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The Land Before Tim |
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- "Practice, Arnold—just like Jyoti does with programming, Ralphie does with baseball, and you do with worrying your face off."
- —Tim
The Land Before Tim (Fossils) is the first episode of the second season of The Magic School Bus Rides Again. It first released on Netflix worldwide on April 13, 2018.
It was produced as a "Season 1" episode as MSB114, and it is the 1st in production order for released Season 2 episodes, going by the order of episodes on the Knowledge Kids site.
Ms. Frizzle’s outfit[]
Ms. Frizzle’s skirt depicts jigsaw puzzles and paper cranes. Her necklace pendant is a green jigsaw puzzle piece outlined in blue.
Descriptions[]
- Netflix: When the class gets an invite to compete on Tim's favorite TV game show, the bus takes them all back in time to bone up on how fossils are formed.
- iTunes/YouTube/Amazon Prime: Tim, as the world's biggest fan of Nicki Ray, host of the hit TV game show Puzzlepalooza, couldn't be more thrilled when the class gets invited to be on the show, where he vows to win – and impress Nicki. The theme of this week's contest is 'fossils', and Tim must solve a brain-bender of a puzzle: how did matching fossils wind up on opposite sides of the world? Is it possible that it wasn't the fossils that moved – it was the continents themselves?
Summary[]
The Magic School Bus Rides Again segment[]
Tim breaks a record by completing a puzzle while balancing on plank on a ball blindfolded. When Arnold asks how he was able to do that, he said practice, just Jyoti with programming, Ralphie with baseball, and him with worrying his face off. Carlos says that he should take his act on the road. Dorothy Ann agrees, which is why they're gonna be on Celebrity Super-Stumpers (known on the episode description as Puzzlepalooza), hosted by Nicki Ray. Turns out that Ms Frizzle knows her and got them in as a favor. Tim mentions that he's "her biggest fan" and then opens a compartment on his desk to reveal Nicki Ray magazines. He's worried that he might become starstruck in front of her.
Is This the Magic School Bus? segment[]
- Hosted by Professor Frizzle and Goldie
- PhD gag: Professor Frizzle, PhDevising Answers to Your Curious Questions
- Caller: Unknown
- Teaser: "Claw and Order"
Cast/Appearances[]
Voice cast[]
- Kate McKinnon as Ms. Frizzle
- Lily Tomlin as Professor Frizzle
- Miles Koseleci-Vieira as Arnold
- Leke Maceda-Rustecki as Carlos
- Gabby Clarke as Dorothy Ann
- Birva Pandya as Jyoti
- Mikaela Blake as Keesha
- Unknown as Nicki Ray - Debut
- Matthew Mintz as Ralphie
- Kaden Stephen as Tim
- Lynsey Pham as Wanda
No speaking roles[]
- Goldie
- Liz
- The Magic School Bus
- The Magic Motorbike - Cameo in Is This the Magic School Bus?
- Marty - Debut, cameo in Is This the Magic School Bus?
- Background characters - As the opposing team in Puzzlepalooza/Celebrity Super-Stumpers
Availability[]
Physical[]
- DVD: For Region 1, this episode is available on Season Two in the US, and on The Complete First Season/La Première Saison Complete in Canada.
- VHS: This episode is not available on any single-episode or multi-episode VHS in NTSC, PAL, or SECAM.
Digital, outside Netflix[]
- iTunes: Season 1, Episode 14 (where Season 1 includes all 2010s episodes)
- Amazon Prime Video: Season 2, Episode 1 (where Season 2 refers to the Netflix Season 2)
- Vudu: Season 2, Episode 1 (where Season 2 refers to the Netflix Season 2)
- YouTube (paid)/Google Play: Season 1, Episode 14 (where Season 1 includes all 2010s episodes)
- Microsoft Movies and TV: Season 1, Episode 14 (where Season 1 includes all 2010s episodes)
Trivia[]
- This is considered another adaptation to the sixth book, In the Time of the Dinosaurs (1994). The Busasaurus (from the other second season) was also based on this book, but it instead focuses on life in the time of the dinosaurs.
- This episode has one of the few Is This the Magic School Bus? segments in the Professor Frizzle era in which the Bike has a minor role, only being parked in front of Marty's nest.
- This reveals that this series takes place in 2016-2017, the latter being the release year for Season 1. If this series canonically took place in 2017, then the original series might have occurred in 2014-2016. This unintentionally introduces a continuity error into the series, as In the Rainforest is supposed to have taken place two years before, in 2015, but Earth Day does not fall on a Monday in that year. Since The Magic School Bus is a long-running franchise, time might not be dependent.
- The title of this episode is a pun on The Land Before Time.
- In the description for this episode outside of Netflix, Celebrity Super-Stumpers is named Puzzlepalooza.
- Arnold sounds noticeably deeper due to Miles Koseleci-Vieira's voice starting to age.
- Arnold, Wanda, Ralphie and Keesha each turn into ammonites. The design of their ammonite forms closely resembles the Pokémon Omanyte, which is based on and named after these creatures.
- Carlos is the only character who isn't shown physically changing back. He is already human when they find him again.
- Wanda, Ralphie, Arnold and Keesha became ammonites.
- This episode was referenced in Janet's Mystery Gene when Carlos talks about his transformation into a Cymbospondylus fossil.