The Magic School Bus and the Mystery of the Missing Cocoa Beans: An Earth Day Adventure

Rainforest ecosystems thrive on interconnectedness, impacting even cocoa bean production.

### The Magic School Bus: The Case of the Missing Cocoa Beans
* 🗺️ The class receives a cocoa tree as an Earth Day gift, but it produces no cocoa beans due to a "temporary cocoa bean shortage."
* 🔎 Miss Frizzle and the class travel to the rainforest to investigate, with the students becoming Rainforest Investigators.
* 🐒 They discover that the cocoa trees lack pods because midge flies, essential for pollination, are missing.
* 🔎 The investigation reveals that Inspector 47, trying to create a "mud-free, bug-free, peccary-free" zone, removed the peccaries, eliminating the mud wallows where the midges breed.  
* 🌱  The missing midges are linked to the removal of peccaries and their mud wallows, disrupting the **web of life**.
* 🌳 Inspector 47's use of artificial turf destroyed the peccaries' habitat, ultimately impacting the cocoa bean production.
* 🍫 The problem is solved by restoring the natural environment, allowing the peccaries to return and create mud wallows for the midges.
* 🎉 The episode concludes with a bumper crop of cocoa beans and Inspector 47 receiving a promotion for his newfound understanding of the rainforest ecosystem.

Seatbelts, everyone! Please let this be a normal field trip. With a friend? No way! Cruising on that main street, you're...

[Music] Come on in and don't be shy. Just to make your day complete, you might get baked...

into a pie. Online stuff inside; it's a wild ride! [Music] [Music] It all started on a Monday morning...

before the first fest. But it wasn't just any Monday morning. [Music] It was Earth Day, the day we celebrate...

taking care of our Earth. We'd ordered a surprise Earth Day present for Miss Frizzle from the Rainforest Rentals...

catalog, and we were waiting for it to arrive. Mail order, huh? I call it 'fail' order! Miss Frizzle will be here any minute.

Meanwhile, Tim was seriously stuck on his essay assignment: 'What does Earth Day mean to you?' What does Earth Day mean? Well, to me,

Earth Day means thinking about how animals and plants all live together, like those squirrels and that oak tree.

That's great, Phoebe, but I don't know what that means, so it can't mean that to...

me, if you know what I mean. Hey, guys, the present's here! It's Earth Day! Do you know where your...

teacher is? Good morning, class! Happy Earth Day! And happy Earth Day to all of you! Earth Day? Oh, my favorite holiday! We know...

so here's a little Earth Day present, Miss Frizzle, from us to you. A present for me? Oh, you shouldn't have!

Why, thank you, Liz. Congratulations, Ms. Frizzle! You have rented a tree in the rainforest!

You are helping to preserve all rainforest plants and animals. What a worthwhile gift! Wait, there's more! Oh, my!

My very own cocoa tree! How did you know? We know that cocoa trees make cocoa beans, and cocoa beans make chocolate, oh!

My favorite thing on Earth! What a day! And listen to this: As a cocoa tree renter, you are entitled to all the cocoa

beans your cocoa tree produces for one year, and here's your first shipment of cocoa beans. [Music]

That's it! [Music] One measly, shriveled cocoa bean! We've been had! Look, there's a note.

Due to circumstances beyond my control, your cocoa tree is temporarily experiencing a cocoa bean shortage. Signed, Inspector 47. A temporary cocoa

bean shortage? What's that supposed to mean? It means no cocoa beans! But why? Things don't happen without a reason. Ah,

a meaningful point, Tim. I knew that! Look, I didn't even have to ask, but I did. Miss Frizzle,

where are you going? To the rainforest! Where else? Before the Pledge of Allegiance was pledged, we were on our way to the rain

forest to untangle the weather mystery that surrounded the missing cocoa beans. Don't worry, guys. According to my sense

of truth, justice, and the Milky Way, I'll crack the case of the missing cocoa beans, or my name's not Detective D.A.

What's this? Cool! My own RFI license! What's an RFI? A Rainforest Investigator! Every continent needs a few,

and a rainforest handbook. Now I've got everything except a partner. Every good detective has a partner.

Dorothean's in charge of the investigation, Tim, and you're in charge of the big picture. The big picture as

big as Earth itself! Before we knew it, we'd arrived at the rainforest. Whoa! It's wall-to-wall trees down there!

It looks like they're connected to each other. How are we ever gonna find Miss Frizzle's tree?

As my old parachute instructor used to say, "Look before you leap," and never jump to conclusions. On the other hand, take over, Liz.

Single file, please, before we jump. I gave everyone a photo of Miss Frizzle's tree. I knew if we

could find her tree. [Music] Look how many different kinds of trees there are, and birds and animals!

[Music] [Music] Excuse me, guys. Have you seen this tree? [Music] I don't know. Okay, okay, I'm out of here.

[Music] You...what's all this sticky stuff? Hey, Carlos, what's going on? They weren't expecting visitors. Let's

get out of here! Wait...yum! Wow, those monkeys are regular juicers for all these ants! Yikes! An anteater!

This must be his favorite rainforest restaurant. Hey, D.A., look at this! There's more than just cocoa trees in

the rainforest; there are tons of fruit trees. And if we're looking for suspects, what about these guys? Maybe they like

cocoa beans, too. I figured Tim was barking up the wrong tree, so I had to set him straight.

Listen, partner, we're looking for this tree and a suspect named Inspector 47. Okay, well, yeah, but to get the big picture,

maybe we need more info. Yay! We've got a match! There's Frizzle's tree! It's your cocoa tree, all right, Miss

Frizzle! Oh, it's beautiful! I just want to hug it.

Sorry, Miss Frizzle. You can't catch a thing.

According to my handbook, we've got a desk for fingerprints, and according to this picture, the tree should be covered with pods, but it's not.

There's only flowers. How come? Hmm...there's no sign the pods have been picked. It's as if the cocoa tree just

stopped making them. No pods, no beans, but the tree is healthy. Just look at all these flowers. So what's going on?

[Music] I knew the rainforest would net some surprises; I just didn't expect to be in

the net. Congratulations, D.A.! Looks like this case is all wrapped up. [Music] At last, I have captured the cocoa bean

thieves! All you've captured is trouble, Mister. A rainforest investigator? My, my, humble apologies. [Music]

Please, please do not report me to Inspector One! If he ever found out... Wait a minute, who are you? I am

Spectail47. This is my little patch of rainforest. Well, this is the tree we rented for Miss

Frizzle. Miss Frizzle! Oh, and they're students, of course. Uh, you are concerned about the cocoa bean shortage? No, yes,

you're not alone. Neither is Miss Frizzle's cocoa tree. It looks like none of these cocoa trees have pods.

Well, they used to, but for some reason all of the pods have gone poof! That is the bad news, but the good news

is all the mud wallows have also gone poof! [Music] Patches of fizzy mud filled with little

pools of disgusting water! Not only that, I have gotten rid of the horrible bugs and the pesky peccaries!

Look, Inspector, we didn't come down here to study mud-free, bug-free, peccary-free zones. We came to crack the case of

Miss Frizzle's missing cocoa beans! Inspector 46? Inspector 46, yes, Inspector 46.

My neighbor is madly jealous of my bug-free, peccary-free, mud-free place of work, so he put zikrs on my cocoa trees. That's

why they no longer produce cocoa beans.  Should've used Inspector 46! [Music] I wonder if the bugs and peccaries could

have something to do with the missing cocoa beans. Stick to the facts, Tim; just the facts. This is about cocoa beans, period. Hmm, but

The question still remains: what would cause healthy cocoa trees to stop making pods? Hey, you guys, over here!

A hummingbird with pollen on its feet! Isn't he cool? Look how he just fits inside the flower.

Where's he going? Well, as my cousin B always says, 'Pollen's gotta travel for its wonders to unravel,' okay?

So the hummingbird carries pollen from flower to flower, pollinating them so they turn into seeds, or fruits, or bean pods.

Maybe the flowers on Miss Frizzle's tree didn't get pollinated. No pollination, no pods, no beans. That's it! This is a case of missing pollen, and I'm going to prove it.

Sorry, D.A., no pollen missing here. This cocoa flower's making plenty of it. Okay, so I was wrong. Then suddenly, the case opened up like a flower to a bee. I think it's going to...

pollinate Miss Frizzle's tree. [Music] No way, Arn! This bee's too big to get...

into a cocoa tree flower. If the bee's too big, then it must be a really tiny insect that carries pollen between the flowers...

of cocoa trees. So where are they? Faster than you can say 'Earth Day,' the case of the missing beans had turned...

into the mystery of the missing insects. And to find the impact, we have to find a cocoa tree with Todd.

You are now leaving the mud-free zone. Beware of the peccaries, the bugs, and the filthy mud!

[Music] Inspector 47 sure got a thing about mud, and I've got a hunch it has something...

to do with the missing cocoa beans. A connection worth detection, Tim. But Miss Frizzle, what could mud possibly...

have to do with cocoa beans? Besides, we're searching for teeny insects. Is it just me, or are we about to get down and...

Muddy, with a pack of peccaries. [Music] [Applause] [Music]

Just when it looked like our Earth Day investigation was turning into muddy mayhem, Miss Frizzle gave us a boost.

[Music] Now that's what I call springing into action! Whoa, look at all these cocoa trees, and

they're loaded with pods! In real life, cocoa beans! And where there's a working cocoa tree, we should find our missing insect.

I was right! The flower was getting pollinated by a teeny-weeny insect, which, by the way, goes by the name of midge fly.

So I get it: midge flies carry the pollen from the flower of one cocoa tree to the next, and the pollinated flowers turn

into pods that are filled with cocoa beans that make chocolate. Get the picture, Tim? Got it, Miss Frizzle!

It's all in here! Hey, where'd the water come from up there? What's that? A bromeliad?

Need to take a closer look. [Music] Check it out! You're not gonna believe it; there's a whole world of life going on

here! There's a slug drinking water, an iguana taking a bath, a frog laying eggs, and the eggs hatching into tadpoles—all

in the same plant! Yeah, it's like they're all part of the same tiny world, living, eating, and hatching in this one little

pool of water. But unlike these midge flies, it's got nothing to do with our cocoa trees.

If we could get these midges back to Miss Frizzle's tree, our problem's solved. Hold it, D.A.! What happens when those

midges die? We'll be right back where we started. Could the picture be a little bigger than you thought, D.A.? No way! The

solution to this mystery is the midges, I'm sure. But, D.A., don't you want to know *why* the midges...

disappeared. Yeah, things aren't always what they seem. Like this bromeliad—it's not just a plant, it's a pond of water

too, and things live in the water. Take away the pond, and the slugs, the frogs, and the insects would all disappear.

[Applause] What Earth Day means to me. Welcome to Mudville, Tim Mudville. This is Bug Bill.

D.A. Quick, your magnifying glass! Just as I suspected, a mud wallow for the peccaries is also home sweet home

for the flies. You're right. It seems that watery mud wallows are the perfect place for larvae eggs hatching, larvae raising, midges...

The plot and the mud thicken! I told you mud had something to do with it.

Inspector 47 got rid of the peccaries, which got rid of the mud wallows, which

got rid of the insects, which got rid of the cocoa pods because the cocoa flowers never got pollinated.

The Magic School Bus - In the Rainforest - Ep. 38

Victor's Nelvana Shows

Earth Day celebration and a mysterious cocoa bean shortage.

The class celebrates Earth Day and receives a cocoa tree as a present for Ms. Frizzle.

Tim struggles with his Earth Day essay assignment.

Ms. Frizzle receives a cocoa tree but finds only one shriveled cocoa bean.

A note explains a temporary cocoa bean shortage due to unknown circumstances.

Ms. Frizzle and the class travel to the rainforest to investigate the shortage.

Investigation in the rainforest and discovery of the missing cocoa beans.

The students receive RFI licenses and a handbook to aid their investigation.

The class searches for Ms. Frizzle's cocoa tree in the dense rainforest.

They observe various rainforest life and consider potential suspects.

They examine Ms. Frizzle's tree and find no cocoa pods, only flowers.

They encounter Inspector 47, who reveals the reason behind the cocoa bean shortage.

Uncovering the cause of the missing cocoa beans and the role of pollination.

They investigate the possibility of missing pollen affecting cocoa pod production.

The investigation shifts to the mystery of missing insects responsible for pollination.

They discover midge flies are the pollinators and their absence is the cause.

The class discusses the impact of the midges' disappearance on the cocoa trees.

The connection between mud wallows, peccaries, and the missing midges.

They discover that the mud wallows, destroyed by Inspector 47, were essential for the midges' breeding.

Inspector 47's actions indirectly caused the cocoa bean shortage.

Inspector 47 explains his actions and the class helps restore the ecosystem.

Conclusion and the importance of the web of life.

The class learns about the interconnectedness of rainforest life and the importance of preserving the web of life.

Inspector 47 acknowledges his mistake and agrees to restore the rainforest floor.

Months later, a bumper crop of cocoa beans is produced, and Inspector 47 receives a promotion.

Post-credit scene discussing the show's details and connections.

A post-credit scene discusses the making of chocolate and the connection between squirrels and oak trees.

A discussion about the simplification of the midge breeding location in the show.

A humorous discussion about Inspector 47's cartoonish portrayal.