#i feel like arnold from magic school bus being like my old school

[r3ally-bad-url]

I should've gotten a pic of this but my school has put out a bunch of blatant money grab black history clothing and so I'm leaving the gym yesterday and I see this sweater that says "black history month" but the history month is crossed out and says "and future" and for a moment I'm like oh okay this exercise class just killed my brain

And then I get in my friends car and she's like "did that just say black and future???"

#shut up harley #my school puts literally no effort into anything and itd be so funny if it werent so frustraying #i feel like arnold from magic school bus being like my old school #but like my old school had maybe 10 black students and yet my school would go balls to the wall for bhm #putting out emails every day with notable figures doing events for black students every day #the clubs would go wild #now i go to a school where 1/4 of the pop is black and they cant even do a sweater right lmaoooo

[vincent-g-writer]

The Silver Screen Savant, pt 2- the Meh, the Bad and The yikes.

Hello Writers!

Last time here on Starry Starry Write, I talked a little about Autism in the media and my personal experiences therein. Today, I’d like to go a little broader, and tackle the topic from a macro perspective.

In recent times, you’ve probably heard “Representation Matters” oft repeated. Especially in prominent talking spaces like social media. But what does that mean, exactly?

Why “Representation Matters,” and how.

The short answer:

Diverse representation in media tells us that everyone has a place in the world. That everyone’s story matters.

The long answer:

It’s no secret that we begin engaging with media at a young age. When I was growing up in the 90’s and 00’s, TV and video games were often the babysitters of my peers. I was one of the few kids in my neighborhood whose parents weren’t divorced. The kids I knew? Not so much. Most of them were raised by single parents, grandparents and of course-the boob tube. I personally prefered books, when my mom wasn’t yelling “it’s too nice out to be holed up in that dark bedroom!”

Now, don’t mistake my preference for some kind of intellectual superiority. I watched plenty of TV too. Besides, books aren’t magically out of the equation. Printed material is our oldest form of media. And- often just as problematic. Though I will say- I saw a much broader range of people on covers adoring library shelves than I ever did titles on a TV roster. But, I digress. The point is: for many of us, consuming media begins at an early time of our life. And that’s where the problem starts. Even in my childhood, where The Magic School Bus, Hey Arnold, and Sesame Street showed people of all kinds, I can point to many that did not. Especially not people like me. Which did me a grave disservice. I didn’t know I was on the spectrum for a long time, and when I finally found out, I was horrified, thanks to what I had seen on TV.

Because media is not only a wonderful way to learn about people that don’t look, act or sound like us. It also informs our ideas of who we are, and what we can be. Whether we like it or not: it shapes how we understand the world. And it doesn’t stop with Childhood.

Time Changes Much, but not all.

Things are better now. Well, a little bit, anyway.

As an adult, I see more people like me on the screen nowadays. Which is nice.

Ish.

Why “ish?” Well…

Frequently, these “noticeably different” characters (read: Autistically coded) are branded “NOT AUTISTIC!” You heard it here first, folks! That one character (insert your favorite) is Totally Not Autistic. Despite being written in a way that gives every indication otherwise.

*Facepalm*

Now for some examples, which we’ll call the “Meh,” “The Bad” and the “Yikes.” For “fun,” we’ll also go into the off-air perceptions of the characters.

The “Meh.”

First on the list is Dr. Spencer Reid, from CBS’s “Criminal Minds.”

Dr. Reid is the youngest member of the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit, having joined at the age of 22. He holds three B.A degrees in Sociology, Psychology and Philosophy, as well as three Ph.D’s in Engineering, Chemistry, and Mathematics.

He also has the social skills of a limp dishrag. Wait, what’s that? High Intelligence + Low Social Awareness? Hmmm…Then there’s his restrictive behavioral patterns, obsessive interests, and general “quirkiness!” that we could talk about. But let’s hear a quote from the actor who plays him, Matthew Gray Gubler:

“..an eccentric genius, with hints of schizophrenia and minor autism, Asperger’s Syndrome. Reid is 24, 25 years old with three PH.D.s and one can’t usually achieve that without some form of autism.”

Hoooo-boy. I could go into all the things wrong with this, including why the term “Asperger’s” is both horrific (TW: Eugenics,Ableism, N*zis) and harmful. However, today we’ll simply leave it with the fact that this term is no longer applicable, having been reclassified in 2013 as part of Autism Spectrum disorder.

The “Bad.”

Next up, we have Will Graham, from NBC’s Hannibal.

Like our first example, Will works for the FBI. He’s a gifted criminal profiler with “special” abilities, namely hyper empathy, which allows him to reconstruct the actions and fantasies of the killers he hunts. He’s intellectually gifted, hates eye contact, socializing, and prefers to spend…most of his time…alone.

Oh dear. Haven’t we been here before? But, I mean, he doesn’t have Autism! The show runner says so!

For Will Graham, there’s a line in the pilot about him being on the spectrum of autism or Asperger’s, and he’s neither of those things. He actually has an empathy disorder where he feels way too much and that’s relatable in some way. There’s something about people who connect more to animals than they do to other people because it’s too intense for whatever reason.

You can’t see me right now, but I’m cringing. A lot. This is just…ugh. I mean, for starters, I know a handful of autistic people who struggle with hyper empathy, which can make social situations overwhelming and hard to navigate. In fact, I happen to be one of them. Plus, there’s a cool little thing about how, frequently, people on the spectrum more readily identify with animals. But, y’know. Who am I to say? I’m just someone, one of many, who’s dealt with this my whole life.

Now, onto the “Yikes.”

*sigh*

And finally, we have BBC’s Sherlock, a modern adaptation of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s renowned “consulting” detective, and probably the most famous fictional character of all time.

Now, I’ll start by saying that the BBC incarnation is not the first to be Spectrum labeled. In fact, Sherlock was my childhood hero, and the first “person” I saw referred to this way. My aunt, an avid reader herself, casually remarked to a friend “I’ve always wondered if Holmes is Autistic,” after I came yammering on about how fantastic the books were. Had I not been champing at the bit to get back to my reading, I might have asked her what that meant.

I also believe this fandom driven speculation is why many detective type characters (see above) are often coded as Autistic, intentionally or otherwise.

In this New York Times article, Lisa Sanders, M.D. describes Holmes traits:

He appears oblivious to the rhythms and courtesies of normal social intercourse — he doesn’t converse so much as lecture. His interests and knowledge are deep but narrow. He is strangely “coldblooded,” and perhaps as a consequence, he is also alone in the world.

Now, before we go any father, let me take a moment to defend his creator. During the time Sir Arthur Conan Doyle first created his most famous work, Autism was not known. That isn’t to say it didn’t exist. We’ve always existed. In fact, it’s now believed that the Changeling Myth, a common European folk story, was a way to explain Autism. In one telling (there are a few) children displaying “intelligence beyond their years” and “uncanny knowledge” were imposters, traded out by Fae creatures for offspring of their own. Children believed to be “Changlings,” regretfully, often came to a bad end. A chilling reminder that the stories we tell impact our real lives.

So while Autism was at least somewhat recognized, it did not become its own official diagnosis until 1943.

Meanwhile, Sherlock Holmes was first published in 1892. Now, as a writer who often draws from my personal reality, I imagine Doyle probably “wrote what he knew,” which is to say, acquainted with one or more Autistic people, he used them as inspiration.

On the other hand…

BBC’s Sherlock first aired in 2010. And while one might argue that the writers simply capitalized on the Autistic fan-theory, or took already available traits and exaggerated them for their version… they left a lot to be desired. Autism aside, this new Sherlock is…well…an asshole. Narcissistic, abusive and egocentric (to name a few) he sweeps his caustic behavior under the rug of “high functioning sociopath,” and blytly ignores the consequences.

Which is a major problem. Because while doing this, he’s still “obviously” (at least in the Hollywood sense) Autistic. In my previous post, where I said some characters are “too smart™, and logical© to ever have feelings, friends or empathy,” this is what I meant.

This is bad. We’re looping right back to Representation Matters. Bad representation, and the navigating of such, is just as important for writers to think about as good representation. Maybe even moreso. Because bad representation paints real people into cardboard, stereotyped people-shaped things. It otherizes. And it’s harmful. You would not believe the people I’ve met assume I’m not Autistic because I’m not an egotistical jerk. Why? Because they watched, you guessed it, BBC Sherlock.

Confession time:

Now here’s my little secret:

I love all of these characters. They are some of my favorite on tv. Why? Because for good or ill, I recognize myself in them. Finally, I can turn on the TV, and see myself. Or, somewhat, anyway.

My favorite character out of this list? Loath though I am to admit it… Is Sherlock. See, what those well meaning folks didn’t know (the ones who say I’m I’m “too nice,” to be Autistic) is… well, if we’re being honest, I wasn’t always nice. A few years ago, I was that guy. I was a jerk because I thought I was the smartest person in the room. Which is really not a good look. In fact, sitting down and watching the first season of sherlock, (around three or four years after it came out) made me realize how much of a jerk I actually was.

There are other things there too. Things that tie me to all these characters, that I didn’t list. But that’s for another today.

For now, I’d like to add a caveat or two:

1) I’ve watched all the shows listed above, and adore them. As I mentioned, Sherlock is my favorite. He’s also the one I’ve watched the most (Repeatedly, in fact. Whoops.) and I recognize it’s not all bad. In the end, he learned to treat people better (somewhat) and certainly became more human over time. And, there are other deeply problematic elements of the show I’d like to tackle, eventually.

*cough* Queerbating! *cough*

2) I’m well aware that the above cases are all thin, white, able bodied, “straight” males. But I chose these characters for a couple of reasons. One, they’re the most prominent type on TV. Again, we loop back around to representation, and why we need more positive, diverse examples of it.

And finally-

3) In my last post, I mentioned I’d give some “good” instances of Hollywood Autism trope. But I didn’t exactly do that. Partially, because half way through, I thought…perhaps…I’m not the best to judge what might be a good Autistic character. I mean, I’m sure someone will read this and think my current aforementioned characters are fine. Heck! They might even argue my perception here, and say the characters are just fine. I accept that. In my life, both on and off the page, I recognize that I cannot, should not (and don’t want to) speak for an entire community.

Because of this, I cannot tell you how to write a “good” Autistic character, or what media is “acceptable.” I can’t even really tell you what a bad character is. Sure, I have a lot of opinions about it. But- if you’re on the spectrum and like and identify with the above? That’s fine. I mean, even with all the problems I noted (and some I didn’t) I certainly do.

On the other hand, if you’re a writer, and you want to write a character from this (or any, for that matter) community you aren’t part of, I caution you.

Do your research. Preferably from multiple credible sources.

Talk to people on the spectrum about what it’s really like. (Though try to steer clear of asking for emotional labor.You could, say, hop on reddit and ask the community there, for instance, which is a no pressure way to obtain potentially decent info.)

Finally, whatever you do, remember this-

Autistic people can look like anyone. We can act, and think and be different, like anyone. We are real, living, breathing people. Not robots, not sob stories, not tropes. People. So if you write about us, write us like people. And your work will be all the better for it.

-Your Loving Vincent

#autism #autistic problems #actually autistic #autistic experiences #autistic life #media #hollywood #film #TV #television #will graham #nbc hannibal #hannibal #sherlock #bbc sherlock #criminal minds #arthur conan doyle #writers on tumblr #writing #writers #tropes #spencer reid #autism in media #representation matters #autistic representation #liturature #own voices #do your research #emotional labor #caution

[smile-files]

melon’s comprehensive kinlist!

including name of character, source, image, short personality description, mbti, and then why i kin them! take your time to read, or don’t. i get it if you don’t want to scroll through an entire page just to psychoanalyze me lmao, have a good time

1. wirt (over the garden wall)

an angsty, socially awkward dweebus who nerds out over interior design and plays the clarinet. fears death. infp.

my first kin! for a month after rewatching otgw i desperately wanted to be him. to be like him. anything!! it eventually wore away but i still feel that urge sometimes - the urge to write r/im14andthisisdeep poetry and to distance one’s self from their siblings... and heck - his tape for sara is indeed just as awkward as he is but let me assure you that his poetry and clarinet are actually pretty cool. 9/10 i need to see him more. give me more otgw comics. ok thanks.

2. snufkin (moomins)

a philosophical vagabond of vague age. acts stoic all the time but can and will leave every social situation whether or not it’s humanly possible. infp.

after watching some 90s moomin (and later on moominvalley) i realized how much i liked him and how much i was like him; i soon daydreamed of myself, as snufkin, venting to someone. it made me very happy. i vibe with his general demeanor and ideals (minus his gripes about rules, i follow those by the book) and i love psychoanalyzing him. so fun. so fun.

3. arnold perlstein (the magic school bus)

overly-anxious jewish kid and certified expert on rocks and panicking. owns a pair of fire-proof pyjamas in a lovely shade of green. isfj.

you all saw this one coming. my early childhood lives in my mind rent free and such i can’t help but revisit arn and his character. i’ve always loved him (even in, and quite possibly especially in, the reboot) and i’ve always loved psychoanalyzing every single little thing he does (remember that one time he said he was traumatized? me too). i soon realized a lot of it was me projecting! so sue me. actually, sue miss frizzle. either one of them. i mean, if arnold really didn’t like the field trips he could’ve just filed a restraining order! ...just saying.

4. fluttershy (my little pony)

anxious pastel butterfly baby child. probably loves animals more than she loves herself. cries upon impact. isfj.

the pony i’d mentally point to and think “me”. i had like 10 fluttershy-related things growing up, like plushies or funko pops or that sdcc guardians of harmony thing. while not shy in the same manner, it was nice having a character i could relate to about so much! i cosplayed as her equestria girls form for my first comic con as well, so that’s pretty cool. in addition, me being a little lepidopterist means i was bound to love her. it was destiny~

5. lammy lamb (um jammer lammy)

socially anxious and generally anxious rock star who thinks literally everything is a guitar. has an emotional support girlfriend. infp.

man!! she embodies the feeling when you have to go to the eye doctor by yourself to get your glasses fixed or when you have to call someone over the phone... that sheer tension. the panic. the feeling of ‘i want to throw my entire being into the trash can’. but lammy has a bunch of friends to support her, so she’s cool. died by slipping on a banana peel! same, sister. and man would i like to shred on my ukulele now...

6. loser (bfb)

humble (screw bfb 21), supportive, well-loved cube dude who’s voice is like that of an angel. has an entire fanclub in his honor. enfj.

okay, no, i was never a cool kid or ‘popular’, really, but in school i was never bullied for whatever reason and was generally well-liked; i hung out with a squad of weirdos and yet the cool kids would often talk to me? and try to engage me?? despite my very apparent self-deprecation and awkwardness??? either way i feel like it’s such a blessing to me, that i have so many friends! i often feel like i don’t deserve it, but hey. it’s nice! and heck, back when i was on scratch i had a little fanclub myself :0

7. fan (inanimate insanity)

nerdy, friendly aspie boyo who subliminally vents via blogging. longs for stability in his life; was best friends with an egg. entp.

ever since i noted his aspergers-like behavior i became super attached to him - whether or not it was intentional, i found it nice having a character i can relate those feelings with. he’s really sweet and dorky and i love how he gets along with test tube, paintbrush, and lightbulb! it makes me really happy to see him whenever i do. it made me really sad when he was eliminated. what the heck. yeah i dunno i don’t kin him super strongly but i love him to bits.

8. spinel (steven universe the movie)

emotionally unstable clown girl who stood in a garden for thousands of years. patience of a saint. edge like an 11-year-old me. esfp.

uhh um uh totally wasn’t completely disturbed by how much i related to spinel after watching steven universe the movie... totally wasn’t reminded about how and why i hated middle school... totally didn’t rethink my life that day... that’s it. this is all i’m saying.

9. molly blyndeff (epithet erased)

innocent child who has a terrible father and a wonderful demeanor. teddy bear who needs a hug and a criminal as her new dad. infp.

epithet erased is adorable okay?? i knew molly was infp in the first few minutes... more precisely, i knew she was me. man!! i don’t relate directly to her angst but i still feel it. i can replicate her voice so accurately it’s scary. also, i coined a new thing -  ‘molly cake’! you have a chocolate cake, preferably with chocolate chips inside. use chocolate frosting and add little pastel star sprinkles! on top! my mom would make this cake for us anyway but then i realized it was literally just molly in cake form. and it’s just as sweet!

10. tommy coolatta (hlvrai)

a 30-something-year-old child who rocks a propeller hat. chose his last name off of a dunkin donuts menu despite the fact that he has a father. infp.

everyone loves tommy. he’s so sweet? and funny and loveable?? often times when i say something funny but bizarre, i just remember that tommy has said ‘soda helps you see faster’ and it makes me happy. if i’m going to be a weirdo i want to be the wholesome weirdo who loves soda and has a .png for a dog! also i legally have to kin tommy. i took a test for it (and i’m not complaining! i find it quite flattering).

11. twyla (monster high)

the daughter of the boogeyman; would very much like to boogey out of here, if you know what i mean. avoids people like the plague. infj.

seeing her role in the show and in the movies, i really love twyla? first of all, her voice is my new favorite thing. it’s like... gravelly? and soft? she’s the type of person who would very much like to disappear when in a crowd; thankfully, she literally can. i am drawn to any sarcastic, self-deprecating introvert who takes care of their bonkers extrovert friend (in this case howleen), as i often act as such myself. also the phrase ‘boogey sand’ will never leave my mind now :)

12. lapis lazuli (steven universe)

water gem who wants you to leave. cynical as all heck, sensitive as all hell. is there such thing as a gem therapist? just asking. infp.

in a similar way to twyla, i vibe with lapis’ sarcasm and wit as well as her emotional side. it can be kind of addicting, isolating one’s self. anywho, me and my sister used to do this routine of yelling up to each other this certain dialogue between lapis and peridot when peri was leaving for something (in which lapis replied to everything she said with dry ‘yeah’s); i would always do lapis’ part. i do reply a lot with ‘okay’ or ‘yeah’ or ‘cool’ to things people tell me, as i never really know what to say.

13. brad meltzer (xavier riddle and the secret museum)

shy jewish butterfly kid who absolutely hates time travel. attracted to people who know how to socialize like a normal human being. infp(?).

okay okay so... combine everything from arnold and everything from fluttershy and that’s basically what brad is to me. a jewish socially anxious nerd who loves butterflies and drawing. badabing badaboom, there i am. that’s it.

and boom! all of the kins i can think of, of course not including comfort characters like will byers from stranger things or isabelle from animal crossing. if you have any kins to suggest to me, i would love it! thank you for taking your time to read this, friend! have a fantastic day :)

#melonposting #extreme melonposting #kin #kins #kinlist #i will not tag every character here for the love of god #13. 13 is the number of the kins #good night folks :pensive:

[funkymbtifiction]

The Magic School Bus (90's series): Dorothy Ann [ISTJ]

Unofficial typing by: chipmunkfanno1love 

Functional Order: Si-Te-Fi-Ne

Perceiving Functional Axis:

Introverted Sensing (Si) / Extroverted Intuition (Ne)

Dorothy Ann, or D.A as her friends sometimes call her, is the class bookworm. She always has her nose buried in a book and loves to share the facts that she reads from it. She often quotes “According to my research…” (or something akin to it) when sharing the research she’s read from her books and relates it back to the current situation that she and her classmates are in. She prefers to stick to what she’s familiar with and have a plan (see Te), not feeling confident to improvise when Arnold gives her his great-aunt’s artifact rather than his rock collection as she planned to show on the TV show, Show and Tell. Therefore she has to find out as much she can about the artifact before she can feel confident to talk about it on the show. Luckily she is provided with Arizona Joan’s journal to help figure out a few possible hypotheses for what the artifact could possibly be (Shows and Tell) (Si-Ne).

Another of her passions besides books is astronomy, which proves to be helpful in Out of this World when she spots an asteroid through her telescope, and from her memory and constant tracking is able to confidently identify it and its whereabouts in outer space when it appears to be a danger of destroying her school, Walkerville Elementary. (Si).

Unfortunately Dorothy Ann is a little too dependent on her books (something Carlos picks on her for) and is often dismissive of other forms of learning. She’s forced out of her comfort zone in Blows Its Top after she loses her books in the ocean, causing her to panic and becomes desperate to get them back no matter what the consequences (inferior Ne). With Ms Frizzle’s encouragement to observe and ask questions, D.A  is introduced to the joy of learning via experience and is able to figure out via observation and memorisation how a volcano works and creates a new island. She even becomes excited in being part of the island being formed.

She does have her more brilliantly insightful moments where we see her hypothesis for the hoop artifact of Arnold’s. After several failed hypotheses, she learns of some similarly coloured arrows that came with the hoop and observes the scruff marks on the hoop. By seeing how easily it rolls across the ground and the coloured arrows go through the coloured webbing so easily, it leads her to the accurate hypothesis that the artifacts were most-likely an old tribal version of hoops and arrows (Ne).

Judging Functional Axis:

Extroverted Thinking (Te) / Introverted Feeling (Fi)

D.A is all about keeping to the facts and getting things done in an orderly manner. Because of this, she has a reputation for being bossy and rigid in her thinking, often making her clash with more impulsive students, especially Carlos, who often butt-heads with her over their different styles of learning (Te-Fi).

Her organised and resourceful attitude comes in handy though when it comes to leading important expeditions where a problem needs to be solved, such as leading and navigating the space-bus in Out of this World, solving the case of the missing cocoa beans from Ms Frizzle’s rented tree in In the Rainforest, and getting the school principal, Mr Ruhle, a new chicken after she loses his beloved pet rooster, Giblets (Cracks a Yolk). She is quick to dismiss facts that seem illogical and/or unimportant to her, but on occasions can feel insecure about her own facts if something else proves to be possible. Such as when she starts to feel uncertain if her asteroid was actually a comet after the class sees a comet pass by the ship in the location she thinks the asteroid is supposed to be, and she sees from observation of her smaller diagram that a comet will still have the same damaging effects as an asteroid. It is only when she figures out that they were in the wrong location due to the ship being turned around in a circle, does she realise she was right about the comet being the wrong space rock (Te).

Many field trips led by D.A are related to the things she values most, such as Out of This World where she leads an expedition to find and get rid of an asteroid which threatens to destroy her and her classmates’ beloved school.

She’s a big believer in teamwork, which causes her to butt-heads with Wanda when she’s partnered with her for a school project, and the headstrong Wanda refuses to cooperate with her due to wanting to go solo. (Takes a Dive)

She is usually a bit of an individualist in terms of her interests, such as being more interested in a book about physics (most notably about forces and friction) than the class baseball game, and is rather disappointed when Ralphie and the rest of the class don’t find it cool as well. She nonetheless doesn’t change her opinion about finding physics cool, while the rest of the class (the most hesitant being Ralphie) are only convinced that physics is cool when Ms Frizzle takes them on a field trip to show that without forces and friction, they wouldn’t be able to stand up, let alone play a ball game (Plays Ball).

Dorothy Ann experiences an identity scare when she loses her books in Blows Its Top, feeling she’s nothing without them and she’s lost all of her knowledge: “Please, Ms. Frizzle! I’m nothing without my books! Me, books…books, me!” It’s only when she experiences learning via experience and memory does she figure out this isn’t the case.

D.A rarely talks about her feelings, she instead acts on them. Despite her control-freak nature, D.A does have a softer side, shown in Cracks a Yolk where she becomes smitten with the newly-hatched chick they plan to give to Mr. Ruhle, and kisses Arnold to thank him for being the baby-sitter and announcer of what was happening to the chick as it was developing. (Fi)

A/N: I thank @briarosabelle and @creativefictionlover for their help with this typing. I’m very grateful for their help.

#c: istj #istj #f: istj #magic school bus #dorothy ann #da #mbti #submission

[atamascolily]

Feeling nostalgic for my childhood, I wanted to listen to the opening theme of the PBS series "Magic School Bus"... only to discover that Netflix has made a new version, starring Ms. Frizzle's younger sister... but with a cover of the show's original theme and I'm so confused, like how is this even possible...??

(Lin-Manuel Miranda does a great job, I'm just grumpy because it's not the same as I remember.)

So, what the hell, I decided to watch the first episode and see what it was like.

The new school design looks great - solar panels and windmills on the roof, plus bike racks and I approve. Phoebe went back to her old school (lol) so there's a new character Jyoti, who I like a lot. I keep getting thrown off by the new character designs for most of the kids, and the differences in voice actors -- especially Arnold, who looks SO DIFFERENT FROM THE BOOKS AND THE ORIGINAL SERIES, I didn't even recognize him in the credits.

Then the original Frizz shows up (with her ICONIC voice actress Lily Tomlin and her ROCKING STYLE) to introduce the new Ms. Frizzle as her younger sister Fiona, complete with tossing her the keys to the bus, and I just... can't even... THIS SHOW KNOWS EXACTLY WHAT IT'S DOING, AND CHOOSING TO DO IT ANYWAY.

(I know, I know, you’re probably shaking your head and saying, “Lily! Didn’t you love the key toss in Terminator: Dark Fate? How is this different?” The answer is context: Sarah tossing the keys to Dani at the end of the movie is both a nod to their shared bond and thematic roles, and also a Crowning Moment of Character Development because Dani doesn’t know how to drive at the beginning of the movie. This key toss comes right at the beginning, where we know nothing about new!Frizz  except that she’s like her sister, but also different. The show has not convinced me that new!Frizz has earned this, and there’s not really any character moments like new!Frizz being uncertain and being encouraged by old!Frizz or anything to make callbacks to later. It’s just a very unsubtle torch pass, and we the audience are expected to just accept even though some of us LOVED the old!Frizz and are really GRUMPY she’s moving on because WE I DIDN’T.)

Arnold's defining character trait in this reboot is that he hates change. Kid, I FEEL YOU SO HARD ON THIS ONE.

As if to hammer the point home, the kids go to the Galapagos to learn about ecosystems and evolution after rhapsodizing to each other about how their class is a "perfectly balanced ecosystem" and I just... can't EVEN...  especially when they start talking about invasive species... I SEE WHAT YOU DID THERE.Arnold outright mentions this because the show is not subtle.

The old!Frizz explains that SOME introduced species, like honeybees, are fine, and ecosystems can handle some introductions and still stay balanced, and yes, this show is for kids, but it's SO MUCH MORE COMPLICATED THAN THAT. But I'm 100% on Arnold's side here. 

(At least this version of Carlos still makes puns. Oddly, nobody groans when new!Frizz does it.)

Arnold confesses his fears to the new!Frizz and they use time-travel to see the class 30 years in the future and it's a Generation Xerox with everything the same... which new!Frizz uses as proof that the classroom has remained perfectly balanced even with the introduction of a new teacher and I just...

On the one hand, this is a great representation of how the show basically is the same in every era.

On the other hand... that is also super-creepy that all the kids are basically clones of their parents, not to mention all the possibilities for paradoxes, WHAT THE FUCK, NETFLIX.

Anyway, turns out Arnold destroyed the Galapagos out of pique with a potted carnivorous plant he stole from new!Frizz, so he has to Set Things Right and also Come to Accept His New Frizzled Overlord and I'm just... sigh.

I really hate it when media intended for kids but written by adults makes a point of "fixing" a child protagonist WHO IS RIGHT AND SHOULD BE ACKNOWLEDGED AS SUCH. The Pagemaster is a great example of this trope, wherein Richard is "cured" of his "exaggerated" fears through his adventures and demonstrates it when he returns to his own world by driving his bike off a raised ramp without a helmet, which is SUPER-DANGEROUS. I get what they were trying to do there, but the problem for me is that Richard is RIGHT about risks in the beginning. He has to learn moderation and balance about when his fears are appropriate, NOT swing wildly in the other direction by taking unnecessary risks. 

I prefer movies like Matilda, where the child protagonist is right from the beginning, and is acknowledged as such by the adults around her by the time the film ends. The Secret Garden is another good example--Mary Lennox changes and grows through the film, but she never lets the adults around her crush her spirit or discourage her from doing “the impossible”: bringing the garden back, healing Colin, etc, etc.

To be fair to this reboot, it's doing a lot of things right, and I would probably like it if I didn't have such strong opinions about both science and the original series. (THIS SHOW’S GOAL IS TO GET PEOPLE THINKING ABOUT SCIENCE, RIGHT??) I’ll buy the need to update the visuals and tech and archetypes from the ‘90s version, and make it “relevant” to a new generation, even though I think the original still holds up pretty well, though I haven’t watched it to confirm].

But I just don’t get why they’d create a new Frizz when Lily Tomlin is RIGHT THERE and CLEARLY STILL WILLING TO VOICE ACT.

#the magic school bus #the magic school bus rides again #90s nostalgia #'90s tv

[hereidinathoreauwrites]

A Balanced Review of the Magic School Bus Reboot

The good, the bad, and the genuinely surprising about the Magic School Bus Rides Again.

Here we go.

First off, in the interest of full disclosure, I am a huge fan of the original. Like genuinely huge. I have all the episodes, can quote most of them, and openly promote theories that Ms. Frizzle is a Time Lord (because honestly, it’s obvious).

Second off, I have a huge gay crush on the fabulous Kate McKinnon.

But who doesn’t?

So expect these to weigh into my analysis.

Let’s start off with the good.

The Good

Fiona

From the moment I heard Kate was onboard, I knew I was going to love this character. And she did not disappoint. Fiona is exactly what she needs to be. She is Ms. Frizzle without being...well, Lily Tomlin. She still has that zest for adventure and thrills at new discoveries.

And while there is a multitude of similarities between her and Valerie (old sayings, clever wordplay, impeccably questionable fashion sense, a flair for danger) she’s decidedly different. She’s more excitable than her sister and treats her students more like peers than children she is supervising. And while she’s never quite as all-knowing as her big sister seemed to be, she knows when to talk and when to let her students suss something out on their own.

And while her past is a bit of a mystery, just like her older sister, she seems just as accomplished and well-rounded. And just as eccentric.

I mean, she literally enters the classroom through a glass ceiling on a rope attached to nothing.

She is Kate McKinnon, who is genuinely thrilled to be here and loving every minute of it. 

Sometimes she does get to be a bit much, usually when she’s too excited about a clever pun or a new discovery. But she’s not Valerie Frizzle. She’s Fiona Frizzle. And Kate does a good job of keeping just enough of the original enigma while bringing a new character who is more approachable, vulnerable, and emotional than Valerie was. Honestly, the only emotions I remember Ms. Frizzle overtly displaying on PBS were excitement and happiness.

In PBS, the kids relied on Ms. Frizzle a lot and she seemed to improvise a lot of the destinations and lessons for the day. Here, Fiona seems to already know what they need for a given day or be flexible enough to figure out a solution as they go. And unlike Valerie, who always kept a strong cloud of mystery about her and what she knew and didn’t know, Fiona makes it very clear just what she is aware of and not aware of. During the final episode, when the bus is unable to take the pressure of the ocean and things look dire, she is clearly panicking because her kids are now in danger. But she keeps resolutely chipper, trying to reassure and excite them even as her voice breaks.

And this makes sense. The kids are older in this version. At some point, there’s no reason for her to hide her knowledge and planning from them or the true scope of the danger they’re in. It isn’t going to teach them anything new, just reinforce how much more she knows. They aren’t going to freak out like they used to, instead, they will search for a solution because they’ve been in danger before and engineered their way out. She’s no longer their guide (like Valerie was), now she’s their colleague.

There is one thing I find a little off about her and that is her tendency to make sassy comments or judgments that are funny in the moment but really distinguish her from what one typically expects from a teacher. In the very first episode, she makes a comment about how dirty the boots they are examining for invasive species are and gets very high-and-mighty about it. I wouldn’t mind so much (the boots were pretty nasty) but she does this with the kids occasionally as well (she makes it obvious that she knows Arnold stole her plant in the first episode but still puts him through a lot of guilt-tripping and even some legit trauma before he finally fesses up). And while it’s good for a laugh, it seems a little harsh for an elementary school teacher. The kids dont seem to mind though so I’ll let it go.

The Class

The same class is back, which I found surprising. But smart. It would be too much work to establish an entirely new class and then introducing a new Ms. Frizzle would feel off. It would just be a remake, not a reboot.

We have 7 of the original kids here: Arnold, Ralphie, Carlos, Tim, Wanda, Dorothy Ann, and Keesha. In this reboot, Phoebe has been replaced with Jyoti, an Indian girl who is very into engineering and technology. I was originally very upset when Phoebe was replaced (she was the one I related to most in the original series) but Jyoti has earned a special place in my heart. She has her own section below.

In this version, the class is in 5th grade, which is supposed to be one year after the events of the PBS cartoon. I’ll have more thoughts on this later but for know, just know that all the kids are now 10 instead of 9 and it actually sort of works.

The kids are all really charming. Especially Ralphie (who may have eclipsed Carlos for the most laughs). Even Arnold, who I found incredibly annoying in the PBS version, was exceedingly likable here. And this was the series where he actively disrupts his new teacher’s first lesson! In the first episode, there is a great effort to make Arnold both reprehensible but also sympathetic as he resists the change Fiona brings to his life.

While their personalities seem less distinguishable at times, they still retain their characterizations. Ralphie is the lovable jock, DA the nerd (although she has swapped out her beloved pink bookbag for a Frizz-tab), Tim is the artist, Carlos the jokester, etc. Even though they retain these personalities from PBS, all of them have changed slightly, the same way you’d expect a child to change over the course of one year. Some of their traits have been updated as well for the new era this class is getting educated in (for example, DA’s tablet and their outfit changes).

The only one I have a problem with is Wanda.

We’ll get to her in the bad.

The kids are still the focus of the show: having conflicts, solving problems, making mistakes, and getting excited about science. Fiona remains as simply their guardian and enabler of their adventures. And while Kate’s performance is attention-grabbing, she doesn’t steal the spotlight from the kids. Their VAs are all pretty good and seem to have taken their own stylistic choices when bringing back these beloved characters. They keep some core similarities but give unique performances.

Jyoti Kaur

I was so excited to learn another POC had joined the kids. I was even more excited to learn that she was a southern Indian POC [for context: I myself am not of Indian heritage but I spent a semester in southern India and I admire the culture very much and made some good friends there]. She seems to have taken on both the mantle of wide-eyed newcomer (that Phoebe used to carry) and fearless adventurer in the class (that used to be Wanda’s thing...). And she fills the important role of being the gear-head for the class in this new era of technology.

She even gets one of my favorite moments in the reboot: when she’s alone with Ms. Frizzle discussing an engineering competition and we learn that the Frizzle sisters built the bus.

It’s such a powerful moment for me because Jyoti is the new kid and Fiona is the new teacher and they use this moment to bond and expand the canon of the series.

Watching her watch the bus in action is genuinely endearing. She always seems like she’s both in awe of the magic and trying to figure out how everything works. There’s a moment in the first episode where she watches Ms. Frizzle turn Carlos and Wanda into animals and gets very disappointed when she doesn’t get a turn.

This may make it seem like I have no problems with Jyoti, but unfortunately, that’s not entirely true. She has a section in “the bad” as well.

The Adventure

The series certainly didn’t pull punches when throwing people into peril.

In this reboot, we see the kids fall down two different rivers, raft a volcano, get attacked by T-cells, jump out of a plane onto a glacier, get attacked by a plant, get stalked by sharks (twice!), lose the bus (also twice!), get lost while they’re the size of atoms, almost get torn apart by a barracuda, go flying around the Earth at maximum zoom, and get stuck at the bottom of the Mariana Trench.

One thing that is different is that they don't dwell on the suspense as much as PBS did. PBS milked its commercial breaks for all they were worth, drawing out intense situations to make them feel more perilous. The reboot...doesn’t. When there is a threat, the resolution is less than 30 seconds away. There are a couple of awkward fade-outs in the middle of some episodes at tense moments but it’s not consistent and there’s not much point when there’s no ad break in the middle of a Netflix video.

This could turn into a whole critique of streaming services ruining suspense in tv writing but I’ll just make a note of it here.

The bus has also picked up some new abilities, which are utilized for these adventures. Shrinking down to the size of an atom genuinely thrilled me. I got so excited during “The Magnetic Mambo” when they just kept shrinking...and shrinking...and shrinking...!

A lot of the “new abilities” seem to include the bus’ infinite creative potential. It spits out new technology every other second, from personal vehicles to backpacks that are actually time machines, to a remote that is like a mini-bus that they only use once. I’ll discuss the bus more in the bad but it’s abilities fall solidly into the good category for me. It means new adventures and deeper dives into older adventures.

The Writing

I don’t know if the series writers are affiliated with the PBS cartoon in any way but they definitely know their stuff. The problem I have with most reboots is that they end up feeling and sounding like fanfics instead of continuations. This reboot does not. It carries just enough of the tone of the original through clever wordplay, puns, and wacky adventures while having a distinctly different look and feel.

They know where they came from but they’re not trying to return to that place.

Some of the episodes are very creative and well composed. These include Ep 1: “Frizzle of the Future” (which ingeniously uses the concept of invasive species to integrate Fiona into the MSB canon), Ep 4: “The Battle for Rock Mountain” (which uses superhero culture to teach kids about the rock cycle), and Ep 10: “The Tales Glaciers Tell” (which finally teaches kids about climate change in a way that is straightforward and as “uncontroversial” as it can be).

There are some “less good” episodes but overall, none of them were terrible. They were all funny and clever and presented their lessons well.

Nods to the original

It’s never overtly obvious or direct but the references to PBS are there. But in some ways, I think that’s better than flat-out insisting that the two are back-to-back canon.

They don't slap you in the face with call-backs but if you are a fan of the original, you catch them.

Here’s a few I noticed:

The perfect joke to explain Phoebe’s absence

Mr. Rhule (the principle from the original) is referenced by name

Wanda’s mom and little brother (William) have a cameo (with Wanda’s original VA as Mrs. Li, I’m pretty sure)

Ralphie’s face when the class travels inside Carlos’ nose (because in PBS, the whole class ended up in his nose)

Arnold freaking out when they end up in Ralphie’s stomach (because that episode from PBS was legitimately traumatizing for him)

The bus being attacked by white blood cells while in the bloodstream

Weatherman! (”sheika, sheika kaboom!” was sorely missed though...)

Keesha directing (with a megaphone of course)

Ralphie building a robot (again, for seemingly no valid reason and with a questionable amount of resources)

Arnold loving rocks and geology

Ms. Frizzle asks them if they’ve ever been eaten (there were several times in PBS but not in the reboot)

JANET! (dammit)

several VAs from the original make cameos

It’s refreshing in a way, to know that these things were done with fans like me in mind.

The Bad

I may love a lot about this reboot but it is not without a few glaring problems in my mind.

Here goes:

The BUS

I’m just going to say it: the original bus was better. It had more of a personality and felt more real than this cube.

In my opinion, where this went wrong was that technology played too much of a role. Maybe this was unavoidable due to the major changes in technology in the past 20 years. But it doesn’t even look like a bus anymore. It has a freakin’ tablet screen right on the control panel...do buses have those now? What was magical about PBS’s bus was that it looked like a bus but could change and mold itself into whatever was necessary with the push of a button. Now Fiona has to scroll through a screen of apps to find the “mode” she needs.

There is less magical about the bus this time; it more just seems like an incredible feat of engineering. There is even a joke about how the Frizzle sisters built the bus. Instead of turning kids into things, most of the time now, they just have their own personal vehicles to drive around the ocean or fly through space. That’s not magical, it’s just really well-funded.

Also, apparently now the bus can sustain damage? And then magically repair that damage? I guess the T-Rex did bite through the roof on PBS...

Also, the bus doesn't actually have to drive places anymore. Instead it just kind of...teleports. There’s an episode where the kids go inside the nervous systems of two of their classmates and both times, they just kind of vanish and reappear where they need to be.

(Also, the kids are oddly comfortable with the idea of the bus entering their bodies? Like I get it, if they’ve been through an entire previous year of a Frizzle using their body for science, maybe they’re okay with a bus shooting up their nose and their class spending half the day in their bloodstream. But a lot of the human biology episodes of the original were not consensual? Is this change really a bad thing? Is this tangent getting too long?)

On the plus side, the bus is solar-powered now.

So :D

The Timeline?

They kept a lot from the original, so much so that I think the intention was to make it seem like only one summer had passed between the two series. It makes sense on paper: this way fans of the original aren’t too put off and kids watching both series back to back for the first time won't be too confused by the switch.

But the problem with this is that it’s too unbelievable.

Technology really advanced this much in a few months? Wanda changed that much over the summer (see below)? Ms. Frizzle got her PhD in two months? Well, actually if anybody could do that, it would be Valerie Frizzle...

So the intention is good and logical but all the details don't really work out. I’ve coped with it by considering this an “alternate universe”, where the kids stayed together for another year (with some changes) after a year of similar adventures to PBS but with all the advanced tech present. So instead of being from the 90′s, this class was born in the late 2000′s.

If you’re not insane (like me), it probably won’t bother you. And it does make for a pretty funny opening scene.

Race Depictions

Not really sure if I should be bringing this up but I did want to address it. Whatever animation they used for the show does make certain characters appear...whiter...than they did on PBS.

But the whole color palette is different so I’m not sure if this was an intentional artistic choice or just unlucky circumstance. I really don’t know enough about animation to comment. But white-washing of any kind falls into the bad category for me (even if unintentional).

Wanda

*sighs dramatically* And here we are at last...

Wanda was such a titan of a character in PBS. She probably had the most character development apart from Arnold throughout all 52 episodes.

So I really don't know what happened here.  

With most of the others, where they are at now makes sense given that it’s supposed to be “one year later” in their lives. But Wanda seems like she had a total personality change in just a few short months. She’s no longer adventurous and instead, she’s...really compassionate? I mean, she wasn’t outright mean in PBS but she was callous and occasionally unintentionally hurtful. Now she’s suddenly a bleeding-heart animal activist? I mean, in PBS she was definitely changing towards being more considerate and open but she still kept that adventurous edge and wild streak. Now she has mellowed out considerably. So much so in fact that she resembles Phoebe more than she does Wanda.

Who looked at the original cartoon and logically thought that she was the character who needed to be changed the most? If they were that desperate to include a character who cared for animals that much, why not make it Carlos?

They already have an episode where he adopts a pet rat. And on PBS, he was skeptical of Phoebe’s concern for the animals she tried to save but never dismissive. He even comes to care for natural ecosystems like swamps in the PBS episode “Get’s Swamped”. With this characterization, it would give this show something new and interesting: a compassionate male character. One who is defined by his gentleness and concern. Isn’t it good for boys to have a role model like that?

Also, no offense to Carlos but apart from being the jokester, he really doesn’t have that much of a character. Someone like Arnold has several defining traits: worrier, rock expert, cynical. For Carlos, I have trouble coming up with anything other than funny. This change to a passionate animal activist would have added a whole new layer to him.

So that was a real missed opportunity in my eyes.

The only change in Wanda I genuinely liked was her seemingly much closer friendship with DA compared to PBS.

I always liked how they became better friends in the final PBS episode (”Takes a Dive”) and wanted to see that expanded. Seeing that the writers kept it, it feels like a small nod to that adventure and an indication of how well they wanted to keep the series continuity intact.

Jyoti

So here she is again. And while I do love Jyoti as a character, as a writer I have some problems with her. First and foremost, she’s too good at what she does. The Mary Sue trope is strong with this one.

This kid has a literal invisibility cloak. And creates an AI. And she’s only supposed to be ten years old. While her high-tech gear certainly adds an element of intrigue to the show, I find I cant always suspend my disbelief when she does something too outlandish. Like make a functional 3-D printed model of a T-cell in under half an hour.

She doesn’t really have character flaws either. Granted, she’s only really the “main kid” in one episode (”Three-in-One”) but the most development she has is when she snaps at Ralphie and feels bad about it. She also gets mad when DA loses her locket in “DA and the Deep Blue Sea” (so much so that everyone reacts with fear, even Ms. Frizzle) but she gets over it very quickly. The only “mistake” she makes is not specifying to her AI which pot of water she wants to be boiled (resulting in the water her class is exploring turning to steam). So really the only flaw is possibly that she’s impatient?

She’s not too ambitious or too proud or too inconsiderate, all of which could fit with her character that we’ve seen so far. Instead, she’s just useful. Whenever she needs to be. My hope is that next season she has an episode where she genuinely grows and we see some character flaws.

Another thing about her that is confusing (but this may just be my lack of knowledge showing) is exactly what her Indian roots are. In the episode “The Magnetic Mambo” she insists upon dancing a “kathakali” which is a type of Hindu dance art unique to the Kerala region of India.

But in a later episode, “Three-in-one” we meet a robot she has invented that she calls “Naniben” which (she explains) means “little sister” in Gujarati, a language spoken by only one community in Kerala (to my knowledge). So I either take this to mean that the writers got very specific with her place of origin, or that her parents come from two different states of India (one from Kerala and one from Gujarat?). But I’m sure no one else is giving it this much thought...

The Plugs for Future Episodes

While Lily Tomlin is always a blessing, I have to admit her segments weren’t always handled as well as they could have been.

This is obviously the reboot’s way of doing the producer segments from PBS. It’s a clever way to address scientific shortcomings or tell kids “dont try this at home!”. This really shouldn’t bug me. But it did. While it was nice to see Professor Frizzle having her own adventures and seeing a glimpse of what was coming, having her explicitly say things like: “stick around” or “wait and find out” felt like overkill.

And I know this is for kids but they’re going to watch anyway! You don't have to have a hook for bingeing. Bingeing these episodes is worse because then the lessons don’t stick as well! If the kids are excited by it, they are going to come back the next day or week and watch more. Don’t encourage them to rush through their education.

Episodes I question

Not sure if these count as “bad” but there were some episodes that had me scratching my head. These fall under the “less good” episodes I mentioned before.

E5: The Magnetic Mambo - When I think atoms, I definitely think dancing! There seemed to be a bit of a leap here between the conflict and the lesson (being about magnetism and how atoms align in a magnetic field). Also, I had to watch the “lesson” part of this episode twice before I understood it. Not sure if that reflects more on my education quality than the writing but...

E9: Space Mission: Selfie - I’m not really sure what I’m supposed to have learned from this one. That satellites are a thing? That objects orbiting the Earth orbit at different heights? The lesson wasn’t really clear. Maybe if I watch it again, I’ll get a better idea...also, the Frizzle family has some kind of internet empire?

E11: Ralphie Strikes a Nerve - When your team sucks at volleyball, what’s the logical thing to do? Certainly not spend an immoral amount of time and resources building a giant Pacific Rim - inspired robot! But somehow that’s the logical conclusion here? Don’t get me wrong, it works for the lesson (learning about the nervous system) but not so much for the plot?

The Surprising

The Animation

I know this is an unpopular opinion but..the animation really isn’t that bad.

Sure it’s jarring at first but the more I watched it, the less it bothered me. The movements were still fluid, the characters were still expressive. And this is 2017. Hand-drawn animation is not as popular as it once was.

And this is honestly not that bad. There were even all the little details that were accounted for. Like how Fiona’s and DA’s hair float when they’re in orbit. And when they descend into Carlos’ bloodstream, they have to illuminate the scene. As you watch it, you get bothered by the style less. And the PBS cartoon had its animation errors that were laughably bad. My favorite was in “For Lunch” when Arnold is somehow inside the bus currently going down his esophagus. Watch it again and you’ll see what I mean.

The New Theme Song

I had somehow forgotten that the fabulous Lin-Manuel Miranda had signed on to do the theme. And he did not disappoint. I rock out to this version just as hard as I did to Little Richard’s version.

The Framing

In the PBS episodes, each episode usually only focused on 1 kid, the “main kid” who had a lesson to learn that episode. Occasionally, they had episodes focused on two kids but it was usually just Wanda and Arnold or whoever was fighting.

This time around, they really make an effort to include more kids in the lessons. A lot of episodes still have a “main kid” but they are less the center of attention. It makes the show feel less formulaic, which was refreshing to see.

The Original Ms. Frizzle Leaving

As well as it worked for a send-off, Valerie Frizzle leaving doesn’t make a lot of sense when you look at the two series together. During her tenure as the teacher on PBS, we saw Ms. Frizzle grow to love her kids and start to treat them more like colleagues than a class she was supervising. She genuinely loved her job and looked like she was going to be doing it forever.

So the fact that she switched gears to become a research professor is odd to me. Don’t get me wrong, the more women with Ph.Ds on tv the better but she had always seemed so content to be just a teacher. So maybe she’s just stepping down for Fiona’s sake? Maybe I’m just reading into this far too much for a cartoon?

Still, it seemed a little on the nose to have the original Ms. Frizzle essentially “graduate” from this series now that she’s too busy pursuing her own projects to be a voice actor on a kids show. But if they had to give a reason for her to leave that wasn’t her dying, this was a great one.

Still don't get why Liz didn’t go with her through...Goldie is fine but wouldn’t it make more sense for the new teacher to have a new sidekick?

Keesha’s moms!

Okay, this is unconfirmed but I’m pretty sure these two:

Are intended to be Keesha’s parents.

If so then :D

I’m always for more LGBTQ representation in cartoons and Keesha did seem to be the logical choice. Her parents were never introduced in the original, just her grandmother. So I’d love for these two to come back and actually have a line or two next season that confirms their relationship.

The Battle for Rock Mountain Episode

I have a whole post on this here. Just go read that for why I was genuinely surprised by this concept and its execution.

The permission slips?

I’m sorry but no. This is too much, even for a joke. How does Ms. Frizzle even go about writing these things with a straight face? Maybe it was more just a ploy to get one or two funny lines out of the cast. I think that was a common critique of the original as well; that Ms. Frizzle couldn’t possibly be sending her kids home with permission slips that said things like: we’re going inside an active volcano to study island formation.

Well, apparently she did...and still does...

Well played reboot...well played...

In Conclusion

If you’re still undecided about the reboot, I hope this review helped put it in perspective a little. It has its ups and downs and, like any reboot, necessary changes and unnecessary changes.

Based on what I’ve consolidated here though, I think I would put this in the “good” reboot category. It’s certainly no “Death Note” movie but there are some things that people hate on. But the showrunners clearly know that they’ve got 20 years worth of fans watching them and they make efforts to let those people know that they know the source material (see my list of references to PBS above). I enjoyed watching it. I am probably going to watch several episodes again, even a few years from now. I am genuinely interested in what concepts they decide to show next and if they are going to develop their characters as well as PBS did.

In my opinion, you cant really hate a show like this for being a reboot. Because it’s meant only to do good for kids by teaching them about science and nature. I would show this to my kids or students alongside the original and not feel like it was jeopardizing their education at all. The original cartoon was instrumental in sparking my love of science and I can totally see this version inspiring some young student to delve deeper into topics they learn in school.

#review #the magic school bus #the magic school bus rides again #the magic school bus reboot #good things about the magic school bus rides again #ms frizzle #lily tomlin #Fiona frizzle #kate mckinnon #the good and the bad #and the surprising #science #encouraging young scientists #science education #educational tv

[peterpanswendy]

Unpopular Opinion: I think the new Magic School Bus show is actually okay

Listen up, Walkerville: The 90s are over.

In the weeks leading up to the release of the long-awaited Magic School Bus reboot, I have seen a LOT of negativity. Now the full season has dropped, I’m seeing even more disappointment, with many claiming that it has "ruined their childhoods”.

Okay, yes, it’s clear that they were making a show on a Netflix budget two decades after the craze as opposed to a PBS budget in the heat of the initial craze, BUT THEY DO SO MANY THINGS RIGHT. Or at least they’re trying.

I consider the Magic School Bus to be one of the biggest, most important parts of my childhood, and it left a huge impact that still resonates strongly years after the fact. Honestly, I take it perhaps a bit more seriously than a woman nearing 30 should.

So please believe me when I say that the new show is not so bad!

Here are three pieces of evidence:

1. They don’t try to fix what’s not broken

At its core, the original Magic School Bus cartoon is about Ms. Frizzle, an eccentric teacher with a magical school bus who takes her class on crazy field trips that simultaneously teaches them science and holds the key to solve whatever issue the kids have that particular day. At the end of each episode, the producer would clear up any scientific inconsistencies during a phone call segment. While it made science easily comprehendible to young audiences, it contained pop culture references (quotes and impersonations, celebrity voice actors, some jokes) that only older audiences would really get. It had wit, it had class, it had an endless number of really, REALLY awful puns.

In “Rides Again”, this hasn’t changed. Each episode follows the exact same pattern as the predecessor, and they poke fun at this in Arnold’s speech at the beginning of the new episode. They know it’s predictable.

Ms. Frizzle is still voiced by a popular comedienne. The theme song is still sung by a popular musical artist in their heyday. Heck, the opening theme is basically an (updated) frame-for-frame of the original. The science is there, the bus does its stuff, and oh, are the the puns still as bad as ever.

Oh, and celebrity guest stars?

Bojack Horseman, the first black female astronaut, and the former Dr. Christina Yang of Grey’s Anatomy? Not bad for a first run if you ask me!

2. Sometimes change is for the better

I dunno about you other 90s kids, but when I was in elementary school, NONE of my classmates dressed like any of the kids in the original show. Pleated skirts and saddle shoes? Initial jerseys and backwards hats? Matching vests and pants with Mary Janes? COLLARED SHIRT DRESSES AND HIGH HEELS?! Yowza! The characters were originally designed in 1989 with the release of the book “At the Waterworks”, and the show stayed pretty faithful to Degen’s original art style...so yeah, the styles were dated coming out the gate.

Okay, yes, I am sad Arnold lost his curly hair and that Tim and Keesha’s skin lightened in tone, but overall, I LOVE the redesigned class! They look like believable modern kids. Tim especially benefits from the updated look. (I do wish they had made Wanda look a little more tomboyish and Keesha a bit less sweet, but anything was better than what they were wore back in the 90s.)

Now, the cast changes: Out with Valerie and Phoebe, in with Fiona and Jyoti. As I mentioned earlier, the show knows it’s repetitive. They needed something to change it up, and I think this was an okay way to go about it.

First: The Friz. Practically, and I know none of you 90s purists want to hear it, Kate McKinnon is more relevant in this day and age than Lily Tomlin. As a character, Fiona maybe relies on the bus a bit too much, but she brings a believable joy to the novelty of the bus’s capabilities that Valerie often took for granted. Honestly, I think they handled the “changing of the guard” really spectacularly - heck, they worked it into a story about Invasive Species. That was darn clever and caught me delightfully off-guard!

As for Phoebe, she was just the soft-hearted animal-loving “new kid” and, I feel, didn’t really contribute as much to the class dynamic as say...literally everyone else except Tim. Jyoti is the non-whiny, adventurous new girl with the tech and industrial design knowledge that brings the show into the 21st century. (Plus some Southeast-Asian representation!) She’s a much more exciting character, but I don’t really know who her foil is. Anyway, she’s smart and adorable and I’m glad she’s on board.

(Slight tangent: Wanda seems to have taken on Phoebe’s attribute of being an animal lover and conservationist. Yes, Wanda did like slightly unconventional animals in the original show - remember Bella in “Hops Home”? - but she wasn’t necessarily for preserving them in their original habitats. Do recall that she was the main proponent for clearing out the abandoned lot in “Meets The Rot Squad”, not to mention the eccentric habitat she believed was best for Bella. New Wanda still loves animals like fish and rats, and gets arbitrarily attached to them and tries to force her ideas of what’s best on them, but dang, I did not expect her to suggest field trips to preserve animals. Where’s the thrill-seeking? Where’s the reckless adventure? I can see why they needed to transfer the love of biology to someone, and Wanda was the logical choice, but like, man...I miss her edge. Maybe she matured over the summer break.)

BACK ON TASK. The kids have more or less dropped their catch phrases....with the exception of “CARLOS!” Now that they’re in their second year in Ms. Frizzle’s class, they have a stronger sense of agency during field trips. Heck, they even got to pick a location once! With a less experienced Frizzle in the driver’s seat, the kids really get to run the show...which I think is really neat!

3. They throw the old fans plenty of bones

Weatherman. Keesha directing. Arnold’s obsession with rocks. Phoebe going back to her Old School. Ralphie’s horrified face when he finds himself inside a classmate’s nose, a bodily location everyone (except Jyoti) has been once before. Janet being a snobby little bitch with a blog...who’s still a total coward. Is it just me, or did the writers include a bunch of throw-backs to the original show? I unapologetically love every single one of them.

Also. ALSO. I don’t know if any of y’all took a close look at the credits but...in the Additional Voices there’s three that really stand out:

Amos Crawley: Arnold’s original voice actor (before Danny Tamberelli). Lisa Jai: Wanda’s original voice actress. Stuart Stone: Ralphie’s original voice actor. 

Wow.

I ask you, WHY WOULD THEY SPECIFICALLY GET THEM BACK IF NOT AS A LOVE LETTER TO THE ORIGINAL?

The new show’s not perfect. There’s not as much banter between the kids, and their personalities seem a bit watered down compared to the original (and unexpectedly less sarcastic)...but it’s not BAD. I’d love to hear a kid’s opinion on it, honestly. I know the kid in me can’t wait to see more!

In conclusion, haters gonna hate, the new Magic School Bus is good, and darnit, Netflix, I want more! Make of it what you will.

Thanks for reading!

#magic school bus rides again #magic school bus #msb #rant

[tariah23]

Uhhhhh it’s 4:06 am and I just woke up from this REALLY cute dream???? Askkjh I think my sister and I was running late for school and we were kind of dressed up? Idk the reason though but I remember worrying about being out of uniform and not feeling like getting into trouble. It was the winter and once I got into the school building, there was the asshole threating to beat people up and was screaming in everyones face. One of my old classmates from rl was getting yelled at and tbh, I remember felling very annoyed ONLY because he was hella loud in the morning so I got in the dudes face I think and ended up kicking him in the chest, lol. Everyone was happy that the bully was embarrassed and one of my other old classmates, this guy who I went to both grammar school and high school with, gave me a fist bump and I was really happy about sticking up for other people! I went to my class and somehow I was in college now akmjfhk. I was late for class and made too much noise moving a chair and the students were all sitting at two tables in the room, huddled closely to the teacher and a few minutes later, he gave me and another guy that looked like Arnold from “The Magic School Bus,” a note and I was nevous. I thought that I was in trouble or something. The other guy and I went to the corner and read our notes. I’m not sure as to what the other guy’s notes talked about but mines was a freaking CONFESSION!!!! A LOVE LETTER, MY GUY!!!! FROM MY PROFESSOR THAT I BARELY KNEW AS A PERSON ASKKJJK. I was taken aback and was too embarrassed to turn even around because I was blushing like hell, man. The note said something like “I think you’re really beautiful.” And a bunch of other stuff and I remember melting because tbh, I don’t hear stuff like this!? Especially in rl askkjkk. I spent too much time reading the letter and he even wrote some of the words in bubble letters like a little girl would do in middle school and I freaking died. It look like he used crayons to color some of the words in lmfaoooo. After a few minutes of boiling in the corner, I went back to my seat and he awkwardly smiled at me. I shook my head lightly as he was looking at my direction but I felt like people were noticing how flustered I was so I had to play it cool askjhj. I am not cool. HE WAS WEARING GLASSES (of course I was gonna’ say yes.) After class, I remember sharing candy with some of my female classmates and this one girl was trying to take the best kind of candy that I had and I was like “Hold onnnn!?” I had those really good Halloween candies with the shinny, watermelon wrappings on them and a lollipop or something and her ass was trying to take everything ahaha. There was this other nice girl sitting on my right side, eating little candies that looked like tik taks and she offered us some. No one asked me about what the note said and I was glad. After class, I stayed behind and the professor came to me and he was kind of flustered himself adkjjk. I think I asked him why he liked my ass because wtf, I’m just a bean. I ain’t hot or whatever so why me? I dress like a bum, my dude! I guess that particular day, I was kind of dressed up??? Idk. He said some things and was talking about how he’d take care of my weak ass and I could be the freelance artist while he teaches and that we’d be the perfect duo blah blah. I think I replied with something like “I draw lots of BL….” I’m not sure if he even knew what BL was…. Even in my dreams, I was doubting my self, holy shit!? It made me feel happy that someone liked my ass though, ESPECIALLY my handsome as hell WITH THE FREAKING GLASSES, teacher asfdkkj. I think that I was thinking to myself “I’ll get special treatment when it comes to his hard as fuck EXAMS now, of course I’ll date you!!!!” I’m the worst askjh. I think my classmates were laughing about the “who said I was left off of Bad and Boujee?” incident involving one of the Migos and Dj Akademiks Lmfaooo. Why was that even in this cute dream that I can’t believe I even remember!?

#rambling #gah.... the teacher was really going looking... pretty ppl acknowledging me is a weakness!!! #i'm screaming #dream #i like to share my lame dreams akghdhjj #I'm not even into student teacher relationships AT ALL but this was a cute dream because someone wanted me kek #it feels nice to be wanted or to just have people wanting to be YOUR friend or lover idk

[ishouldreadthat]

We all have our childhood favorites, the books that ignited our love of reading and stick with us through adulthood and are treasured memories.  From Harry Potter to Narnia, there are books that remain in our consciousness for our whole lives, but what about our forgotten favorites?  What about the books we read until the spines fell apart?  How about the ones we circled in the Scholastic book catalogue and begged our parents to buy?  There are a bunch of books that I used to love but either haven’t thought about in years or forgot about completely.

Here are a few of my old favorites:

  Redwall by Brian Jacques

These books were absolutely everywhere when I was a kid.  I think I only read two, but my older sister has read a bunch of them so they were always on our shelves.  The first book was published in 1986 and the series ended up being 22 books long.  It takes place at Redwall Abbey and features a cast of mice, badgers, rats, etc.

Redwall actually factors into my only bad experience with a librarian.  I was in the third grade (about 8 years old) and pulled Redwall off the shelf at my elementary school library.  The librarian told me I was too young to read it and refused to let me borrow it!  I eventually managed to talk her into lending me the book, and I read it cover to cover out of spite.  Ha.

The Bailey School Kids by Marcia T. Jones and Debbie Dadey

These were a big feature of my early reading days.  Set in the Bailey School, the kids are absolutely convinced that their teachers are supernatural beings (looking back, I kind of feel sorry for the teachers).  Featuring excellent titles like Vampires Don’t Wear Polka Dots and Pirates Don’t Wear Pink Sunglasses, there were about 80 of these books published between the original series and its spin-offs. I must have read at least ten of them, I had no idea there were so many.

  The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander

One of the best fantasy series for kids!  I loved Lloyd Alexander anyway because of the amazing book Time Cat (about a time-travelling cat, of course) when I was introduced to The Chronicles of Prydain.  The series follows the adventures of Taran, one of the ultimate Farmboys of Destiny, and features a cast of characters like Princess Eilonwy, the unofficial bard Fflewddur Fflam, and an ocular pig named Hen Wen.  I’ve read the entire series at least once, but read the first one, The Book of Three, so many times that the spine probably wore out.

This was the edition I owned as a kid!

If any of this is sounding familiar, Disney’s first PG-rated animated film was based on the first two books in the series.  If you haven’t seen The Black Cauldron, drop everything right now and watch it.  It’s some scary stuff.

Pretty sure the Horned King made me cry in daycare

Gwinna by Barbara Berger

This was an early factor in my lifelong obsession with beautiful books.  My grandmother gave this book to either myself or my sister as a gift, and I absolutely loved it.  It’s about a couple who desperately want a child, but have not had one.  The Mother of Owls offers to help them, but only if they send the child back to her on its 12th birthday to learn all kinds of magical goodness.  Gwinna has wings – wings! – and plenty of animal friends.  I desperately wanted to be her when I was a kid.

Me in about 60 years

The Magic School Bus by Joanna Cole

Beep beep!

Any kid who loved Bill Nye the Science Guy also loved The Magic School Bus.  These were a series of picture books that followed a class of students and their fabulous teacher Ms Frizzle on a series of ludicrous and incredible field trips on board her magic school bus, of course.  They visit volcanoes, go inside the human body, and so much more.  There’s also an equally amazing TV series, which is apparently available on YouTube.

Literally any kid in the world would trade places with you, Arnold.  Stop complaining.

I kind of still want to be Ms. Frizzle when I grow up.  She has a sentient school bus that can turn into a spaceship, a pet iguana named Liz, and has a fabulous sense of style.

  Sideways Stories from Wayside School by Louis Sachar

As an adult, I’m kind of on Mrs. Gorf’s side

You might recognize the author’s name as the person who wrote Holes, another incredible book.  But it all started with Sideways Stories from Wayside School.  Wayside School was supposed to be 30 classrooms built on one floor, but the builder accidentally built a school 30 stories high, with one classroom on each floor (he’s very sorry about this).  The books follow Mrs. Jewls’ class, which is on the 30th floor. She replaced Mrs. Gorf, a teacher who would turn bad children into apples.  She hated children, but loved apples.  I think you can probably get a sense of how ridiculous these books were.

There were sadly only three of these books, but I also got my hands on the artithmatic spin-offs.  They made absolutely no sense, but I didn’t mind.

  Animorphs by K. A. Applegate

It was impossible to be cool and not read Animorphs when I was a kid.  Jake, Marco, Cassie, Rachel, and Tobias stumble upon a dying alien who gifts them the power to morph into any animal they touch.  Earth is being invaded by Yeerks, which are BRAIN SLUGS, and the Animorphs must fight them.  I’m pretty sure they were telepathic too.

There were 54 of these books, which is kind of incredible.  There was also a TV show that ran for two seasons on Nickelodeon, which I remember very little of.  These books were the best.  I had a silent competition with the annoying kid next to me in the fourth grade to see who had more Animorphs books.  We’d quietly pile them on the corner of our desks and eye each other’s stack.  I can’t remember who won, but I hope it was me.

Not an actual Animorphs cover

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark written by Alvin Schwartz and illustrated by Stephen Gammell.

Who let us read these?  They, along with sticker collecting and Pogs, were all the rage when I was in the first grade.  Why?  Why did I read these?  I can still remember some of the stories so clearly.  There were three of these books: Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark, and Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones.  The best/worst part of these books were the amazing illustrations, which are completely horrifying.  We would gather around and read them out loud to each other while pretending we were actually going to sleep that night.

HarperCollins rereleased these books in 2011 to celebrate the 30th anniversary, but chose to go with new and less frightening illustrations.  This backfired pretty dramatically because anyone who has read these books know the illustrations are the best part.

Ahhh!

Nooo!

Harold still haunts my dreams

Goosebumps by R. L. Stine

I’m sure that anyone who was a kid at any point in the last 30 years knows about Goosebumps.  We all loved them.  Even I, who is scared of absolutely everything, was obsessed with these books.  Because most of us couldn’t quite read them on our own when they were super popular, my Kindergarten teacher would let us bring in copies of Goosebumps books and she’s read a few chapters a day to us out loud.  How cool is that?

I brought in this one to class, but it scared me so I sat in the corner and tried to not listen.

There are 62 books in the Goosebumps series and a bunch of spin-offs.  They featured kids getting caught up in haunted situations or stuck with creepy dolls and such.

    There are so many more, but I had to trim down my list because it was getting a little long.  Have you read any of these?  What are some of your favorite books from your childhood?

Forgotten favorites of a 90's childhood We all have our childhood favorites, the books that ignited our love of reading and stick with us through adulthood and are treasured memories. 

#Animorphs #Blog #Book #books #Children&039;s books #Children&039;s Fiction #Children&039;s Literature #Childrens #Chronicles of Prydain #favorites #Fiction #Geek #Goosebumps #Lloyd Alexander #Magic #Nerdy #nostalgia #Novels #R. L. Stine #Reading #Recommendations #Reviews #Scary stories

[funkymbtifiction]

The Magic School Bus (90's series): Phoebe Terese [ISFJ]

Unofficial typing by: chipmunkfanno1love 

Functional Order: Si-Fe-Ti-Ne

Perceiving Functional Axis:

Introverted Sensing (Si) / Extroverted Intuition (Ne)

Phoebe Terese is by the far the most nostalgic of Ms Frizzle’s students. The “new kid” of the class, she often compares her new school experiences with ones from her old school, often starting sentences with “At my old school…” She does often rely on what she’s comfortable with and what she’s experienced before. She also is very close to her father, showing great distress when she feels he’s in danger in Get Batty. (Si)

While Phoebe does enjoy new experiences, particularly the field trips Ms Frizzle takes the class on, she can become uncomfortable if something is too unfamiliar to her, such as in Gains Weight when she’s afraid to let go of the basketball hoop after doing a slam-dunk on less gravity due to knowing that the fall would lead to serious injury on the regular amount of gravity. It’s only when her class reassures her that the fall will be slower and easier due to there being less gravity does she decide to take a chance and let go. As a result, she enjoys the joys of playing basketball on less gravity, such as higher jumps and bounces (Ne).

Phoebe tends to catastrophise about things under stress. In Goes to Seed she starts worrying that her old teacher, Mr Seedplot, will react poorly to her wild new teacher, Ms Frizzle, only to find out that they have already met and that Mr Seedplot is very fond of Ms Frizzle. She also assumes the worst about the state of the desert animals in All Dried Up, relying on tried and tested methods such as trying to put a sun-hat on a hare and pouring water out into containers for the animals, only for her to find out the ways that the animals adapt to the hot climate (inferior Ne). 

Judging Functional Axis:

Extroverted Feeling (Fe) / Introverted Thinking (Ti)

Phoebe is a caring, sweet and compassionate person. She is always there to reassure and back-up her friends when they need help and support, e.g. comforting Keesha after she gets frustrated with not finding the perfect star for her ant movie in Gets Ants in Its Pants and letting her know that each ant is a star in their own right due to how they all contribute to the nest.

She is a dedicated animal-lover, finding even the most unattractive animals like bugs and bats to be cute. She’s a bit of an activist to their rights, as shown when she puts her foot down on taking honey from bees in In the Bee Hive because she feels it’s stealing from them.

Pheobe treats animals the same way she feels people ought to be treated. Though she can be over-accomedating, such as when she tries to “save” the desert animals, even going far enough as to try and put a hat on a desert hare, in spite of Arnold needing it more. She’s quick to believe Carlos’ teasing about the desert animals being doomed by the heat and lack of water, and doesn’t listen to him and the rest of the class when they try to reassure her that they don’t need her help, until she sees for herself that the desert animals can cope very well in their environment, and do get water from the rare desert rainstorms and plants they eat.

Often Phoebe does need her friends to give her encouragement due to her shyness, such as when she suffers from stage-fright when she plays the literal beanstalk in Gets Planted. She also acts embarrassed by Ms Frizzle in Goes to Seeds, thinking that Mr Seedplot will think her and her bus are weird. She tries to avoid the transformed lady-bus from being seen by him and comes up with many excuses to hide. It’s only when the class finds out about Phoebe’s embarrassment do they remind her of all the amazing things Ms Frizzle’s done to help her grow a new plant from the seed of her plant from her old school. Only when she realises how much Ms Frizzle has done for her does Phoebe overcome her embarrassment, embraces her teacher for the wonderful person she is, and realises what Mr Seedplot thinks of her doesn’t matter. Luckily, Mr Seedplot is more than amiable in his feelings towards Ms Frizzle. It’s also strongly hinted that she has a crush on Arnold after she responds “Gee, what a guy!” to his act of bravery in The Busasaurus. (Fe)

While Phoebe generally lets her feelings drive her actions, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t have logic to back them up. Her logic is internal because she doesn’t need much proof to see connections that make sense to her. In the Bee Hive she tries to argue that stealing honey from a wild bees’ nest is wrong as it belongs to them. Tim retorts what good is the honey to the bees themselves, to which Phoebe replies back with “I dont know, but they must use it for something, or else why would they make it?” It’s only when the class goes through the hive and sees that the bees make the honey to feed themselves and their larvae is Phoebe’s theory proven correct.

She generally takes the information she already knows to rationalise and figure things out, and from there is able to come up with a solution. One great example is in Gains Weight where she learns about gravity and how her size and weight will prevent her from making a slam-dunk. Still she finds ways of working against gravity when the lever is accidentally pulled to too much gravity. She uses the students extra weight to create a stronger pull on the rope of the measuring device she’s sitting in, therefore helping them to lift her towards the gravity-creating lever, and enabling her to turn them back to normal gravity. With the help of classmates, she is also able to create her own slam-dunk via the use of a see-saw. (Ti)

#c: isfj #f: isfj #isfj #mbti #submission #magic school bus #phoebe therese

[hereidinathoreauwrites]

13 Things I Want from The Magic School Bus Rides Again

(Because I need to get my expectations unrealistically high)

A character arc for Fiona Frizzle. Something like her learning to be an elementary school teacher after being a scientist/adventurer her whole life and needing to fill her big sister's shoes (Like she’s used to a lonely life of adventure or hard-core research, not used to looking after 8 youngins with endless questions? And she’s just like: “wow all these small adults are looking to me for knowledge and reassurance while we’re rafting inside of an active volcano…cool.”).

Maybe Fiona could be a bad driver initially? Like she has to adjust to the new vehicle or the bus has to bond with her first? (So she can be pressing buttons without a clue and suddenly her class is turning into birds and she’s like: “uhhh...totally meant to do that! Let’s study flight!”)

A diverse, dynamic class of kids with their own arcs and personalities (Like how Arnold was a budding young geologist? And Phoebe always wanted to save the animals? And Carlos had a genius little brother?) Bonus points for including aspects of their depicted races/cultures without making it their whole character (i.e. Wanda is more than just “the Asian one”, etc.)

Backstory on the Frizzle sisters (Like where the hell has Fiona been? What were they like as kids?! Just how much older is Valerie than Fiona? And why are Fiona’s initials F3?)

Backstory on the freakin’ bus! (Just what the f is that thing if it isn't a TARDIS? And why does it feel like a Frizzle family heirloom? How did the Frizzle clan come to be its keeper?)

PROFESSOR Frizzle traversing the galaxy like the queen that she is and chasing her own mysteries as B plots/spinoff.

Puns. So many goddamned puns. (The original was infamous for puns and I kind of loved it.)

Occasional English lessons (OK, I know the show is about science/technology but couldn't we slip in a grammar/vocabulary lesson or two?)

History! (The books had the class travel back in time to see historical events/cultures. Let's see Ms. Frizzle punch Hitler! Ok, maybe not that part of history...maybe Valerie is just wandering through time, exploring the past?)

An episode on the greenhouse effect (It’s "controversial" but relevant to science ED today. It is a real phenomenon and a very important concept for kids to get right. Adults too!)

Another of those Q&A segments after episodes with a "producer". Heck, have it be a real scientist! (Bonus points for real-life scientists guest starring!!)

Fiona playing guitar because that is Kate's instrument and it would be adorable (Bonus points for her singing!!)

Meeting one of Fiona's old female friends/colleagues that she calls "partner" and it's exactly what we think it is (Maybe she’s an awesome scientist too? #ScienceGalPals)

In summary, I can’t wait for this. And whether I like it or not, it will provide STEM education and adventure for children and isn’t that what really matters?

#the magic school bus #the magic school bus rides again #ms frizzle #kate mckinnon #the magic school bus reboot #science education #science #Magic School Bus #lily tomlin #fiona frizzle #valerie frizzle #stuff that needs to happen #fan wish fulfillment #writers take notice! #im not saying kate mckinnon has to be gay in everything #but it's cool if she is #things i want