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The Busasaurus
Going Batty
Butterfly and the Bog Beast


"The darker the night, the safer the flight, and, of course, being nocturnal, you feed only during the night."
—Final part of Ms. Frizzle's "the darker the night, the safer the flight" monologue

Going Batty (Bats) is the fourth episode of the second season of The Magic School Bus. It first released on all PBS Stations in the USA on September 30, 1995.

Plot[]

The class is working on a nocturnal animal project at school and eventually checks out the dark attic of the classroom. Inside the attic, Tim notices a bat hanging from the ceiling, which Carlos initially thinks is creepy, while Phoebe thinks is cute. Dorothy Ann and Phoebe confirm that the bat is a nocturnal creature they know close to nothing about, which often contributes to fear. Just then, the bat flies away, scaring Ralphie, who believes it's a vampire, which Keesha dismisses. Ms. Frizzle then suddenly appears, dressed as a vampire. She tells the class that she will "show them the secrets of being nocturnal". As Ms. Frizzle tells the class more about the night, Ralphie becomes apprehensive and starts believing her to be a disguised vampire.

The students' parents then arrive at the school, and Ms. Frizzle, after being introduced to Keesha's grandmother, enthusiastically tells her that she could just "eat you up", exacerbating Ralphie's trepidation. When Ralphie's mother, Dr. Tennelli, meets Ms. Frizzle, the latter happily states that, "I do so enjoy taking him under my wing", which finally convinces Ralphie that Ms. Frizzle is a vampire, and he tells the rest of the class. Phoebe refuses to believe it, but Ralphie uses Ms. Frizzle's words, "The darker the night, the safer the flight" as evidence to support his theory. Dorothy Ann states that Ms. Frizzle was referring to bats, not herself, since they blend into the dark night air and are unobtrusive to enemies. Ralphie, however, is not convinced as he states that vampires come out at night as well. Keesha points out that their parents have only come at night since they couldn't come during the day. The conversation is interrupted when the class overhears Ms. Frizzle informing the parents that the class and their parents will go someplace more "suitable" and "breathtaking" right before letting out a sinister sounding laugh. As the parents enter the Magic School Bus, Ms. Frizzle tells them that the children "will be taking care of" and takes them on a nighttime field trip to learn more about bats. The class follow her and their parents via 8-seat bat mobile driven by Liz to a scary old castle.

As they arrive at the castle, they spy on Ms. Frizzle and their parents entering it. Liz also snatches up a mosquito. When Ralphie keeps trying to convince the class that Ms. Frizzle is a vampire, Keesha, having enough of this, decides to see for herself and the class walks to the castle. Wanda tries to open the door, but the handles break apart. When Ralphie views Ms. Frizzle and the class' parents drinking a red beverage through the window, he becomes convinced that Ms. Frizzle is making the adults drink blood.

Keesha then tells the class that the adults are really drinking tomato juice, which Ms. Frizzle served at the class picnic, only for Ralphie to dismiss her. Ralphie then comes with a plan to drive a textbook through the heart of the Friz, whom he now calls a "teacher vampire". When Carlos swats mosquitoes off of him, some bats fly around the class, eating up the mosquitoes, which Phoebe is quick to point out to the rest of the class. This convinces Keesha that the bats are not vampires.

Meanwhile, Ms. Frizzle gives the adults a tour through the inside of the castle and they walk around "bat guano", the waste of the bats that Ms. Frizzle says makes great fertilizer. When they walk through a stuffy hallway, Ms. Frizzle tells the adults that it's from the breath of the bats, and Mr. Ramon jokingly states that "bat breath is better than no breath at all". They then come across some little pink baby bats, which Ms. Frizzle calls "the children of the night".

The class also views them through the window and Keesha informs Ralphie that the bat babies drink milk and not blood. Ms. Frizzle tells Keesha's grandmother (who believes she has heard Keesha's voice from outside) about how bats nurture and protect their young. Ralphie is still convinced that Ms. Frizzle will feed the class to the bats, mistaking the word, "tidbits" (food fed to bats) for "kid bits", so he brings the class with him to run away.

When they enter the Magic School Bus, Ralphie attempts to drive it away so the class could escape before Ms. Frizzle catches them. He inadvertently turns the Bus into a bat and it flies through the woods, making strange pinging noises, which makes Arnold cover his ears with earmuffs due to the sounds hurting his ears. The class is impressed at how the Bus is not running into any trees. They notice that as the Bus makes the pinging sounds, it opens its mouth and wiggles its rearview mirror-ears to listen to the echo of each ping. Keesha finally realizes that when the sound the bats make echo back, they know something is there and avoids crashing into it, as they use their echoes to locate things. They also learn that bats see more with their ears rather than just their eyes. When the Bus eats moths, the class also learns that bats come out at night to find food in the dark. Keesha suggests that Ralphie would like to be a bat, which prompts Ralphie to press several more buttons on the Bus's dashboard, which transforms the entire class into bats, much to Ralphie's dismay. After figuring out how to use their new bat abilities to fly and catch food and water, they are nearly attacked by an owl and narrowly escape. The students then learn that the bats' enemies could not see them due to the dark.

When the students overhear a vociferous Ms. Frizzle stating, "At last, the moment I've been waiting for has come", Ralphie tells the class that the vampire in his comic book said the same thing and the class fly to the castle, with Keesha reluctantly starting to believe Ralphie's theory. They hear Ms. Frizzle asking who would be her first "victim", and Keesha, after overhearing her grandmother telling Ms. Frizzle to "take her", flies further down into the castle, screaming, "Don’t you dare bite my grandmother!"

The rest of the class and the Bus follow along and use their bat echolocation to locate Ms. Frizzle and the other adults. Arnold crashes into a gargoyle and Tim removes his earmuffs, reminding him that bats need to be able to hear to know where they're going. They come across more bats and finally hear the adults voicing their opinion of the field trip to Ms. Frizzle. Keesha's grandmother tells the teacher that she can't believe she let Ms. Frizzle do this to her and Dr. Tennelli states that her neck will be sore for a week. Ralphie brings the class with him to fly to Ms. Frizzle's location as Mr. Perlstein is heard echoing his son Arnold's catchphrase, "Maybe we should've stayed home tonight".

The class finally spot Ms. Frizzle and the rest of the adults hanging from a chandelier dressed in bat costumes. The class fly at them and the adults extricate themselves off the chandelier, making them realize that Ms. Frizzle is not a vampire after all. When the class finally find the truth, they all chide Ralphie for his false theory of Ms. Frizzle being a vampire. Ralphie retorts that the way that Ms. Frizzle looked, moved, and talked like a vampire. Therefore, she would've been a vampire in any decent movie. However, Keesha rebuffs him by saying it is not satisfactory. Ralphie apologizes to them and acknowledges the fact that bats aren't vampires, but nocturnal flying mammals that come out at night to feed on insects. Carlos jokingly states that while Keesha is now happy, "the bat news is we're still bats", to which Phoebe jokes "Fangs for reminding us, Carlos!", causing everyone to groan and laugh. Liz comes around with the Bus and the class hops inside to revert to their normal forms, just in time for their parents to exit the castle. When Dr. Tennelli asks a sheepish Ralphie what was going on, Ms. Frizzle states that he and the rest of the class were just "hanging around", with Ralphie stating "bat's all" as he and Ms. Frizzle laugh and Dr. Tennelli is left looking confused.

Trivia[]

  • This is the first time the students changed into animals.
  • In the captions, Ralphie’s surname is spelled “Tennelli”, its current spelling that is used in “Meet the Class”.
  • Carlos, Keesha, and Arnold's last names are mentioned in this episode.
  • This episode features the most guest stars:
  • This is the second time Ralphie drives the Bus, the first being "Kicks Up a Storm".
  • When Ralphie says "Is it just me, or does everything look really weird?", his voice is deep. This is because Stuart Stone, his voice actor, was going through puberty at the time.
  • This is one of few episodes where a Carlos pun gets responded to by a single character. When he makes his "bat news" pun, Phoebe responds with a pun of her own.
  • When everyone called out Phoebe for saying "Fangs for reminding us, Carlos!", Phoebe's mouth moves.
  • This is the first of two episodes where Phoebe's on the receiving end of the "Carlos!" gag.
  • Going by production order, this is the 9th episode of Season 2. This is the last episode of the season to be switched in as production and streaming order. The rest (Blows Its Top, Flexes Its Muscles, Getting Energized, Out of this World, Cold Feet, and Ups and Downs) are in airing/production order.
  • Arnold's Season 1 voice actor, Amos Crawley, is the phone caller in Producer Says.
  • The motorcycle-type vehicle that Liz drove to follow the Bus to the castle resembles Batman's Batmobile from the DC Comics.
  • According to this site's timeline, this episode takes place during Halloween night in Year One.
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