Skip to main content

The Magic School Bus Was Better Than I Thought

Recently re-watched "The Magic School Bus Gets Lost In Space". I'd forgotten how well they used the character of Janet to improve the storytelling.

They establish character so well that by the end of 3 minutes, we already dislike Janet and want her to suffer. From there, Janet's character stays consistent until she has a moment so traumatic that it makes sense for her character to grow.
Her personality causes the inciting incident as her arrogant need for proof drives even Arnold to asking Ms. Frizzle for a not-so-normal field trip.
Her personality causes a lot of conflict between her and the other students even before Ms. Frizzle left.
Her personality leads to the other kids accidentally manipulating her into causing a lot of the conflict when they say other people might ask her for proof of her space exploration.
That conflict builds a little at a time (because of Janet's personality) until we reach a climax that feels well-deserved because of the episode's pacing.
In the end, the antagonist experiences genuine character growth for understandable reasons and we get a very good idea of what her life will be like in the future and a very good idea of the theme.
Not only was "The Magic School Bus Gets Lost In Space" mildly educational about the pre-1999 solar system, but throughout the episode, Janet's character almost completely drives the plot and all the conflict to deliver impressive character-based storytelling.


Now is there other good children's storytelling? If so, prove it.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Should The Book of Mormon Be A Movie?

Over the last few years, my brother and I have been brainstorming about how to make an epic movie (or series of movies) out of The Book of Mormon. We didn't want something simple. We want something epic - a grand adventure for the ages, like we sometimes say the Book of Mormon itself is. I've heard a lot of people love the idea, and I've heard a lot of concerns. I'd like to address some of the concerns and see if I can help. Perhaps you could help me address my major concern with making the Book of Mormon into a movie. If you have any more concerns, let me know. I'd love to discuss them. Concern #1: "It would be rated R." This is the single most frequent concern I hear. I even heard this from someone who played in the Bible videos. To be fair, it's a legitimate concern. There are plenty of lots of R-rated ancient war movies - from Gladiator  (2000), to 300  (2006) to the extended edition of The Hobbit: Battle of the Five Armies  (2014/2015). Th...

Age of Ultron as a Hawkeye Movie

We sometimes say that Tony is the ultimate antagonist of the MCU. We sometimes say that Avengers: Age of Ultron is a movie more about Hawkeye than any other character. But it turns out: You could rewrite Age of Ultron in a way that takes out Cap, Thor, Hulk, and Nat and you would have effectively the same movie. The plot of Avengers: Age of Ultron  is pretty simple: When Tony Stark gets manipulated into creating a robot to protect the planet that goes awry, the rest of the Avengers try to stop the robot from destroying the earth. Cap, Thor, Hulk, and Nat don't actually help  Ultron or the Avengers to succeed in their goals. So let's re-imagine Age of Ultron  as a solo Hawkeye movie. In this version, Hawkeye becomes the main character, and b ecause of their traumatic experiences involving Stark, Wanda and Lame Quicksilver are still villains. Tony is rewritten as an obvious villain, giving us 4 major villains:  Tony, Wanda, Lame Quicksilver, and Ultron, ...

Chloe Bennet? Please?

Every time I see anything about Avengers: Infinity War , I feel bogged down, even though I should be really excited for it. I finally realized the reason: No Chloe Bennet. At this point, all I care about with the MCU is what the official title of Spider-Man: The Winter Formal will be (because what else do you call the sequel to Homecoming ?), what new genres they'll explore, and how they'll have the TV shows will affect the movies. Chloe Bennet's character from Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. would be a fantastic addition to Avengers: Infinity  War . Her character is powerful enough to be helpful to the team, is from a show people already like, and is extremely easy to introduce to an audience that has never seen Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D . I would love to see Chloe Bennet in a Marvel movie. (The fact that she's extremely attractive doesn't hurt.)