Thematic Activities

Arnold's cousin Janet visits Ms. Frizzle's class to go on a field trip to the planetarium to watch a show about the solar system. When the planetarium is closed, Arnold suggests they go into outer space. The class explores Mercury, Venus, and Mars, while Janet collects proof of their voyage. In the asteroid belt, while Janet is trying to collect an asteroid as further proof, they lose Ms. Frizzle and find themselves lost in space.

Dorothy Ann has a nightmare about an asteroid crashing into Walkerville Elementary. She has also spotted an asteroid that will hit Earth in about five days and is worried that it will destroy her school to make her nightmare come true. To protect the school with her ideas, the class calls NASA, and has decided "to find it, follow it and finish it off." They also encounter a meteor and comet in this episode.

On Dorothy Ann's birthday, she has, unfortunately, been sick and has to stay home. The class does not know what to get D.A. as a present until they see Horace Scope (Dabney Coleman) on S.S.N., the "Star Shopping Network," who is selling the stars for seven dollars each. Tim reasons that if every student puts in a dollar, they will be able to buy Dorothy Ann a star and name it after her. However, Keesha refuses to put in her dollar, as her grandmother was once duped by a similar organization, the Home Mopping Network. Therefore Ms. Frizzle takes the class on a field trip to see the three stars being sold by Horace Scope for themselves. The class encounters a T Tauri star, a yellow dwarf with two exoplanets, and a red supergiant star. Note: Dorothy Ann is the only student to have a birthday in this episode.

Phoebe has been chosen to do a slam dunk for the whole school. But how can she, not being tall enough? She reasons that maybe if she just knew how it felt, then maybe she could do it. Therefore, Ms. Frizzle takes the class into outer space and transforms the school bus into a planet with adjustable gravity. With little gravity, Phoebe finds a slam dunk easy, but with no gravity it is impossible to even make the ball go through the basket. However, when the lever accidentally falls into the position of heavy gravity, the class has trouble even standing up! They will have to restore the gravity to normal so they can return to Earth in time for Phoebe's performance.

An out-of-this-world class trip takes the students up into space, where a selfie-obsessed Keesha accidentally sparks disaster.

A field trip to the center of the sun takes a dangerous detour when the school's safety-conscious principal, Mr. Ruhle, tags along.