The Magic School Bus Original Pilot (Original Version): Difference between revisions
The Magic School Bus Original Pilot (Original Version) (view source)
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Thermometer (talk | contribs) (Created page with "{{Note|This is the original version of The Magic School Bus Original Pilot.}} It was a children's cartoon show in the '90s where a crazy science teacher would take studen...") |
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{{Note|This is the original version of [[The Magic School Bus Original Pilot]].}}
Does anyone remember the show The Magic Schoolbus? It was a children's cartoon show in the '90s where a crazy science teacher would take students on weekly adventures into places such as into space or through the human digestive system. What most people don't know about the show was that it was meant to fit into a line of horror stories for kids before the concept spiraled horrifically out of control and most likely terrified test audiences. Originally planned by PBS, it was designed by Melnitsa Animation Studio in Russia, and thus the original pilot episode was partially animated in Russia before being chopped at the five minute mark to be a kids' series. In the original episode, the doubting school children were brought onto a school bus (Originally the bus had no eyes) that transformed into a spacecraft and brought them into space, where strange things began to happen. As such, the episode starts normally. The recut includes the original PBS episode 1, but the music is different, with an infinitely descending Shepard's tone replacing the happy intro. The title screen is merely black, with the words (Я не могу дышать) over what must be an English translation that says "The Sad Bus". After some resarch, I found that it said "I cannot breathe".
I only saw the episode in a recut through a friend in Russia who had VHS taped it and sent it to me with the explicit note that I do not share it due to legal disclosures. I am guessing that the recut didn't include the bus' eyes, but I'm not sure whether it's layering or horror that two of the student characters, Carlos and Dorothy Ann aren't there either. I mean they are there, but their eyes are missing, and no one mentions it. The bus also looks much more sinister because the front lights are normal (though still eye-like) and the grill of the bus just looks extremely sad, like it's in a constant frown. The voice work is also different, with a sense of sorrow in the American actors' voices. In the PBS edition, Arnold's cousin Janet thinks that Mrs. Frizzle is boring, so Arnold has the teacher take them into space. In this episode, going into space is where things become very messed up. Nothing from the original episode is here, instead the bus "transforms" into a space ship, kind of like one you'd see in a film like 2001: A Space Odyssey. There's no transition, it just becomes this. The walls are all white and there seem to be infinite corridors with steep drops. From the outside, it looks like a soviet space rocket, but larger. Arnold comments that this wasn't what he expected and he wants to go home. Janet and Carlos also seem equally confused, but Janet is smiling. Mrs. Frizzle says that there is an override lock on the ship and nobody can leave until it has reached its destination: "We are hurtling toward the sun". Mrs. Frizzle tells everyone that she can either turn off the airlock and suffocate everyone, only jokingly, before saying that she will put in the manual override, but it will take six months to reach Earth.
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