#I think our identity is shifting back to R now. I put on a skirt to wear around the house and it feels right and not weird anymore

[neverendingford]

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[hereidinathoreauwrites]

A Magic School Bus Rides Again Trailer breakdown and speculation (without too much fangirling)

Before we begin, some abbreviations I will be using: (RA) for The Magic School Bus Rides Again, (PBS) for original Magic School Bus show on the PBS network.

“Ms. Frizzle” for Lily Tomlin’s character (the original Frizzle), “Fiona” for Kate McKinnon’s character (Ms. Frizzle the younger)

Let’s begin!

This trailer is only 1:30 in length but there’s a fair amount packed into it. I’ll be providing a lot of screencaps but not every frame so it may be helpful to actually watch the trailer along with this breakdown.

Back to Walkerville Elementary! The school looks like it was kept pretty much identical to the original building from the PBS show (two story brick building with gym attached and parking lot along the side). If they’re keeping everything in line with PBS, RA should see Ms. Frizzle’s classroom as the 2two story brick building with gym attached and parking lot along the side). If they’re keeping everything in line with PBS, RA should see Ms. Frizzle’s classroom as the 2two story brick building with gym attached and parking lot along the side). If they’re keeping everything in line with PBS, RA should see Ms. Frizzle’s classroom as the 2two story brick building with gym attached and parking lot along the side). If they’re keeping everything in line with PBS, RA should see Ms. Frizzle’s classroom as the 2nd or 3rd window on the first floor on the left (alongside the parking lot. Helpfully, the bus is parked about right there!) Solar panels and wind turbines have joined the design, probably as a reflection on modern times and may indicate the show will at one time address renewable energy.

The original 8 are back! From left to right it looks like we have: Dorothy Ann, Phoebe (?), Tim, Arnold, Keesha, Ralphie, Carlos(!) and Wanda. Of these eight, the only one who stands radically changed from their PBS incarnation is Phoebe, whose new incarnation is a PoC. Hard to tell for sure but I’m hoping she’s either Hispanic (unlikely because we have Carlos already) or Middle Eastern. She could also be Indian. Again, it’s hard to tell for sure in animation. Since she’s entirely new, I’m willing to bet they changed her name as well. But for now, I’ll still call her Phoebe.

Some of the others have slightly different designs: Tim now has an afro, Arnold has lost that fabulous striped shirt he had in PBS, DA no longer wears a mini skirt and has a ponytail instead of pigtails, Ralphie isn’t wearing his iconic “R” shirt, Keesha doesn’t have that odd purple over-sized sweater she wore and there isn’t a drop of red on Wanda. All of their clothing has been updated to a 2010 kind of style and the color palette is more diverse than it was before. Each kid has 2-3 colors on them as opposed to the 1-2 colors of PBS’s character designs. This is probably more due to the upgrade to digital than any significant changes in characterization. Their heights are also very variable which for some reason, I find very satisfying. Most of the kids were all the same size in PBS but again, hand-drawn vs. digital. It makes them slightly more realistic.

LILY TOMLIN! :D The queen herself returns as her iconic character! Ms. Frizzle is voiced by her original VA (who sounds noticeably older but is clearly doing the same voice from PBS) who I can only imagine is back on a limited appearance. Ms. Tomlin has another Netflix show “Grace & Frankie” that is doing quite well and demands a lot of her time. Her appearance here might only be a formality; a passing of the baton. Her hair is the same (couldn’t change that!) but for once, she’s not wearing a dress/heels. PBS’s Frizzle always had an iconic dress matching the theme of the episode and impractical heels that she could do anything in. Those have been replaced here with a very hip but drab vest and what look like hiking boots. AND WHERE ARE THE EARRINGS?! The earrings always indicated a field trip by lighting up or moving. They changed episode to episode as well.

So…this classroom has a glass ceiling? That opens? How well-funded is this school?

Also, Fiona makes a promising entrance by sliding down a rope literally attached to nothing right into the center of the room. Glad to know impractical entrances run in the family. And is that Liz on her shoulder? It is indeed!

First impressions of Fiona: Slightly younger Ms. Frizzle. Apart from the clear age gap in their voices though, there doesn’t seem to be much of an emphasis on their age difference by appearance. They look roughly the same age, almost twins. So that raises the question: if Ms. Frizzle isn’t that much older that she’s retiring, why is she leaving? Will this be addressed? (Probably not)

The biggest difference I noticed is, of course, the hairstyle. I can kind of see Kate’s influence in the design of the hair which I think was a smart choice. It would feel wrong to put the beehive hairdo on a new Frizzle. There is also the necklace, which I think is supposed to stand in for the earrings as the changeable accessory for each episode.

Here, we see the return of our teacher wearing dresses, or in this case, skirts. Given the design, I expect we will see a diverse skirt wardrobe from Fiona that reflects the subject of each episode. And instead of impractical heels, we get semi-impractical flats! Fiona has already defined herself as different from her sister in her stylistic choices but even from her first line, I can tell the teaching style runs in the family. She’s excited, exuberant, and instantly likable: just like her sister.

Before we move on, let’s just take a look at the shots of the classroom we’ve seen so far. Not that the PBS cast ever spent much time in there but could prove interesting:

The classroom seems less…defined than it did when it was 2-D. There don’t seem to be any desks but rather, lab tables. No chalkboard but that is definitely a Smartboard I see on the wall behind the kids. So my guess is Ms. Frizzle embraced all the new technology of the 2010s for teaching her class! Of course, the iconic skeleton is back in the corner of the classroom. Just from this short clip it’s impossible to know but I don’t think he’ll be moving at all this time. He seems like more of the background. Other background items of note: a cactus (reference to the “All Dried Up” episode), a poster of the human body (kind of pointless seeing as it is next to the skeleton itself…) a poster of the human heart, poster of a cell, poster of an atom several plants on the window sill, beakers and graduated cylinders, on the shelves, a model of the human ear on the top shelf, terrarium with an open top (probably for Liz), poster of the solar system on the wall behind Arnold’s head. The classroom might be a good place to look for other Easter Eggs in the full episodes but it could just as easily be just a background for the episodes to start in like it was in PBS.  But that Smartboard gives me pause…they might use that thing a lot and something tells me it’s not just an updated detail.

It’s the bus! So…does this one look a little squarish to anyone? Not that the original wasn’t but it was at least rounded like a bus. This kind of looks like one of those NissanCubes. At least it still has the “eyes” and “mouth” of the original. I seriously doubt this vehicle is going to be sprouting a spaceship tail like the original though.

We see the passing of the keys and a sparkle of light. The passing of the metaphorical torch? She who controls the keys controls the magic bus? No idea. But apparently, Fiona feels something shift as she shivers right after bursting with that magic. The bus belongs to her now.

On the bus! This is a different episode from the first, as evidenced by the costume change. Fiona is now wearing a branched pattern as opposed to the floral pattern of the opening (not in this screencap but check the video). The necklace has also changed to a tree branch. Oddly enough, the shirt is the same color…I’m guessing Fiona likes blue long-sleeves?

It seems the red lever has been left in the past. :( Now we have some kind of blue and yellow button of fortune showing the bus as several different vehicles including a crab, a kite, a helicopter, and some kind of construction vehicle? Hard to tell.

But the bus still spins to transform! Good to know they kept that detail.

Now we get into tricky speculation territory since I’m pretty sure about half the stuff in the rest of the video is pulled from the theme song sequence, which doesn’t mean anything for what we can expect in the episodes. I’m willing to bet (since PBS did it) that any animation matching the lyrics is reserved for the theme only and probably wont be featured in an episode. But we’ll see.

First up: the kids in what I’m fairly sure is some kind of atomic structure. We’re getting really small this time! There’s also the return of the themed one-atmosphere suits the kids often donned in PBS. Although this time they seem less color-coordinated to each child’s clothes. In PBS, each kid had their own color suit. This time it seems a little less monochromatic. I’m guessing that’s Carlos in the red and Keesha or Phoebe off to the right in the purple and yellow.

Holy sh*t. Is that Liz? She looks awful. It’s like a stuffed animal. She also doesn’t look very mobile, which is surprising since Liz on PBS was practically a person with how much she did. And why does Liz stick around with Fiona? Wouldn’t she go with Ms. Frizzle? Or is she part of the inheritance as well?

A few short sequences, some of which are probably just theme shots:

So assuming these aren’t just theme song shots, we can probably expect an episode about forests, an episode about the jungle, and another about the Arctic. One comment about the bus: it looks like it doesn’t fully transform like it did in PBS. Here it just kind of sprouted wings and a tail. Huh.

Next up:

AHH! Deep sea fishes! Guess the class is headed to the benthic zone for awhile! Maybe these are all from the same episode where they explore biomes?Deep sea fishes! Guess the class is headed to the benthic zone for awhile! Maybe these are all from the same episode where they explore biomes?

We see the bus as a submarine and the kids in what look like personal submarines? Huh. I guess they’re really taking the technology aspect to heart in this reboot. In a PBS episode, we could expect the kids to turn into something for an excursion outside the bus. Is this a reflection on the role that new tech plays in education? These kids are certainly safer in these little bubbles but it’s like watching through a screen. PBS made it feel interactive; the kids literally became part of the environment they were in and had to learn from the perspective of an animal or object. Or was this another design sacrifice?

Fiona geeking out over a shark in a blue wetsuit is adorable.

Surfing on a soundwave (theme song), the bus as a jellyfish (probably from that same benthic episode), swinging through the stars (theme song and it looks like Keesha instead of Ralphie is the swinger this time), the bus shooting down some kind of electrical wire (another computer-themed episode? Or just a new addition to the theme song sequence?), intestines and mars (theme song), the bus as a crab (maybe that benthic episode is more of a whole-ocean exploration?), and the bus spinning out in the forest from the plane shot and it seems that they are planting trees every time they touch the ground. Maybe reforestation?

Now we get everyone in rock-suits standing at what looks like the entrance to a mine shaft. Ralphie (I’m pretty sure) is shouting “let’s do this!”. So at least we know the kids eventually get into the adventures?

Fiona messing around with buttons. It looks like transformation buttons given that we have fish, a dinosaur, a plane, a guitar, a snake, a video game controller (?), and an apple?. Huh. She also says “I wonder what this one does.” So there is an apparent learning curve to the bus and Fiona is thrilled about how she just dropped her class through the floor.

Now she’s in a fish-themed outfit and it looks like she just sent the swimsuit-clad kids (Arnold’s shark hat! LOL) for a swim so my money’s on an episode dedicated to the ocean in its entirety. There was a MSB book about the different layers of the ocean so maybe we’re returning to the source on those. Given that the next shot is the kids exploring the marine sealife with the bus as a submarine in the background, I bet we’re adapting that book.a MSB book about the different layers of the ocean so maybe we’re returning to the source on those. Given that the next shot is the kids exploring the marine sealife with the bus as a submarine in the background, I bet we’re adapting that book.

Also also, the bus interior is so much bigger now! Hah hah, bigger on the inside…

I’m willing to bet this is either in the theme song, or an opening sequence since I don’t see the bus and that person looks too big to be one of the kids. Maybe one of them is daydreaming about space before an adventure? 

Damn this ocean episode is everywhere! And the wetsuits have the bus on the front again!

Now something different:

Carlos, Ralphie and Fiona in pre-historic outfits (haha! Look at the leaf standing in for Ralphie’s hat!) as Fiona presses some kind of button and the background changes from forest to…bubbles? I’m guessing its some kind of simulator? So maybe a history-based episode without time travel? Seems pointless but PBS did have an episode where they used a simulator to test out an artifact so…

Rafting the lava river! (again, theme song). But look at all the precious children! And Fiona having a blast. And Arnold looking like he’s about to crap his pants. Something small I noticed: here Fiona’s necklace is what looks like a Celtic knot and her skirt is kind of a generic blue and green with what looks like a lava pattern on it. I really don’t think this will be an actual episode but…that’s something.  

What looks like Phoebe making a suicide leap out of the bus and onto a snow-covered mountain (probably the same ep as Carlos and Ralphie in parkas). We also see the kids driving snowflakes (as opposed to PBS where they became the flakes). Huh. Not gonna lie, the design is pretty cool but…why?

A shot recreated from the original theme song!

Fiona tapping Keesha on the nose and turning her into a leaf. Okay, looks promising. Maybe an episode on trees/photosynthesis? The bus looks like it’s made of wood so maybe they become a tree? Also, this is the same episode as Fiona’s first costume change (with the tree skirt and necklace).

Aha! The Smartboard returns! So apparently there will be some classroom learning this time around. Maybe the classroom will be their think-tank for when they need to solve difficult problems? Oddly enough, it looks like DA is combining Carlos with a flower? Huh. And Fiona is wearing what looks like the same skirt from the lava shot…cant imagine how that’s related to photosynthesis though…

Next we have what looks like the end of an episode, with the kids walking on the ceiling of some kind of stage? No wait…the bus is the stage!! :O Fiona and Liz are off to the side there on the left. PBS sometimes ended episodes like this, with the kids showing off what they learned to others and Ms. Frizzle just watching with pride. So they’re keeping that! Cant imagine what the kids are showing off here though. Antigravity? Magnetism?

Next we have what looks like Tim and Phoebe dancing with some kind of cheerleading robot? There are a bunch of other kids here too that are definitely not the Frizzle 8 so a club or another class? Why would they need a robot though…?

The class getting shrunk over the mine tracks from before. Maybe this is the episode with the atomic structures? Like they shrink down to observe how different arrangement of atoms can mean the difference between coal and a diamond? They are wearing the same outfits from that shot…

Bursting out of a pie! (theme song) Now this is an interesting change. I’m willing to bet it’s just part of the theme since it follows the same formula but there is a distinct change. Namely, this is what looks like a businesswoman not a baker. Perhaps one of the kid’s moms? She does faint though…

Fiona and Keesha in the tree episode (and you can see the conifers outside so probably the same as the plane shot episode! They are also moving slightly so maybe they are just sitting in/stuck in a tree?). Fiona sounds really excited about “being on a roll” so she must be delivering on those field trips and figuring out what all the buttons do! Interestingly enough, only her and Keesha are on the bus. Maybe Keesha stayed behind while the others explored?

The kids near what look like some kind of drive-able go-cart atoms? Looks like they are outside the school on some kind of ride. Where the heck was this when I was in school? Keesha is shouting “let’s go again!” so maybe this is the opening to the atomic structure episode? And Fiona is like “psshhh. Those atoms are lame! Let’s go inside a coal mine!”

AND MS. FRIZZLE IS STICKING AROUND?! AS PROFESSOR FRIZZLE?! HOLY CRAP SHE GOT A PROMOTION!!! And it sounds like she’s either going to be chasing her own B-plots or they’re just giving closure to the end of her tenure as a teacher. Unless they plan to make each episode of RA 30-40 minutes (as opposed to PBS’ steady 23) there probably wont be time to have a B-plot every episode. But this is Netflix, which is not constrained by traditional broadcast limits so they may do just that…A few design notices: she now has a monkey companion named Goldie, and her motorbike appears to have eyes…hmmm.

Summary:

So from this trailer alone, I think we can generously say we saw roughly 11 episodes:

Ocean exploration

Trees/photosynthesis

Robot (from the cheerleading shot, unless this is unrelated)

Space (if not part of the theme song)

Ceiling-walking (again, no idea what this would be for…)

Atoms/Mine shaft

History exploration (the animal skin outfits)

Arctic/snowflakes

Jungle (may be the same as the trees ep)

Computers (may just be part of theme song)

Pie episode (if not just from the opening sequence)

 These possible episodes seem diverse and promising. PBS explored some of these topics but not others. The ocean episode is pulled from one of the books so it looks like they may go back to some of the source material. The tree episode looks completely new: PBS did a photosynthesis episode but this seems less like just photosynthesis and more like tree and/or forest ecology. PBS had a mildly disappointing episode on molecules but never ventured into atomic structure so that should be a fun new topic to explore. I thought I read somewhere that there would be an episode on the internet and we did have a shot of them inside some electrical wires so that’s something to look forward to. I’m also really curious about that episode with the animal-skin outfits. What the heck is that one going to be about? If they do end up remaking several of the PBS episodes like the baking episode or the Arctic episode, I wouldn’t mind too much. The space episodes I’m a little more touchy about but those were always fun. Plus, there’s a lot we need to update about space since those episodes aired in the 90’s.

From this breakdown, we can see that some effort was put into redesigning the kids while still keeping them the same characters from PBS. Whether or not they have any actual character, we’ll need to wait for the episodes. From what little they got to say in the trailer, it does seem like they’ll have that same zest but trepidation for adventure that they had on PBS. Much of the action appears to be happening to them so they’ll be the focus of the show, not Fiona (despite the focus the trailer put on her). Kate McKinnon effortlessly captures both the spirit of Ms. Frizzle and channels her natural charm into someone familiar but new. Again though, this is a heavily edited trailer so we’ll need an actual episode to see how she performs. Knowing Kate though, she’ll bring her A-game.

Lots of people have complained about the animation but honestly, the more I watch it, the less upset I am by it. It’s still flowing and engaging and while some backgrounds are dull, the other characters in shots seem engaged and full of personality just like on PBS. And while the bus transformations may get gimmicky, the PBS bus full on stretched and warped and turned into ridiculous things all the time so this aint too far off. One thing I am concerned about is the action of establishing shots and background shots. Something like the benthic shot seems too still, like it’s a single picture instead of a frame of animation. But then there’s the brief shot of the kids interacting with marine life and that seems pretty active. Again, hard to tell from quick clips.

 Things not seen:

Janet. I saw no indication that Arnold’s know-it-all cousin from PBS will be making an appearance. She was kind of an honorary Frizzle kid in PBS even when she was acting as the antagonist so I cant imagine she’s not in the reboot somehow. The alternative would be if the show-runners decided to cut her in favor of expanding the other kids at the school or another of the main 8’s families. Janet is from the books though so would they really cut her?

Mikey. Another “honorary Frizzle kid”, Carlos’ engineering-inclined, wheelchair-bound little brother who was always super enthusiastic about helping them out and really quite okay with the strange shit that happened in his brother’s class. I imagine animating him would be easier with digital but he was kind of a minor character, even compared to Janet (2 episodes to her 8). He may have been cut to streamline the cast or (knowing Netflix) he’s being saved for season 2 (once they know if it’s a hit).

Other adults. Apart from the lady eating the pie, we don’t really see any characters outside the class and Fiona. There are the other kids dancing with Tim and Phoebe but it seems we may be looking at a small cast. PBS eventually featured several of the kid’s parents, other teachers, other students and friends of Ms. Frizzle on episodes which added nicely to establishing the lives and personalities of both Ms. Frizzle and the 8.

But in spite of all this, I am excited for this. I really want to see how the science evolves 20 years later and analyze the crap out of the differences in how the field trips are run and taught in this day and age compared to the ‘90s. I want to get to know these kids again and see the world through their eyes. I want to get to know this new “Ms. Frizzle” and see how she takes care of her class.

I hope this breakdown was helpful (it ended up being way longer than I thought it would be…) and gets you excited for The Magic School Bus Rides Again!