The Battle for Rock Mountain
Season 1 Episode 4
Themes: Perseverance
Prominent Characters
Tim
One of the students in Ms. Frizzle’s class, Tim faces writer’s block when he decides to write a comic for the class’s time capsule. He’s concerned about his lack of inspiration given the upcoming deadline, so Ms. Frizzle takes the class on a journey through the rock cycle to inspire his comic.
Captain Rock Man
A superhero in Tim’s story acted out by his classmate Arnold, Captain Rock Man gets beaten down by other superheroes embodying the forces of nature, but he never gives up. After each battle, he changes into the different stages of the rock cycle and continues battling.
Ms. Frizzle
The science teacher Ms. Frizzle encourages Tim to keep writing after each battle that he writes for Captain Rock Man, insisting that the story isn’t over. Finally, the class sees that the story will never truly be over because it will continue repeating in a cycle.
Plot Highlights
- Tim wants to write a comic book to add to the class’s time capsule, but he isn’t sure what to write about. He takes inspiration from two of his classmates’ comics, one about Captain Rock Man and the other about Weatherman, and decides that he’ll write about a battle between these two superheroes.
- In pursuit of more inspiration for Tim’s story, Ms. Frizzle takes the class to Iceland “where rock meets weather.” They compare a photo of the mountains from several years ago to the way they look now, and note how the weather has worn down the jagged rocks.
- As Tim writes his comic, we see Weatherman and Captain Rock Man battle it out. Like the mountains around them, Captain Rock Man is made of igneous rock to start. Weatherman wears him down into small pieces, and it seems that he’s lost the battle.
- Made up of small fragments, Captain Rock Man joins forces with Weatherman’s sidekick, Boy H20, and after thousands of years comes back even stronger as Captain Sedimentary Rock.
- Each time that Tim thinks he’s finished the story, Ms. Frizzle encourages him to keep writing. Captain Rock Man continues to get in battles with other superheroes played by other members of the class embodying nature’s forces like heat and pressure, and each time the rock that he’s made up of changes. Eventually, he returns to the point of the rock cycle where he began when he is melted into lava and re-cooled to form igneous rock once again.
- The group concludes that you can change Rock Man over and over, but you can’t beat him. Tim says his story will never be finished after all, it’ll just continue repeating itself in a cycle.
Discussion Questions
In this episode, the superhero Captain Rock Man doesn’t give up or admit defeat even when he seems to lose battles, and this may be an opportunity to discuss perseverance with your child. Consider asking them some of the following questions in your discussion:
- What happened each time Captain Rock Man thought he lost a battle? Why didn’t he give up?
- Can you think of a time when you had trouble with something but didn’t give up?
This episode also discussed the rock cycle, and we encourage you to ask your child what they learned from the episode. Consider exploring some of the following resources if they’re interested in learning more:
- Learn more about the rock cycle in this Youtube video from Learning Junction.
- Watch this retro Bill Nye video on the rock cycle to learn more and see examples of different rock types.
- Consider exploring some of the hands-on rock activities here.
