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Wet All Over |
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- "Let's just say our field trip made a real splash."
- —Arnold
Wet All Over (Water) is the sixth episode of the second season of The Magic School Bus. It first released on all PBS stations in the USA on October 14, 1995. It pays homage to the first book, The Magic School Bus At the Waterworks.
Plot[]
Arnold and Wanda are getting water for their waterworks project in the girls' bathroom. Arnold M. Perlstein voices his concern of getting caught, to which Wanda teases, "Who's going to catch you in the girls' bathroom? Tiffany?" He denies knowing such a girl by that name. Arnold describes his project as real waterworks and Wanda Li describes it as "Yawn burger with a side of snores". As she takes the bucket of water back to the classroom, he stays behind, only to get caught by Tiffany, who runs away in shock, prompting Arnold to say to himself "Maybe I should've stayed home today."
Arnold returns to the classroom to set up the project when Ms. Frizzle explodes from her closet, surfing on a rush of water. A field trip to the water park, Water Land, is suggested, but instead, the class ends up going on one in the water cycle. Wanda realizes that she doesn't have the keys she borrowed from Ms. Frizzle, who uses her spare key (the Water Key) instead to start the ignition and Mesmerglober, and the Magic School Bus, along with the rest of the students, transform into the matter of water as they fall into the water cycle. When the sun shines brighter, the water gets warmer, and the students, Ms. Frizzle, and The Magic School Bus float in the air. Ms. Frizzle explains to the class that water evaporates once it is exposed to such high heat.
Meanwhile, Liz realizes that the sink is overflowing and desperately attempts to stop it, but to no avail. As Liz continues to struggle to keep the bathroom from flooding, the rest of the class continue to float in the air and notice that they are vaporizing, and Ms. Frizzle explains that it is what water does, as it is condensing. They then turn into clouds and learn that the wind can takes cloud wherever it blows, taking them anywhere. They then end up getting blown by a gust of wind.
As the class floats, they coalesce into one big cloud put together and transform back to liquid water again. But this time, in raindrop form. They end up dropping into a forest and take a ride in the river, where they go down the waterfall and end up in the ocean. They end up evaporating again when the sun shines once again and condense into water droplets. They, once again, turn into clouds and revert to raindrops. When asked by Arnold that water never stops moving, Ms. Frizzle explains that all of this is called the water cycle. The class then realize it is 3:00, which means they have to get back in class since the class have after-school plans, only for them to realize that it happens to be 3:00 in London, England, where they end up in.
Unfortunately for the class, there's no way for them to change back, as Arnold left the Bus Key that they need to become solid again in the girls' bathroom, and Ms. Frizzle has informed them that the Water Key has also liquefied. Suddenly, Carlos spotted a taxi cab heading right for them. The students begin to panic, but Ms. Frizzle reminds them of the water cycle. The class evaporates once the sun shines just avoiding being run over by the cab and they turn into clouds. When the class learn that stop being water is their only way out of the water cycle, Wanda gets the idea to blow the clouds wherever the class wants to go. As the class manages to get back to Walkerville and back in the school via the waterworks and pipe system, Liz, who stayed behind to try and turn the sink Arnold left on off, uses her tail to stop the water, only to get stuck. Wanda arrives as a raindrop just in time and slams into the window, the impact causes her to drop into a puddle.
Wanda meets the rest of the class to inform them of the flooded bathroom and Liz being stuck in the water faucet. Arnold decides to the water works to get inside the bathroom and the class evaporates once again. They transform into clouds and blow to the water works. There, they transform into raindrops and take a ride in the water reservoir, which Dorothy Ann informs that is where the water everyone drinks is collected, much to Ralphie and Carlos' disgust. The class swim to the mixing base and notice white blobs called alum, in which the dirt sticks to and keeps the water clean. The class swim through the filter and Arnold informs to them that they are in the gravel to get rid of any particles so they, along with the rest of the water, stay clean. They swim through the pipes and come across one with Liz's tail stuck to it. Liz freed when Wanda bites her tail, and Liz gets the keys for them. Tiffany returns to the bathroom, only to be washed away by the wall of water building in there.
The class becomes regular size and solid again, and Arnold rushes to help Tiffany. He asks if she's okay, which she is, and she asks what happened. He replies, "I guess you could say our field trip made a real splash." Ms. Frizzle also adds that "To appreciate the water cycle, you've got to have a good sense of humid", which the rest of the class laugh to.
Cast (in credits order)[]
- Lily Tomlin as Ms. Valerie Frizzle
- Malcolm-Jamal Warner as the Producer
- Daniel DeSanto as Carlos Ramón
- Erica Luttrell as Keesha Franklin
- Lisa Yamanaka as Wanda Li
- Tara Meyer as Dorothy Ann Hudson
- Daniel Tamberelli as Arnold Perlstein
- Stuart Stone as Ralphie Tennelli
- Jonathan Schwartz as the second Caller
- Maia Filar as Phoebe Terese
- Andre Ottley-Lorant as Tim Wright
- Shannon Duff as Tiffany and the first Caller
Recurring Elements[]
Bus forms[]
Screencaps[]
Frizzle family[]
- Matilda (great aunt)
Trivia[]
- The seventh-grader from At the Waterworks, from which this episode is adapted, is redesigned and given a name: Tiffany.
- Arnold says, "Maybe I should've stayed home today." once. He also says "I knew I should have stayed home today" twice, as he did in "Gets Eaten".
- In 1996, the episode was edited together and released on "Kids for Character" in the Responsibility segment. Lily Tomlin, Danny Tamberelli and Lisa Jai provide the voice-overs in character as Professor Frizzle, Arnold, and Wanda respectively during the special.
- This is also the only appearance of this episode on a NTSC VHS tape. Since it was edited for this special, the opening, title card, credits, Is This the Magic School Bus, and funding are cut, making this also a textless print.
- It is implied that when Tiffany finds Arnold and Wanda in the girls' restroom, she may have needed to use the restroom.
- Going by production order, this is the 5th episode of Season 2. This marks its as the third episode being switched in streaming order.
- This is one of the few episodes where Dorothy Ann says "According to other's research".
- During the Producer Says segment, the Producer mentions his show on weather.
- The kids' raindrop forms in this episode feature more wavier lineart on the kids compared to their "Kicks Up a Storm" raindrop forms.
- This is the first episode that the Bus' transformation sequence is played backwards. The second time is in "Spins a Web".
- This is the first episode with the "as family always says" gag, in which Professor Frizzle mentions other members in her large family. This gag continues until the Joanna Cole specials.
- The first Frizzle family member that was mentioned in the series was Matilda.
- This is one of two episodes where Arnold pairs up with someone other than Phoebe for a project. "Gets Eaten". is the other. In this case, he pairs up with Wanda.
- In the book series, everyone's hair is all wet when they all transform back to normal at the end (plus Tiffany's hair is wet from the bathroom incident). However in the TV series, everyone's hair is still dry when they change back.
- This is one of few episodes where nobody reacts to a Carlos pun. When he calls the rain the class is part of a "Frizzle drizzle", everyone else is too caught up in the rainfall to notice. Professor Frizzle does get the "Carlos!" gag directed at her at the end of the episode, however.
In popular culture[]
- American YouTuber DGR mentions this episode while playing a Super Mario Maker 2 level in this video, though he admits to not knowing the name.
Goofs[]
- When Ms. Frizzle surfs on out of the closet in the classroom, she is barefoot, but when she unzips her red wetsuit to reveal a water cycle-themed dress, she is wearing red heels with gray storm clouds on the front.
- Ms. Frizzle puts the spare key into the ignition and starts The Magic School Bus in one scene. In the next scene, it is no longer in there.