The Magic School Bus is an animated educational children's television series, based on the book series of the same name by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. Originally broadcast from 1994 to 1997, the series received critical acclaim for its use of celebrity voice talent, as well as combining entertainment with an educational series.[1] The series stars Lily Tomlin as the voice of Ms. Frizzle. The theme song is performed by Little Richard.[2]
Premise
The eccentric teacher Ms. Frizzle embarks on adventures with her eight students on the eponymous school bus. As they journey on their exciting field trips, they discover locations, creatures, time periods, and more to learn about the wonders of science along the way. The series is set in the fictional city of Walkerville.
Voice cast
Main characters from left to right: Carlos, Dorothy Ann, Tim, Wanda, Liz, Ms. Frizzle, Keesha, Ralphie, Phoebe, and Arnold
In early 1994, The Magic School Bus concept was co-produced into an animated series of the same name by Scholastic Entertainment. It premiered on September 10, 1994. The idea for the show was developed by Craig Walker (former Vice President and Senior Editorial Director of Scholastic Entertainment). The company's president Deborah Forte explained that adapting the books into an animated TV show was the opportunity to help kids "learn about science in a fun way".[3] During this time, Forte had been hearing concerns from parents and teachers about how to improve science education for kids and minorities all across the globe.[3]Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd. contributed some of the animation for this program. The theme song, called "Ride on the Magic School Bus", was written by Peter Lurye and performed by Little Richard.[4] The voice director was Susan Blu; two of the writers for the series were Brian Meehl and Jocelyn Stevenson.
Broadcast
In the United States, the original run of The Magic School Bus was broadcast on PBS from 1994 until 1997 as part of its daytime children's block. It was the first fully-animated series to be aired on PBS. The last episode aired on December 6, 1997. By the series' end, it was among the highest-rated PBS shows for school-age children.[5] After the final episode, the series subsequently continued in reruns on the PBS lineup until September 25, 1998. PBS dropped the show altogether to make room for more programs aimed at preschoolers.
On December 15, 1997, Fox network acquired the series to fill educational television mandates for Fox affiliates.[6] The show was broadcast on the Fox Kids block,[7] where reruns aired from October 5, 1998, until September 6, 2002.
After the PBS original run and Fox Kids reruns, TLC and Discovery Kids chose to air it. TLC aired it from February 24, 2003 until 2008. Discovery Kids aired it from 2004 until 2009, as part of the Ready Set Learn! block.[3]
On September 27, 2010, the TV series moved and changed networks once again. It was broadcast through a daily run on Qubo Channel as well as NBC's Saturday morning Qubo block. Reruns continued on both NBC and now-defunct Qubo until 2012.
The opening theme song was notably shortened during the show's airings on Fox Kids[9] and Qubo.[10] The airings on PBS along with TLC and Discovery Kids (United States airings) and CBC Kids, Teletoon, and Knowledge Network (Canada airings), along with the VHS and DVD releases, all used the full version of the opening.
Home media
The series (through home media) was released on VHS from 1995 to 2003, DVD from 2002 to 2013, DVD (by New Video Group) in Region 1 (which are the rereleases of the Warner Home Video DVDs) on July 31, 2012, and Netflix on August 15, 2013.
On July 31, 2012, New Video Group released the complete series on DVD in Region 1, as well as rereleases of the Warner Home Video DVDs.[11]
On August 15, 2013, Scholastic announced the complete series' availability on Netflix.[12] Currently however only season 1 of the series is available to stream on Netflix.
Reception
Critical response
In a 2007 column for the online edition of The Wall Street Journal, Jason Fry expressed an overall appreciation for the series, but wrote that the episode "The Magic School Bus Gets Programmed" illustrated the rapid pace of technological change over the ten years since it first aired. He explained the episode presented an old-fashioned "technology-gone-amok" story about the respective roles of programmer and machine that was no longer relevant to children growing up in 2007. He suggested that an updated version of the episode would have focused instead on the perils of Internet searches and on network concepts surfacing at the time.[13]
Numerous computer and video games associated with the series were released from 1994 to 2000, and were typically amalgamations of storylines from both the original book series and the television show. The games were published by Microsoft Home.
A video game titled The Magic School Bus: Oceans was released for Nintendo DS on October 25, 2011, ten years after the release of the last game. This is the only game to be released on a Nintendo platform.
On June 10, 2014, a new series was announced by Netflix and Scholastic Media titled The Magic School Bus 360°.[16][17] The new iteration of the franchise features a modernized Ms. Frizzle and high-tech bus that stresses modern inventions such as robotics, wearables and camera technology. The producers hoped to captivate children's imaginations and motivate their interest in the sciences.[18][19]9 Story Media Group would produce the series.[20] Producer Stuart Stone, who voiced Ralphie in the original series, explained that The Magic School Bus 360° would feature some of the original voice actors in different roles. The series' voice cast is based in Los Angeles and Toronto with Susan Blu as the Los Angeles voice director and Alyson Court as the Toronto voice director.[21]
In February 2017, Netflix announced that Saturday Night Live cast member Kate McKinnon was cast in the role of Fiona Felicity Frizzle, the younger sister of Ms. Frizzle, now Professor Frizzle, again voiced by Lily Tomlin. By this point the title of the series had been changed to The Magic School Bus Rides Again.[22]Lin-Manuel Miranda performed the theme song.[23] On September 29, 2017 the series premiered on Netflix.[24]
Preschool spin-off
On October 17, 2024, it was announced a Magic School Bus spin-off The Magic School Bus: Mighty Explorers is currently in the works.[25] The Magic School Bus will talk in this series. The series will be CG-animated and aim more towards a preschool audience.
