04x06 - Space Case

[bunniefuu]

♪ Reading rainbow ♪

♪ Butterfly in the sky ♪

♪ I can go twice as high ♪

♪ Take a look ♪

♪ It's in a book ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪

♪ I can go anywhere ♪

♪ Friends to know ♪

♪ And ways to grow ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪

♪ I can be anything ♪

♪ Take a look ♪

♪ It's in a book ♪

♪ A reading rainbow ♪

♪ Reading rainbow ♪

All the way out here?

Er wonder
who's out here...

All the way out here?

Are we alone?

Or do we have company?

Human beings
have always wondered,

Is there life
in outer space?

Well, we still don't know.

Here at the lick observatory,
astronomers scan the skies

And probe
the mysteries of space.

This...this huge telescope

Is used like
a superpowerful eye

To see billions of times
further than any human eye.

It's kind of like...

Looking through a magic window
deep into space

To see what or who
might be out there.

When astronomers
want to look into space,

They have to open these petals
that cover a mirror,

The biggest you've ever seen.

When starlight streams
into the dome,

The mirror catches it

And reflects it
into a special camera

Hidden in the telescope.

This camera then sends
the pictures to a computer

That shows the astronomer
what the telescope sees.

Hiya, sally.

Hi, levar.

What are we
looking at here?

This is a picture.

All of these dots
of light are stars.

None of those stars
are bright enough

To see with only your eye.

But using a telescope,
we can see them.

What made you want to
become an astronomer?

I've always loved space.

I was a science-fiction fan.

I decided that
since I loved it so much,

Why not make
a career of it?

So I decided to study space.

When you're here,
what does it feel like?

Do you get some
physical sensation

By looking
at the stars?

Sometimes.

It's neat knowing that
each star probably has planets.

Maybe on some of them,
there might be life.

That's kind of neat
to realize.

There might be
civilizations out there.

Will we ever know?

I hope within my lifetime.

I don't know for sure.

I hope so, too.

Thanks, sally.

Sure.

I'd love to be
the first human

To meet a being
from another planet!

Here's a book about
a boy who got that chance

One halloween night.

It's called space case.

It's clearly
out of this world.

It came from outer space...

To have a look around
and to meet the natives...

Moo!

...who were not
especially friendly.

Cluck cluck

Bawk!

Really!

Everyone seemed
so uncooperative.

The thing from outer space
was beginning to lose heart.

But at the corner
of maple and elm,

Some interesting
folks appeared.

Wow!

Will you look at that?

What a great
costume!

...said lily.

It's that new kid,

...said mary louise.

Come with us,

...said buddy.

Trick or treat!

And a nice lady
gave them all treats.

Thanks a lot, lady.

Soon...

Meow!

The thing was having
a fine time.

Trick-or-treating
was lots of fun.

When their bags
were full of goodies,

The kids stopped
at the schoolyard

To stuff themselves silly.

Trick or treat!

...beeped the thing.

You know, there's
something weird
about that new kid,

...whispered lily.

Heading home, buddy noticed
that he was being followed.

For the first time, he took
a good look at the thing.

Hey, you're not
the new kid!

Trick or treat!

...beeped the thing.

Do you want to
spend the night
at my house?

[Yawn]

Mr. Mcgee let them in.

You'll like my room,

...said buddy.

Rrr! Ruff!

After studying
the dictionary...

[Beep beep]

...the thing found it easier
to communicate.

The location of my origin
is in outer space.

Yeah, I thought so,

...said buddy.

We'll have lots
to talk about
in the morning.

[Yawn]

Ok.

Good night.

When buddy
turned the lights out,

The thing turned out
its lights, too.

And it lowered its antennae.

Mrs. Mcgee was surprised

To see the thing
at breakfast.

What on earth is that?

Oh, it's from outer space.

Yes, dear. Ha!

While buddy ate
his fried eggs,

The thing atomized
a glass of orange juice.

[Burp]

Fantastic toys
these kids have,
eh, dear?

...said mr. Mcgee.

Are you sure
you want to
come to school?

...asked buddy.

Unquestionably,

...beeped the thing.

I want to observe.

Everyone was too excited
by mr. Jones' reptiles

To notice the thing.

Good heavens!

...beeped the thing.

What peculiar-looking
specimens.

And now,

...said mr. Jones,
putting away his reptiles,

It's time for
your space projects.

Uh-oh,

...said buddy.

I forgot to do mine.

The first project
was a homemade rocket.

Ooh!
Aah!

How primitive.

John watson showed
a model of mars.

Yay!
Yay!

That one's incorrect,

...beeped the thing.

What do you have
to show us, buddy? Heh heh!

Before buddy could reply,

The thing proceeded
to the front of the classroom

And did some fancy mathematics
at the blackboard.

[Whispering]

Wow!

Uh, hee hee!

That's my robot.

Heh heh!

Very clever, indeed!

That's worth
an "a" minus.

Wow!

...said buddy.

School was fun,

But I wouldn't want to
do this every single day.

When do we go
trick-or-treating?

Only once a year.

Oh.

I just remembered
an appointment
on jupiter.

Wait! Wait!

And then he explained
all about christmas.

Really?

Why, uh,
that's only
two zyglots away.

I think
I'll come back
for that.

It started to
pick up speed,

And in a flash it was gone.

Wow!

Good-bye.

Space case is one person's idea
of what might be out there.

Now, nobody's really sure,

But if there are
extraterrestrials,

They might be tuning in
to reading rainbow right now.

Anybody with an antenna
can pick up a signal.

I hope they're tuning in,

Ú
because we've made
a special show

For all those aliens
who might be watching.

So stay tuned out there,
all you aliens,

Because this edition
of reading rainbow

Is just for you.

♪ Aliens across the sky ♪

♪ Raise your antennas high ♪

♪ Give a listen ♪

♪ Here's a space transmission ♪

♪ Of reading rainbow ♪

♪ Outer-space edition ♪

♪ Reading rainbow ♪

♪ Outer-space edition ♪♪

Hi there, neighbors.

Welcome to planet earth.

You ever wonder
what's down here?

I mean,
all the way down here?

We have air, land,
water, sun, and much more.

So keep your eyes open,
all of them,

Because this is
reading rainbow's
message to the stars.

This is what our world
looks like up close.

♪ Beaming out
this invitation ♪

♪ Across the sky ♪

♪ Hoping that
you visit earth soon ♪

♪ So we can share the beauty ♪

♪ Of our sunrise ♪

♪ And the magic of our moon ♪

♪ A world of changing seasons ♪

♪ It's different every day ♪

♪ A place
where nature's wonders ♪

♪ Are always on display ♪

♪ Come on down to earth ♪

♪ Come on down to earth ♪

♪ See our mighty oceans ♪

♪ And the bluest skies
in the whole universe ♪

♪ Quiet plains
and high mountains ♪

♪ Forests full of
life in motion ♪

♪ So come on down ♪

♪ To earth ♪

♪ Come on down to earth ♪

♪ Come on down to earth ♪

♪ World of many nations ♪

♪ Who are reaching out
across the universe ♪

♪ Every farm
and every city ♪

♪ Send this invitation ♪

♪ Come on down ♪

♪ Come on down ♪

♪ Come on down ♪

♪ To earth ♪♪

There we are--

The people and places
of earth.

We come in lots of different
sizes, shapes, and colors.

Maybe you do, too.

Over the years,
we have tried to imagine

What you look like.

Here's how some of us
have pictured some of you.

[Speaking foreign language]

Oh, no! What did I say?

The mighty jabba asks
why he must pay 50,000.

[Speaking foreign language]

Because he's holding
a thermal detonator.

g*ng way! Move!

Come on!

Let's go! Let's go!
Go! Go!

Of course, you may not
look like that at all,

And those creatures
weren't really from outer space.

They were from hollywood
where movies are made.

Movies are one way
we humans entertain ourselves.

And here's another--books.

A book is a set of pages
filled with words or pictures.

It's bound to make you laugh,
cry, learn, or wonder.

Books are one of the most
precious things we have,

But don't take my word for it.

Hey, everything out there.

I'm yadana,
one of the earthlings.

All earthlings love to laugh,
and jokes make us laugh.

Here's a book about
space jokes and riddles.

It's called astronuts.

In case you didn't know,

Jokes are a group of words
that form a funny idea--

"Could you get me a ticket
for the next trip to the moon?

Sorry. The moon is full now."

Even if you don't
speak english,

The pictures
will make you laugh.

Laughing is an important part
of life down here.

Maybe even up there, too.

So if your local library
doesn't have astronuts,

Come on down!

Hi, you aliens.

I'm andrew,
and I read a fabulous book.

It's legend of the milky way.

It's about what
you're interested in--the stars.

It's a chinese folktale.

The characters
are sort of magical.

My favorite
is the water buffalo.

Do you guys have animals
in outer space?

This is a very good story.

If you creatures c

I think you'll like
legend of the milky way.

Hello, out there!

My name is carlos rodriguez.

Want to know what we think
you might look like?

I have a book called
is there life in outer space?

Earthlings are curious
about outer space.

We sent astronauts up
to explore the universe.

This book told me
how smart aliens might be.

There are funny pictures
of strange creatures.

Do you really look like that?

There's even a picture
of creatures eating melons.

Are there melons
in outer space?

So come and visit us sometime.

We have lots of great books.

Adios, amigos!

This is one of my favorite
places on earth.

I used to live
at the ocean.

I loved the way

The pounding surf
lulled me to sleep.

The earth truly is
a wonderful place.

I think you'll like it.

If you decide to visit
but want to call ahead,

Here's the best way to call.

Bienvenidos a la isla
del encanto puerto rico.

That's spanish for
"welcome to the enchanted island
of puerto rico."

I'm jerry giles,
and I want to show you

The biggest radio antenna
on this planet...

The arecibo observatory
in arecibo, puerto rico.

With this radio telescope,

Scientists are tuning in
to radio sounds

Coming from planets
and stars and galaxies

That are very, very far away.

It's like a giant ear.

This radio telescope

Is bigger than
all the other radio telescopes

In the world combined.

If you could take


And lay them out there,

It would be bigger than that.

You know,
this may look like

A big bowl
of concrete to you,

But it's not.

Let's take a closer look.

Down here
underneath this dish

Is like being
in a different world,

A completely strange place.

The whole dish
is supported on cables,

Cables that run
from one side of the valley

To the other side
of the valley.

Here we have ferns growing
and lush vegetation.

You can see that
we've combined things of nature

And things that are
very technical,

And we work together
to then observe nature.

Well, here we are.

This is the middle
of the dish.

This is 38,778 panels
like this one.

It's made of
very lightweight aluminum.

As you look very closely
at one of these panels,

You see that it's not solid.

It's made up
of very small holes.

These tiny holes
make the panels very light

And pass sunlight
and rain through

To keep the plants happy.

The surface of the dish
is very thin.

It bends very easily.

Workmen have to use
special shoes

So that they don't
damage the surface.

This dish is really
a giant metal mirror.

The radio energy
coming from a galaxy or a star

Is collected
in this giant dish

And then reflected
to one of those antennas

Hanging from that platform
above us.

The antenna can be moved
by the scientist and a computer

To follow a star
across the sky.

All of the signals that
come off that giant antenna

End up right here

In this very large,
very complicated radio receiver,

A radio receiver designed
especially for scientists

To use to study space.

This is what
space sounds look like--

If we could listen to it,
this is what it sounds like--

[Static]

Now, let's look at
a very special star, a pulsar.

A pulsar is a star
that spins very, very fast,

And it would look
like this--

And pulsars
sound like this--

[Fluttering]

At one time, they thought
pulsars were signals

From an intelligent civilization
somewhere out in space,

But now we know
that that's not true.

[Fluttering]

So as you can see,

Scientists at observatories
all over the world

Are probing the universe
in many different ways.

And you out there,
our operators are standing by.

Just give us a call.

So remember,
all you aliens out there,

The search goes on and on.

We're watching, waiting,
and listening for you.

I hope you've enjoyed

Reading rainbow's
message to the stars.

This is levar burton speaking
for many people on earth,

Saying please! Come on down!

♪ Aliens across the sky...
Sky...sky..sky... ♪

♪ Raise your antennas high ♪

♪ Give a listen ♪

♪ Here's a space transmission ♪

♪ Of reading rainbow ♪

♪ Outer-space edition ♪

♪ Reading rainbow ♪

♪ Outer-space edition ♪♪

Well, I hope they liked
our special show,

And I hope they get in touch.

But I wonder...

What will happen
if and when they come?

I guess that'll be up to us...

And them.

I'll see you next time.

And I'll see you
next time, too...

I hope.

Reading...reading...reading...

Rainbow...rainbow...rainbow...

Today's reading rainbow books
are

Space case by edward marshall,

Illustrated by james marshall,

Published by dial books
for young readers.

Astronuts: space jokes
and riddles

Compiled by charles keller,

Illustrated by art cummings,

Published by prentice-hall.

Legend of the milky way

Retold and illustrated
by jeanne m. Lee,

Published by henry holt & co.

Is there life in outer space?

By franklyn m. Branley,

Illustrated by don madden,

Published by thomas y. Crowell.

Reading rainbow
is made possible by grants from