The name is a powerful thing. It holds the essence of a person, the meaning and purpose behind their existence. It has the ability to shape and define a person's identity, connecting them to their roots and heritage. A name can invoke a sense of nostalgia, reminding us of our past and the people who came before us. It can carry the weight of tradition, reflecting the values and beliefs of our ancestors. It can also be a symbol of hope and aspiration, representing the dreams and ambitions we hold for ourselves and our future.
While the class was hanging out on Pluto, Arnold, so fed up with Janet’s ridiculous antics, decided to take off his space helmet, exposing his head to the freezing weather.
The male producer receives a phone call from a girl, who compares The Magic School Bus to The Twilight Zone, which had more science fiction than fact, and notes that it would be impossible to visit all nine planets in one day. Off-Model In The Magic School Bus Spins A Web , when Keisha lifts the lid of a vacant spider s nest on the ground under which she and the others retreat, she s in her usual purple outfit with the thick, teal stripe on it.
It can also be a symbol of hope and aspiration, representing the dreams and ambitions we hold for ourselves and our future. In many cultures, names are chosen carefully and thoughtfully, often with deep cultural and spiritual significance. They can be a reflection of a person's personality, qualities, or even the circumstances of their birth.
The Magic School Bus
An animated Edutainment Show which ran on PBS in The Nineties. It was adapted from a series of books written by Joanna Cole and illustrated by Bruce Degen. It was later made into a set of computer games, as well. The series follows an eccentric/insane schoolteacher as she takes her elementary school class on very exotic field trips which teach scientific topics. These adventures are made possible by (you guessed it) a magical school bus. (And Viewers Like You, of course.) The show's Wacky Homeroom consisted of:
- Ms. Valerie Frizzle: Inexplicably Awesome. A Crazy AwesomeGreat Gazoo class teacher.
- Arnold Perlstein: The Butt Monkey (possibly making him The Woobie), practices Informed Judaism, occasionally played as The So-Called Coward; his cousin Janet is an Insufferable GeniusDrop-In Character who shows up about once a season
- Wanda Li: The Genki Girl and the Tsundere
- Carlos Ramon: The Plucky Comic Relief and Pungeon Master; also a Weekend Inventor in earlier episodes. Constant victim of the First Name Ultimatum ("Carlos. ") and Tough Room.
- Phoebe Terese: Naive Everygirl and aspiring Friend to All Living Things, (including bugs). Started off in the books as a Naive Newcomer, which is why her catchphrase is "We never did things like this at my old school."
- Tim Jamal: The Generic Guy and Straight Man (He could perhaps have been an Author Avatar)
- Dorothy Ann ("D.A."): The Smart Girl in a Magic Skirt
- Ralphie Tennelli: The Agent Mulder and an early form of Deadpan Snarker.
- Keesha Franklin: The Agent Scully (though the existence of a magical bus doesn't seem to faze her)
- Liz: Ms. Frizzle's sentient pet lizard. Liz can't talk, but that doesn't stop her from being able to drive the bus and such (which must be difficult considering that her legs aren't long enough to reach the pedals).
It's also worth noting that the show was popular enough to go into syndication, which is very rare for a PBS show.
A reboot The Magic School Bus 360°, has been announced to air on Netflix in 2016.
Tropes used in The Magic School Bus include:- Adult Child: Ms. Frizzle, in a good way.
- A.I. Is a Crapshoot: Well, in this case, Ralphie's brainless Robot Me is. And it steals his hat.
- All Deserts Have Cacti: Justified in that they're in an American desert.
- Alternative Foreign Theme Song: The Japanese version has two ending themes. One of the ending themes is called "Dream On" by Junko Iwao. The other is called "Let's Ride" by Dreaming.
- And Knowing Is Half the Battle: The phone segment at the end of each episode where one of the show's producers explains to a child over the phone how the events in the episode couldn't happen in real life, along with summarizing the educational content of the episode. These scenes were adapted from a similar section in the original books that discussed the same thing. When the show aired in syndication on cable TV, these segments were sometimes cut.
- Animated Actors: The post-episode Q&A from "All Dried Up" had Phoebe answering the questions, and her responses make it clear they know they're on a show. Although, she's still in character to an extent ("At my old school, kids never answered the phone.")
- In "Spins A Web", General Araneus appears in the phone scene. He is portrayed as being an actor, but is still himself and, in fact, is still in black and white.
- The original book series continued after the show began, and characters from the show were gradually added.
- The original kids all had names (as seen on the reports), but only Arnold, Wanda, Tim, Dorothy Ann, Ralph(ie), and Phoebe (who was introduced in the second book) made it into the show (Carlos and Keesha were added for the show, this troper thinks, since they appeared in a book that came out when the show did).
- It should be noted that the original book series featured a lot more kids than the ones who made it to the TV show, fitting in line with what most people expect of a real classroom's size. However, too many characters would have bogged down the kids' show, so they cut it down to eight.
- Played straight in the video game adaptation for the Sega Genesis.
- Things grow and shrink on a regular basis, and the school bus is usually attacked when shrunken down to size.
- Keesha: The sarcastic realist
- Wanda: The tomboy
- Dorothy Ann: The bookworm
- Phoebe: The naive romantic
Dorothy Ann: Me? In charge with him?!
- Brake Angrily: In "Gets Lost in Space." Arnold gets sick of Janet insulting Mrs. Frizzle to his face, culminating in an aborted trip to the planetarium. Arnold calls for a bus stopdown, and asks to go someplace else. The next thing you know, the school bus is launched into space.
- Canadian Series: The series was produced and animated by Canadian animation studio Nelvana, and all the voice actors who played the kids (except for DannyTamberelli) were also Canadian. Viewers Like You in both Canada (on such stations as TVO) and in the US (on PBS) footed the costs, of course.
- Captain Obvious: An interesting variation:
Ms. Frizzle: Welcome to the magma chamber, the heart of a volcano.
Ralphie: How do we get out of here?
Ms. Frizzle: Out of a volcano? How do you suppose?- A straight example: "According to my research, after chewing comes swallowing." Really, Dorothy Ann? Haven't you ever eaten food before?
"Ah, the wonders of the human body."
- Also, while under attack by a Tyrannosaurus Rex, she bothers to check if her insurance covers dinosaur damage. Way to go, Hero Insurance.
- Honestly, the class is screaming, while they are in something like "Informed Danger" because that bus is well more than capable of stopping everything from a T-Rex attack to a volcano to BENDING THE RULES OF SPACE AND TIME. (Well, they take enough damage to that bus.)
- The Frizz has many:
"Take chances! Make mistakes! Get messy!"
"Bus, do your stuff!"
"To the bus!"
"As I always say. "
"Hit it, Liz!"
"Seatbelts, everyone!"
"Never say never!"
"Arnold are you paying attention?" (Lampshaded in the books where the kids are in space, Mrs. Frizzle isn't there, and the line is in her notes).- How about Arnold's infamous "I KNEW I should've stayed home today!"
- D.A.: "According to my research. "
- Carlos: "(Bad joke). Get it?"
- "Carlos. "
- Ralphie: "Is it just me, or (is a scientific process going on right in front of me)?"
- Ms. Frizzle: "As my (insert unusually-named relative) used to say, (bad pun)"
- E.g: "The more mixed-up things get, the better the solution!"
- There are only fifty-two episodes -- they could easily all take place within one school year. Granted, they would be going on about twenty times more field trips than any real class.
- Over the course of the "year", all four of the boys' voices break, leading to the hilarious line by post-pubescent-sounding Arnold about being able to stand "four feet tall again".
- Her earrings, too.
- The bus also changes pattern and sometimes shape to reflect the adventure.
- Didn't Want an Adventure: "Please let this be a normal field trip."
- There was also an episode where they could "see" air. It was some special red-colored air called Extraordin-Air.
- While space may not be cold, Pluto actually is, resting at an estimated −230 °C. And unlike space, there's (sometimes) an atmosphere present on it. This may be a simple continuation of the misconception, or a stealth example of Shown Their Work.
- The Hero: Arnold (the most developed character).
- The Lancer: Carlos, Keesha, Wanda.
- The Big Guy: Ralphie.
- The Smart Guy: Dorothy Ann, Tim.
- The Chick: Phoebe (also The Heart).
- The Mentor: Miss Frizzle.
- Team Pet: Liz.
- Magic Bus: The Bus.
- Token Evil Teammate: Janet.
- Series Fauxnales ended with Ms. Frizzle wearing a dress covered in question marks.
- The boys: Carlos is the Cynic, Tim is the Optimist, Arnold is the Realist, and Ralphie is the Apathetic.
- The girls: Keesha is the Cynic, Phoebe is the Optimist, Dorothy Ann is the Realist, and Wanda is the Apathetic.
- The boys: Carlos is Sanguine, Ralphie is Choleric, Tim is Melancholic, and Arnold is Phlegmatic.
- The girls: Wanda is Sanguine, Keesha is Choleric, Dorothy Ann is Melancholic, and Phoebe is Phlegmatic.
- Friend to Bugs: Again, Phoebe. Of course, that's to be expected being that this is a science-themed show aimed at children.
- Can also be said for Phoebe, who looks either brunette or redheaded.
- In "Ups and Downs", Keesha talks about turning their "floaters into sinkers".
- In "Revving Up", as the class floats around in the bus' carburetor, Wanda says "Now I know what a tossed salad feels like!".
"Believe me, it would have been a lot easier to make The Magic School radio show."
- Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: The Magic School Bus (does something).
- I Don't Think That's Such a Good Idea: Arnold, practically all the time.
- If My Calculations Are Correct: "According to my research. "
- Incredible Shrinking Man: Many, many episodes.
- Inexplicably Awesome: The eccentric Ms Frizzle's awesome and bizarre powers drive the stories: she can take the class anywhere from the solar system to a digestive tract. She purposefully never receives an explanation. In fact, the original name for Inexplicably Awesome was "The Frizzle".
- Insistent Terminology: DA would like to let you know that her book isn't purple, it's violet.
- Ironic Echo Cut: "I'm sure your class can do broadcast day without you." (cut to classroom) "We can't do it without him!"
- Irony: Ms. Frizzle uses a bus powered by magic to teach kids about science!
- Maybe it followsClarke's Third Law.
- The books had something similar, typically people complaining that their bus adventures tended to be of the very mundane "we got lost" variety, and saying that school buses can't turn into fish.
- It was also done in-episode from time to time. Like when they were inside the filament of a light bulb, traveling along with the electric current:
Dorothy Ann: "According to my research. which is very hard to do when going around like this. "
- Also in the "Goes On Air" episode, when D.A. offers up her hair bands for the sake of science. Her hair stays in the pigtails, and minor Hilarity Ensues.
Arnold: "D.A.- your ponytails can stay in without-"
Keesha: "Nevermind that-!"- Light and Mirrors Puzzle: One episode revolved around this, a game of 'Light Pinball'. The objective was, using mirrors and prisms, to split a beam of light into the colors of the rainbow and redirect them into like-colored eyes.
- Limited Wardrobe: The kids.
- Lurid Tales of Doom: The monster of Walker Lake, invented by reporter Gerri Poveri in the episode "Ups and Downs" as a Scooby-Doo Hoax. She calls it "creative journalism". (Gerri Poveri, by the way, is Shirley Feeney and looks oddly like an adult version of Janet.)
- Magical Guardian: Ms Frizzle is this.
- Magic Bus: Of course.
- Magic Skirt: In "The Magic School Bus Kicks Up A Storm", when Ms. Frizzle and her class are descending from the sky as part of the rain cycle, her skirt gets in a draft, which causes the pleats to become wavy, but her rear is away from the direction of the viewers.
- Magitek: The bus is revealed to have several exotic components under the hood, with such names as "mesmerglobber", the "shrinkerscope" and the "doo-dinger".
- Market-Based Title: The early books were published as The Magic Bus in Britain because Britain doesn't have American-style school buses and Viewers are Morons.
- Melodrama: ". And Ms. Frizzle's happiness will be ruined. forever!" * Insert Tears of Remorse here*
- Milestone Celebration: The book The Magic School Bus and the Science Fair Expedition came out 20 years after the first book. As a result, it boasts a holographic cover, and includes appearances from several of history's most legendary scientists.
- Morphic Resonance: The kids, Ms. Frizzle, and the bus will keep their identifying characteristics even when transformed into something else.
- Never Say "Die": References to death are avoided even though there have been numerous instances where the class was clearly in mortal danger.
- Though, in "All Dried Up", Ralphie was clear in his meaning when, after spotting a vulture, he says, "Is it just me, or does this look like the final field trip?"
- At least one outright exception: In "Spins a Web", Phoebe tells General Araneus that "You can't kill the praying mantis!" (He replies "Don't be so negative. I'll get it.")
"It's natural. It's normal. But do you really think they'd let us show it on daytime TV?"
- No Name Given: The last names of Dorothy Ann and Tim were never mentioned.
- Off-Model: In "The Magic School Bus Spins A Web", when Keisha lifts the lid of a vacant spider's nest on the ground under which she and the others retreat, she's in her usual purple outfit with the thick, teal stripe on it. But when the scene cuts to a far away shot, her outfit is gray instead, but the color of the stripe stays the same.
- Once a Season: Arnold's Alpha Bitch cousin, Janet, shows up to make life worse for Ms. Frizzle's class.
- Out-of-Character Moment: In a book about deserts, Carlos, of all people, is the only member of the class to have heard of the "rain shadow effect," which is cited as one primary cause of the classical desert (basically, differences in pressure mean mountains get a lot of rain which then fails to go on to the area which is now desert due to lack of rain). Even the book hangs a lampshade on how unlikely it is that Carlos is the one in the know. (And you'd think out of all the class. It'd be Dorothy Ann.)
- One-Way Entrance: the door to the Sound Museum slammed shut after the class went inside.
- Parental Bonus: Many of the show's numerous Shout Outs do this; for example, at one point the bus turns into the Enterprise.
- Not to mention the Friz herself. As many a disgruntled cosplayer has noted, Ms Frizzle is stacked.
- In the episode where they go to space, they are going past Uranus. Arnold sits on his cousin's lap to prevent her from leaving her seat, to which she says, "Uranus doesn't do a thing for me, so please get off!" Arnold replies, "Sorry, Janet, but I have to stay on top of the situation."
- In "Gets Ready, Set, Dough", while the class is stuck in an oven, Phoebe says, "At my old school, we never got baked."
- In the episode "For Lunch", Wanda thanks Arnold for "Giving me the ride of my dreams" after a field trip through Arnold's digestive tract.
- In "Upstream", Ralphie points out the salmon are changing before their eyes, and Ms. Frizzle says he will go through the same phase as a teenager. Later on, you see the male salmon ejaculating on the eggs.
- These last four are probably closer to Getting Crap Past the Radar.
- Ironically, it's actually a bit possible to make a pinball machine like that; just not exactly like what you see in the snow. (You have to use a laser)
- "Herman."
- Collective Groan/Phrase Catcher: "CARLOS!"
- Generation Xerox: "MR. RAMON!"
- Another one occurs in "Gets A Bright Idea", in which Janet uses a clever light trick to make it look like Arnold is a ghost. Since this is Janet, she doesn't have a motivation other than being her usual Jerkass self.
- Tomboy and Girly Girl: Wanda and Phoebe.
- Ms. Frizzle's prisoner number when she's put on trial for taking Keesha's cucumber is #24601.
- Arnold's cousin Janet shows up in the episode where they travel to every planet in the solar system, making her Interplanet Janet.
- Liz gains a voice in the computer games to serve as a help file for how to play them.
- In "The Magic School Bus Getting Energized," light blushing appears on Dorothy Ann's cheeks when Carlos's brother Mikey tells her he's glad that the rash she had from an accident last time Mikey helped out is gone.
- In "The Magic School Bus Cracks A Yolk", Arnold blushes lightly when Dorothy Ann kisses him for his part in helping to get a baby chick to arrive in the world after hatching from an egg.
Tim: Anyone have a good plan B?
Wanda: There aren't any good plan B's, Tim! If they were good, they'd be plan A's.- Time Travel: "The Busasaurus."
- Title Sequence Replacement: Fox Kids shortened the theme song at one point.
- In a less severe example, Discovery Kids had the full theme song play, then end with a freeze frame of the bus before cutting to commercial. The title card that originally closed the title sequence appeared after the break.
- Though this could be to keep the audience's attention and point of view. After all, most of the kids watching the show would call other children's parents by "Mr." and "Mrs." [last name]. Though that's just speculation.
Arnold: That's not a parachute! That's a pair of shoes!
- Xenophone: Carlos tries to create one in one episode, but it initially fails due to his misunderstanding of the principles of sound (and he understands this trope only too well).
Carlos: How about this? I wanted it to have the sound of a lion, so I gave it a mane!
(he demonstrates)
Wanda: It's a kitten Carlos.Tim: Anyone have a good plan B?
Wanda: There aren't any good plan B's, Tim! If they were good, they'd be plan A's.Some names have specific meanings or stories behind them, further adding to their magical allure. Names have the power to create a sense of belonging and community. They can bring people together, forming connections and building relationships. A name can evoke emotions, stir memories, and elicit a sense of familiarity and comfort. But perhaps most importantly, a name is a personal and unique identifier. It sets us apart from others, making us individuals with our own distinct experiences and stories. It is a reminder of our individuality and the power we each possess to shape our own destiny. In a world filled with countless names, each one holds its own magic and significance. Whether simple or complex, traditional or modern, a name is a precious gift given to us at birth. It is a reminder of our place in the world, our connection to others, and the potential we hold within ourselves. So, cherish your name, for it is a reflection of who you are and the mark you will leave on the world..
Reviews for "The Ancient Traditions and Rituals of Its Magical Neme"
1. Sarah - 2/5 stars - I was really disappointed with "Its magical neme". The plot was confusing and unfocused, and I found it hard to connect with any of the characters. The writing style was also choppy and inconsistent, making it difficult to follow along. Overall, I felt like the book lacked depth and substance, and I wouldn't recommend it to others.
2. John - 1/5 stars - I couldn't even finish "Its magical neme". The story was so poorly written and the dialogue was incredibly forced and unnatural. It felt like a chore to read, with no redeeming qualities whatsoever. I have read many fantasy novels before, but this one was just unbearable. I regret wasting my money on this book.
3. Emily - 2/5 stars - "Its magical neme" had an intriguing premise, but it fell short in execution. The pacing was incredibly slow, and the book dragged on for far too long. The characters, while having potential, lacked depth and development. The author tried to create a magical world, but it felt shallow and underdeveloped. I was left feeling unsatisfied and unfulfilled after reading this book.
4. Mike - 3/5 stars - I had high hopes for "Its magical neme", but it didn't quite live up to my expectations. While the concept was interesting, the writing style was hard to follow and the story lacked cohesiveness. The author introduced too many subplots without giving them proper resolution, leaving me feeling confused and disconnected from the overall narrative. There were moments of brilliance, but they were overshadowed by the book's flaws.
The Healing Properties of Its Magical Neme