The Magic School Bus Rides Again is an animated children's television series, based on 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.
Three 45-minute specials: “Kids in Space,” “The Frizz Connection,” and “In the Zone,” premiered on Netflix in 2020. A fourth special, "Goldstealer" was never released on Netflix but was instead included on the specials’ Region 1 DVD release exclusive to Canada, which names them the third and final season. They were dedicated to Joanna Cole, the author of the original books, who died in 2020.
Contents
Plot
In the sequel to the original animated television series, the flagship Valerie Frizzle (now Professor Frizzle) gets her Ph.D. and retires from teaching at Walkerville Elementary School. She passes the keys of the Magic School bus to her younger sister, Ms. Fiona Frizzle, who replaces her as the class's teacher. 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 (Seasons 1–2) and Roman Lutterotti (specials) as Arnold Matthew Perlstein
Lynsey Pham as Wanda Li
Mikaela Blake as Keesha Franklin
Gabby Clarke as Dorothy Ann "D.A." Hudson
Leke Maceda-Rustecki as Carlos Ramon
Matthew Mintz (Seasons 1–2) and Matthew Mucci (specials) as Ralphie Alessandro Giuseppe Tennelli
Birva Pandya as Jyoti Kaur (new student after Phoebe Terese went back to her old school)
Kaden Stephen as Timothy "Tim" Wright
Guest stars
Will Arnett as Galapagos Gil ("Frizzle of the Future")
Mae Jemison as Keesha's favorite celebrity astronaut, Kathy K. Kuiper ("Space Mission: Selfie")
Sandra Oh as Dr. Sarah Bellum ("Ralphie Strikes a Nerve")
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 Aunt Tennelli and Teresina Tennelli, Ralphie's trapeze-artist aunt and cousin ("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")
Lin-Manuel Miranda as Matthew Math Matthews ("Ralphie and the Flying Tennellis")
Chris Hadfield as himself ("Kids in Space")
Lights as Maven, Ms. Frizzle's pop-star cousin ("In the Zone")
Annie Guglia as herself ("Goldstealer")
Additional voices
Lilly Bartlam
Amos Crawley as Mr. Hudson, Dorothy Ann's father ("The Tales Glaciers Tell").
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 ("The Magnetic Mambo", "The Tales Glaciers Tell", "The Land Before Tim", "Ghost Farm" and "Ralphie and the Flying Tennellis"). 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" ("Goldstealer")
Ana Sani as Pariksha, Jyoti's grandmother ("Nothin' but Net").
Stuart Stone as the Gizmos That Go staff ("Three in One"), the Cosmic Corner Show announcer ("Space Mission: Selfie"), and a caller in the Professor Frizzle Segment ("Ghost Farm"). Stone was the voice of Ralphie in the original series.
Jamie Watson
Marcus Craig as Mikey Ramon, Carlos' younger brother ("The Good, the Bad, and the Gnocchi").
Martin Roach as Mr. Ruhle
Kevin Vidal
Episodes
Season 1 (2017)
In production order and on the 2019 region 1 DVD release of the first two seasons, this is considered the first half of the first season.
Season 2 (2018)
In production order and on the 2019 Region 1 DVD release, this is considered the second half of the first season.
Specials/Season 3 (2020–21)
After a hiatus, four 44-minute specials were released in the early 2020s. The first three released throughout late 2020 individually on Netflix, while a fourth, “Goldstealer,” was scrapped and instead made it to the specials’ DVD release on November 9, 2021. They comprise the show’s second production cycle. For the specials, the show gains a new animation style; the human characters use lineless 2D puppet animation, and the Magic School Bus is animated in CGI in most scenes. The new art style also resolves controversy from the beginning of the series surrounding Keesha and Tim by redesigning them to have darker skin. These specials are dedicated to the author of The Magic School Bus book series, the late Joanna Cole, whose death occurred in 2020. Despite the specials not being attached to a season on Netflix and being separate from the main show on the platform, they are considered proper episodes of the show on the region 1 DVD release and on Knowledge Network, which group them into the third and final season.
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" (replacing Valerie with her younger sister Fiona) 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 (without clarifying it was Fiona, the younger sister of Valerie, now Professor Frizzle, still voiced by Tomlin). 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
Why has this good-natured show already received an inordinate amount of judgement? How can this much vitriol be thrown at a creation before anyone has even seen it?
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.
