science

The Big Bus

The Big Bus is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand The Big Bus rather than just read about it. In short: The Big Bus is a 1976 American satirical comedy film directed by James Frawley, and starring Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing, and John Beck. Parodying the then-popular disaster genre, it follows the maiden cross-country trip of an enormous nuclear-powered bus named Cyclops.

Key takeaways

The Big Bus belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
Connect The Big Bus to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
Reproduce the core statement of The Big Bus from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

The Big Bus is a 1976 American satirical comedy film directed by James Frawley, and starring Joseph Bologna, Stockard Channing, and John Beck. Parodying the then-popular disaster genre, it follows the maiden cross-country trip of an enormous nuclear-powered bus named Cyclops. The Big Bus initially received mixed reviews, although The New York Times gave the film a favorable review. The film performed poorly at the box office but has since been recognized as a cult classic of its genre. Frawley won the audience award at the 1977 Avoriaz Fantastic Film Festival.

Plot Coyote Bus Lines' scientists and designers work feverishly to complete Cyclops, a state-of-the-art articulated jumbo bus, enabling man to achieve a new milestone in bus history, namely non-stop service between New York City and Denver. Almost immediately after the bus engine is equipped with nuclear fuel, a bomb goes off, critically injuring Professor Baxter, the scientist in charge of the project. Cyclops itself is undamaged, but Coyote Bus Lines has lost both its driver and co-driver. Kitty Baxter, the professor's daughter and the Cyclops designer, is forced to turn to old flame Dan Torrance. Once a promising driver, Torrance was disgraced after he crashed his bus on Mount Diablo, and was accused of saving his own life by eating all of his passengers. (Torrance blames his co-driver for cannibalism, insisting that he himself survived by eating the seats and the luggage, and only ate part of a passenger's foot by accident when it was included in a stew.) Narrowly surviving an assault by vindictive fellow drivers with the help of "Shoulders" O'Brien, Torrance is recruited to drive Cyclops. Meanwhile, a sinister tycoon known as "Ironman", encased in a huge iron lung, plots to destroy the bus with some oil sheikhs. Ironman directs his brother Alex to sabotage Cyclops using time bombs. Alex would prefer to use a man-made earthquake, but Ironman insists that the bus be destroyed and discredited. Before its maiden voyage, Alex sneaks aboard and hides a bomb in the bus. Amidst public fanfare, the bus finally leaves New York, bound for Denver. Among the passengers are the Cranes, a neurotic married couple waiting for their divorce to finalize; Father Kudos, a priest who has lost his way; Dr. Kurtz, a disgraced veterinarian; Emery Bush, a man with only a few months to live; and Camille Levy, whose father died in the aforementioned Mount Diablo bus crash. At first, Cyclops' journey is a success, and Torrance triumphantly breaks the 90 mph (140 km/h) "wind barrier" (referenced as "breaking wind"). Soon, however, disaster strikes. Investigating a mechanical problem, Dan discovers the bomb and disarms it just seconds before an explosion rips through another part of the bus. Now unable to stop, Cyclops speeds across America. Dan is determined to achieve Cyclops's historic goal of non-stop service to Denver, but he also needs to traverse a treacherously curvy road where his father died. Dan almost succeeds, but not before a truck smashes into the upper deck windshield, and the bus runs partially off the road, ending up teetering over a cliff. To save the bus, Dan and Shoulders shift all the weight to the back by jettisoning all of the passenger luggage and then pumping the vehicle's entire carbonated beverage supply into the galley at the opposite end. Knowing he has only one more chance to destroy Cyclops, Alex finally persuades Ironman to use the earthquake. Unfortunately for Ironman, Alex somehow set the co-ordinates for Ironman's house instead. Back on the road, Cyclops once again heads to its destination, but just 25 miles (40 km) outside of Denver, the front and rear halves of the bus split from each other.

Cast

Production notes

Casting On the director's commentary of the 1980 film The Blues Brothers, John Landis reveals that he cast Murphy Dunne as the leader of "Murph and the Magic Tones" because he had seen him as a cheesy lounge singer in an earlier film. Although Landis doesn't mention The Big Bus by name, the film was Dunne's only previous performance as a lounge singer.

The Cyclops

… excerpt ends here. Continue reading the full article.

Illustrations

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with The Big Bus

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what The Big Bus claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to The Big Bus before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about The Big Bus ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of The Big Bus

In research: The Big Bus appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry: Engineering practice reuses The Big Bus in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom: The Big Bus is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics 1970s comedy road movies, 1970s disaster films, 1970s parody films, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life: Look for The Big Bus outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study The Big Bus in 20 minutes

Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
Close the page and write down what The Big Bus means in your own words.
Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
Explain The Big Bus out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is The Big Bus in simple terms?

Why does The Big Bus matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study The Big Bus?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on The Big Bus.