Trailer: ‘SpongeBob’ Stop-Mo Special Premieres Friday the 13th

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom

Nickelodeon has unwrapped a tasty treat fans, revealing that the previously announced stop-motion animated Halloween special SpongeBob SquarePants: The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom will make its spooktacular premiere on Friday, October 13 at 7 p.m. ET/PT. The debut date was dropped in our candy buckets along with a new trailer.

In The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom, the Flying Dutchman (Brian Doyle-Murray) comes to town to make sure everyone is scared — especially SpongeBob, who seems to think that spooky things are actually funny. For the occasion, SpongeBob is costumed as a flower, Patrick as a knight, Sandy as a mad scientist, Mr. Krabs as a dollar bill, Plankton as a devil, Squidward as himself, and Karen as a cat. The special features an original tune, “The Scare Song,” written by Mr. Lawrence with music by Eban Schletter, performed by the Flying Dutchman’s pirate ghost crew.

Harkening back to old-school holiday TV specials, this new scale-raising adventure sees the town of Bikini Bottom decked out for Halloween: Sandy’s treedome becomes a mad scientist’s lab (included remote-operated Acorn Monster); Mr. Krabs’ restaurant becomes a terror tour of Plankton’s culinary torture as “The Horrors of the Chum Bucket”; and Plankton in turn whips up “The Horrors of the Krusty Krab,” which claims to tell the scary truth about Krabby Patties.

Los Angeles-based Screen Novelties produced the animation for The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom. The final result features 27 unique sets shot across five stages. Fifteen boxes of breakfast cereal were used to texture Bikini Bottom’s coral reefs; eight pounds of glitter were used for SpongeBob’s Halloween pineapple house; hundreds of popsicle sticks were used to make a rollercoaster track, and black lights create an eerie fluorescent glow on puppets and sets. Screen Novelties previously collaborated with Nickelodeon on SpongeBob SquarePants: It’s a SpongeBob Christmas! (2012).

On top of stop-motion puppet animation, The special also features marionette puppeteering, hand puppets and hand-drawn 2D designed by Sally Cruikshank. Marc Ceccarelli and Vincent Waller are co-executive producers on SpongeBob SquarePants. The special was written by Mr. Lawrence, with Brian Morante serving as the storyboard director and Jennie Monica as producer. The special is being directed by Mark Caballero and Seamus Walsh, and produced by Chris Finnegan of Screen Novelties.

SpongeBob SquarePants: The Legend of Boo-Kini Bottom

Trailer: Netflix Unveils ‘Magic School Bus’ Re-Do

Magic School Bus

Hang on to your childhoods, ‘90s kids. Netflix has released the first trailer for its much anticipated revamp of Emmy-winning The Magic School Bus. Produced by 9 Story and Scholastic, the new Netflix Original Series The Magic School Bus Rides Again premieres exclusively on the streaming platform on September 29.

In the trailer, we get a first look at the slight makeover given the classic property — which includes a touch of de-frizzing for Ms. Frizzle and possibly an animated nose job — and meet the new teacher in town. A glimpse at the educational adventures that await is backed by Lin-Manuel Miranda’s re-recording of the iconic theme song.

Official synopsis: The kids are back at Walkerville School for another school year of astonishing, out-of-this-world field trips in this all-new reimagining of the iconic science-comedy-adventure series The Magic School Bus. But this year, there’s a new Frizzle (Kate McKinnon)! The younger sister of the famed Professor Frizzle (Lily Tomlin) has taken over the classroom! But worry not – the new Ms. Frizzle shares her sister’s zany ways and passion for science. Field trips this year are wilder than ever, into the clouds, across the internet, riding the continents – even a plunge into the depths of the Sun itself! And along the way, the kids we know and love bring their science investigations into the 21st century – still taking chances, making mistakes and getting messy!

Magic School Bus

9 Story Partners with Netflix, Scholastic on ‘Magic School Bus’ Reboot

Feb 10th, 2016

9 Story Media Group has partnered with Netflix and Scholastic to produce a new version of the Emmy Award-winning 1990s animated children’s series The Magic School Bus — set to launch worldwide in Fall 2017 as a Netflix Original Series.

“The original Magic School Bus series was one of the first series that I produced, 20 years ago,” said Vince Commisso, President & CEO of 9 Story Media Group. “I have a deep connection to the brand and a profound respect for its vision. We are so excited to work with Scholastic and Netflix and remake this wildly popular series for a whole new generation of kids.”

The original show debuted on PBS in 1994 and was based on the best-selling book series of the same name from Scholastic by Joanna Cole and Bruce Degen. The Magic School Bus taught kids science through the adventures of the inspiring teacher Ms. Frizzle, her inquisitive class and the enchanted bus that took kids everywhere from outer space to inside the human body.

Magic School Bus