The Magic School Bus Rides Again

The Magic School Bus Rides Again
Genre	Adventure, Children's, Educational
Based on	The Magic School Bus by Joanna Cole Bruce Degen
Voices of	Kate McKinnon Lily Tomlin
Theme music composer	Peter Lurye
Opening theme	"Ride on the Magic School Bus", performed by Lin-Manuel Miranda
Country of origin	United States Canada
Original language	English
No. of seasons	2
No. of episodes	26 (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	25 minutes
Production companies	Scholastic Entertainment 9 Story Media Group
Original release
Network	Netflix
Release	September 29, 2017 – April 13, 2018

The Magic School Bus Rides Again is a Canadian-American animated children's television 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 The Magic School Bus, 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.

Plot

In the sequel to the original series, Valerie Frizzle retires from teaching and passes the keys of the Magic School Bus over to her younger sister, Fiona Frizzle, to embark on new adventures with her class. As they journey on their exciting new field-trips, they discover new locations, creatures, time periods and more to learn about the wonders of science, educating viewers along the way.

Voice cast

Main article: List of The Magic School Bus characters

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

Guest stars

Season 1

• Will Arnett as Galapagos Gil ("Frizzle of the Future")
• Mae Jemison as Kathy K. Kuiper ("Space Mission: Selfie")
• Sandra Oh as Dr. Sarah Bellum ("Ralphie Strikes a Nerve")

Season 2

• Jay Baruchel as Dr. Tillage ("Ghost Farm")
• Nathan Fillion as Axle ValveStuck ("Waste Not, Want Not")
• Catherine O'Hara as Aunt Tennelli, Teresina Tennelli ("Ralphie and the Flying Tennellis")
• Martin Short as Tony Tennelli ("Ralphie and the Flying Tennellis")

Additional voices

• Lilly Bartlam
• Amos Crawley
• Annelise Forbes as Janet Perlstein, Arnold's know-it-all conceited cousin.
• Lisa Jai
• Julie Lemieux
• Ana Sani
• Stuart Stone
• Jamie Watson
• Marcus Craig
• Martin Roach
• Kevin Vidal

Episodes

Season 1 (2017)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Topic	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
1	1	"Frizzle of the Future"	Ecosystem	Richard Weston	John May & Suzanne Bolch	September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29)
It's a new year in Walkerville Elementary as a brand new teacher arrives to make field trips more fun. However, Arnold is nervous that the new teacher, Ms. Frizzle's sister, will alter the class ecosystem.
2	2	"Pigs in the Wind"	Engineering	Richard Weston	Mike McPhaden	September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29)
While preparing to put on a school play, Keesha and Miss Frizzles class learns about construction when they head to Mount Washington and try to build a brick tower. Keesha also learns to put her ego aside and listen to others when they have ideas to make the play better.
3	3	"In the Swim"	Fish Adaptations	Richard Weston	John May & Suzanne Bolch	September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29)
4	4	"The Battle for Rock Mountain"	Rock Cycle (Rock Layers/Fossils & Erosion)	Richard Weston	John May & Suzanne Bolch	September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29)
5	5	"The Magnetic Mambo"	Magnetism	Richard Weston	Jennifer Daley	September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29)
6	6	"Carlos Gets the Sneezes"	Allergies	Richard Weston	George Arthur Bloom	September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29)
In a throwback to "Inside Ralphie", Carlos brings a rat as the class pet, but then he starts sneezing uncontrollably. As Miss Frizzle and the class investigate inside Carlos's immune system, they find that Carlos is being exposed to something that is giving him allergies. At first, they believe it's the rat, but later they discover it was pollen that got stuck in the rat's fur.
7	7	"Hides and Seeks"	Camouflage	Richard Weston	Betty Quan	September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29)
Walkerville Elementary hosts a special event; Extreme Hide-and-Seek and D.A. is determined to win. While exploring the Rainforest and the Ocean for Ideas on how to win the game, D.A. learns about the art of Camouflage; which involes using Colours, Patterns, Shapes, Texture and even pretending to be something Scary to stay hidden from her rival, The Seeker!
8	8	"Three in One"	Solid, Liquid & Vapor	Richard Weston	Jocelyn Stevenson	September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29)
9	9	"Space Mission: Selfie"	Satellites	Richard Weston	Mike McPhaden	September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29)
10	10	"The Tales Glaciers Tell"	Ice	Richard Weston	Story by : Josh Gal Teleplay by : Jocelyn Stevenson, John May & Suzanne Bolch	September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29)
11	11	"Ralphie Strikes a Nerve"	Nerves	Richard Weston	Bernice Vanderlaan	September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29)
12	12	"Monster Power"	Different Kinds of Power	Richard Weston	Merrill Hagan	September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29)
13	13	"DA and the Deep Blue Sea"	Ocean Zones	Richard Weston	Evan Thaler Hickey	September 29, 2017 (2017-09-29)

Season 2 (2018)

No. overall	No. in season	Title	Topic	Directed by	Written by	Original release date
14	1	"The Land Before Tim"	Fossils	Richard Weston	Brian Hartigan	April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13)
15	2	"Claw and Order"	Bird Features	Richard Weston	Jennifer Daley	April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13)
16	3	"Ghost Farm"	Harvesting	Richard Weston	Mike McPhaden	April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13)
17	4	"Nothin' But Net"	Computer Codes	Richard Weston	John May & Suzanne Bolch	April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13)
18	5	"I Spy with my Animal Eyes"	Eyes	Richard Weston	Emma Kassirer	April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13)
19	6	"Ready, Set, Fail!"	The Engineering Process and Failures Lead to Success	Richard Weston	Evan Thaler Hickey	April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13)
20	7	"The Good, the Bad, and the Gnocchi"	Simple machines	Richard Weston	Bernice Vanderlaan	April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13)
21	8	"Send in the Clouds"	Clouds	Richard Weston	Mike McPhaden	April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13)
22	9	"Ralphie and the Flying Tennellis"	Using Math in Real Life Scenarios	Richard Weston	John May & Suzanne Bolch	April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13)
23	10	"Tim and the Talking Trees"	Plant & Animal Communication/Interaction	Richard Weston	Nathalie Younglai	April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13)
24	11	"Waste Not, Want Not"	Utilizing Waste/Fertilization	Richard Weston	Evan Thaler Hickey	April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13)
25	12	"Janet's Mystery Gene"	DNA	Richard Weston	Bernice Vanderlaan	April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13)
26	13	"Making Magic"	Sun	Richard Weston	Suzanne Bolch, John May & Mike McPhaden	April 13, 2018 (2018-04-13)

Production

In 2014, the series was first announced by Netflix and Scholastic Media, and was entitled 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, Netflix announced that 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. 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 series was released on Netflix on September 29, 2017. The second season was released on April 13, 2018.

The show is Flash animated unlike the original series that was traditionally animated by hand with cels. The entire Flash-animated show is made with Adobe After Effects, Adobe Animate (formerly Adobe Flash) and Adobe Photoshop.

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?

— Decider,

After the series' announcement and the release of its trailer, there was initial resistance to the new art style, absence of Lilly Tomlin as Ms. Frizzle, and fear it wouldn't 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.

Awards and nominations

Year	Nominee / work	Award	Result
2018	The Magic School Bus: Rides Again	Parent's Choice Silver Honor - Spring 2018 Television	Won
2018	The Magic School Bus: Rides Again	Common Sense "Great For Families" seal	Won
2018	Annellie Rose Samuel for episode "Space Mission Selfie"	Canadian Cinema Editors Award for Best Editing in Animation	Nominated

External links

• The Magic School Bus Rides Again on Netflix
• The Magic School Bus Rides Again at IMDb