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The Magic School Bus

Season 3

13 listed hours · 1994–1997 · PBS

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From the desk

How this season is filed

Filed by Julian Hart · The Binge Brief

Seatbelts, everyone: a class that shrinks, dives, and ignores every field-trip waiver ever written. PBS educational animation at gold-standard wattage — Lily Tomlin’s Frizzle, science as adventure, and curiosity treated as a personality. Kids’ TV that made organelles exciting and still the show teachers cite when they want entertainment to do homework without feeling like a worksheet.

TV Flash files Season 3 of The Magic School Bus (1994–1997) on PBS as a mid listed season (3; 3 of 4) — 13 listed hours, 1996-09-14–1996-12-25 from “In a Beehive (Honeybees)” (S03E01) to “Holiday Special (Recycling)” (S03E13). Titles, dates, and synopses on file — no invented recaps.

Desk essentials in this season

  1. S03E01 In a Beehive (Honeybees)

    In a Beehive: later-run organelle energy, still the show that made a bus the actual lab.

  1. S03E01

    In a Beehive (Honeybees)

    Tim's beekeeper Grandfather has the sweetest honey in town. Ms. Frizzle turns her class into bees so they can visit a hive and learn how raw honey is processed firsthand

  2. S03E02

    In the Arctic (Heat)

    In the Arctic (Heat) — Season 3, Episode 2 of The Magic School Bus. Aired 1996-09-21. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  3. S03E03

    Spins a Web (Spiders)

    Ms. Frizzle transports the class into a 1950s horror movie, where a 50-foot praying mantis is wreacking havoc on the town.

  4. S03E04

    Under Construction (Structures)

    Under Construction (Structures) — Season 3, Episode 4 of The Magic School Bus. Aired 1996-10-05. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  5. S03E05

    Gets a Bright Idea (Light)

    Gets a Bright Idea (Light) — Season 3, Episode 5 of The Magic School Bus. Aired 1996-10-12. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  6. S03E06

    Shows & Tells (Archaeology)

    Shows & Tells (Archaeology) — Season 3, Episode 6 of The Magic School Bus. Aired 1996-10-19. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  7. S03E07

    Makes a Rainbow (Color)

    Makes a Rainbow (Color) — Season 3, Episode 7 of The Magic School Bus. Aired 1996-10-26. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  8. S03E08

    Goes Upstream (Migration)

    Goes Upstream (Migration) — Season 3, Episode 8 of The Magic School Bus. Aired 1996-11-02. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  9. S03E09

    Works Out (Circulation System)

    Works Out (Circulation System) — Season 3, Episode 9 of The Magic School Bus. Aired 1996-11-09. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  10. S03E10

    Gets Planted (Photosynthesis)

    Gets Planted (Photosynthesis) — Season 3, Episode 10 of The Magic School Bus. Aired 1996-11-16. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  11. S03E11

    In the Rain Forest (Rain Forest Ecology)

    In the Rain Forest (Rain Forest Ecology) — Season 3, Episode 11 of The Magic School Bus. Aired 1996-11-23. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  12. S03E12

    Rocks and Rolls (Water Erosion)

    Rocks and Rolls (Water Erosion) — Season 3, Episode 12 of The Magic School Bus. Aired 1996-11-30. Full plot synopsis not yet on file; see the show package for context.

  13. S03E13

    Holiday Special (Recycling)

    It's the last day of school before the winter holidays, and Wanda plans to see the Nutcracker ballet. But during a trip to a recycling plant, her toy soldier accidentally gets recycled. Devastated, Wanda wishes for a world without recycling. Ms. Frizzle activates the bus's un-recycler, taking the class on a song-filled field trip.

More from the 1990s.