| Dora the Explorer | |
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| Genre | Children Adventure |
| Created by | Chris Gifford Valerie Walsh Valdes Eric Weiner |
| Directed by | George S. Chialtas Gary Conrad Henry Lenardin-Madden Sherie Pollack Arnie Wong |
| Voices of | Caitlin Sanchez Kathleen Herles Harrison Chad Jake Burbage Ashley Fleming Jose Zelaya Marc Weiner Sasha Toto Regan Mizrahi |
| Theme music composer | Joshua Sitron Billy Straus |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Language(s) | English Spanish (Teaches Spanish) |
| No. of seasons | 6 |
| No. of episodes | 118 (List of episodes) |
| Production | |
| Executive producer(s) | Chris Gifford |
| Editor(s) | Gayle McIntyre Karyn Finley Powell David Wigforss |
| Running time | 30 minutes |
| Broadcast | |
| Original channel | Nickelodeon, Nick Jr |
| Original run | August 14, 2000 – present |
| Chronology | |
| Followed by | Go, Diego, Go! |
Dora the Explorer is an American animated television series created by Chris Gifford, Valerie Walsh, and Eric Weiner. Dora the Explorer became a regular series in 2000. The show is carried on the Nickelodeon cable television network, including the associated Nick Jr. channel. It aired on CBS until September 2006. A Spanish-dubbed version first aired as part of a Nick en español block on NBC Universal-owned Telemundo through September 2006; since April 2008, this version of the program has been carried on Univision as part of the Planeta U block.
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Dora, the main character, is an eight-year-old girl who embarks on a trip in every episode in order to find something or help somebody. She asks the viewers at home to help her find new ways to reach places with the help of Map. She also teaches viewers Spanish, introducing them to short words and phrases.
Dora has a positive view of the characters she meets, failing even to hold a grudge against the mischievous fox, Swiper, who continually attempts to steal items from her party. She acts against villains only when it seems that compromise is impossible, and even in these cases, fails to display actual anger. She gives others a chance to try their hands at tasks even when she herself might have an easier time with them. Dora values her family, whom she loves openly, though she spends little time indoors at home with them. She tries to introduce her traditions and customs, subtly and without compulsion, to those who are not familiar with them.
Dora is fond of Boots, who became her best friend when she saved his beloved red boots from being swiped by Swiper.
Dora enjoys sports. She played on a baseball team with Boots and her other friends and was coached by her father (who has never been depicted as having other employment). She loves and excels at soccer. Dora is also a musician, skilled at playing a wooden flute.
The character was voiced by Kathleen Herles until she was replaced by Caitlin Sanchez.[1]
Dora is a Latina. Early concepts of Dora had her as a blond girl of European ancestry. The character was originally based on a niece, Lilli, of Rick Velleu, one of the creators of the show.
Boots, the 5-year-old monkey whom Dora met one day in the forest, is her best friend. He is friendly and enthusiastic, and usually wears nothing but his beloved red boots, hence his name. He is light blue with a yellow stomach. His parents look similar, with variations in eyes, height, clothing and fur.
Boots is present with Dora on most of her adventures, and he helps her solve clues and puzzles. He also loves baseball and is on Dora's team. He enjoys riding Rojo the fire truck.
Boots is athletic and energetic. He performs a series of acrobatic flips, somersaults, and cartwheels along the way to their destination. His light weight also makes him easy to carry, even for Dora.
Without guidance from Dora, the viewer, or another character, Boots is quick to take his own, often dangerous or dead-ended, route. Dora often acts as the voice of reason.
Boots "loves" many things. In one episode, he would say many times "I love riddles. Call me 'Mr. Riddles'" or "I love nuts, I love chocolate, I love my ball, and I love, love, love...". Most importantly, however, Boots loves Dora and Dora loves him back, as expressed verbally and physically in numerous episodes. His devotion and love always has Boots more than willing to drop whatever he is doing at the moment for Dora. For her sake, he has even engaged in adventures on his own, assisted by the viewers.
Boots' vocabulary is limited but steadily increasing. Dora teaches him Spanish through memorable songs and phrases.
Boots was voiced by Harrison Chad in the original English version and then, from season five onwards, by Regan Mizrahi.
Swiper is a sneaky fox in a blue mask and gloves, who is the antagonist of the TV series and appears in nearly every episode. He is voiced by Marc Weiner. As his name implies, Swiper steals or attempts to steal key items that help Dora on her adventures. Clever as he is, Swiper never manages to take Dora completely by surprise; an ominous "whisking" sound is always audible just prior to his appearances.
To prevent Swiper from success, Dora must repeat the phrase, "Swiper, no swiping!" three times. Usually she prevails, and Swiper slinks away, snapping his fingers and saying, "Oh, man!"; sometimes, however, Swiper gets to the item before Dora has a chance to repeat the phrase. He then gloats, "You're too late!," and frequently states "You'll never find it now! Ha, ha, ha!!," as he throws the item away.
Swiper's motive for theft is patently childish; he never seems actually to want the object he takes, since he almost immediately throws it away to hide it from Dora (prompting her to ask the audience to help her find it). Until recently, it was unclear if he swipes merely for the joy of swiping, or from a desire to annoy and frustrate Dora. Compounding the confusion is the fact that, given the right reason, for example, that the item in question is a present for Dora's puppy, he will return items he has taken, no matter how much effort he went through to get them. It is also shown that he rarely knows the full importance of what he has taken; for example, he had no idea the aforementioned gift was for Dora's puppy. In the episode "Dora Saves the Mermaids", he revealed that he "liked swiping." He has some kind of New York accent, and lives in a burrow on top of Blueberry Hill.
Swiper is very fast and agile, and something of a master of disguise. He seems to have a great deal of technical knowledge, as he has built a variety of vehicles and gadgets (including a remote-controlled robot butterfly) to help him swipe things. Most of the time, however, he simply relies on his natural stalking abilities (sometimes with the aid of a costume) to sneak up on Dora. In the early episodes he often "hid" by curling up into a ball, which neither Dora nor Boots ever recognized as Swiper; he apparently does not do this anymore.
He has only been seen once or twice without his mask, when the robot butterfly he built to swipe from Dora and Boots (in the episode "Dora's Got a Puppy") apparently malfunctioned; after they stopped the robot butterfly, it swiped his mask and gloves and kept them from him for a few humorous seconds.
None of Swiper's relatives has ever been seen, but his grandmother has been mentioned in two episodes: "A Letter For Swiper" and "Swiper the Explorer."
Over the course of the series, it is shown that there is more to Swiper's character than an urge to swipe things. In one episode it was revealed that Swiper has a soft spot for puppies, and in another that he likes Cowboy cookies. In a few episodes, he expresses feelings of joy with a fox-like cry of, "Yip-yip-yippee!" In the episode "A Letter For Swiper", Dora filled in for a delivery bird whose glasses were broken; Dora delivered stickers to Swiper (which were sent by his grandmother), and he thanked her for it without trying to swipe anything. In the episode "Swiper the Explorer", Swiper helps Dora on her quest to help Baby Fox find its mommy, and Swiper carries the baby fox almost all through the episode. Also in this episode, it is revealed that Swiper does not speak Spanish, and wishes that he did. Over the course of a few episodes and specials, it can be clearly seen that swiper is very shy, such as in Christmas Carol Adventure, when he was nervous and didn't want to ask the Grumpy old troll how the capes worked. If Swiper fails to swipe something, is sad, or gets in trouble, he will utter his catch phrase of "Oohhh Maaann," such as in the episode "Dance To The Rescue," when Elf and Cane initially trick Swiper and trap him in the magic bottle.
The interaction between Dora and the antagonistic fox also reveals the kindness and grace of Dora's character. In one episode, "Dora's Dance to the Rescue", Swiper took pity on a Dancing Elf who was caught in a magic bottle, similar to a genie. The elf tricked the sympathetic Swiper into removing the bottle's cork, thereby releasing the elf and his talking cane. Unfortunately, the wily fox was thereby entrapped in his place. Stuck and desperate, Swiper called out to Dora and Boots. The remainder of the episode chronicled an epic adventure involving most of the land's creatures, eventually ending with the release of Swiper after a dance contest. The episode was atypical as it involved many dances and songs, and demonstrated a close, unconflicted relationship between Swiper and the other creatures.
In this and several other episodes, Swiper finds himself captured, trapped, or in some sort of trouble. Despite his history of mean-spiritedness toward Dora, she demonstrates that the fox is her friend (which he doesn't find out until "Dora's World Adventure") and will always unquestioningly help Swiper just as she would her other friends, Benny, Isa, Boots, and Tico. If Dora needs his help he will come to her aid in the same manner.
In "Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure," another atypical episode, Swiper's love of swiping ends up getting him on Santa's naughty list, when he fails to head Santa's warnings about swiping on Christmas. At first, everyone dismisses what has happened, but Dora immediately insists on helping Swiper, as nobody, not even Swiper deserves to be on Santa's naughty list. After asking Santa if she can do something, Santa sends Dora and Swiper on an epic quest through time to help Swiper get off the naughty list. Upon coming back, Swiper initially fails his quest, but everyone then expresses that Swiper is their friend and that they want to share their gifts with him because they care about him, despite all the things he's done. It is at this point Swiper learns the true meaning of Christmas, and tries to give Dora his most prized possession, a stuffed bunny he had since he was really young. Dora refuses to accept it, but suggests that they can share it, and Swiper shares his bunny with her. Upon seeing him share his bunny, Santa returns and puts Swiper back on the nice list. It is then revealed that Swiper shared his gifts and didn't swipe anything every Christmas after that.
Swiper is far from being unable to feel guilty for his actions. In the episode "A Present For Santa", Swiper returns the present that he swiped, upon discovering that it was for Santa. In "Dora's Christmas Carol Adventure," Swiper travels through time and begins to regret his actions in the past and future, including making his friends cry when they were babies, and littering on Christmas Eve. In the episode "Dora's World Adventure", Swiper helps Dora return the friendship bracelets he had swiped all over the world, and was shown to feel guilty once he discovered the magnitude of what he'd done and what he had stolen. During this time Swiper gets a taste of his own medicine, so to speak, as each country they visit has its own "Swiper", only of different species, who tries to steal the bracelets: Fifi the skunk in France, Sami the hyena in Tanzania, Fomkah the bear in Russia, and Ying Ying the weasel in China. All of them act and dress nearly identically to Swiper and are stopped in the same way he is: by saying their name, followed by "no swiping" three times. Then they run off, saying Swiper's catch phrase, "Ohh, maann" in the local language. Their entrances are also preluded by a sound, only with local music; e.g. Ying Ying has a chau gong playing.
Swiper will have his own TV special titled "Swiper the Explorer". It will revolve around the show's antagonist as he tries to help a baby fox find its way back home. The TV special will premiere on March 21, 2012 on the Nickelodeon Junior channel.[2]
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. The trio are occasionally unable to complete their music as a result of something going on in the scene, such as when they are startled by a bear that is chasing Dora and Boots in one episode.
Dora's purple Backpack (originally voiced by Sasha Toro, and currently voiced by Alexandria Suarez beginning with the fifth season[3]), 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. Backpack seems to have a lot of extra space within her fabric to be held in such a small area. It was given to Dora as a present by her mother and father. To make the Backpack open up, Dora asks the viewers at home to say "Backpack". The Backpack then sings a little introduction and asks the viewers at home to choose what Dora needs from among the Backpack's contents. Afterwards, the remaining contents go back into Backpack, who says, "Yum yum yum yum yum, ¡delicioso!" ("Delicious!")
The Map (voiced by Marc Weiner) provides travel guidance and advice. When not being consulted, the rolled-up Map resides in a side pocket on the Backpack; to make the Map come out, Dora asks the viewers at home to say "Map." This is the Map's cue to introduce himself to the audience with a repetitive song, which is short in some episodes and longer in others, and describe the path Dora has to take on her quest.
Usually the Map does not do anything more than the actions described above, but in a few episodes he plays a more active role, especially in the episode "Super Map"; the Map finds a small red cape that gives him Superman-like powers, and he uses them to help Dora on her current quest. Map inexplicably gives up the cape, and his super powers, at the end of the episode.
Isa the 9 year old Iguana is a very close friend of Dora's and an even closer friend of Boots. Isa is a skilled gardener and loves to grow mainly flowers of all kinds. She even presents her mom with a bouquet of flowers she grew herself as a Mother's Day gift.
At times, her problem solving skills prove to be invaluable for her friends and even herself made all the more disposal by her naturally acquired ability to blend into surroundings at will.
Isa also seems to have a bit of a crush on Boots, whom she knew long before she ever met Dora. She treats both Dora and Boots equally but Isa always greets Boots more shyly than Dora. She was first voiced by Ashley Flemming, and is now being done by Lenique Vincent.
Tico the Squirrel (who has been voiced by Muhammed Cunningham, Jose Zelaya and currently by Jean Carlos Celi) is a friend of Dora's who lives in the forest and who speaks Spanish and very rarely English (one occasion when he said "You're welcome" in English). He wears a colorful striped vest, and is usually seen driving his little yellow car, although he has been known to travel in a variety of vehicles, from helicopters to boats. He has purple fur, a round body, and small triangular stumps for arms and legs.
Tico's function on the show is to help Dora teach the audience words and phrases in Spanish; Dora has to tell Tico something in Spanish, such as "Faster" or "Look out", and she asks the viewers at home to say it along with her. In some episodes, a different Spanish-speaking character (such as Señor Tucán) appears instead of Tico.
In the episode "Dora's First Trip", it was established that Boots had been friends with Tico before Dora met either of them, despite the fact that Boots and Tico speak two different languages.
Benny the Bull (voiced by Jake Burbage until 2009, now by Matthew Gumley) is a friend of Dora's who lives in a barn, loves to eat, and often rides in a hot air balloon. He is mostly blue with little yellow horns, stands on his hind legs, is a little taller than Dora, and wears a blue bandanna with white polka dots around his neck.
Benny sometimes provides Dora with something that she needs on her current quest. In the episode "Swiper the Explorer", Dora needed something for the Baby Fox to drink, and Benny's picnic basket just happened to contain a carton of milk and a baby bottle ("Now, why did I pack that?"). In the episode "Dance to the Rescue", Dora and Boots needed fancy clothes to be allowed into King Bobo's castle, and Benny happened to have a gown and a bow tie in the basket of his balloon.
In the episode "Boots' Cuddly Dinosaur", Benny said that he can not sleep without nine dolls which he calls his "guys."
Despite having the same name, this character is not the same as the mascot of the Chicago Bulls.
Explorer Stars voices:
Christiana Anbri
Henry Gifford
Katie Gifford
Aisha Shickler
Muhammed Cunningham
Jose Zeleya
The episodes of Dora the Explorer almost always follow a regular pattern, breaking the fourth wall:
In 2009, Mattel and Nickelodeon introduced a preteen version of Dora, with four friends named Naiya, Kate, Emma, and Alana, who call themselves the Explorer Girls.[4] This is the "tween Dora" whose silhouette created some controversy when it debuted at the Nickelodeon website.[5][6]
As with many animated series made in the U.S., 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.
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 companies. 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.
It was revealed on February 18, 2008, that Nickelodeon would make a made-for-television movie based on the series, but as a live-action/CGI animated feature.[7] Dora, who would still be of Hispanic descent, would become a ten-year-old girl in this version with other characters computer animated. The movie is expected to be released in 2011.
On March 8, 2009, Mattel and Nickelodeon announced that Dora will receive a tweenage makeover, switching from a young age to a teenage attending middle school. Initially, it was announced that the new look would not be revealed until late 2009,[8] but after a short controversy, the tween Dora was unveiled on March 16, 2009.[9] The new pre-teen Dora may be used for one of the future seasons.
There are many action figures and playsets available in many markets, along with DVDs, cosmetics, hygiene products, ride-ons, books, board games, plush dolls, apparel, handbags, play tents, play kitchens and more. Licensees include Holland Publishing in the United Kingdom.
In 2007, lead paint used by a contract toy manufacturer in China prompted Mattel to issue recalls for nearly a million toys, many of which featured Sesame Street and Nickelodeon characters, including Dora the Explorer. Nickelodeon responded that they would introduce "third-party monitoring" of all manufacturers of products under its brands.[10][11][12]
Contains: Dora's picnic, Follow those feet, Dora in the deep sea, I love my Papi!, Say "Cheese"
Contains: Dora's Backpack, Little Star, Happy Birthday, Mami!, Meet Diego!, Dora Saves the Prince, Dora's Treasure Hunt, Good Night, Dora!
Contains: Dora's Book of Manners, Dora Goes to School, Dora's Fairy-Tale Adventure, Dora's Chilly Day, Show Me Your Smile!, Dora's Pirate Adventure, Big Sister Dora!
Video games based on the 2000 television show Dora the Explorer were released. In Canada, Cheerios offered free Dora the Explorer the Game CD-ROMs in specially marked packages. However, packages sold in Quebec would only have the French version. Dora the Explorer: Barnyard Buddies is a video game released for the PlayStation in 2003 in the US. It was not released in Europe until 2005 being one of the very last games released on that platform in that territory. Dora the Explorer: Super Star Adventures is an adventure video game for the Gameboy Advance released in 2004. It was developed by Imaginengine and published by Global Star.[13]
Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet is an action-adventure video game, developed by Monkey Bar Games, published by Global Star Software and powered by Vicious Engine. The game was released for Gamecube in North America on October 13, 2005,[14] and later in PAL regions on December 16, 2005. The Playstation 2 version was released on PAL regions on December 2, 2005, and later in North America in February 9, 2006.[15] The game is about Dora and Boots who finds some lost aliens from the purple planet. However, to take them home, she and Boots are required to collect keys to open the space gate, leading to the saturn planet. The game is unique in that it uses pictures and symbols to communicate rather than words. The object of the game is to capture one of the six explorer stars. Each explorer star has a special power such as the ability to be noisy or the ability to create music. In order to capture the star, the player must complete a hide-and-seek activity. These activities include maze navigation, matching games, side-scrolling race games, a "Frogger"-type game, a complete-the-pattern activity and a song playing game.[16]
Dora Puppy is a puppy simulator were players must help Dora take care of her puppy, Perrito, and help train him for doggie competitions. All the actions are performed by either tracing certain shapes with the stylus or calling out commands into the DS's microphone.[17] It was developed by Take-Two Interactive for the Nintendo DS and published by 2K Play in North America[18] and Australia in 2009, and in Europe in 2010.
Dora the Explorer: Dora's Cooking Club is a cooking video game for the Nintendo DS. It was published by 2K Play in 2010.[19] In the game, players have to chop veggies, stir soups, top pizzas, and more using math skills. They may be sorting cookies into numbered groups or counting out different amounts of ingredients.[20]
Hip hop artist Ludacris made a few references to Dora in his song "Number One Spot", rapping "Explora like Dora, those swipers can't swipe me".
In an episode of Drake & Josh titled "The Storm", character Crazy Steve is seen watching Dora. He repeatedly yells at her as to why she is asking him questions.
The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy makes reference to Dora in episode "Pandora's Lunchbox", where a character bearing a suspicious resemblance and the same name as Dora tries to convince people to open her lunchbox, but her personality is nearly the exact opposite of Dora's, being evil and wanting to plunge the world into never-ending suffering. Billy also describes Grim's favorite show, which is nearly a summary of Dora.
On the series Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, imaginary friend Eduardo watches a show named "Lauren is Explorin'".
On Saturday Night Live's TV Funhouse sketch entitled "Maraka", created by Robert Smigel, the Dora-like character is called Maraka, while the Boots-like character is called Mittens. The storyline resembles an episode from Season 2 of Go, Diego, Go!, "Macky the Macaroni Penguin". The sketch made fun of the pauses in the show for the child viewer to react, the translations from Spanish to English (and Chinese, German, Portuguese, Hebrew, Swahili, Xhosa, Korean and Russian) in Maraka's sentences and had many sporadic events. Maraka was voiced by Becca Lish, who imitated Kathleen Herles' voice for Dora.
Saturday Night Live also featured a Dora reference in their MTV 4 sketch. A rapper (played by Zach Braff) talks about his Dora the Explorer tattoo. He mentioned he likes calling her "Explora". When asked why he got the tattoo, he said he had a lot in common with Dora as they both, "grew up on the streets". Another character mentions he grew up in the suburbs. "Yeah, but they had streets", the rapper replies.
On an episode of The Daily Show, during the CNBC controversy, Jon Stewart makes a mock appearance on Dora the Explorer, in response to Mad Money's Jim Cramer's appearances on The Today Show and Morning Joe. In the appearance, Dora casually calls both Cramer and Morning Joe host Joe Scarborough pendejos, and Boots offers to throw feces on both.[21]
Comedian Brian Regan once poked fun at Dora the Explorer in his stand-up, repetitively singing "I'm the Map!"
Many fan-made parodies exist on YouTube that include Dora dancing the Soulja Boy,[22] in a music video for "Leam like a Cholo",[23] and asking Brad Pitt on a date.[24] These parodies have been very popular, generating over several million views each.
On Bubble Gang, the parody of the show was Chickadora The Exploiter, portrayed by Michael V. and Diego.
On Goin' Bulilit if the casts are on Location, The combined parody of the show and Nora Aunor was Nora The Explorer, portrayed by Chacha Canete.
On Eat Bulaga, the opening number for November 28, 2009 Allan K. as Dora the Rat Killer while he holds the Stuffed Monkey along with Wally Bayola as Spider-Man.
On Fred: The Movie, when Fred is riding in the car with his dad, his dad turns on a TV in the car. Dora is on the TV.
At the beginning of a Law & Order: Los Angeles episode, the kids watch Dora the Explorer in the car.
On an episode of Cartoon Network's MAD series, the segment "Dora the Explorer in the Road to Recovery" features Dora throwing up on backpack. After, backpack's gurgling voice was saying "I'm the backpack!" and scared Boots. On another episode of MAD called "Are You Karate Kidding Me?", Dre's backpack winds up to be Dora's.
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