FairlyAnonymous The other day I caught my five year old nephew watching The Magic School Bus. At first I didn't think much of it, but then I caught myself sitting down and watching it for the first time in 10-12 years. I forgot how good the show was in its basic educational value.The show follows a crazy/smart science teacher who has a magic school bus that can take her class on endless adventures through volcanoes, water, space, people's intestines, and other places. This gives the show a large variety of episode locations. This means the show can never be held back by the location because the School Bus is "magic".While the class isn't the most interesting, they aren't boring either. Miss Frizzle always seems to know what is going on and is never "troubled" because she always has a plan. Arnold is always the nervous kid, Dorothy Ann is the bookworm, Ralphie is the muscle, and various other pretty basic character traits. However, it works surprisingly well compared to most kids' shows. This might be due to good voice acting or simply better timing on the dialogue, but all of the characters works pretty well.The interesting thing about this show is that at the end of every episode there is a small skit where the "producer" is at home receiving phone calls about the episode just witnessed. This is actually really clever because it allows the show to... break the fourth wall while still being in its own show... literally the producer of the show has Liz (the class pet) with him so it is strange if the characters are conscious that they are in a show or not. Either way, these skits help explain "faults" in the episodes and help stop parent complaints. In one such episode, the character needs to fix the bus and they shrink down and examine the bus' engine from the inside. In real life, they would've been dead. So the ending skit with the producer has him receive a call from someone complaining about how "Unrealistic that was". So the producer comments back about why they allowed an unrealistic element in and how kids should watch out when handling gasoline or car parts. This cleverly allows the show to go into even more dangerous territory. A lower quality show would've avoided car parts in fear of parents complaining. However, The Magic School Bus doesn't avoid dangerous subjects, because it openly explains itself as to why it can do that.The Magic School Bus is cliché at times. There's no doubt about that, however, it was a slightly early kids' educational animated show so you have to give it some credit that some of its clichés weren't as... bad back then.All in all, The Magic School Bus is an educational kids' show that has held up fairly well over the course of time. It can be clever, risky, and humorous when it needs to be. Is it as educational as watching a documentary on the same subjects? Probably not. But it dumbs down the facts without diluting them too much, which is just enough for kids to learn. A very good show.

cesardlg yes, sesame street and other shows teach the basics better. however, once your kid advances to the "how it works" stage, this program hits the nail on the head. my kid likes hearing how honey is produced and what the roll of the bee-keeper as well as the queen bee, etc. There are also a lot of factoids that he just will spout off for the next few days. Sesame street was great when he was 2 and 3, but now at 4, its magic school bus time.we just recently discovered the books and they are great also. we do story time before bed every time and usually its at least 5 books. one of these books takes about 20-30 minutes though because there are a lot of factoids in each of them and reading each and every one takes time. i learned quite a bit myself. i kind of like the book better than the show.

derekp-1 I love this show. My 4 year old is a science and animal freak. He knows more than I do and that was before we discovered Magic School Bus. Since we discovered The Magic School Bus he has learned even more and has added every video and book to his birthday wish list. This show has also stimulated his imagination. When we are in the car he plays "Magic School Bus" and pretends our car turns into different things. Each episode takes a science based subject and the class goes on a field trip to learn more. The bus will turn into something and they go off and learn first hand. For example, if the subject is space then the bus will turn into a spaceship and they will go up into space to learn. If you have a child that loves science and loves to learn this show is great. Give it a try.

Ginger87 When I was in second grade my teacher always brought in videos of "The Magic School Bus". I loved the videos so I started watching the show on T.V. I enjoyed this show because it made learning fun. I learned about the human body, photosynthesis, outer space, sound, reptiles, and much more. It was cool.One of my favorite episode was the one when the class is investigating a haunted house. In this episode the class learns about sound. I also like the episode when the class went to outer space to look for a star for Dorothy Ann. That episode was really funny.I suggest this show to everyone and I give it 9/10 stars.