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Mr. Perlstein is Arnold's father from the Scholastic TV series, The Magic School Bus, which is based on the children's story books of the same name written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Burce Degan.

History[]

Mr. Perlstein appeared in the two episodes, "In the Haunted House" and "Going Batty", which were used as the two segments of A Magic School Bus Halloween.

In "In the Haunted House", Mr. Perlstein and the rest of the parents were seen clapping and cheering for the class at their concert at the sound museum at the end of the episode.

In "Going Batty", Mr. Perlstein and his wife, Mrs. Perlstein attended Ms. Frizzle's parent-teacher conference which included a field trip to an abandoned castle. Ms. Frizzle informs the parents that the class and their parents will go someplace more "suitable" and "breathtaking" and lets out a sinister laugh. Mr. Perlstein asks, "Is this a field trip, Ms. Frizzle?", and she tells him it is in deed. After the parents board The Magic School Bus, Ms. Frizzle takes them on their nighttime field trip to the scary old castle to learn more about bats.

After the class and Liz follow Ms. Frizzle and the parents to the castle, they spy on Ms. Frizzle and their parents, who enter it. Ms. Frizzle then gives the parents a beverage to drink, and the class view it through a window. Ralphie then becomes convinced that Ms. Frizzle is making the adults drink blood, but Keesha then tells him that they're really drinking tomato juice, like what Ms. Frizzle served at a class picnic. Ms. Frizzle then takes the parents on a tour through the inside of the castle and they walk around "bat guano", the waste of the bats that 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 pink bat progeny, which Ms. Frizzle calls "the children of the night".

Later on, after turning into bats, the students overhear a vociferous Ms. Frizzle stating, "At last, the moment I've been waiting for has come", and 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, so the class and the Bus follow along and use their sound to locate Ms. Frizzle and the other adults. After coming across more bats, they hear the adults voicing their opinion of the field trip to Ms. Frizzle, and Mr. Perlstein is heard saying, "Maybe we should've stayed home tonight"., and Ralphie brings the class with him to fly to Ms. Frizzle's location. They then spot Ms. Frizzle and the rest of the adults hanging from a chandelier dressed in bat costumes. The class fly through them and the adults extricate themselves off the chandelier. When the class finally find the truth, they all chide Ralphie for his theory. Ralphie then finally gets convinced by Keesha that he was wrong about Ms. Frizzle, and he apologizes to them and acknowledges the fact that bats aren't vampires, but nocturnal creatures that come out at night to feed on insects. After getting turned back to normal, their parents to exit the castle, and Arnold, Mr. Perlstein and Mrs. Perlstein reunite.

External Links[]

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