Flying Rhino Junior High

Earl gets so upset by inaccuracies in a game of ""dinosaurs"" Jeopardy that he decides to give the students a first-hand account of the early Mesozoic era by filling the halls with computer-generated velociraptors and T-Rexes! None of the kids know how to get rid of these massive monsters, except for Marcus, but he lacks the confidence to express his ideas. Only when he's urged to speak up does Marcus voice his plan to freeze the school and send the dinosaurs to the only local source of heat: Earl's boiler room! Marcus' plan saves the school and helps him build the confidence to express himself.

Inspired by a classic horror film, Mrs. Snodgrass builds an exact replica of an Egyptian tomb and brings it to class. Lydia mocks the movie, claiming that it is just a story, and that it has no basis in fact. Earl, a big fan of the film, becomes so enraged that he morphs the school into an Egyptian tomb. The gang has to find its way out of the maze of corridors to stop Earl and return the school back to normal. But when Lydia takes a scarab from the tomb of the Mummy, it sets in motion ""the curse of Pharaoh Phinster."" Marcus, also a big fan of the movie, knows what to expect at every turn because events occur exactly as in the movie. Lydia, however, doesn't believe anything that isn't documented in her reference book about Egypt. Each person has to listen to the others' views before they are sealed up in the tomb forever.

Ruby and Marcus get entangled in a sibling battle for personal space during a class on undersea life. When Ruby stops to giggle over a fish which looks just like Earl, Earl gets so mad that he floods the school with giant hungry fish! A lonely only child, Earl also abhors siblings who can't get along, and enjoys plunging them into ""an ocean of space""! Drawing on a home economics lesson about cooking, the kids plunge underwater in a pressure cooker to unclog the drain (and drain out the school). But Marcus and Ruby are so caught up in sibling strife that they threaten to upset the pot's delicate balance. Only when the two siblings agree to respect each other's space and work together can the kids successfully open the drain and flood Earl's boiler room!

Earl gets irate when Mrs. Snodgrass praises Billy and Marcus' model space shuttle as the most ambitious that she's ever seen. Earl hauls out his old model of the solar system and expands it to life size to remind her of his great work. But the planets are all out of order and turn the school into a massive galaxy that's going to hurtle the earth right into the sun! Billy tries to realign the solar system by knocking planets into their proper places with their space shuttle, but he takes short cuts which threaten to ruin the mission. Marcus reins in Billy's rushed effort and calmly figures out a way to divert the sun, sending it crashing into Earl's boiler room! Marcus saves the school, and Billy learns the value of careful preparation and planning.

Mrs. Snodgrass is introducing the great classic ""Frankenstein"" to the class just as Lydia arrives with a bulky new addition to her braces. Teased about her appearance, Lydia is made to feel like a monster by the other children. Earl, inspired by the genius of Baron von Frankenstein, decides to morph the school into a Bavarian village, complete with a deadly and ferocious monster. Raticus is sent out to retrieve body parts for Earl's creation, but he substitutes a big wad of bubble gum for the creature's brain. The monster turns out to be sweet, bumbling and misunderstood instead of fearsome and dangerous. Lydia and the monster, both feeling outcast because of their looks, have to prove to the others that you shouldn't judge a person based on their appearance.

Earl is furious when Mrs. Snodgrass's class doesn't recognize him as one of history's greatest villains. To show everyone who the world's greatest fiend really is, he launches a full scale, tactical war, and he sends a troop of treacherous, life-sized comic book villains in to conquer the school. Although the boys think that they are the only ones with enough comic book knowledge to thwart the evil villains, they soon realize that they know nothing about these characters! Fortunately, Lydia's knowledge of comic book trivia is tremendous, and she's the only one who can identify each villain's weakness. Lydia and the gang defuse Earl's latest attack, once again saving Flying Rhino Junior High from impending doom. Impressed by Lydia's trove of comic book knowledge, the all-male comic book club realizes that boys and girls can not be stereotyped, and it invites the girls to join.

Curiosity gets the best of Billy, Marcus, and Ruby when they try to sneak a peek in Lydia's class journal. Lydia, understandably upset, accuses them of snooping, and informs them that her journal is private. Besides, who's to say that she's been writing about them? She could be writing about anyone: her parents, her uncle's cat, Earl. Earl? Convinced that Lydia is writing about him, Earl transforms the school into a 1960's spyscape, and he dispatches a rogues' gallery of spies to retrieve the document. With time ticking down, Billy, Marcus, Ruby and Lydia must outmaneuver the colorful henchmen and deliver the journal into the proper hands (in this case, Mrs. Snodgrass, patiently waiting for them to turn in their journal assignments). In the end, Billy, Marcus and Ruby forego the opportunity to ""sneak a peek"" at Lydia's journal, learning a valuable lesson about the need to respect the privacy of others

It's student election time, and Billy and Ruby are both vying for the coveted title of school president. Though initially friendly, their rivalry heats up, and before you know it, the mud starts flying. When Earl's petition to include his name on the ballot is rejected, matters are complicated by the late entry of a mysterious third candidate. Buoyed by a glitzy ad campaign (compliments of his spin doctor/campaign manager, the Phantom), the third candidate (none other than Raticus in a clever disguise) shoots ahead in the polls. If Billy and Lydia are to defeat this upstart, they must clean up their acts and work together. In the end, they learn that ""no one's a winner when you don't play fair"" -- a fact confirmed by the other students who, disgusted with the dirty campaign, end up electing Fred Smertz as a write-in candidate.

It's time for the annual Flying Rhino Junior High Games, in which students compete against one another in the glorious field of athletic competition. Everyone has been practising their skipping, pogoing and yo-yoing... well, almost everyone. Billy, a natural athlete, feels that he doesn't need to practise. Earl, irritated by Billy's arrogant posturing, strikes a blow for uncoordinated geeks everywhere by transforming the school into the site of the original Olympic Games: Olympus! Now Billy, Marcus, Lydia and Ruby must beat the ultimate competitors -- those overbearing Greek gods -- if they have any hope of saving their school. Fortunately for our heroes, guess who didn't come prepared?

Inspired by a class lesson on pirates, Johnny and Rod start shaking down the other students for their milk money, terrorizing the school. But when Earl hears Lydia pass judgement on the two thugs -- ""Those guys are low-down, dirty sneaks. They're no better than Earl."" -- he loses it. After all, his stellar villainy is leaps and bounds above their amateurish thuggery. To prove his point, he dons a pirate's hat and becomes the infamous Peach Fuzz Beard, morphing a pirate ship into existence and commanding it from the boiler room. His scurrilous crew drafts our gang (Billy, Ruby, Lydia, Marcus, Johnny and Rod) into service. The pirate ship embarks on a pillaging voyage through the school in search of ill-gotten booty with our unhappy heroes in tow. Well, actually, not all of them are unhappy. It turns out Ruby has decided that the pirate life is for her, delighting in her position as ship's treasure-counter. Our gang must convince Ruby that stealing is wrong if they have any hopes of tu

Lydia allows her stint as hallway monitor to go to her head. Super-bossy, she delights in setting down rules and regulations for the others to follow. Earl finds the whole situation endlessly amusing -- until Lydia vows to crack down on individuals holding overdue library books. ""She wouldn't dare,"" thinks Earl, glancing over at the cobweb-covered pile of library books lying beside him. Would she? Incensed, Earl morphs the school into a lawless town right out of the Old West. Lydia, assuming the mantle of sheriff, sets out to bring her own brand of justice to the place. She succeeds -- perhaps a little too well. With everyone in the hoosegow, who's going to back her up when the nefarious Harwood Gang rides into town? Ultimately, her friends come through for her in the end as Lydia comes to realize a simple truth: it's bad to be bossy.

It's been days since Billy struck out in the Junior High Baseball Championship Game, and he hasn't stopped moping yet. If only he had the chance to do it all over again. Lydia rightly points out that Billy should just forget about it and move on: ""You can't change the past."" Not yet, Billy agrees, but with the advancements in science, it should only be matter of time before time travel is possible -- and he'll be able to go back into the past and rectify things. Picking up on their conversation, Mrs. Snodgrass discusses time travel and its treatment in literature. Marcus points out that, though a fun idea, time travel is impossible. This sets off Earl. One of his very first creations was a time machine. Time travel is possible! And to prove it, he uses his machine to send our foursome into the past. Ten whole years into the past! Stranded in the past, our heroes befriend Earl P. Sidebottom, a hapless nerd who will one day become the Phantom as a result of the D that he receives in sh