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Inside Ralphie
Gets Eaten
Hops Home

"Nature never ceases to amaze me."
Ms. Frizzle

Gets Eaten (The Food Chain) is the fourth episode of the first season of The Magic School Bus. It first released on PBS stations in the USA on October 1, 1994.

Description[]

Arnold and Keesha were supposed to do a report on "two beach things that go together," but they both completely forgot about it. Keesha only brings a tuna fish sandwich, and all Arnold brings is "scum" he got on his shoe when he stepped in a pond on his way to school. They don't have anything in common...or do they? Ms. Frizzle takes the class on their beach trip, but once there, it quickly becomes a field trip when she shrinks the bus to explore the ocean food chain.

Plot[]

Main Episode[]

The class is prepared to go to the beach this afternoon for their Two Beach Things that Go Together report. Dorothy Ann and Carlos brought a crab and sand, Phoebe brought a tube grass in a pot, Ralphie brought "the sun" (really a yellow balloon to simulate it), and Tim and Wanda brought portraits of mussels. When Keesha enters the classroom and is reminded of the report, she panics when she doesn't have anything to bring for the report other than a tuna fish sandwich for lunch. Just then, Arnold enters the classroom and is shown to have stepped in a pond on his way to school, and his shoe was covered in slimy green scum. He, too, had forgotten all about the report and hasn't brought anything either. The rest of the class get an idea, but later reject it when they realize that tuna fish sandwich and scum don't go together. Just when Arnold is ready to quit, Keesha tells him that they have to work with what they have. Ms. Frizzle enters the classroom to discuss the report. Phoebe and Ralphie are the first to present their part, and to Arnold and Keesha's dismay, Ms. Frizzle calls them up to present theirs. So they show her the tuna fish sandwich and scum. To their surprise, she tells them that it is fantastic. She asks them to explain how the two objects go together, to which Arnold hesitantly responds that they both have adjectives. Just then, the bell rings, and Ms. Frizzle takes the class to the beach.

During the bus ride, Arnold and Keesha have a conversation on the work they have to do for their report. They conceive ways on how each of their items complement each other. Ms. Frizzle overhears their conversation and tells them that it is up to them to look for connections. The Magic School Bus finally arrives at Mussel Beach, to which Carlos jokingly calls a regular "Muscle Beach" while flexing his muscles. Once there, the class views the things that they had for their report. A seagull then flies down and grabs the crab with its beak right before flying back in the air. While Arnold and Keesha think of ways the tuna fish sandwich and scum go together, Ms. Frizzle arrives via bus and picks up the class. Once everyone hops in, the Magic School Bus transforms into a dolphin and dives into the sea.

The Magic Dolphin Bus then transforms into a glass bottom boat and continues floating in the sea. Arnold and Keesha are still thinking about their report. The class takes a look down through the glass floor to view seaweed and sea urchins underwater, the latter of which eats the former. A sea otter then swims down to take the sea urchins to which Carlos jokingly asks if they "otter" to which Keesha replies, "Bad, Carlos." When Arnold looks down through the floor to view green slime, Wanda says that it's "scummy", giving him an idea. Ms. Frizzle uses a fishing net to scoop some up and tells the class that it is phytoplankton, which are tiny plants. She then offers Keesha her modeled magnifier to view it up close. She finds sea scum on the phytoplankton in the net and shoe scum of the phytoplankton on Arnold's shoe. When she agrees with Ms. Frizzle that they should take a closer look, the Magic Glass Bottom Boat shrinks down and changes into a microscopic submarine and dives underwater. Ms. Frizzle offers the class scuba gear, and they explore the sea on a search for connections. They come across a pink sea creature, who eats phytoplankton. Ms. Frizzle rescues them and brings them back on the bus. She then expands The Magic Submarine's size so that it's the size of the pink sea creature, which is called zooplankton. The class swims back into the sea to search for connections. They then come across some anchovies (which Ralphie states is what his father pulls off his pizza). They also learn that anchovies eat zooplankton, which Ms. Frizzle states leaves them to lunch. They return to the Magic Submarine, which grows to the size of the anchovies. During lunch, Keesha asks Arnold what is inside a tuna fish sandwich. He responds with tuna fish while explaining the other ingredients, which gives Keesha an idea. The Magic Submarine then come across a tuna, which eats anchovies. It then proceeds in eating the Magic Submarine as well.

The Magic Submarine is now inside the tuna's stomach and Keesha tells Arnold that they had finally found the connection to their report: phytoplankton gets eaten by zooplankton, which gets eaten by anchovies, which gets eaten by tuna. As a result, tuna and phytoplankton belong in the same food chain. Ms. Frizzle also tells the class that they are now studying the tuna's digestive system. But she decides to leave it for another day so Arnold and Keesha can present their report and successfully manages to get the Magic Submarine out of the tuna using a fishhook, which reels it in. The fisherwoman takes it, says she already has a bus, and throws it back into the sea. It then changes to a wide surfboard and Ms. Frizzle and the class surf to shore.

Back in school, Arnold and Keesha present their report on the ocean food chain. Carlos compliments it, saying that it's so "e-fish-iant". Ms. Frizzle then presents the class a land food chain, where a mouse eats grass seeds, a snake eats the mouse, and a hawk eats the snake. The hawk is at the top of the food chain while grass is at the bottom. The class then learns that phytoplankton and grass are both plants, for all food chains begin with plants. Arnold then realizes that his shoe is missing. Back in the sea, the tuna coughs it up and it is caught by the fishhook. The fisherwoman reels it in and tosses it into the pile of other junk in her boat. A hawk then swoops down, grabs it with its beak, and drops it down to the school. It returns to normal size and lands in Arnold's hands. he states, "Nature never ceases to amaze me," to which Ms. Frizzle responds, "If the shoe is clean, wear it," which elicits laughter by the class.

Producer Says[]

The male producer is shown making a sandwich when he gets a call from a boy who gets it mixed up with Big Al's Total Pig-out Emporium, in which the producer tells him he got the wrong number. As Liz makes the sandwich herself, the boy decides to continue talking to the producer and asks him if he was on top of a lot of food chains since he eats more food than just fish. When asked by the boy what a lot of chains put together are called, the producer responds that they are called a food web. He also adds that the connection will just make a lot of things happen to one particular chain. The boy also adds that not all food chains start with plants and that a lots of plants and animals deep in the ocean derive their energy from chemicals, to which the producer responds being "weird". In response to the boy's confusion of a tuna devouring a school bus, the producer argues that it would be possible if the bus was smaller and resembled an anchovy. The boy also surmises that Ms. Frizzle is magic due to hanging ten on the Magic Surfboard. After the call, the producer sees that Liz has made a Dagwood sandwich, thinking it's for him. But she takes it to deliver to an unknown patron, and the producer, upon hearing his stomach rumbling, stares back in hunger.

Episode Availability[]

  • DVD: "The Food Chain (2012)", "Gets Eaten + For Lunch"
  • VHS: Gets Eaten (1995)

Trivia[]

  • This is the first time Keesha says, "Oh, bad, oh, bad, oh, bad, bad, bad!”
  • On episode descriptions on the reverse covers of the 1995 NTSC VHS, The Magic School Bus: The Food Chain, the Two Beach Things that Go Together report is worded "Two Things that Go Together" without the word "beach".
  • This is the first episode with the Carlos gag.
  • Arnold says "I knew I should have stayed home today," twice in this episode.
  • Susan Blu, the show's voice director, provided the voice for the fisherwoman.
  • Ralphie mentions his father for the first time. He is mentioned again in "The Good, the Bad, and the Gnocchi", where he is revealed to own an Italian restaurant.
  • This is the first episode in which Arnold and Keesha sit next to each other, second being "Send in the Clouds", and the third being "In the Zone".
  • Ms. Frizzle is revealed to have green eyes. Her sister, Fiona, shares this trait.
  • Arnold remembers the shoe scum in "Takes a Dive".
  • This is the first time that the Shrinkerscope activates with Liz inside the Bus.
  • This is the first time the class goes underwater.
    • This is also the first time that the Shrinkerscope is activated underwater.
  • This is one of few episodes in which a Carlos pun gets responded to by a single character. When he asks of some otters the class passes by, he asks, "Do you really think they otter?" Ralphie responds by scolding him.
  • This is the first episode in which Arnold ends up on the receiving end of the "Carlos!" gag.
  • The class goes to Mussel Beach again in its titular episode.
  • This episode aired two days before Daniel DeSanto's 14th birthday (October 3).
  • In "Dorothy Ann and the Deep Blue Sea", this episode is referenced when Fiona asks the class if they stayed eaten once they have gotten eaten.
  • This is one of two episodes in which Arnold pairs up with someone other than Phoebe for a project. "Wet All Over" is the other. In this case, he pairs up with Keesha.
  • This is the first episode in the unofficial "Summer Trilogy", which is believed to take place at the end of Year One. The others are "Kicks Up a Storm", also from Season 1, and "Goes to Mussel Beach".
  • This episode aired the same day as one from another Nelvana series, Wild C.A.T.s.

Goofs[]

  • When the bus transforms into a surfboard, a huge pause happens on one frame before Ms. Frizzle and the class start surfing.
  • At the end of the episode, once Arnold puts on his shoe, Ms. Frizzle is wearing her "Gets Eaten" themed outfit. When the POV/camera zooms out, she is wearing her default purple dress, which she wears in stock art and during the All-Frizzle Complete with Friction Baseball Classic, which happens in the next episode in production order, "Plays Ball".
Ms

"Gets Eaten" tank

Ms

Default purple dress

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