Episode 1
Rain, Beakmania & Volcanoes
1992-09-12 • 22 min
Wacky scientist Beakman and his assistant Josie, and Lester, an actor dressed as a mangy rat, answers an inquiry about where puddles go after it has rained. Although Lester suggests they are licked up by stray dogs, Beakman proceeds to explain the mysteries of rain and evaporation using a variety of household props. In the "Beak-Mania" portion of the show, Beakman attempts to answer, in rapid succession, short viewer inquiries on topics such as living prehistoric animals (the platypus), the most commonly used word in the English language and the heaviest animal in the history of the world (blue whale). Then, after a trick in which he balances a pair of forks atop a toothpick, Beakman forces Josie to reveal the question for the show's final segment, "What is snot?" Turning to volcanoes, Beakman explains the processes in the Earth's interior that create, and then discharge, molten magma. With the aid of film footage of volcanic eruptions, Beakman employs a foam rubber model of the Earth and a rubber glove to show how magma moves from deep inside the Earth and appears on the surface as lava. Finally, asked by Josie about why some volcanoes explode, Beakman uses a cherry pie to demonstrate the power, and mess, of a volcanic eruption.