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The Backyardigans

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So, I know I’m totally going to give you the idea that all my kids do is watch TV, and this is completely one hundred percent not true.

However, the TV they do watch gives me something to write about, so here it is.

Forget Lazytown (as though I could forget it—it’s my single most popular entry ever)—Sophia got bored with Lazytown because it’s been the same five episodes in rotation for the past two months. The show to watch is The Backyardigans. How much do I love this show? I am tempted to watch it when the kids aren’t around. I sing the songs as I do the dishes. There are only nine episodes so far and I have all nine on our TiVo. I force people just visiting our house to watch some of this show.

I love this show.

backyardigans.jpg

Tyrone, Tasha, Pablo, Uniqua, and Austin

The Backyardigans is a show about five friends—Tyrone the moose, Tasha the hippo, Pablo the penguin, Uniqua the ladybug, and Austin the kangaroo (actually, I’m not sure what Austin is, and he’s the Backyardigan we see the least of anyhow)—who get together every day and have some theme to their play: ghosts, Tarzan, knights and quests, Mounties, Vikings. They all take roles in their adventure that pretty well fit with their personalities. At the end, they repair to one kid’s house for snacktime.

In between, there’s singing, dancing, and general silliness. What’s extremely excellent about this show is that there’s stuff in there for grownups that’s not sneaky or salacious: it’s just on a level most kids aren’t going to find funny in the same way. For example, three Backyardigans are chasing the Yeti across the North Pole:

             TASHA
          We need kayaks to cross
          this water.

     They suddenly spy three KAYAKS on the bank of
     the river.

             TYRONE
          Well, that certainly is
          convenient.

That line cracks me up everytime.

The songs in this show are incredibly memorable. While doing the dishes I like to sing the songs the Vikings sing as their Viking ship rounds a very powerful whirlpool, “You’ve Got To Hold On Tight”:

You've got to hold on tight
Hold on tight
You've got to hold on tight
Hold on tight
You've got to hold on tight with all your Viking might.

Darin’s favorite bit is when they sing a limbo while trying to avoid the laser beams during a super-secret spy mission.

This show has reignited my love of musicals, which has been dormant for some time. (My insistence on musical-only writing music has been helped by the fact that I dug out our CD collection and ripped about 150 of them recently. Of course, I can’t find the one I’m looking for, Linie 1. Sigh.) I want to write a children’s musical, I’m so inspired by this show.

Anyhow: The Backyardigans is on Nick Jr. I highly recommend checking it out.

(Tyrone the moose is my favorite, by the way. In case you’re wondering.)

 

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Update 2/16/05: Wow, lots of comments here! This entry is listed pretty high on Google when you search for “The Backyardigans” so I’m going to assume someone from Nick Jr. has found it. (Hi there! More Backyardigans episodes, please!)

A number of people have posted asking about Backyardigans-themed birthday supplies and other merchandise. As far as I’ve been able to find on the Web, there isn’t any! It might not be licensed yet or might not have gotten to stories yet. All I can say is: Hurry it up! You’ve got lots of customers waiting. If anyone does know of legit Backyardigans stuff, let me know and I’ll put it on this page.

I found a number of Backyardigans songs on LimeWire. I don’t know where they’re from, since a few things tell me they’re not recorded right off of the show. If the production company wanted to put out a CD with each and every song from the show on it, they’d have a bestseller. I think there are plenty of parents out there who wouldn’t mind putting that music on for their kids, and I’d rather pay royalties to the songmakers!

Evidently a new bunch of episodes will start airing in a week or two. I can’t wait…and I think the kids are excited too. All I can say is, keep ’em coming! More! More!

Update 8/11/05: The Backyardigans’ eponymously named CD is now out! The Backyardigans has 19 great songs on it, although it doesn’t include my personal favorite, “You’ve got to hold on tight.” I had downloaded some of these songs from Limewire, but I’m much, much happier having the actual CD in my hot little hand now.

Update 1/28/06: Wow. This entry has 747 comments!

There are a couple of Backyardigan DVDs out now, which means you don’t have to keep every episode on your TiVo any more.

The Snow Fort: Contains “The Snow Fort”, “The Yeti”, “Knights Are Brave and Strong”, and “Secret Mission”.

It’s Great To Be A Ghost: Contains “It’s Great To Be A Ghost”, “Monster Detectives”, “Key to the Nile”, and “Pirate Adventure”.

Polka Palace Party: Contains “Polka Palace Party”, “Heart of the Jungle”, “Viking Voyage”, and one I haven’t seen before — having tea in the Gobi desert. (Maybe it hasn’t aired yet?)

 
Update 1/05/09: Yowsa. I am amazed at how lively this entry still is!

In response to many (many, many) comments on here: I came up with the idea that Uniqua is a ladybug from my then-4-year-old (who’s now about to be 9, but still loves the Backyardigans). I’m in complete agreement with everyone who says that Uniqua is just that: unique. I wasn’t paying a whole bunch of attention at the time, and I went with my 4-year-old’s assessment of Uniqua’s identity, ‘kay?

Filed Under: TV

Comments

  1. I listened to “Trudge, Trudge, Trudge” as I climbed Mt. Whitney this year. I love all of the songs, and I like the show more than my kids do. I think it is well written, and for a tv show, it does a good job of encouraging creative play.

  3. i go crazy about them its my favrite show i love tasha shes my fav i got to honest i love the sumiri one im 7 but even tho i love them im not dum if you would tell me were i can get one of those cds!!!!

  4. Where can I find the lyrics for the Mermaid “lullaby” song? I looked on Nick Jr and couldn’t find it…

  5. My neice LOVES them. She knows all the lyrics and dance moves to the song and she’s only 2 1/2. She knows their names and everything. Uniqua is her favorite. She refers to her as “MY” niqua. But for the longest we couldn’t figure out what she was. I have been thinking she was a spoted ant until i visited this website. They have replaced The Doodlebops in our house. It’s no longer first choice. It’s second with Destiny.

  6. oh my god! so i absolutely love the BACKYARDIGANS!!! I take care of a one year old girl and a 2 year old boy and the backyardigans is their absolute favorite!!! And sadly enough… I love the show more than they do! Im off on weekends but i never miss it when im at home! I have all my friends and some associates watchin the show now! my favorite song is… ssh ssh, its a secret! when they’re secret agents! i also like the hush little mermaid song when they’re tryin to put tasha the mermaid (at the time) to sleep! i am however, extremely curious as to who are the voices behind these extremely amazing characters! MORE EPISODES PLEASE!!!

  7. oh my god! so i absolutely love the BACKYARDIGANS!!! I take care of a one year old girl and a 2 year old boy and the backyardigans is their absolute favorite!!! And sadly enough… I love the show more than they do! Im off on weekends but i never miss it when im at home! I have all my friends and some associates watchin the show now! my favorite song is… ssh ssh, its a secret! when they’re secret agents! i also like the hush little mermaid song when they’re tryin to put tasha the mermaid (at the time) to sleep! i am however, extremely curious as to who are the voices behind these extremely amazing characters! MORE EPISODES PLEASE!!!

  8. Me and my 2 sons love the Backyardigans very much and can’t believe how many other people do to. We’re still wondering what Uniqua is.

  9. I am so glad that we are not the only adults that have fallen in love with this show. Our daughter absolutley loved them. She just turned one and when she hears the songs, she stops and dances!! Not only are the songs and bright colours wonderful, it seems that it is one of very few cartoons these days that doesn’t involve violence! We grew up with Bugs Bunny and Roadrunner blowing eachother up and we knew that it was a cartoon and not to believe it. Todays society is pretty scary with all the violence and non-controll we seem to have over our young people, its nice to know that someone has created something innocent for our children to watch and to help develop their imagination and not their rage!!

  10. GUESS WHAT BACKYARDIGAIN FANS I FOUND PARTY SUPPLIES @ PARTY CITY! AND WAL-MART HAS TOYS AND ALL THE CHARACTERS AS DOLLS WHO TALK, SAY GOODNIGHT AND MUCH MORE THEN THEY EVER HAD B-4! CHRISTMAS IS COMING SO B-4 I HIT THE SHELVES I LET U KNOW.

  11. Wow! It’s incredible to see the number of adult fans of this show. My daughter is two (next week) and she is as hooked as Mommy & Daddy are. We were able to get her to give up her pacifier by replacing it with a Uniqua doll!

    The best thing about this show is how is encourages imagination. I love it when my daughter is playing with her toys and then suddenly breaks out into a backyardigans song and starts acting out an episode.
    GREAT SHOW!

  13. My family (my husband, myself and my 9 mnth daughter)love the Backyardigans. Her first birthday party will have that theme. My husband walks around singing the songs. My daughter’s favorite character is Pablo. She laughs if you even say “yeti, yeti, yeti”.

  15. My little brother loves this show! Hes actually having a backyardigans birthday party this year!Everyone in my family has a favorite character. Mine is Uniqua. I love her-shes got spunk, personality, and shes got a great voice. But I’m always wondering what she is. It doesnt take a rocket scientist to figure out that pablo is a penguin,tyrone is a moose, tasha is a hippo, and austin is a kangaroo. But It might take a rocket scientist to figure out what Uniqua is though..

    I’m as clueless as everyone else is!

  19. I am 19 years old, an i discovered the backyadigans just resently, and i loveit. The songs are great, and the all characters have spunk!… Love this cartoon..
    Love uniqua(my fav), tyrone(2nd fav) and love when pablo(3rd fav) freaks out about stuff..its funny…Austin is adorable too, and so it tasha

  20. My 2 year old son LOVES the Backyardigans. He knows all of the songs as well as the dances. He has all of the Backyardigan DVDs and is even going to be Pablo for Halloween. His birthday party is of The Backyardigans, his room is the Backyardigans, his toys are the Backyardigans!! I give two thumbs up to Nick Jr for introducing this show to us!!

    I LOVE THE LITTLE GUYS!!

  21. My 2 and a half pretends he’s playing with the Backyardigans just about everyday!! This is 1 of the 2 shows he’s allowed to watch daily. He pretends to call one of them on the phone and invite them down to play. Thanks goodness they re-aired the newest episodes so I could DVR them. His new favorites are Samuri Pie and The Legend of the Volcanno Sisters! I find myself really likely the latter also. I like this show because it has a wide kid audience – as my 9 year old even enjoys them! My 2 year old is dressing up as Pablo for Halloween this year. In case anyone is looking – BirthdayExpress.com has tons of Backyardigans party supplies! That will be his theme this year, I’m sure!

  22. Hello everyone..Obvious I love the Backyardigans. I have an 11month old son whose is really funny. He loves the all the characters….no matter where we are in the house if he hears the theme music to the Backyardigans he will find the TV. My husband taught him to snap his fingers and it is so funny that he actually does it when they come on. It is a great show…anyway…LOOKING FOR PARTY SUPPLIES? I found them at one Party city in San Antonio,TX so check there websites…..

  24. Hello. I’m 16 years old and I just want to say that I am in love with the Backyardigans! I watch it every chance I get and I’m in love with Pablo and Tyrone! I think that that show is the coolest kids show after the Blues Clues when Steve was there, WAY back in the day. I just came by to show support, so bye!

  26. I too am a mom fan. I got hooked on the Backyardigans way before my daughter. I had to find somethng else to watch besides Barney. We both really like the episopes Surf’s Up and Race Day. We both sing and dance to all the songs. Her second birthday is in three weeks and it is a Backyardigans birthday party.
    Madison’s Mom

  28. The backyardigans are HEAVEN. I have a 10 month old who wouldnt watch anything on tv. Not even for 10 seconds, And one day I was trying to lay down when i just put Nick on one morning and they were on. She walked right up to the tv and started humming as if she knew the songs. Well im throwing a backyardigans birthday for her. I found stuff on birthday express.com and you need to go under first birthday. Thanks for the site.

  29. I love the Backyardigans! My 2.5 and 3.5 year olds love it, especially the younger one. I am so glad that this show exists. I want to buy all the DVDs. It’s just a great show that encourages imaginative play, and there is no violence. My favorite song is “Float, Flutter, Fly”. That one is so catchy!

  30. I have two daughters who are 8 yrs and 2 yrs, and they love the Backyardigans almost as much as I do!! This is one of the best cartoons in a long time. And I love that theme song. It’s good to see there are other grown ups out there who love this show as much as I do.

  31. I started watching The Backyardigans this summer while doing summer care in my home. I had 12 children ranging from ages 5 mos to 12 years, including my now 11 month old daughter. All of the children and I fell in love with The Backyardigans. Now, my daughter and I enjoy watching The Backyardigans every day, whether on Nick Jr., Discovery Kids, or Noggin. I even watch it when my daughter is napping. I just love The Backyardigans. They are so cute and funny….and they can sing!!! I am even planning a Backyardigan “Heart of the Jungle” themed party for my daughter’s 1st Birthday Party next month. What can I say…..I’ve gone Backyardigan mad. I’ve never been more in love with a cartoon.

  34. Hola mi hija de un añito le encantan la fiesta de backyardigans, le encanta UNIQUA aqui en venezuela no hay nada de ellos, quisiera por favor me hicieran llegar alguans imagenes para yo poder hacer todo (piñata, mantel, torta, cotillones, decoración, etc)…
    gracias!!! Ah, olvidaba me gustaria saber como consigo las canciones en español…

    Muchisima Gracias

  35. my daughter loves the backyardigans and we are doing her 2nd birthday backyardigans. We were wondering if anyone knows where to rent an adult pablo cotume i can’t find one anywhere?

  36. I found this site very helpful! In response to Nina’s posting I didn’t find a adult pablo costume but I found a site that has uniqua and tyron costumes for adults at http://www.kidparty.info/characters/rental_04.htm

    I also wanted to share some birthday ideas. I too used the Backyardigans pirate bath ship as a cake topper-it worked perfectly-I bought it at Wal-Mart for $12.99.toyRus has the backyardigans Plate set.I found most of the toys & clothes including toddler underwear at Kohl’s and Claire’s had reusable stickers. I also made a tee shirt with tasha on it & matching sweatpants for my daughter using the Avery Iron-On T-Shirt Transfers. they work great! I got all my clip art off Google. Just thought I share some of my ideas in return AND THANK YOU FOR THIS SITE! WE LOVE THOSE BACKYARDIGANS!!!!

  38. This was very helpful with the birthday ideas, I too am having trouble finding the Pablo adult costume here in CT, but the idea with the pirate ship is AWESOME!!! I am on it rightnow!!! Thanks so much.

    A huge Backyardigan fan

  39. I am looking for backyardigans crib sheets can anyone offer a website? My son and I love them and want his whole room to be done in backyardigans.

  40. The Backyardigans toddler bedding come out this month. Its the same size as the crib bedding but no crib bumper

    http://www.allaboardtoys.com/the_backyardigans/bedding/the_backyardigans_4pc._toddler_bedding_set.asp

    nick jr has the window valance thing and walmart.com has the backyardigans toddler bed, one of the 4 four tables ive seen, the toy organizer, hamper, play hut, etc all at the lowest prices ive seen yet. And believe me i have searched every where.

  41. I love the backyardigans. My son is 18 months and will take the DVDs that me and my husband have bought and say this, so that we will play it. I know every song and at this point and time am watching it with my son! The only question I has was what was Uniqua but thanks to your web page I now know. I do have a question does anyone know where I can find the lyrics to the songs? I need them for a friend and have yet been able to find them! Thanks Samantha
    My E~mail Is xisweetqtxi@aol.com just put backyardigans as the subject thanks!

  42. If anyone knows about The Backyardigans figurines, please, let me know. My 4 yr old son is a figurine freak, and he has every figurine that has ever come out for every show or movie he has ever loved. He and his 1 yr old sister both love to watch the Backyardigans, so it would be awesome to have the figures. The pirate ship only has two characters, that may have to work for now. I downloaded some of our favorite songs off of Walmart.com. We listened to that CD over and over in the car. I have to admit, I love the music and even have my own favorite episode. I just love to see them dance.

  43. OK NOW WHERE DO I START…

    The Backyardigans are mine and my daughters fav. show out of all the Cartoons ever made My Daughter is only 8 months and she already says Pablo thats Our Fav Backyardigan but we really love it we have tivo and it’s great we have almost every show and we are in the progress in recording them on tapes so she will have them for when she gets a little older when she understands it a little bit better but Thank you guys for have’n the show

    Heaven & Shakeiyah

  44. Yeah Backyardigan Adult fans. This site is amazing! I am from Regina Canada and knobody knows the backyardigans here. I bought my daughter one of the dvds when she was six months old because the characters looked bright and cute. This was about November 2005. It turned out that we both loved the show. She hears the theme song and she drops everything she is doing to sit and watch. Things are finally starting to pick up here in the stores around spring. Now they are everywhere. The moose(tyron) is her favortite. Does anyone know all of the titles of the DVDs or where to get them? So far we have:
    Polka Palace
    Great to be a Ghost
    Cave Party
    Surfs Up
    According to the internet there is also:
    snow fort and mission to mars
    I would love to have them all. These shows are all so great for thier little imaginations. I think this is going to be a classic to stay for a long time.
    P.S. I think uniqua is an alien of some sort.

  45. Mission to mars hasnt came out yet, You can put a pre order on it though on some websites. The Snow fort is you can get at target and wal-wal-mart my son also has them all. Should be able to get them off the web sites. thats where we go all of ours.

  46. The Backyardigans is, in my opinion, one of the most interesting shows on TV. As an English teache in Brazil, I’ve been using one episode that I managed to record,to prepare my classes. The children from school simply love them, and so do I. I started watching them for fun, then I thought, Why not showing one of these episodes in my class? The principal loved it andit was done. I wish I had a place where I could buy the episode with subtitles in English.

  47. I came across this page searching for the backyardigans lyrics…and I found everything you wrote to be entirely true! Im 20 and have a 2 year old son, and all my friends think its hilarious that im more in love with the show than my own son! I’ve gone as far as to make his whole room backyardigans! I just thought it was great to see that I’m not the only Mom singing all the songs when its not even on!

    Thanks for this post…it made my day!

    ~Nikki