The Magic School Bus (2017 TV series) (Johnsonverse)

The Magic School Bus is an animated children's web series, based on the book series of the same name by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. It also serves as a continuation of the 1994-97 PBS Kids series of the same name, with Lily Tomlin reprising her role as Ms. Frizzle. The series premiered on Netflix on September 29, 2017. The second season premiered on April 13, 2018, with the third season premiering on July 19, 2019. The fourth season premiered on August 13, 2021, and the fifth season premiered on May 20, 2022.
Four 45-minute specials, "Kids in Space", "The Frizz Connection", "In the Zone", and "Goldstealer", premiered in 2020. They were dedicated to Joanna Cole, the author of the original books, who died that year.
==Plot==
In the sequel to Scholastic's The Magic School Bus, Ms. Valerie Frizzle and 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 Bus.
== Voice cast ==
* Lily Tomlin as Ms. Valerie Felicity Frizzle
* Miles Koseleci-Vieira (seasons 1-3) and Roman Lutterotti (specials and seasons 4-5) as Arnold Matthew Perlstein
* Lynsey Pham as Wanda Li
* Mikaela Blake as Keesha Franklin
* Gabby Clarke as Dorothy Ann Hudson
* Leke Maceda-Rustecki (seasons 1-4 and specials) and TBA (season 5) as Carlos Ramon
* T.J. McGibbon as Phoebe Terese
* Matthew Mintz (seasons 1-3) and Matthew Mucci (specials and seasons 4-5) as Ralphie Alessandro Giuseppe Tennelli
* Birva Pandya as Jyoti Kaur (new student)
* Kaden Stephen (seasons 1-3) and Jonathan C. Sturgess (specials and seasons 4-5) as Tim Wright
* Malcolm-Jamal Warner and Susan Blu as the producers
=== Guest stars ===
==== Season 1 ====
* Will Arnett as Galapagos Gil ("Rides Again")
* Mae Jemison as Keesha's favorite celebrity astronaut, Kathy K. Kuiper
*Kate McKinnon as Fiona Felicity Frizzle, Ms. Frizzle's sister ("Substitute Frizzle")
* Sandra Oh as Dr. Sarah Bellum ("Ralphie Strikes a Nerve")
*Lin-Manuel Miranda as TBA ("TBA")
==== Season 2 ====
* Jay Baruchel as Dr. Tillage ("Ghost Farm")
* Nathan Fillion as Dorothy Ann's famous scientist uncle, Dr. Axle "ValveStuck" ("Waste Not, Want Not")
* Catherine O'Hara as Tina Tennelli and Teresina Tennelli, Ralphie's trapeze-artist aunts ("Ralphie and the Flying Tennellis")
* Martin Short as Tony Tennelli, also in Ralphie's family who works in the circus ("Ralphie and the Flying Tennellis")
*Lily Tomlin as Ernestine, a brash, tough and uncompromising telephone operator who generally treats customers with little sympathy.
==== Season 3 ====
* Lily Tomlin as Edith Ann, another of Ms. Frizzle's nieces, a precocious five-and-a-half-year-old girl who waxes philosophical on everyday life, either about life as a kid or things for which she feels she has the answers, although she is too young to fully understand. She often ends her monologues with "And that's the truth", punctuating it with a noisy raspberry. ("TBA")
*Elliott Gould as Mr. Perlstein, Arnold's father ("On Stage")
*Carrie Fisher as Mrs. Perlstein, Arnold's mother ("On Stage")
*Edward James Olmos as Mr. Ramon, Carlos' father ("On Stage")
*TBA as Mrs. Tennelli, Ralphie's mother ("On Stage")
*Dan Castellaneta as Mr. Terese, Phoebe's father ("On Stage")
*Swoosie Kurtz as Mrs. Hudson, Dorothy Ann's mother ("On Stage")
*Rosalind Chao as Mrs. Li, Wanda's mother ("On Stage")
*Ajay Naidu as Mr. Kaur, Jyoti's father ("On Stage")
*Little Richard as Jason, Ms. Frizzle's musician uncle ("On Stage")
==== Special episodes ====
* Chris Hadfield as himself ("Kids in Space")
* Lights as Maven, Ms. Frizzle's pop-star cousin ("In the Zone")
==== Season 4 ====
==== Season 5 ====
=== Additional voices ===
* Lilly Bartlam as Dottie Frizzle, Ms. Frizzle's niece ("TBA")
* Amos Crawley as Dorothy Ann's father ("The Tales Glaciers Tell"), elderly Arnold ("In the Zone"), and Arnold (opening theme, archived audio, uncredited)
* Annelise Forbes as Arnold's cousin, Janet Perlstein
* Lisa Jai as Wanda's aunt, a caller in the producer segment ("The Magnetic Mambo"), and Wanda (opening theme, archived audio, uncredited)
* Julie Lemieux
* Ana Sani
* Stuart Stone as the Gizmos That Go staff ("Three in One"), the Cosmic Corner Show announcer ("TBA"), and a caller in the producer segment ("Ghost Farm")
*Danny Tamberelli as Arnold's uncle ("TBA") and a caller in the producer segment ("TBA")
*Daniel DeSanto as Carlos' uncle ("TBA") and a caller in the producer segment ("TBA")
* Jamie Watson
* Marcus Craig
*Erica Luttrell as Keesha's aunt ("TBA") and a caller in the producer segment ("TBA")
* Martin Roach as Mr. Ruhle
* Kevin Vidal
*TBA as Alex Hamilton, a student at TBA's class.
*TBA as Amanda Jane Hudson, a student at TBA's class and Dorothy Ann's sister.
*TBA as Carmen Park, a student at Ms. Rivers' class.
*TBA as Florrie Schneider, a student at TBA's class.
*TBA as Gregory Campbell, a student at TBA's class.
*TBA as John Walton, a student at TBA's class.
*TBA as Michael Greco, a student at TBA's class and one of Janet's classmates.
*TBA as Molly Richter, a student at TBA's class.
*TBA as Phil Turner, a student at TBA's class.
*TBA as Rachel Friedman, a student at TBA's class.
*TBA as Shirley Vanderwaals, a student at TBA's class.
*Max Beckford as Tim (opening theme, archived audio, uncredited)
*Tim Johnson as himself
==Episodes==
===Season 1 (2017)===
===Season 2 (2018)===
=== Season 3 (2019) ===
===Specials (2020)===
=== Season 4 (2021) ===
=== Season 5 (2022) ===
==Production==
In 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 would have featured a modernized "Ms. Frizzle" and a high-tech bus that stresses modern inventions such as robotics, wearables and camera technology, before it was changed to a continuation of the original series with the original artstyle and modern technology, and retitled as simply The Magic School Bus. The hope is to captivate children's imaginations and motivate their interest in the sciences. It was produced by Nelvana, which also produced the original series. Producer Stuart Stone, who voiced Ralphie in the original series, stated that The Magic School Bus 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. The series was released on Netflix on September 29, 2017. The second season was released on April 13, 2018.
The theme song was the original Little Richard-performed version in the first three seasons; after his 2020 death, it was rerecorded with Erykah Badu starting in the specials. A new student named Jyoti Kaur is added. The episode endings feature question and answer sessions with the producer (once again voiced by Malcolm-Jamal Warner), 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. Four 45–minute specials were released in 2020: the first special The Magic School Bus: Kids in Space was released on August 7, the second named The Magic School Bus: The Frizz Connection on October 20, a third titled The Magic School Bus: In the Zone on November 14, 2020, and The Magic School Bus: Goldstealer on December 26, 2020. The artstyle was changed for the specials as the animation is more fluid and the lighting and shading are more detailed.
== Critical reception ==
Category:Johnsonverse