#if you want it to look good in live action you have to un-cartoon-ify it

[autumn-opossum]

This is such a small nit picky thing but it bothers me how pristine everyone’s clothing is in the Ahsoka show. Why didn’t they think to distress the clothes a bit? It looks like they’re wearing costumes.

[arnoldperlstein]

what’s wrong with rides again?

this time around i’d like to talk about my issues with the reboot of the magic school bus, the magic school bus rides again! 

don’t get me wrong, for the most part? there’s a lot i love about rides again: it really expands on characters like arnold, tim, janet, and ralphie, whose new characterizations are developed but still faithful to the original; likewise, i like fiona frizzle and jyoti as new additions to the class. many of the jokes land and the episodes tend to be pretty funny and inventive! (jokes in the 3 recent specials have been particularly great)

there are, though, rather noticeable flaws that especially bother me, someone who grew up with the original. now here we go, in order of importance!

1. wanda

okay, i’ll get this out of the way: rides again wanda is not wanda. the original 90s wanda was a force to be reckoned with, a headstrong and active character who acted first and thought later - she was a great foil for a character like arnold who, in contrast, is so cautious and reserved. 90s wanda had an immense chaotic energy which reflected that of the original ms. frizzle and that of the show as a whole, really making everything exciting.

rides again wanda is... none of those things. she’s... kinda active? more in a stubborn way. she’s more defensive than offensive now and seems way more... soft than before? rides again wanda now loves animals and often acts as a morality pet in terms of them. now, if you’ve ever seen the original 90s cartoon, you know there’s one person who this sounds exactly like. pheobe.

by the start of rides again, pheobe had apparently went back to her old school, with jyoti taking up the 8th spot in the class. you wouldn’t think that pheobe’s role needed to be filled now that she was gone, and yet almost all of her traits were superimposed onto a character who originally had none of them. if they were going to pheeb-ify anyone, doing it to someone as iconically un-pheobe-like as wanda was a terrible idea!

not like they needed to pheeb-ify anyone - you already have cautious and shy characters like arnold, quiet and observant characters like tim, and voices of reason like da. i love pheobe, but her role didn’t need to be filled; people don’t work like that in real life.

and what sucks the most about this for me is that wanda was one of my favorite characters growing up! i loved her spunk and her attitude and her bravery going into anything! and i loved her catchphrase of “c’mon, you weaselly wimps”, which i may add i don’t remember her saying at all in rides again. it just sucks, man!!

2. lack of chaotic energy of the original/lack of memorability

one thing that characterized the original 90s cartoon was how... well, chaotic it was. there was something so energized and wacky about the whole thing, and you never knew what was going to happen next! the jokes were hilarious and the characters played off of each other perfectly, giving it an interesting, pseudo-sitcom vibe in the background.

the fact that it came out in the 90s at all, with its animation style and the technology at the time made these fantastical field trips all the more fascinating and mysterious - oftentimes, the frizz would push a simple button or pull a simple lever and the bus would turn into a fish or a bee or a rocket ship! this combined with the fact that the bus itself was rather old and rudimentary made it all seem more relatable and nostalgic.

unfortunately, rides again has none of this. the new art style, character designs, futuristic tech, and voice acting not only further suspends your disbelief with how starkly different they are from the original, but also completely get rid of that nostalgic 90s chaos that made the original so memorable.

and speaking of memorability, i can remember the premise of just about every 90s cartoon episode - they all have some wacky twist that makes it all the more bonkers and memorable: gets ready, set, dough? the baker thinks he’s delusional and that a moth baked a cake. in a pickle? court scene and the ‘mike robe gang’. shows and tells? arnold is forced to do improv and doesn’t suck at it somehow. holiday special? wanda turns the recycling plant into a pile of garbage. it’s all over the place yet somehow plausible, which makes it all the better to remember.

but rides again? the only jokes i remember are from episodes i’ve specifically seen over and over and over again, such as frizzle of the future, monster power, or making magic. give me episodes like pigs in the wind, in the swim, hides and seeks, the tales glaciers tell, the land before tim, ghost farm, i spy with my animal eyes, or send in the clouds and i won’t remember a single joke, funny line, or wacky moment. it makes it all seem bland in retrospect, unfortunately.

3. catchphrases!

there isn’t a ton to talk about here, but there is an annoying lack of characters using their catchphrases in rides again: sure, arn does occasionally say ‘i knew i should’ve stayed home today’, and da does say ‘according to my research’ (albeit differently than she did before - i’ll touch on this in a second), but most other characters don’t use their catchphrases much at all now.

tim doesn’t say “we’ve been frizzled” and keesha doesn’t say “let me get the facts” and ralphie doesn’t say “is it just me” and carlos doesn’t say “you’re gonna love this” and wanda doesn’t say “c’mon you weaselly wimps” etc. or heck, if they did, i just don’t remember, which is honestly telling enough. 

you’d think this’d be a good thing, as people in real life don’t tend to have catchphrases, but it only makes the characters’ personalities more distinguished and memorable, having the unique things they say when excited or scared or whatever.

4. pheobe leaving :(

don’t get me wrong, jyoti is super cool, but i can still miss pheeb!

while i always resonated with arnold more, i’ve also found a connection with pheobe, such as with her love of animals (especially butterflies). she’s also just a really sweet, kind character who has a very strong moral backbone and a passion for doing the right thing. i find that a really nice personality for a character to have!

i also have my personal ship of pheobe and keesha (just watch the 90s episode gets ants in its pants, you’ll thank me later), and i find the two of them really cute! sucks that my pheobe privileges had to be revoked by rides again, though... why don’t we at least see what she’s doing, or get a mention other than just that ‘she returned to her old school’? why would she do that, anyway?

5. da’s accent

i don’t know how to describe dorothy ann’s accent in the original 90s cartoon? it’s like an american accent with slight bits of an english accent to it. a tad old-timey. either way it’s a very distinguishing trait of hers, besides her gravity-defying pigtails and love for the color violet.

unfortunately, there seemed to be no effort to carry this over to rides again in any capacity - heck, even if the voice actress couldn’t replicate her voice, they could at least pronounce the word research the same way da does: ‘reh-search’ rather than the more common ‘ree-search’. but alas, no. also da in a ponytail is not a good look, at least to me.

also, please return to the books. i don’t want to keep hearing the word ‘frizzpad’.

6. please don’t let them ruin this with a bad live action movie

note: it doesn’t have to be bad! it could be good! but the reputation of live action movies lately has been abysmal and i’m just worried how much they might butcher it...

and that’s all i can think of! despite all of this complaining i still do rather enjoy rides again. there’s just a lot of room to improve!!