Department of Energy, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and the annual financial support from the viewers/stations of PBS. The show was close-captioned by the National Captioning Institute when it aired on PBS. On the PBS version, the show was funded by the National Science Foundation, Microsoft Home, the U.S. The show's voice director was Susan Blu, two of the writers for the show were Brian Muehland Jocelyn Stevenson, who also worked on Fraggle Rock. The show's theme song called "Ride on the Magic School Bus" was written by Peter Lurye and performed by rock 'n' roll legend Little Richard. On non-commercial networks, VHS, and DVD releases the scene immediately fades back in right after it fades out as no commercials are shown. Within the episodes, there were also time points where the episode fades out and then fades back in after a series of commercials are shown. The Producer Says segments were only seen when the series was shown on non-commercial networks, international networks, VHS, and DVD releases. When The Magic School Bus was syndicated on commercial networks, the Producer Sayssegment at the end of each episode was cut out to make space for commercials.
Scholastic Entertainment president Deborah Forte said that adapting the books into an animated series was an opportunity to help kids "learn about science in a fun way". Around that time, Forte had been hearing concerns from parents and teachers about how to improve science education for girls and minorities across the globe. Each episode of the series ran for 30 minutes.
The idea for the show was thought up by former Scholastic Entertainment Vice President and Senior Editorial Director Craig Walker. In 1994, The Magic School Bus concept was made into an animated series of the same name by Scholastic Entertainment and it premiered on September 10, 1994. Main article: List of The Magic School Bus episodes Production and broadcast Main article: List of The Magic School Bus characters Episodes