Seatbelts, Everyone: The Magic School Bus's long trip
Once upon a time, educational television was boring. A little too talky at times. Safe.
In the 1990s, along came a new breed of educational programming, that was a little more ... subversive, shall we say? “Take chances!,” Ms. Frizzle , the teacher who drove “The Magic School Bus,” told her students. “Make mistakes! Get messy!”
“The Magic School Bus” debuted on Public Television on Sept. 10, 1994, a quarter-century ago today, to the delight of STEM students and teachers everywhere.
'Bus, Do Your Stuff!'
“The Magic School Bus” was a series of science-oriented books, aimed at children ages 6 to 9 and published by Scholastic — also known for sponsoring book clubs and book fairs at schools around the country.
Written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen, the books told the story of Ms. Frizzle, who would drive her magical school bus — which was alive, naturally — to places like outer space, the deep ocean inside the human body and even through time to teach her students hands-on lessons.
The first book, "At the water-works,” was published in 1986. More books followed, roughly every other year or so. The success of the series led to related book series and — after Scholastic began producing TV specials and series in the 1980s — an animated TV series of its own.
Veteran actor and comedian Lily Tomlin — a veteran of the late 1960s/early 1970s “Laugh-In” sketch comedy show, was hired to play the part of Ms. Frizzle. She’d win a Daytime Emmy Award in 1995 for her work on the show.Ms. Frizzle’s class of 20 in the books was reduced to just eight regular students for the show.
Lily Tomlin
Instead of lecturing to her students, Frizzle likes to listen to whatever they’re interested in that particular day and then use her bus to take her students to impossible places where they can observe things for themselves and draw their own conclusions.
The show debuted on PBS on Sept. 10, 1994, and lasted for 52 episodes over four seasons. It then lived for years in reruns on PBS, Fox Kids, TLC and Discovery Kids.
In 2014, Netflix revived the show for 30 episodes over two seasons.
Four Seasons of Animated TV Science
The child actors who played Ms. Frizzle’s students recorded their parts in Toronto while Tomlin — and Malcolm-Jamal Warner, who served as the voice The Producer character — worked in Los Angeles and New York. The actors who played Arnold and Ted were replaced after Season One because the actors’ voices had changed.
The show became known for featuring celebrities in guest roles: Winona Judd as Molly Cule, Bebe Neuwirth as Miss Wift, Dolly Parton as Eloise Murphy, Sherman Hemsley as Mr. Junkit, Rita Moreno as Dr. Carmina Skeladon, Malcolm McDowell as Mr. McClean, Dabney Coleman as Horace Scope and Tony Randall as R.U. Humerus.
“The Magic School Bus” theme song was performed by rock and roll legend Little Richard. It was composed by Peter Lurye, who has since gone on to write music for “Dora the Explorer,” “Bear in the Big Blue House,” “My Life as a Teenage Robot” and “Be True to Your Groove” for “The Emperor’s New Groove 2: Kronk’s New Groove.”
In one episode, the miniaturized bus becomes stuck in a dense, sticky mix, about to be cooked into a cake — with no way to escape. But then one of the students thinks to add baking soda to a vial of vinegar and to top that with a balloon. Mixing the vial produces carbon dioxide, inflating the balloon and lifting the bus to safety.
Ms. Frizzle’s pet chameleon appears in every episode. Her name is Liz Ard. She’s a female, despite the fact that only male chameleons have horns. She eats bugs, of course, but when she is shrunk along with the rest of the class, she’s afraid of bugs. In the series of “The Magic School Bus” video games, Liz can speak.
In the 2017 revival series, Valerie Frizzle earns her Ph.D. and retires from teaching, handing off her class to her younger sister, Fiona Frizzle. The younger Frizzle was voiced by longtime “Saturday Night Live” comedian Kate McKinnon. The revamped theme song was performed by Lin-Manuel Miranda.
Ms. Frizzle's Students
Keesha Franklin - Always the observer, always collecting data. “Let’s get the facts,” she likes to say.
Dorothy Ann Hudson The bookworm. She’s researched the topic of the day and shares: “According to my research...”
Wanda Li - The adventurer. When the other kids are afraid, she urges them to “Come on, you weasley wimps!”
Arnold Perlstein - The brainy one — too brainy at times, overthinking things. “Please let this be a normal field trip...”
Carlos Ramon - The class clown, always ready with a quick quip that draws eyerolling and heavy sighs from the others.
Ralphie Tennelli - The jock of the bunch. He loves sports and tries to put on a brave face — even when he’s afraid.
Phoebe Terese - The new kid, who’s constantly comparing the happenings with what went on “at my old school...”
Tim Wright - The artist of the group who can often be found sketching his classmates on their adventures.