Dora the Explorer
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Image:Dora and Boots.jpg 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.
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]
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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, but now she resides in a jungle with her mexican family.
Dora's exact national origin remains vague because no specific Latin American country is ever mentioned. In any case, Dora speaks both Spanish and English. 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.)
Dora is voiced by Kathleen Herles. 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.
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 has proved popular enough that Nickelodeon introduced a separate Diego series entitled Go, Diego, Go! in 2005.
Swiper
Swiper is a villainous fox who appears from time to time to hinder Dora's explorations. As his name implies, Swiper steals (or at least tries to steal) key items that help Dora on her adventures. When Swiper appears, Dora's catch phrase is "Swiper, no swiping!" When Swiper succeeds, he says "you're too late!", but when he fails he says, "oh, man!".
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. The Fiesta Trio is a group of three small animals: a grasshopper, a snail, and a frog.
Other characters
Image:Grumpy Old Troll.jpg 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, 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) and Map (which provides travel guidance and advice). Sometimes there are also locomotives, boats, and automobiles with speaking roles.
Plot
The episodes of Dora the Explorer always follow the same never changing pattern:
- Dora has 3 places to go, with the third place as the destination
- Dora and Boots meet Swiper somewhere along the way, sometimes succed at saying 'Swiper no Swiping' 3 times, sometimes Swiper sucessfully swipes Dora's item and hides it. Dora and Boots always finds the hidden item.
- Dora will meet one of her friends at the places
- Dora always suceeds to pass the obstacles
- Every character that appeared on the episode sings 'We did it' at the end except for Swiper
- Dora asks viewers what their favorite part was
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 Mexico and Nickelodeon Latin America in South America , Dora and Boots (called Botas) are speaking Spanish and other protagonists speaking and answering in English. Some Spanish episodes are available to US customers on VHS, and some DVDs have a Spanish track (including Dora's Egg Hunt).
French dub
In the French language version, Dora l'exploratrice, broadcast on the private French TV channel TF1, the bilingualism is Anglo-French, with Dora and Boots (called Babouche) speaking French and other protagonists speaking and answering in English. Some French episodes are available to US customers on VHS from http://www.amazon.ca.
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.
Dutch dub
In the Dutch language version, broadcast on Nickelodeon (TV channel), the bilingualism is Dutch-English.
Dora the Explorer merchandise
Currently 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.
Trivia
- Dora the Explorer became the first Latina balloon character in the 79th Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade on Thursday, November 24th, 2005.
- Dora the Explorer is the first Nick Jr. show that appears on a console system, with a video game called Dora the Explorer: Journey to the Purple Planet.
Popularity
- On one episode of Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends, there is a Dora parody that Eduardo watches called "Lauren is Exploring," 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 of Dora the Explorer. Billy also makes a cynical summary of the show.