The Magic School Bus Rides Again


The Magic School Bus Rides Again is an animated children's television series, based on The [Magic School Bus (book series)|the book series of the same name] by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. Produced by Scholastic Entertainment and 9 Story Media Group, it serves as a continuation of the 1994–1997 PBS Kids series The Magic School Bus, with Lily Tomlin reprising her role as Ms. Frizzle. The series premiered on Netflix On September 29, 2017, and the second season premiered on April 13, 2018.
The series made its television channel debut on Qubo on November 1, 2020 and aired until the channel ceased broadcasting on February 28, 2021.
3 45-minute specials, "Kids in Space", "The Frizz Connection", and "In the Zone", premiered on Netflix in 2020. A 4th special, "Goldstealer" was never released on Netflix but was instead released on a DVD, Mainly In Canada. They were dedicated to Joanna Cole, the author of the original books, who died in 2020.

Plot

In the sequel to the original animated television series, the flagship Valerie Frizzle gets her Ph.D. and retires from teaching at Walkerville Elementary School. She then hires her younger sister, Miss Fiona Frizzle, to teach the class, and passes the keys of the Magic School Bus over to her. The kids journey on exciting new field-trips, discovering new locations, creatures, time periods and more to learn about the wonders of science, educating viewers along the way, on the eponymous Magic School Bus.

Voice cast

Main

  • Kate McKinnon as Ms. Fiona Felicity Frizzle
  • Lily Tomlin as Professor Valerie Felicity Frizzle, Ph.D.
  • Miles Koseleci-Vieira and Roman Lutterotti as Arnold Matthew Perlstein
  • Lynsey Pham as Wanda Li
  • Mikaela Blake as Keesha Franklin
  • Gabby Clarke as Dorothy Ann Hudson
  • Leke Maceda-Rustecki as Carlos Ramon
  • Matthew Mintz and Matthew Mucci as Ralphie Alessandro Giuseppe Tennelli
  • Birva Pandya as Jyoti Kaur
  • Kaden Stephen as Tim Wright

Guest stars

Additional voices

  • Lilly Bartlam
  • Amos Crawley as Mr. Hudson, Dorothy Ann's father.
  • Annelise Forbes as Arnold's cousin, Janet Perlstein
  • Lisa Jai as Mrs. Li, Wanda's mother and as a caller in the Professor Frizzle segments. Jai was the voice of Wanda in the original series, where Mrs. Li was voiced by Rosalind Chao.
  • Julie Lemieux as additional voices and the titular "Goldstealer"
  • Ana Sani as Pariksha, Jyoti's grandmother.
  • Stuart Stone as the Gizmos That Go staff, the Cosmic Corner Show announcer, and a caller in the Professor Frizzle Segment. Stone was the voice of Ralphie in the original series.
  • Jamie Watson
  • Marcus Craig as Mikey Ramon, Carlos' younger brother.
  • Martin Roach as Mr. Ruhle
  • Kevin Vidal

Episodes

Season 3 (2020–21)

These 4 44-minute special episodes released throughout the early 2020s individually on Netflix, and onto a Canada-exclusive DVD from production company 9 Story on November 9, 2021. The final season revives The Magic School Bus Rides Again with the show's transition to 3D CGI animation, resolving the whitewash controversy from the previous art style, and the Bus's new CG models. They are dedicated to the author of The Magic School Bus book series, the late Joanna Cole, whose death occurred in 2020.

Production

On June 10, 2014, the series was first announced by Netflix and Scholastic Media, and was titled The Magic School Bus 360°. The new iteration of the franchise features a modernized "Ms. Frizzle" and a high-tech bus that stresses modern inventions such as robotics, wearables and camera technology. The hope is to captivate children's imaginations and motivate their interest in the sciences. It was produced by 9 Story Media Group. Producer Stuart Stone, who voiced Ralphie in the original series, stated that The Magic School Bus 360° will feature some of the original voice actors in different roles. The show's voice cast is based in Los Angeles, California, United States and Toronto, Ontario, Canada with Susan Blu as the Los Angeles voice director and Alyson Court as the Toronto voice director. In February 2017, Kate McKinnon was cast in the role of Ms. Frizzle. The series then changed its name to The Magic School Bus Rides Again. The series was released on Netflix on September 29, 2017. The second season was released on April 13, 2018.
Lin-Manuel Miranda of Hamilton sings the theme song. Phoebe Terese, a character from the original series, is replaced by a new student named Jyoti, as it was revealed that Phoebe transferred back to her old school. The episode endings feature question and answer sessions with Professor Frizzle, echoing the segments about viewers calling the producer which accompanied the original series on commercial-free channels. Despite clarifying some creative license taken in the episode, these scenes are still set in a universe with magical vehicles. Among other changes, the students still wear the same clothes every day but they do not resemble those from the original series. Three 45–minute specials were released in 2020: the first special The Magic School Bus Rides Again: Kids in Space was released on August 7, the second named The Magic School Bus Rides Again: The Frizz Connection on October 20 a third titled The Magic School Bus Rides Again: In the Zone on December 26, and a fourth titled The Magic School Bus Rides Again: Goldstealer which came out exclusively on DVD. The artstyle was changed for the specials as the characters have no outlines and the lighting and shading are more detailed.

Critical reception

After the series' announcement and the release of its trailer, there was initial resistance to the new art style, absence of Lily Tomlin as Ms. Frizzle, and fear it would not live up to the original series. AOL accused the show of giving Ms. Frizzle a nose job. Bustle put this down to fans of the show being "protective of its legacy".
Despite this speculation, the series has been critically acclaimed upon release. Common Sense Media deemed the show a worthy successor to its 1990s sister series, praising its gender and ethnic diversity and its commitment to teaching children about STEM subjects. Christianity Today argues that the show managed to keep the "genius of the franchise", which is that the children are almost more intrigued by the complexity and order of the natural world rather than the magic of the titular school bus. Daily Dot praised the series' premiere for addressing the change to the show's structure, putting viewers at ease through the transition, adding that the science was made "approachable". The Houstonian found the episodes' scenarios to be "pretty interesting", commenting on the academical and moral lessons. The AV Club felt the series lives up to its predecessor, and contains the same "goofy humor and ease with making learning fun". Another AV Club article wrote that the series is "lively, fast-paced, and exceedingly tolerable for adults", and full of enough science to allow them to park their kids in front of it guilt-free.
Some users on social media have accused the show of whitewashing the black characters.