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Hi everybody,
1stly, I published my 8th review ("Not nearly as good as the original books": www.amazon.com/review/R1A9PA105I2590/ref=cm_cr_srp_d_rdp_perm?ie=UTF8 ). I'd really appreciate it if you'd read said review & vote "Helpful" after "Was this review helpful to you": For 1, I want to make sure it gives a good idea of what to expect; For another, it needs all the "Helpful" votes it can get to make up for being outnumbered by the opposing reviews (which don't give a good idea of what to expect). Many thanks in advance.
2ndly, as you may remember, I originally posted about said review on 8/12/14 ( https://www.deviantart.com/jd-man/journal/Review-update-8-It-s-a-big-1-475071561 ). However, for whatever reason, DeviantArt won't let me update the outdated parts of the OG post, hence this post. Also, Amazon won't let me update the outdated parts of said review, so I put the whole updated review here.
Cheers,
Herman Diaz
As you may have noticed, I usually review non-fiction books. That's because non-fiction books are more structured than other forms of edutainment (& thus, easier for me to review). However, I feel so strongly about "The Magic School Bus" that I had to make an exception. In this review, I list the 4 main reasons why I think "The Busasaurus" (henceforth TB) in particular & the show in general isn't nearly as good as "In the Time of the Dinosaurs" (henceforth Time) in particular & the original books in general.
1) In Time, Ms. Frizzle, Liz, & Arnold are the only well-defined/developed characters (E.g. We learn that Ms. Frizzle's 1st name is Valerie & that she went to high school with Jeff, her paleontologist friend). The non-Arnold kids are basically wallpaper. The same goes for the original books in general. On the show, the good characters are even better developed (E.g. Ms. Frizzle is basically the female Willy Wonka), while the not-so-good characters are almost exclusively defined by their catchphrases & range from bland to awful: On the bland side, there's Tim, who's basically the Franklin to the show's "Peanuts" (I.e. He doesn't even have his own catchphrase); On the awful side, there's Carlos, who's basically a Fox News anchor (I.e. An arrogant, obnoxious, fear/hate-mongering bigot). TB in particular shows the good characters at their best (E.g. Arnold saves the class from a T. rex) & the not-so-good characters at their worst (E.g. Carlos spouts anti-dino speeches at every available opportunity).
2) In Time, most of the ornithischians & some of the saurischians are depicted with wonky hand &/or foot anatomy. Otherwise, the animals are mostly accurate for the time. The same goes for the original books in general, but not the show. TB in particular fails in the following ways:
-Pteranodon is depicted as being naked & living inland despite the facts that 1) pterosaurs in general were fuzzy, & 2) Pteranodon in particular lived in coastal areas.
-All the dinos, except the Ornithomimus, are depicted with wonky hand &/or foot anatomy.
-Alamosaurus, Parasaurolophus, Triceratops, & Troodon are depicted as being flat-footed despite the fact that dinos were toe-walkers.
-Alamosaurus is depicted with a mouth full of teeth that all look like flat molars despite the fact that sauropods' teeth were either spoon-shaped or pencil-shaped.
-The Parasaurolophus sounds are just plain wrong (See 10:00 onward: https://archive.org/details/a-e-dinosaur-with-walter-cronkite/1991+A%26E+Dinosaur!+(with+Walter+Cronkite)+-+03+The+Tale+Of+An+Egg.mp4 ).
-Parasaurolophus is depicted with no sexual dimorphism despite the fact that females "had a shorter more curved crest so they could be distinguished within the herd" (See Gardom/Milner's "The Natural History Museum Book of Dinosaurs").
-Troodon & T. rex are depicted as roaring, screaming, hissing, etc. while attacking prey (Quoting Holtz: "When trying to hunt, how would popping out and screeching at prey help?").
-Troodon is depicted as being a big-game hunter despite the fact that troodonts "have relatively lightly built snouts, suggesting that they did not tackle very large prey" ( https://web.archive.org/web/20090428141305/http://www.geol.umd.edu:80/~tholtz/G104/lectures/104eumani.html ).
-Troodon & T. rex are depicted as regarding humans as food (See the Dietrich quote).
-T. rex is depicted as being a super-persistent predator despite the fact that it "had clearly sacrificed speed to size. If it did not catch its quarry in the first rush there was no question of setting off in a lengthy pursuit" (See Gardom/Milner's "The Natural History Museum Book of Dinosaurs").
-Ornithomimus is depicted as being carnivorous despite the fact that it was probably omnivorous.
3) In both Time & TB, the class visits Ms. Frizzle's paleontologist friend at a dino dig. However, the similarity ends there: On the 1 hand, in Time, the class travels back to the Late Cretaceous Period "to look for some Maiasaura nests" because "paleontologists have uncovered the bones of some Maiasaura[...], but are disappointed that they haven't found any nests" ( https://web.archive.org/web/20220817123826/https://www.publishersweekly.com/9780590446884 ); We learn that "Dinosaurs Were Special" compared to "today's reptiles" (E.g. "Some dinosaurs may have been warm-blooded. All of today's reptiles are cold-blooded"); On the other hand, in TB, the class travels back to the Late Cretaceous Period "to see what those ancient reptiles[...]were really like" because Carlos brought up his "prejudices and preconceptions about dinosaurs" ( https://web.archive.org/web/20240508051135/https://www.abebooks.com/9786304400685/Magic-School-Bus-Busasaurus-VHS-6304400683/plp ); We learn that "there are more plant eaters than meat eaters. The meat eaters wanted a quick meal without getting hurt. They were not blood thirsty monsters" ( http://www.thirteen.org/edonline/nttidb/lessons/as/dinoas.html ). I have 3 major problems with TB's story-related changes:* 1) T. rex shouldn't have replaced Maiasaura as the main dino; For 1, T. rex is the most overexposed & overstudied dino; For another, a cameo like in Time (I.e. 1 T. rex turns its head & glances at the class, but otherwise pays no mind to them) would've made more sense given TB's lesson; 2) TB, among other episodes, shouldn't have been based around Carlos's prejudices & preconceptions (See "Considering Effects in Context" for why: https://archive.ph/Ryk8R ); 3) All carnivorous dinos shouldn't have been depicted as being dangerous & all herbivorous dinos shouldn't have been depicted as being friendly because, to quote Bakker (See "Maximum Triceratops"), "that's wrong. In nature today, the most dangerous critters on land are huge, strong vegetarians. African elephants charge lions and try to squash their cubs. Black rhinos use their long horns to spear hyenas. Hippos use their big teeth to chop crocodiles in half."
4) In Time, the epilogue consists of 2 pages in which Cole & Degen recognize some major falsehood in the story (E.g. "A BUS CAN'T BECOME A TIME MACHINE") & expand on what we learn from the story (E.g. "Birds are the dinosaurs of today"). The same goes for the original books in general. On the show, the epilogue consists of 3 minutes (including the completely pointless & slightly racist intro) in which the producers or guest stars do the same thing while taking phone calls from kids. I have 2 major problems with the show's epilogue: 1) Unlike the book's epilogue (which concentrates on expansion), the show's epilogue gives equal time to recognition; 2) The show's epilogue fails to cover many story-related subjects & those that are covered are done so in an insufficient manner (I.e. Sometimes, it's simplified to the point of being meaningless; Other times, it's just plain wrong). TB in particular fails in the following ways:
-In reference to the 1st caller's 1st question, Carmina says that "nobody's ever seen a real live" dino while ignoring birds.
-In reference to the 1st caller's 2nd question, Carmina says that "the plant eaters[...]had flat grinding teeth, and the meat eaters had pointy cutting teeth", ignoring the facts that 1) not all herbivorous dinos had "grinding teeth", 2) not all carnivorous dinos had "cutting teeth", & 3) not all dinos had teeth (E.g. Ornithomimus).
-In reference to the 2nd caller's 1st question, Carmina says that "no one knows exactly how [dinos] behaved or what they sounded like" & that "we use our imaginations and make educated guesses", ignoring the facts that 1) trace fossils are literally "records of prehistoric behavior" ( https://web.archive.org/web/20150911173940/https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/dinosaurs-without-bones-anthony-j-martin/1114836014 ), 2) we know exactly what Parasaurolophus, the dino that inspired said question, sounded like (See reason #2 above), & 3) paleontologists don't just use their imaginations, but also make "frequent reference to today's animals as a basis for comparison" ( www.amazon.co.uk/Natural-History-Museum-Book-Dinosaurs/dp/184442183X ).
-The 2nd half of the epilogue is wasted on the 2nd caller's 2nd question ("So no one's ever traveled back in time?").
*Just to clarify, I don't have a problem with all of TB's changes. In fact, I like that Carmina replaced Jeff as Ms. Frizzle's paleontologist friend given that there aren't enough "female characters with personalities" in cartoons ( http://babbletrish.blogspot.com/2013/03/revisiting-my-little-pony-friendship-is.html ).
Quoting Dietrich ( https://web.archive.org/web/20230831100312/https://archive.seattletimes.com/archive/?date=19950920&slug=2142621 ): "To get an understanding for "Raptor Red" he studied and thought about not just birds of prey but hyenas, wolves and lions. So what would happen to a human who was time-transported back to the Cretaceous?
"All the meat-eaters would flee," Bakker predicted. "Modern hunters such as lions, if they see something they have not been previously aware of, they run away. It's just too risky to attack.""