Episode 45: Trains and Brains and Rainy Plains

Trains and Brains and Rainy Plains
Season 2, Episode 15
Air date	April 20, 2001
Written by	Louise Gikow
Directed by	Emily Squires
Episode guide
Previous Episode 44: Bug Beard	Next Episode 46: Quest, Quest, Quest!

Trains and Brains and Rainy Plains is the fifteenth episode of Season 2 of Between the Lions, and episode 45 in total.

Picture	Segment	Description
	Celebrity	Announcer Bunny Program Preview: Replaced Letter Songs: It Was Dry on the African Plain
	SCENE 1	Theo reads the cubs Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain. When Leona asks what the word "drought" means, Heath the Thesaurus shows up to explain the definition.
	SCENE 1 (cont'd)	The parents notice that if you put a "T" in from to the word "Rain", you get "Train". This inspires the cubs to "Bringing the Train to Kapiti Plain".
	SCENE 2	Walter and Clay Pigeon want to see Busterfield's brain.
	Insert	The grey hand takes the letters "ai" from the word "rains".
	Puppets	Martha Reader and The Vowelles sing the "a" sound made by the letters "A-I" in the word "paint".
	Insert	Chalkboard: paint, pain, ain, plain
	Cartoon	Replaced Letter Songs: It Was Dry on the African Plain Animation: Bruce Cayard
	Insert	Poet Liza Jesse Peterson recites a poem titled Ai Train.
	Insert	Color Patterns: gain, pain, pail, nail, snail
	Film	Moby Duck: Daisy the entertaining white snail
	SCENE 3	Lionel and Leona have found a book on trains, which they will use to "Bringing the Train to Kapiti Plain". Unfortunately, a spark from the smoking train causes a fire in Kapiti Plain!
	SCENE 3 (cont'd)	The parents come down to see that Kapiti Plain is on fire! Click quickly drags and drops the cubs back out.
	Celebrity	Fred Says: air, hair
	Insert	Sky: hair, fair, fail, rail, rain
	Cartoon	The Adventures of Cliff Hanger: Cliff Hanger and the Rain (EKA: Poetry Day)
	Puppets	Cleo Lion sings Without an S
	Insert	The grey hand puts the "ai" back from the word "rains".
	SCENE 4	When all seems lost, Walter Pigeon donates a feather that can be used to ignite the book's titular rains, and extinguish the fire. Theo has Click drag and drop it into the book, and the problem is solved.
	SCENE 5	As a reward for saving Kapiti Plain, the pigeons finally get to see Busterfield's brain, which they then steal.

Featured Stories

• Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain by Verna Aardema; illustrated by ShadowLight Productions
• Bringing the Train to Kapiti Plain after Verna Aardema; illustrated by ShadowLight Productions

Notes and Trivia

• The library's fire alarm system is introduced in this episode.
• This is the third time Between the Lions used a former Reading Rainbow feature book. Imogene's Antlers and Abiyoyo were also featured on that show.
• The shadow puppet segments were created by Shadowlight Productions in San Francisco.
• This is the third time a Story takes place in Africa, the first was Red Hat, Green Hat and the second was Oh, Yes, It Can!.
• This episode was last broadcasted on PBS in January 2009.
• The cover of the trains book is a Santa Fe FP7 used on the Super Chief.

Releases

• VHS (Singular episode; October 30, 2001, later reprinted on October 1, 2002)
• Complete Second Season 4-Disc DVD Boxset (September 2, 2008)

Gallery

This page has a limited amount of images in the template. For extended images, see Trains and Brains and Rainy Plains/Gallery.

Cast

• Anthony Asbury - Lionel Lion
• Kathryn Mullen - Leona Lion
• Peter Linz - Theo Lion, Heath the Thesaurus, Gawain (deleted scene)
• Jennifer Barnhart - Cleo Lion
• Tim Lagasse - Barnaby B. Busterfield III, Johnny Consonanti
• Heather Asch - Click the Mouse, Clay Pigeon
• Jim Kroupa - Walter Pigeon
• Fred Newman - himself
• Michael K. Frith - Captain Ahab, Cliff Hanger narrator
• Liza Jesse Peterson - herself
• 14 Karat Soul - Replaced Letter Song singers
• Chris Phillips - Cliff Hanger, Moby Duck announcer
• Baha Men - themselves
• Jack Berner, Kate Berner, Rashad Daley, Emanuelle Heyman, Hannah Heyman - children voices