"Getting Energized" is the tenth episode of season two and the twenty-third episode overall of the animated children's series The Magic School Bus. It originally aired on December 10th, 1995.
Plot
At the Walkerville carnival the class is running the Double Trouble Wheel of Wonder. However, it doesn't work for some reason. Carlos realizes that he is the chair person of the power-up committee and puts the plug of the Ferris wheel, only for it to short out. Ms. Frizzle arrives via pogo stick and gets the bad news from the class. The optimistic teacher tells them that the Ferris wheel isn't the only source of energy, for that the world is replete with all sorts of energy, and tells them to "find it, harness it, and put it to work". So Carlos attempts to call Mikey, his little brother who is wheelchair bound, to come to the rescue. But the class quickly rejects this, telling Carlos that Mikey almost burnt the whole class the last time he helped out with the marshmallow smoker, which Dorothy Ann ended up having a rash. The class later use a crank for the Ferris wheel. But it doesn't budge, and the citizens are getting impatient. Wanda suggests a refund, but Phoebe rejects it because the money was for the benefit of the animal shelter. So the class reluctantly tells Carlos to call Mikey and the latter uses a mallet to slam the lever of the bell game with enough force to smack the bell high in the sky and cause a boulder from the edge of the overhead cliff to fall onto one of the seats of the Ferris wheel, which begins to spin. Mikey arrives just in time and suggests falling rocks as the source of energy to spin the Ferris wheel. If the people ride in one side and the rocks land on the other, then it will cause it to turn without hurting anyone. The problem is how to get the rocks to it. So Ms. Frizzle takes the class (with the exception of Carlos, who is told to stay to make sure the Ferris wheel doesn't get taken down) on a field trip to search for rocks, transforming The Magic School Bus into a helicopter. The Magic School Helicopter hovers over a bunch of rocks and the class fall out of it.
Their parachutes expand and they land on the ground softly. While Carlos stalls the impatient crowd, the rest of the class garner as many rocks as they can, only for wind to blow their way. When Ralphie's cap gets blown away, Phoebe suggest that the wind could possibly have enough energy to move the rocks. So Mikey uses his wind wheel, as wheel as two cans and Arnold's belt, to demonstrate the idea of making a conveyor belt. With Ms. Frizzle's help, the class make the conveyor belt to move the rocks uphill. Unfortunately, the class comes across a river, meaning that the rocks sink under. When Mikey uses a raft to ride on with the rest of the class, the raft gets caught to a root protruding from the river, sending the class onto a tree. Ralphie suggest that the class should harness the water to move the rocks since it had the energy to move the class. Mikey shows the class what the water did to the raft, which is caught to a tree branch and spinning like a water wheel, suggesting a water wheel connected to a spoon-like catapult to fling the rocks up the mountain.
Ms. Frizzle arrives just in time on The Magic School Bus, transformed into a tugboat, and the class hop aboard. They make the water wheel along with a stick to hold the wheel, a spoon-like catapult, and pipes to roll the rocks through and onto the catapult to fling them up the mountain. Unfortunately, the tension bar of the stick becomes jammed. So Wanda attempts to loosen it, with Ralphie assisting her. The catapult finally flings the rock, along with Ralphie, in the sky.
Ralphie ends up dropping down to the ground and is saved by The Magic School Helicopter, which catches him with a net and lands onto he tip top of the mountain. The class then discover that the rocks only landed on that position and they have to fall onto the Ferris wheel. So Ms. Frizzle calls Carlos, who is failing to keep the crowd entertain as they grow even more impatient. When the class gets hot through the burning sun, Dorothy Ann suggests that the class should use solar energy to move the rocks. Using Mikey's rim of the wheel for his wheelchair, the class reflect the light to boil the water inside the water tank to demonstrate the making of the solar power rock launcher, using a cannon, a large circular glass, and a large teapot for boiling water. The class' handmade energy system works and Carlos tells Mikey that he found a new source of energy: Mikey Power.
The Ferris wheel works thanks to the rocks, and the class sells $700 for the shelter. Ms. Frizzle and Mikey are then seen taking a ride on the helicopter-transformed bus to take a view of the wind energy system, the water energy system, and the solar energy system. Ms. Frizzle thanks Mikey for his endless energy and the power of his imagination.
Watch Episode
The Magic School Bus Getting Energized