation.
- ...with 29.97 frames per second.
- This is the last season in which Danny Tamberelli, Daniel DeSanto, Tara Meyer, Erica Luttrell, Stuart Stone, Andre Ottley-Lorant, and Lisa Yamanaka voice Arnold, Carlos, Dorothy Ann, Keesha, Ralphie, Tim, and Wanda, respectively.

Season 4 (The Magic School Bus)

Contents

Netflix Description

Cast

One-Time Characters and Guest Stars

Episodes

Trivia

Discovery Channel Links

Fan Feed