The Magic School Bus

The Magic School Bus is an American-Canadian animated children's television series, based on the book series of the same name by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. Running originally from 1994 to 1997, the series received critical acclaim for its use of celebrity voice talent such as Malcolm-Jamal Warner and combining entertainment with an educational series. Broadcasting & Cable writer explained the show was "among the highest-rated PBS shows for school-age children."

It was the first Nelvana-produced series to air on PBS before the Bookworm Bunch and Cyberchase.

In 2017, on the 20th anniversary of the series' cancellation, a sequel series titled The Magic School Bus Rides Again premiered on Netflix. The show is available on Netflix.

Plot
Miss Frizzle embarks on adventures with her class on the eponymous school bus. As they journey on their exciting field trips, they discover locations, creatures, time periods and more to learn about the wonders of science along the way.

Plot
Miss Frizzle embarks on adventures with her class on the eponymous school bus. As they journey on their exciting field trips, they discover locations, creatures, time periods and more to learn about the wonders of science along the way.

Production and broadcast
In 1994, The Magic School Bus concept was made into an animated series of the same name by Scholastic Entertainment and it premiered on September 10, 1994. The idea for the TV series was developed by former Scholastic Entertainment Vice President and Senior Editorial Director Craig Walker. Scholastic Entertainment president Deborah Forte explained that adapting the books into an animated series was an opportunity to help kids "learn about science in a fun way". During this time, Forte had been hearing concerns from parents and teachers about how to improve science education for kids and minorities across the globe. Hanho Heung-Up Co., Ltd. contributed some of the animation for this series.

When The Magic School Bus was syndicated on commercial networks, the Producer Says segment at the end of each episode was cut out to make space for commercials. The Producer Says segments were only seen when the series was shown on non-commercial networks, international networks, VHS, and DVD releases. Within the episodes, there were also time points where the episode fades out and then fades back in after a series of commercials are shown. On non-commercial networks, VHS, and DVD releases the scene immediately fades back in right after it fades out as no commercials are shown.

The theme song, called "Ride on the Magic School Bus", was written by Peter Lurye and performed by Little Richard.

The voice director was Susan Blu, two of the writers for the series were Brian Meehl and Jocelyn Stevenson.

Broadcast history (television airings)
In the United States, from 1994 to 1997, The Magic School Bus originally aired on PBS (being the first television airing). It aired on PBS as part of its children's block. On PBS through South Carolina's SCETV network, it was the first fully animated series to be aired on PBS. The last episode aired (on PBS) in December 6, 1997. Starting after the final episode, the TV series then aired reruns on PBS until late fall 1998. On late fall 1998, the series on PBS was dropped. It was dropped in order for PBS to make room for more programs aimed at preschoolers. On that same year, Fox network (in the United States) acquired the original TV series. Then the TV series was moved to its Fox Kids block where it ran until 2002.

Fox Kids (on the US television) used the series as a weekday offering to fill educational television mandates for its affiliates. It aired repeats from 1998 to 2002. On September 27, 2010, The Magic School Bus was broadcast on a daily run through Qubo on the US television. Then it aired on NBC (at Saturday mornings). Both the Fox Kids and Qubo airings used a shortened version of the opening. Also the PBS, CBC Kids, TLC, and Discovery Kids airings (on the US television) as well as the VHS and DVD versions used the Uncut Original Version of the opening.

On the US television, after being dropped from PBS (since late fall 1998) in favor of PBS making room for other new programs aimed at preschoolers, CBC Kids, TLC, and Discovery Kids (on the US television) chose to air it. CBC Kids aired it from 2000 until 2003. TLC aired it from February 24, 2003 until 2008. Discovery Kids aired it from 2004 until 2009 (as part of the Ready Set Learn block). In Canada, it aired on Teletoon and Knowledge Network. In the United Kingdom, it aired on Pop, Channel 4, and CITV. Finally, since 2005, Canada-based studio Nelvana acquired the original TV series and sold it to Latin America Cartoon Network (on the Latin American television).

Home media
The series was originally released on VHS by KidVision (a division of WarnerVision Entertainment) between 1995 and 2003, and on DVD by Warner Home Video (through Warner Bros. Family Entertainment and WarnerVision Entertainment) and between 2002 and 2013. Only the DVDs contain the funding credits. In the home video releases, all the episodes are uncut and unedited with the Producer Says segments intact.

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

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

Reception
In a 2007 column for the online edition of The Wall Street Journal, Jason Fry expressed an overall appreciation for the series, but wrote that the episode "The Magic School Bus Gets Programmed" illustrated the rapid pace of technological change over the ten years since it first aired. He explained the episode presented an old-fashioned "technology-gone-amok" story about the respective roles of programmer and machine that was no longer relevant to children growing up in 2007. He suggested that an updated version of the episode would have focused instead on the perils of Internet searches and on network concepts surfacing at the time.

Revival 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 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 Saturday Night Live cast member Kate McKinnon was cast in the role of Fiona Felicity Frizzle, the younger sister of Ms. Frizzle, now Professor Frizzle, again voiced by Lily Tomlin. By this point the title of the series had been changed to The Magic School Bus Rides Again. Lin-Manuel Miranda performed the theme song. On September 29, 2017 the series premiered on Netflix.