The Backyardigans

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The Backyardigans
Genre Animated television series
Running time approx. 24 minutes
Creator(s) Janice Burgess
Executive producer(s) Janice Burgess
Robert Scull
Starring Zach Tyler Eisen
LaShawn Tináh Jefferies
Reginald Davis, Jr.
Jonah Bobo
Naelee Rae
Country of origin USA, Canada
Language(s) English, French
Original channel Nick Jr.
Original run November 22, 2004–Present
No. of episodes 40
IMDb profile
TV.com summary
Television ratings for The Backyardigans
Canada Canada C
United States United States TV-Y

The Backyardigans is a CGI-animated children's TV series. It is a joint production of Nick Jr. and the Canadian animation studio Nelvana. Debuting on November 22, 2004, it originally had 20 episodes. It aired on CBS from October 2004 until September 2006. Music for the show is written by Evan Lurie, of The Lounge Lizards, and Douglas Wieselman. The characters are designed by children's book author and illustrator Dan Yaccarino.

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.

Contents

[edit] 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 reprized 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.

No matter the timescale of the adventure (some of which--such as "Riding the Range", "Viking Voyage", "Mission to Mars", and "The Swamp Creature"--take place over a day or more), each one comes to a successful resolution just in time for a snack.

[edit] 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:

[edit] 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 with "Pablo...Pablo?...PABLO!", when he stops, turns to the character and calmly asks "Yeah?"

"The Yeti", "Monster Detectives", and "It's Great to Be a Ghost" are the only episodes in the first series in which Pablo doesn't have one of his "panic attacks". On the latter, Tyrone has a similar "attack". In "The Legend of the Volcano Sisters", both Pablo and Tyrone panic until Austin interrupts.

Speaking voice: Zach Tyler Eisen (Season 1), Jake Goldberg (Season 2)

Singing voice: Sean Curley

Dancer: Tasha Cooper

[edit] Tyrone

A good-natured (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?" 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.

Speaking voice: Reginald Davis Jr (Season 1), Jordan Coleman (Season 2)[3]

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

Dancer: Greg Sinacori

[edit] 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). More than once she's got the mystery solved and interjects with a "You guys!" 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 creature that's unlike any other in the world, and Uniqua is also the name of her species! [4]

Speaking voice: LaShawn Tináh Jefferies

Singing voice: Jamia Simone Nash

Dancer: Hattie Mae Williams

[edit] 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

[edit] 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: Kristine 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.

[edit] Other characters

Two episodes, "Polka Palace Party" and "Heart of the Jungle", feature a character called Sherman the Worman, an intelligent worm who talks in jibberish. Sherman is present before the backyard is transformed via imagination, and so is presumably "real" in the context of the show.

"Mission to Mars" features an alien mom, voiced by Alicia Keys, an alien baby, voiced by Shakira Lipscomb and Rover as guest stars.

"It's Great to Be a Ghost" and "Secret Mission" include voices near the end of the episode that do not come from any of the main characters.

[edit] Setting

The characters live in houses adjoining a large, common backyard that is transformed by imagination (and computer animation) into various adventure settings. Each house roughly corresponds to the colour scheme of the character: Pablo lives in a blue house, Uniqua in a pink one, Tasha's is yellow and Tyrone's is orange. Austin's is partially obscured by a fence but what is seen is purple. The fence has an Austin-sized door in it, through which Austin sneaks into the adventure after the other characters are playing (as in "Castaways","Surf's Up", and "High Tea"). The curve of the street allows the play area to be roughly equal in distance to each house's back door.

In Season One, none of the characters had snacks at Austin's, whose house is at opposite end of the backyard. In Season one, eleven of the episodes end at Uniqua's, four end at Tyrone's, five end at Pablo's, and one ends at Tasha's. In Season Two's "Whodunit", Austin suggests the snack for the first time.

[edit] Props

The characters often pull items out of thin air, or from behind their backs--a technique known in animation as the magic satchel. 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). (Several of the items in Clementines' saddle-bag in "Eureka!" reference other episodes from the first series, including Tyrone's tuba from "Polka Palace Party" and Pablos' blue surfboard from "Surf's Up!")

In "Riding the Range", Tyrone could produce a seemingly inexhaustible supply of apples. In "Snow Fort", Tasha and Uniqua each has a rucksack that contains a rescue kit including shovels, hooks, and suction cups. In "Race Around the World", Austin has a racing pack in which he keeps numerous items, such as a hook, rope, plaster, and a water bottle.

There must be a veritable treasure trove of items in the backyard, 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.

[edit] 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.

[edit] DVD releases

As of February 2007, twenty-eight episodes will be 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), Mission to Mars (2006), and The Legend of the Volcano Sisters (2007). In addition, "The Quest for the Flying Rock" and "Race to the Tower of Power" appear on volumes 2 and 3, respectively, 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]

[edit] Episodes

For more details about these episodes, see List of Backyardigans episodes.

Series One

  • "Knights Are Brave and Strong"
  • "The Yeti"
  • "Pirate Treasure"
  • "The Heart of the Jungle"
  • "Secret Mission"
  • "Riding the Range"
  • "The Key to the Nile"
  • "The Snow Fort"
  • "It's Great to Be a Ghost"
  • "Viking Voyage"
  • "The Quest for the Flying Rock"
  • "Castaways"
  • "Race to the Tower of Power"
  • "Polka Palace Party"
  • "Surf's Up!"
  • "Eureka!"
  • "Race Around the World"
  • "Monster Detectives"
  • "Cave Party"
  • "High Tea"

Series Two

  • "Mission to Mars"
  • "Samurai Pie"
  • "Scared of You"
  • "Whodunit?"
  • "The Legend of the Volcano Sisters"
  • "Swamp Creature"
  • "Horsing Around"
  • "Special Delivery"
  • "The Secret of Snow"

[edit] Software

Activision released the Backyardigans PC game, Mission to Mars in October of 2006

[edit] 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!

[edit] 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 together.

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!

While the end music fades, all the characters then run into the house of the character that offered the snacks and the view expands to a "birds-eye-view". One of the characters opens the door back up, jumps into the doorway and uses the catchphrase of the episode, eg, Tyrone yells "YARR!" after "Viking Voyage" or a "Tarzan yell" after "The Heart of the Jungle", even Pablo's " Yeti yeti yeti!" after "The Yeti". In "Snow Fort", Uniqua and Tyrone both jump out, saying "Ski patrol to the Rescue!" and "Mounties on Duty!", respectively.

[edit] External links

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ http://www.corusent.com/corporate/press_room/pressReleaseDetail.asp?id=1033
  2. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1542683_3_0_,00.html
  3. ^ Reginald Davis Jr was Tyrone's speaking voice for "Misson to Mars", "Scared of You", and "Samurai Pie".
  4. ^ http://nickjr.co.uk/shows/backyardigans/uniqua.aspx http://www.nelvana.com/shows/characters_template.asp?sid=125&cid=528&#char
  5. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1542683_3_0_,00.html
  6. ^ http://www.nelvana.com/shows/characters_template.asp?sid=125&cid=530&char
  7. ^ http://www.ew.com/ew/report/0,6115,1542683_3_0_,00.html
  8. ^ http://www.cndp.fr/Tice/teledoc/Mire/mire_melodilous.htm
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