The Magic School Bus (TV series)

***The Magic School Bus*** is an animated educational children's television series based on the book series by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. The series has received critical acclaim for its use of celebrity talent and combining entertainment with an educational series. _Broadcasting & Cable_ said the show was "among the highest-rated PBS shows for school-age children". A reboot titled _The Magic School Bus Rides Again_ began on Netflix on September 29, 2017.

## Plot

The animated series follows the adventures of eccentric teacher Ms. Frizzle and her eight students as they explore the wonders of science on their exciting field trips. Their journey takes them to different locations, time periods, and encounters with various creatures, all while learning about science and the world around them. The school they attend, Walkerville Elementary, is set in the fictitious town of Walkerville. The characters travel all over the world and into space throughout the duration of the show.

## Voice cast

- Lily Tomlin as Mrs. Valerie Frizzle
- Malcolm-Jamal Warner as the male producer
- Susan Blu as the female producer
- Amos Crawley (season 1) and Danny Tamberelli (seasons 2-4) as Arnold Perlstein
- Daniel DeSanto as Carlos Ramón
- Tara Meyer as Dorothy Ann "D.A." Hudson
- Erica Luttrell as Keesha Franklin
- Maia Filar as Phoebe Terese, Tiffany, & Second Caller ("The Busasaurus" & "Makes a Stink")
- Stuart Stone as Ralphie Tennelli & Caller ("Getting Energized")
- Max Beckford (season 1) and Andre Ottley-Lorant (seasons 2-4) as Tim Wright
- Lisa Yamanaka as Wanda Li & Caller ("Blows Its Top" & "Gets Planted")
- Edward James Olmos as Mr. Ramón & Zookeeper
- Dan Hennessey as Mr. Flack

## Production and broadcast

A Scholastic, Nelvana Limited, & Hanho Heung-Up Co. Ltd. Co-Production, Presented by South Carolina ETV. They made _The Magic School Bus_ books into an animated television series. It began on September 10, 1994. Many parents and teachers wanted Scholastic, Nelvana Limited, & Hanho Heung-Up Co. Ltd. to help kids and minorities learn more about science in a fun way.

### Advertisements

Each episode of the series ran for 30 minutes. There was a _Producer Says_ part at the end of each episode when _The Magic School Bus_ had no advertisements. There were no advertisements on international television, VHS, and DVD. The _Producer Says_ part was taken out when _The Magic School Bus_ had advertisements. This way, there was enough time for advertisements. Sometimes the episode faded to black at the start of the advertisements. When there are no advertisements, the episode faded to black and then faded back in.

### Writers

Peter Lurye wrote the song played at the beginning of the show. It was called "Ride on the Magic School Bus". The rock 'n' roll singer Little Richard sang it.

Writers – George Arthur Bloom, Greg Collinson, Shawn Kalb, Dmitri Kostic, Kristin Laskas Martin, Jeph Loeb, John McDiarmid, Allan Parker, Robert Picombe, Frank Saperstein

#### In the United States

In the United States, _The Magic School Bus_ originally aired on PBS as a part of its children's block, PTV Park, through South Carolina's SCETV network. It was the first fully animated series to be aired on PBS. The final episode aired on December 6, 1997. The series then aired reruns on PBS until October 1998. Fox Kids Network, in a hasty effort to fill educational television mandates for its stations, aired reruns on its weekday block from September 1998 to September 2002. Beginning on September 27, 2010, _The Magic School Bus_ started a daily run on child-oriented network Qubo in the US, and on Saturday mornings on NBC. The Fox Kids and Qubo airings both used a shortened version of the opening. _The Magic School Bus_ was also seen on TLC from February 15, 2003 until 2008. It also aired on the Ready Set Learn block on Discovery Kids from 2004 to 2009.

#### In Canada

The series first aired on TVOKids in 1995. It was widely known in Canada for showing reruns on CBC as part of its children's block, now known as Kids' CBC, from 1999 to 2004. In 2005, Nelvana sold the series to Latin American versions of Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon.

In Canada, the series aired on CBC Kids (from 2000 until 2003), Teletoon, and Knowledge Network. In the United Kingdom, it aired on Channel 4 (Children Planet Programmes Block) and Nickelodeon. Since 2005, Canada-based studio Nelvana Limited acquired the series and sold it to the Latin American versions of Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon. As of 2021, the show is currently distributed by 9 Story Media Group.

## Home media

The series was originally released on VHS by KidVision between 1995 and 2003 and on DVD by Warner Home Video between 2002 and 2013. Only the VHSs and DVDs contain the funding credits. In the home video releases, all the episodes are uncut with the _Producer Says_ segments intact.

On July 31, 2012, New Video Group released the complete series on DVD in Region 1 for the very first time.

On August 15, 2013, Scholastic announced the entire series would be available on Netflix.

## Reception

Jason Fry, in a column for the online edition of _The Wall Street Journal_, expressed an overall appreciation for the show, but wrote that the episode "The Magic School Bus Gets Programmed" should have been about the dangers of Internet searches and network concepts arising at the time, rather than an old-fashioned technology-run-amok story about the respective roles of programmer and machine (although he conceded that the episode was ten years old).

Tomlin won a Daytime Emmy for her role as Ms. Frizzle.

## Games

Various computer and video games associated with the series were released from 1994 to 2001, and were typically amalgamations of storylines from both the original book series and the television show. The games were published by Microsoft Home for the Educational purpose.

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. The video game, similar to the computer game before it, was likely based on the book, _The Magic School Bus On the Ocean Floor_ and the TV episode, _The Magic School Bus Gets Eaten_.  This is the only game to have been released for the Nintendo platform.

## Reboot series

On June 10, 2014, a new series was announced by Netflix and Scholastic Media titled _The Magic School Bus 360°_. 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. 9 Story Media Group would produce the series. 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 same roles. The show's voice cast is based in Los Angeles and Toronto with Susan Blu as the Los Angeles voice director and Stuart Stone as the Toronto voice director.

In February 2017, Netflix announced that Lily Tomlin was in the role of Fiona Felicity Frizzle, the younger sister of Ms. Frizzle, now Professor Frizzle, again played by Tomlin. By this point the title of the series had been changed to _The Magic School Bus Rides Again_. Little Richard returns to perform the theme song. The series began on Netflix on September 29, 2017.

### _The Magic School Bus Rides Again_ voice cast

- Lily Tomlin as Professor Valerie Frizzle, Ms. Fiona Frizzle, & The Frizzle Fragments
- Amos Crawley as Arnold Perlstein & Mr. Hudson
- Lisa Yamanaka as Wanda Li, Mrs. Li, & Caller
- Erica Luttrell as Keesha Franklin
- Tara Meyer as Dorothy Ann Hudson, Pariksha, & Additional Voices
- Daniel DeSanto as Carlos Ramón, Tony Tennelli, & Matthew Math Matthews
- Stuart Stone as Ralphie Tennelli, The Gizmos That Go Staff, The Cosmic Corner Show Announcer, & Caller
- Maia Filar as Jyoti Kaur & The Titular "Goldstealer"
- Andre Ottley-Lorant as Tim Wright
- Renessa Blitz as Janet Perlstein
- Kevin Zegers as Mikey Ramón
- Max Beckford as Mr. Ruhle
- Susan Blu
- Danny Tamberelli
- Malcolm-Jamal Warner

## 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. The Magic School Bus will talk in this series. The series will be computer animation and geared more towards a preschool audience.

## Other websites

- _The Magic School Bus Rides Again_ at Netflix
- https://aaa.youtube.com/watch?v=VOyWd9JsCjU&pp=ygUhbWFnaWMgc2Nob29sIGJ1cyBuZXdzIGdsb2JhbCAxOTk3

## Infobox (television)

- **genre**: Educational television, Educational
Adventure fiction, Adventure
Comedy
Science fantasy
- **developer**: Alison Blank
Kristin Laskas Martin
Jane Startz
- **director**: Lawrence Jacobs (season 1)
Charles E. Bastien (seasons 2-3)
Shawn Seles
- **voices**: Lily Tomlin
Malcolm-Jamal Warner
Lisa Yamanaka
Amos Crawley
Danny Tamberelli
Daniel DeSanto
Tara Meyer
Erica Luttrell
Maia Filar
Stuart Stone
Max Beckford
Andre Ottley-Lorant
- **composer**: Peter Lurye
Fred Barton (seasons 2-4)
- **open theme**: "Ride on the Magic School Bus" by Little Richard
- **end theme**: "Ride on the Magic School Bus" (instrumental)
- **country**: United States
Canada
- **language**: English
- **num seasons**: 4
- **num episodes**: 52
- **runtime**: 26 minutes
- **network**: PBS Kids, PTV Park