Dora the Explorer (TV series)
Dora the Explorer is an American animated television series for preschool-age children that is broadcast on Nickelodeon in the United States. A pilot episode for this series aired in 1999. Dora the Explorer became a regular series in 2000. The show was created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh, and Eric Weiner. The series airs not only on Nick, but also on CBS on Saturday mornings and on Noggin, the Nickelodeon-owned channel for preschoolers.
In the UK, the show airs on CITV and Nick Jr..
Dora the Explorer has been extremely successful commercially, generating over $3 billion in retail sales of associated products since 2000[1], including $1 billion in 2004 alone.[2]
Characters
Dora
Dora the Explorer tells the story of Dora Marquez, a seven-year old Latina who ventures forth on various simple but obstacle-filled quests. Dora involves the other protagonists and the viewer of the show in the quest. At the end of each episode, Dora celebrates the completion of the quest with a song ("We Did It") and asks what the viewer's favorite part of the adventure was. In the original episodes, Dora the Explorer was shown to live in a computer (similar to Aelita from Code Lyoko), but now she resides in a jungle with her family.
Dora's exact national origin remains vague because no specific Latin American country is ever mentioned. Though the majority of her exploits seem to point to her being of Puerto Rican decent (As Coqui, an indigenous frog of Puerto Rico is often mentioned). In any case, Dora speaks both Spanish and English (or another language and English in the various dubs). Dora's country of residence (the setting of most episodes) is also vague, though the palm trees and other flora suggest a tropical or semi-tropical area of the Americas. (The name of a recurring Spanish-speaking squirrel character, Tico, hints that the setting may be Costa Rica, whose residents are called ticos.) A good guess is that Dora lives in one of the tropical parts of Mexico which is most commonly associated with the interaction of both Latin American and U.S. culture.
Dora is voiced by Kathleen Herles in the original English version. Dora's name is taken from the Spanish word Exploradora, which means "female explorer." It is also said that her namesake is Dora Barlaz, a science teacher at New York City's Horace Mann School, who was the fiance of the show's creator when he was designing it. They did not marry.
Boots
Boots is Dora's best friend on the show and a monkey. He is voiced by Harrison Chad in the original English version. Boots is friendly, enthusiastic and wears red boots, hence his name. He is present with Dora on her adventures, unless the adventure is to find or meet Boots, and he helps Dora to solve clues and puzzles. Boots loves bananas. Boots's father, who is variously considered to be an engineer, an architect, or a contractor, is seen in one episode completing an amusement park and another completing a bridge. Boots loves his father, and in the same episode the two share a banana.
Diego
Some more recently produced episodes have introduced Dora's cousin Diego, voiced by Felipe Dieppa. Diego is an intrepid young animal rescue worker and sometimes partners with Dora in her adventures. He proved to be popular enough for Nickelodeon to introduce a separate Diego series entitled Go, Diego, Go! in 2005. Just like Dora, Diego has a best friend who travels with him. It is a Baby Jaguar which started to talk in the Go Diego Go! series.
Swiper
Swiper is a villainous fox who appears in nearly every episode. As his name implies, Swiper steals or attempts to steal key items that help Dora on her adventures. Swiper never appears without sufficient notice; an ominous "whisking" sound is heard by both the audience and the characters on screen prior to the time at which items are at risk of theft.
To prevent Swiper from success, Dora would need to repeat the phrase, "Swiper, no swiping!" three times. Usually she prevails, and Swiper slinks away saying, "Oh, man!" However, sometimes Swiper gets to the item before Dora has a chance to repeat the phrase. He then gloats, "You're too late!" (and frequently "You'll never find it now!"). He never seems to actually want the object he takes, since he almost immediately throws it away to hide it from Dora. He seemingly wants only to annoy Dora and keep her from her goal. He has some kind of New York accent.
In one episode it was revealed that Swiper likes puppies, and in another that he likes Cowboy cookies. In yet another episode, Dora filled in for a delivery bird who was injured. She delivered stickers to Swiper, which were sent by his grandmother. In one certain episode Swiper helps Dora on her quest to help Baby fox find its mommy, Swiper holding the baby fox almost all through the episode.
The interaction between Dora and the antagonistic fox also reveals the kindness and grace of Dora's character. In several episodes, Swiper finds himself captured, trapped or in some sort of trouble. Despite his history of mean-spiritedness toward Dora, Dora always unquestioningly helps Swiper just as she would her other friends, Benny, Isa, Boots and Tico.
Fiesta Trio
Whenever Dora and Boots are successful in a given portion of their quest (quests are usually divided into three portions), the Fiesta Trio appears from seemingly nowhere to congratulate Dora and celebrate for a brief few seconds with music. The Fiesta Trio is a group of three small animals: a grasshopper, a snail, and a frog.
Other characters
Other recurring human characters include Dora's mother (Mamí), father (Papí), and grandmother (Abuela). There are a number of minor, recurring animal characters such as Señor Tucan, Isa the Iguana, Benny the Bull, Baby Jaguar and Tico the Squirrel. Additionally, the show features a number of anthropomorphic voice-activated objects, notably Dora's purple Backpack (which provides whatever Dora needs to complete her quests - the backpack is a Magic satchel, which has been known to produce large items including multiple ladders, two complete Space Suits - one each for Dora and Boots - and other items that simply could not fit inside it) and Map (which provides travel guidance and advice). Sometimes there are also locomotives, boats, and automobiles with speaking roles. In addition, some episodes include talking trees, gates and walls.
Newer episodes feature flying stars, which Dora and Boots catch and put into the star pocket on Backpack. The stars are always excited about going into the star pocket, which was shown in one episode to have much more space inside that one would think, similar to Backpack herself. Normally among these stars are one or more Explorer Stars, which have special powers which Dora uses to overcome obstacles. In the first episode of the 2003-04 season (the first show to feature the stars), Dora and Boots are navigating a boat across a sea when they encounter a pack of sharks in their path; at which point they use a "springy star" to cause the boat to literally leap over the sharks. [3]
Plot
The episodes of Dora the Explorer almost always follow the same never-changing pattern:
- Dora has something she wants to do or somewhere she needs to go.
- Dora has three places to go, with the third place as the destination.
- Dora and Boots meet Swiper somewhere along the way, sometimes succeed at saying 'Swiper no Swiping' three times, sometimes Swiper successfully swipes Dora's item and hides it. Dora and Boots always find the hidden item.
- Dora will meet one of her friends at each of the locations detailed by the Map.
- Dora always succeeds to pass the obstacles.
- In the English version, Dora will ask the viewers to help her by giving advice (jump, run etc.), locating items (especially those stolen by Swiper) and often shouting commands to the characters in Spanish (especially Tico and Sr. Tucan, who can only speak Spanish).
- Every character that appeared on the episode sings 'We did it' at the end except for Swiper (unless Swiper has taken some positive role in the episode, such as the episode where he rescues a lost baby fox).
- Dora asks viewers what their favorite part was. She (and usually Boots) then proceed to tell the viewer which part of the adventure she most enjoyed. Any other major character can also be included in this section.
- During the closing Credits, viewers are either asked to find a character, hiding in a location, or follow instructions to achieve an objective.
Foreign language versions of Dora the Explorer
As with most animated series made in the US, Dora the Explorer has been dubbed into many languages all over the world. The simplicity and repetitious nature of the episodes make this series especially well-suited for learning important phrases in a foreign language.
Spanish dub
In the Spanish language version, Dora la Exploradora, broadcast on the Telemundo network in the United States and Nickelodeon in Latin America, Dora and Boots (called Botas) are speaking Spanish and other protagonists speaking and answering in English. Some Spanish episodes are available to US viewers on VHS, and some DVDs have a Spanish track (including Dora's Egg Hunt). This version is entirely in reverse from English.
French dub
In the French language version, Dora l'exploratrice, broadcast on TF1 in France and VRAK.TV in Canada, the bilingualism is Anglo-French, with Dora and Boots (called Babouche) speaking French and other protagonists speaking and answering in English.
Japanese dub
In the Japanese language version, broadcast on Nick Japan, the bilingualism is Anglo-Japanese, with Dora and Boots speaking Japanese and other protagonists speaking and answering in English.
German dub
In the German language version, broadcast on the recently restarted German branch of Nickelodeon, the bilingualism is Anglo-German, analogously to the French and Japanese Version.
Irish dub
In the Irish language version, broadcast on the Irish Language station TG4, the bilingualism is Irish-Spanish, with Dora and Boots speaking in Irish and some other characters speaking Spanish as in the original. This is generally uncommon, as most foreign language versions of Dora have bilingualism between the local language and English.
Dutch dub
In the Dutch language version, broadcast on Nickelodeon (TV channel), the bilingualism is Dutch-English.
Russian dub
In the Russian language version, broadcast on TNT and Nickelodeon, the bilingualism is Russian-English. The series is called Dasha-sledopyt ("Dasha the Explorer"). Dasha is the childrens' name of Daria (Darya).
Malay dub
In the Malay language version, broadcast on TV9.
Italian dub
In the Italian language version, broadcast on Italia 1, the bilingualism is Italian-English. The series is called Dora l'esploratrice ("Dora the Explorer"). Most characters speak Italian, but some characters and especially Dora's parents and backpack speak English together with Italian..
Stage Adaptations
Two stage versions of Dora the Explorer toured North America, the first being "City of Lost Toys," and the second being "Dora's Pirate Adventure." Produced by Nickelodeon and LiveNation, these productions featured live actors portraying the roles of Dora and her friends, including Boots, Diego, Isa, and the Fiesta Trio. Many of the characters wore elaborate foam costumes designed to resemble the Dora characters. Each production featured a structure similar to an episode of the television series.
City of Lost Toys featured Christina Bianco as Dora, while Dora's Pirate Adventure featured Danay Ferrer in the role, a former member of the all female American pop band innosense. Both productions featured a version of the popular Gloria Estefan song "Get On Your Feet" as the final number of the show.
Both productions were conceived by Chris Gifford, creator of the television show, and directed by Gip Hoppe.
There have been three Dora touring companys. The "City of Lost Toys" company and the "Pirate Adventure" company featured actors and crew that were members of Actor's Equity and IATSE, respectively, the unions for professional actors and stagehands in the United States. The third company performs a reduced version of "Pirate Adventure" and does not employ union personnel. This production is currently touring North America, and scheduled to travel to the United Kingdom and France.
Dora the Explorer merchandise
Currently in Canada, Cheerios is offering free Dora the Explorer the Game CDROMs in specially marked packages. However, customers in Quebec will only be able to use the French version. Also, there are many action figures and playsets available in many markets, along with DVDs, toys, ride-ons, books, plush, apparel, handbags, play tents and more.
Trivia
- Dora the Explorer became the first Latina balloon character in the 79th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, November 24th, 2005.
- Years before this cartoon, in 1971, English group Stackridge released a single entitled "'Dora The Female Explorer'".
References in popular culture
- On one episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, there is a Dora parody that Eduardo watches called "Explorin' Lauren", the titular character named after the series' supervising producer Lauren Faust as an in-joke.
- Dora was referenced in Ludacris' hit song Number One Spot; the line went, "Explorer like Dora, these swipers can't swipe me."
- On an episode Pandora's Lunch Box of The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy, the character Dora is based upon Dora the Explorer. Billy also makes a cynical summary of the show.
- In an upcoming episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends"Explorin' Lauren"is going to be canilled