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The Backyardigans

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The Backyardigans
File:Backyardigans.jpg
Created byJanice Burgess
StarringZach Tyler Eisen
LaShawn Tináh Jefferies
Reginald Davis, Jr.
Jonah Bobo
Naelee Rae
Country of originUSA, Canada
Original languagesEnglish, French
No. of episodes40
Production
Executive producersJanice Burgess
Robert Scull
Running timeapprox. 24 minutes
Original release
NetworkNick Jr.
ReleaseNovember 22, 2004 –
Present

Template:Infobox TV ratings

The Backyardigans is a CGI-animated children's TV series. It is a joint production of Nick Jr. and the animation studio Nelvana. Debuting on November 22, 2004, it originally had 20 episodes. It had aired on CBS in October 2004, then ended in September 2006. Music for the show is written by Evan Lurie, of The Lounge Lizards, and Douglas Wieselman. On April 30, 2006, Nelvana and Nick Jr. jointly announced that twenty new episodes were ordered for the upcoming fall schedule. [1] In the UK, the Second series debuted on 30 October 2006.

The stories

The show focuses on five friends who play together every day in their shared backyard. Using their imagination, they "transform" the backyard into completely different worlds, in which they have many adventures. Such adventures range from finding the secret of the River Nile to discovering uncharted lands as Vikings. The show is a musical, and each episode has four songs (sometimes reprised more than once in an episode), some of them reworkings of traditional tunes. A different musical genre is featured in every episode, ranging from R&B and jazz to tango and reggae.

Characters & voice cast

Each character on the show has two vocal actors: one for the speaking parts, and one for the singing parts. They are all actual children.

The dancing on the show is first done by live-action dancers, and their movements are later transported to animation. Choreographer Beth Bogush describes the process: "What we do is we film live footage in the studio and then they send that off and they do a Leica, and then they send it to the animators. And the animators just watch, and they're pretty precise. What we film for that day is pretty close to what you see in the character."[2]

The characters are:

Pablo

Pablo, a cute and bubbly blue penguin, famous for his blue bow tie and propeller hat, he's the one that most often has the ideas. Due to his energy and impetuousness, he takes the lead in many situations, but often goes into a "panic attack" when he faces an obstacle, running around in circles and blabbering nonsense--"Oh boy! Oh boy! Don't lose your heads! We'll find a way out! Oh, boy! Oh no! Oh man! Oh man!"--until someone interrupts him to propose a solution.

Speaking voice: Zach Tyler Eisen

Singing voice: Sean Curley

Dancer: Tasha Cooper

Tyrone

A good-natured and smart (and sometimes fearful) red-haired orange moose, he's Pablo's best friend, and almost his complete opposite in terms of personality. He's laid-back, cool-headed, and known for his ironic comments--for example, "That certainly is convenient!" upon the arrival of some sort of deus ex machina. At the end of every episode, he remarks, "That was an excellent (type) adventure, don't you think?"

Speaking voice: Reginald Davis, Jr. (Season 1); Jordan Coleman (Season 2)

Singing voice: Corwin C. Tuggles (Season 1); Leon G Thomas III (Season 2)

Dancer: Greg Sinacori

Uniqua

A curious, self-confident and high-spirited pink creature with polka dots, she's almost always sweet and friendly, though her strong opinions and occasional stubbornness get in the way sometimes. She is more tomboyish than Tasha, and often imagines herself in roles requiring brains and fortitude (scientist, pirate captain, etc). Much controversy has been raised over what species she belongs to. Suggestions included a ladybug (due to her pink polka dots), an ant (due to her antennae), and even an alien. But actually, she's a unique bright colored creature, that's unlike any other in the world, and Uniqua is also the name of her species [3] [4].

Speaking voice: LaShawn Tináh Jefferies

Singing voice: Jamia Simone Nash

Dancer: Hattie Mae Williams

Tasha

A playful and authoritative yellow hippo, and Uniqua's best friend. Very feminine and classy most of the time, but her attitude sometimes causes her to act bossy and try to make the others act the way she wants them to. Choreographer Bogush describes her as "absolutely full of herself all the time. She's the know-it-all."[5] But she's as tough as she's fun and good-humored. Tasha often uses the expression, "Oh, for goodness sakes!"

Speaking voice: Naelee Rae

Singing voice: Kristin Klabunde

Dancer: Darlene Dirstine

Austin

A fun-loving purple kangaroo, he moved into the block recently [6], which makes him a little shy on some occasions, and reluctant to join in. But he's also very self-confident, and tries to help his friends whenever they need, sometimes in quirky ways. Says Bogush: "Austin's usually the one pulling up the rear, but he's usually the one who's right, the silent one who's the brains of the situation. He's kind of a get-along guy."[7]

Speaking voice: Jonah Bobo

Singing voice: Thomas Sharkey

Dancer: Kristen Frost

In season one, Austin was present in eleven of the twenty episodes, while Tasha appeared in twelve. Uniqua, Pablo and Tyrone were featured in all episodes. The five characters were together in five episodes, and both Tasha and Austin were absent in two episodes. There is no official explanation to Austin and Tasha's occasional absence, though some fans suggest that they are simply not available to play all the time.

International variations

In the UK on Nick Jr., the characters are voiced by three British actors, Maria Darling (Tasha, Uniqua, and Austin), Janet James (Pablo), and Lizzie Waterworth (Tyrone).

In the British version, certain words and phrases that are not in common usage in British English are translated, such as "soccer" to "football" and "diapers" to "nappies". This naturally leads to some minor lip-synch issues, but most children would not notice these. Also in the British version, several of the snacks are different, since items like s'mores and granola bars are not generally known in the UK.

DVD releases

As of February 2007, twenty-eight episodes have been released on DVD. There are six collections of four episodes each: It's Great to Be a Ghost (2005), The Snow Fort (2005), Polka Palace Party (2006), Cave Party (2006), Surf's Up (2006) and Mission to Mars (2006). In addition, "The Quest for the Flying Rock" and "Race to the Tower of Power" appear respectively on volumes 2 and 3 of the Nick Jr Favorites DVDs.

The second through fifth DVD collections include a second audio track in French. Nelvana, the company producing the animation for The Backyardigans, is based in Canada, which is officially bilingual. Several song tempos are changed to match the French lyrics, and the characters refer to themselves as "Les Mélodilous" in the opening and closing songs. Also, Tyrone is known as Théo and Uniqua as Victoria.[8]

Episodes

See List of Backyardigans episodes.

Software

Activision plans to release the Backyardigans PC game, Mission to Mars, to store shelves this October.

Trivia

  • No matter the timescale of the adventure (some of which - such as "Riding the Range", "Viking Voyage", and "Mission to Mars" - take place over several hours) each one comes to a successful resolution just in time for a snack.
  • The show makes generous use of magic satchel-style imagery. The characters often pull items out of thin air, or from behind their backs. The episode "Eureka!" had a running gag in which Pablo would search for certain items on his saddlebag, pulling out enormous objects in the process (e.g. a tuba, a surfboard and a fully inflated rubber dinghy). In "Riding the Range", Tyrone could produce a seemingly inexhaustible supply of apples.
  • Despite not appearing to wear trousers (except on rare occasions, such as "Race Around the World"), Tyrone somehow manages to put his hands in his pockets.
  • There must be a veritable treasure trove of items in the back garden, since the characters never go in for their snack carrying any items, even those that they had in their hands before going into the adventure. Some of the items that are presumably lying around include ski-poles, a stetson hat, face masks and a tuba.

Opening Theme

The show opens with the five characters introducing themselves and singing the theme tune.

'Spoken:'

Pablo: Hi, I'm Pablo!

Tyrone: My name's Tyrone!

Uniqua: I'm Uniqua!

Tasha: I'm Tasha!

Austin: And my name's Austin!

All: And we're:-

'Sung:'

All: Your backyard friends, the Backyardigans... Together in the backyard again,

Pablo: In the place where we belong,

Uniqua: Where we'll probably sing a song,

Tasha: And we'll maybe dance along.

All: We've got the whole wide world in our yard to explore! We always find things we've never seen before! That's why every day we're back for more, with your friends, the Backyardigans!

Closing Theme

All the characters sing and dance during the closing song. When there is an even number of boy and girl characters--that is, when Tasha is present and Austin is not--they pair off and dance together. When there is an uneven number of boy and girl characters, they all dance in a circle. In Season 2, the final dances were re-choreographed and - for example - the characters do not always dance in a circle.

All: We've got the whole wide world in our yard to explore! Now it's time for us to have a snack! Meet you next time when we're back with your friends, the Backyardigans!

Notes

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