The Baby-Sitters Club: 5 Things The Netflix Reboot Does Better Than The Movie (& 5 Things The Movie Does Better)

Ann M. Martin’s beloved Baby-Sitters Club book series made waves in the 1980s and ’90s. 1990 saw a television adaptation, but it only lasted for a single season. In 1995, however, the characters got new life with a big screen movie. The film featured the core sitters from the novels on one of their summer ventures.

In 2020, Netflix rebooted the franchise again. This time, it got a modern facelift as a new streaming series and a focus on the books’ five sitters. Though both the 1995 movie and 2020 series stay pretty faithful to the novels, they each have their own strengths.

10 2020 Reboot: Diverse Casting

Like the original novels themselves, the 1995 movie features only two sitters who are people of color: Claudia, who is Japanese American, and Jessi, who is Black. The 2020 series changes that with more diverse casting to reflect the world fans live in.

Dawn goes from a blonde-haired,-blue-eyed California surfer girl to a Latina with a passion for helping the less fortunate. Mary Anne becomes biracial. That makes three of the original five sitters women of color, seriously upping the ratio to be more reflective of the world. Jessi also joins the group at the end of the first season.

9 1995 Movie: Kristy And Her Father

In 2020 Kristy does have a few moments in which she realizes how much she misses the father who left her family behind. These mostly occur with Dawn, and she and Kristy have a single conversation about it. That’s not the case for the 1995 movie at all.

In it Kristy deals with the fallout of letting her absentee father back into her life and how it affects all of her other relationships. Seeing how much Kristy wants to trust her father and believe his promises provides some clarity for just why she appreciates consistency and why she loves to be in control.

8 2020 Reboot: Kristy’s Big Idea

The movie treats Kristy’s ideas as if they’re laughable at points. Her club members even make fun of her when she has her big idea to run a day camp for the kids they babysit. That doesn’t exactly fit with the girl whose biggest idea is the club itself.

The series, on the other hand, shows that Kristy really is an idea-woman. Not only does she come up with the idea for the club, but she makes a plan on the fly to fund it, creates the Kid Kits, and negotiates her friends into counselor-in-training positions at camp. Her big ideas aren’t laughable and this helps the audience take her seriously.

7 1995 Movie: The Financial Situation Of The Club

There’s a lot of talk in the movie about the club’s expenses and profits. When the group decides to run a day camp, they charge $250 per child, which should net them thousands of dollars by the end of the summer. Instead, after expenses, they end up with less than $200.

The movie also makes mention of the fact that the girls buy the supplies for the “Kid Kits” they take to their jobs, shows them paying dues at their meetings, and even reminds the audience that they pay for the phone line in Claudia’s room themselves. They might not make a ton of money, but the 1995 version of the BSC are financially responsible for themselves.

6 2020 Reboot: Mary Anne’s Shyness

In every version of The Baby-Sitters Club, Mary Anne is the shyest member of the group. She’s so painfully shy that she has trouble making friends without Kristy by her side. That’s showcased much better in the Netflix series.

The movie makes Mary Anne seem more like someone who is simply quiet and sensitive, whereas the series focuses on her difficulty speaking in front of groups of people, her willingness to run away instead of talk to someone who makes her nervous, and the fact that she starts to cry when faced with debating her friends. It’s a much more comprehensive look at the things that make Mary Anne nervous, and the audience gets to see her start to overcome her shyness.

5 1995 Movie: Mary Anne And Logan’s Relationship

This isn’t entirely the fault of the Netflix series as it starts the story of the BSC at the beginning. The movie, on the other hand, kicks off when the club is a well-oiled machine. Mary Anne and Logan are already a couple in the movie, and the audience gets to see just what their relationship is like.

Logan is a bit goofy, often attempting to make Mary Anne laugh, but fitting in just fine with her friends. Mary Anne is comfortable with him, telling him as many secrets as she tells Dawn. The Netflix series simply hasn’t been able to get to that point just yet.

4 2020 Reboot: Boy Crazy Stacey

There are many books in the series devoted to Stacey’s fashionable wardrobe choices and her crushes on boys — some of them older. The Netflix series and the movie both see her in the same boat. In the case of the series, she crushes on a lifeguard and skips out on some of her babysitting duties before learning about heartbreak when she finds he has a girlfriend. She moves on pretty quickly to someone new. The movie, however, is a bit sketchier of a storyline.

There, Stacey lies about her age (she’s 13) to date the cousin of one of her baby-sitting clients. He happens to be 17. He only finds out her real age when he tries to take her out to a “teen club” in New York and they need to be 16 to get in. At first, he’s shocked, but by the end of the movie, they’re making plans to meet up again next summer. The next summer, he would be 18, and she would still be in middle school. That’s not the best storyline for the young viewers.

3 1995 Movie: Claudia And Kristy’s Tension

In the group, each member is closer to some girls instead of others. Mary Anne has Kristy and Dawn; Mallory has Jessi; Claudia has Stacey. There is always, however, just a bit of tension between Claudia and Kristy thanks to their very different ways of doing things. Claudia is a free spirit and Kristy is more structured. That tension is explored, though a little differently, in the movie.

In the movie, Claudia has to pass her summer science class in order to be allowed to stay in the club. Kristy promises to help her, but forgets when she starts spending time with her dad. Claudia even takes over club meetings when Kristy is late. It leads to the two fighting and the club members starting to take sides. Because the BSC is all about friendship, they do eventually work things out, but that tension is well explored.

2 2020 Reboot: Mimi Kishi

One of the most touching aspects of the series is the relationship between Claudia and her grandmother. Claudia feels like her grandmother is the one family member who always understands her. Through their relationship, the show delves into a little American history with Mimi having been in an internment camp and Claudia starting to learn about her heritage.

The movie skips over all of that. Mimi gets an off-hand mention from Claudia once in the movie because she died the year before. That’s a heartbreaking moment for fans of the books, but it has no weight for the general audience.

1 1995 Movie: A Whole New Story

Netflix’s series stays incredibly faithful to the books while updating the stories for the modern day. Each episode of the series is inspired by a different novel. There are even Easter eggs snuck in that call back to the books. The movie, on the other hand, is a whole new story.

That works in the movie’s favor because fans are less likely to compare it to specific storylines. It also keeps the plot of the movie a little less predictable for the audience familiar with the source material.

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