Surge

Cast (in order of appearance): Calvin, Hobbes, Calvin's mother, Andy, Sherman, Socrates, Calvin's father, MTM, Radio announcer

Summary
Calvin, Hobbes, Andy, Sherman, and Socrates attempt to cope with a power outage.

Full plot
Calvin is irritated by the distinct lack of snow on the ground, despite it being late winter. Meanwhile, Sherman has invented a radio that is powered by the brain. Andy is the test subject, sitting next to the machine with several wires connecting his head to it. The only problem is that while it can read thoughts, it apparently misreads them and gives the listener the wrong kind of music. Calvin, Hobbes and Socrates come over, and they use it to listen to a local weather report that says that a blizzard is going to hit the town overnight. Calvin is thrilled. His prayers are answered the next morning when he wakes up and finds that schools are closed. At first, he and everyone else is thrilled. But then it turns out the power is down all across town due to a power line having been blown over during the storm. This realization is made all across town. Andy, Sherman and Socrates find all their beloved electronic possessions are effectively useless, leaving them with very little to do on a snow day. Since Sherman's Cerebellum-Powered Radio still works (as it runs on brain power), they use it to find out what's happening. It is speculated on the air that it will take four days for the power to come back on. They are less than impressed. Calvin and Hobbes try to make the best of a bad situation, but after they're done sledding and having snowball fights, they find themselves bored with no television. Andy starts to go a little strange without video-games or his iPod, causing Sherman some concern. Socrates finds himself unable to plan any pranks because he can't print off any fresh blueprints. The only person happy about any of this is Calvin's dad, who loves not having technology. After a few days, they use the radio again to find out how much longer they have to wait. It turns out to only be three or four more hours. They nearly go mad waiting. Calvin ends up arguing with the MTM about his lack of helpfulness. Socrates keeps tripping over things in the dark. Finally, they struggle to get the radio working one more time, in the process finding out via MTM that it would be impossible to successfully market a brain-powered radio due to how many thoughts the average person has in a day being around 6000. They learn that the power will be restored in ninety seconds. They're thrilled. But will they do for ninety seconds?

Transcript
Surge Transcript

Trivia

 * The idea of the brain-powered radio was an excuse to get Jackson Kelley to shove some songs in the episode.