The Last Bus is a children’s sci-fi drama that carries on the original sci-fi theme of how modern man’s “over-reaching” can have negative consequences. The web series, however, deals with a group of high school children on their quest to save the world from the creation of Dalton Monkhouse as he tries to vapourise human beings into nothingness.
Story
The Last Bus begins with the introduction of the main cast, who are waiting for their bus for a school trip. The same mischievous children later survive the evil quest of the well-known eco-scientist, Dalton Monkhouse, who claims to intend to achieve world peace via his actions.
Dalton Monkhouse makes it his mission to vapourise everyone on earth with his flying pods (“genie pods”).
The misfit children are the only survivors of Monkhouse’s mission. At the knowledge of losing their families, they make it their duty to save humanity from Monkhouse’s hands.
Out of the children, Nas is a science prodigy whose curiosity and inventions help the whole bunch survive machine intelligence.
Throughout the course of The Last Bus, the main mission remains — to survive — while the children bond and unveil deeper secrets of Monkhouse’s mission.
Performances
Lauryn Ajufo plays Misha, a self-centered teenager, who is spontaneous and yet surprises the viewers at every instance she manages to help the group survive. She does not leave a chance of bragging about how cheerful and bright she is.
Phoebe De Silva plays Sophie who takes up the role of a caretaker of the group, along with Daniel Frogson, who plays Tom. Sophie and Tom try to keep the group together while Misha mocks their seriousness of the situation and often fails to cooperate with them.
The roles of Bethan and Josh (Carys John and Nathanael Saleh) bring delight to the whole group as they try to cheer everyone up with their humorous acts in pairs. Au contraire, Marlie Morrelle plays the role of Chelsea, who believes in a system and abides by rules and panics without planning and structure.
Moosa Mustafa plays Nas, the prodigy kid, who more often than not ends up saving the group with his own understanding of Monkhouse’s gadgets. Monkhouse, the “evil scientist”, is played by Robert Sheehan.
All the characters are played in a convincing and realistic manner.
Positives
The VFX of The Last Bus is magnificent, and at times, carries the whole show on its own.
The script and the acting are all children-friendly and thus can be enjoyed by all age groups without any adult supervision.
The script is very engaging as one threat after another is thrown at the group in their adventure.
Negatives
The acting may seem a bit redundant for an adult viewer. Moreover, the same old ‘man vs technology’ tale is used to base The Last Bus’ plot upon.
Verdict
While an engaging web series in sci-fi genre with sincere and honest actors, The Last Bus is also mostly meant for children as adults may find it redundant and predictable as the show goes on.
Rating: 3/5
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