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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

  2. mi amiga le ve a hacer la fiesta a su hijo e los backyardigans y quisiera una foto de cada uno que esten separados uno de otro pero que esten los 5
    gracias
    venezuela
    mariangel

  3. I have a 2yr son named Aidan that loves the show and because we watch it on ondemand allday everyday I myself have fell in love with the show. My son just sings and dance to every show. Our favorites are Secret Agent and Ghost.

  6. adoro esta serie!!!son geniales,es la animación en 3d más bella y a la vez sencilla que he visto..los personajes son encantadores y diverditidísimos!!y bailan genial. Me encantan Austin y Uniqua!

  7. My family also is in love with the backyardigans my daughter loves uniqua. We use the recordings as our secret weapon lol. It always seems to brighten my daughter up! Does anyone know the voices of the backyardigans?

  8. Nevermind i found it…incase anyone else is wondering…

    Jonah Bobo
    Austin

    Reginald Davis, Jr.
    Tyrone

    Naelee Rae
    Tasha

    Zach Tyler
    Pablo

    Sean Curley
    Pablo (singing voice)

    Kristin Danielle Klabunde
    Tasha (singing voice)

    Thomas Sharkey
    Austin (singing voice)

    LaShawn Jefferies
    Uniqua

    Jamia Simone Nash
    Uniqua (singing voice)

    Corwin C. Tuggles
    Tyrone (singing voice)

  9. im in canada and cant buy the cd for download anywhere does anyone have it and i can get it off them?

  10. okay, this is sad but……… I’m 11 years old and yesterday I was sick with the flu and watched an hour and a half of it. Now im home from school and i just watched an hour of it. Wow, it’s pretty good, and that makes me kind of dorky, doesn’t it? My little brother is eight, and he stopped watching little kid shows pretty early, and yesterday, a day of blue’s clues, the wonder pets(yuck), and backyardigans, made me miss them. I agree the backyardigans songs are pretty good!

  11. i just started watching the backyardigans a couple moths ago. I love it! espeacily because zach tyler esien plays pablo. now my 3 year old sister and i watch it everyday and she loves it so much that i don’t have to watch higgly town heros anymore! that show was starting to anoy me

  12. OMG I love them!!!!!! I started watching them last year with my baby cousins. I think my fav episode is when Tyrone and Austin were making the pies for Tashsa and Pablo & Uniqua were ninja’s trying to steal them.

  15. I just wanted to say that Uniqua is not a ladybug.

    “If you’ve ever wondered what exactly Uniqua from The Backyardigans is, Blogging Baby has the answer. Uniqua is unique and doesn’t represent an actual animal.

    But she’s nothing. According to creator Janice Burgess, Uniqua is just her. Uniqua is her name, and also her species with her purple skin, pink spots, and dainty antennae, she doesn’t look like any other creature on the planet.”

    From: http://www.tvfortots.com/2005/12/

  16. YOU STUPid PEOPLE(well not really stupid just oblivous) UNIQUA is not a ladybug. she is a unique animal and the only child of her kind. hence the name uniqua. UNIQUA=UNIQUE she is not a lady bug or pig or caterpillar or whatever. she is um=nique

  17. Backyardigans are great & addicting…I think I like watching it more than my baby sometimes! Pablo is my favorite! I wish they’d show more Tasha and Austin though!

  18. My son, his dad and Im love the Backyardigans. We have DVR were we record every new episode and watch them continously with our son. Just about everything he got for Christmas was Backyardigans.

  19. Hey!! It’s Kasey Here. Chad’s asleep, but he’s still in the room. Well, I wanted to check back in. It’s been a while since we’ve posted. We are in love with this show. We now have a cd, dvd, book, and Uniqua doll. Chad’s 16 & I’m 14. We are soon to be 17 & 15. I just wanted to say hi. We will hopefully post again soon!

    Your backyard friends the backyardigans… together in the backyard again.

  20. a mi hijo le encanta los backyardigans y ahora en abril cumplira 4 anos y el quiere su fiesta de ellos pero yo quiero encontrar los 5 monitos individuales para centro de mesa so si saben de algo pegen lo en la pagina garcias

  21. I HAVE A SIX MONTH OLD WHO LOVES THE BACKYARDIGANS AND SO DO I AT THE AGE OF 31. HE STARTED WATCHING IT WHEN HE WAS 3 MONTHS, I COULD NOT BELIEVE IT. THE SHOW IT GREAT

  22. Okay, I’m a 41 year old male obsessed with Backyardigans…it’s my favorite TV show. I’ve clearly got problems. My 2-year old daugher is also obsessed with it. She hops up in her crib every morning and says “Backyardigans! TV…no upstairs on the computer? Backyardigans on computer??” (She wants me to log in to the Nick Jr website and play the Backyardigans car racing game or the Mission To Mars game.) She knows all the names of the episodes…in the middle of the day she’ll say “Watch Cave Party? No…watch…watch….Great To Be A Ghost?”

  23. I dont have any kids of my own yet, my husband and I just recently married, but i do have a 2 yr. old neice, whom I love more than anything and she loves the Backyardigans more than anything!!!! I got her the spinning and dancing Pablo for Christmas, and she LOVES IT!! He actually sings the whole theme song!! Thats what she loves to hear! And we had to buy new batteries for him within 2 wks!! And We just ordered alot of Backyardigans birthday supplies from birthday direct online, they have the most selection and the lowest prices on the web. And it seems that the Backyardigans are really just now starting to get popular retail wise. Alot of stores are starting to carry more things. Everywhere around where I live act like they have never heard of the cute little fellers!!! Party City has alot of birthday party supplies online, but you cant purchase anything online, and when you do to the store, they dont have anything thats online!! But I just wanted to say I think this website is great!!!!

  24. I LOVE this show so I am really glad my almost 2 year old loves it too. 🙂 I WANT MORE EPISODES! They aren’t making anymore?? *crosses fingers*
    And, I think as well that Austin is a kangeroo. I love his raspy little voice 🙂 hehe

  25. I bought Backyardigans party supplies at Party City last night. I had to go to two different ones, but they have been found!!

    Now, where to find a cake!!

  27. I found out about Backyardigans when my daughter was 11 months old and nows shes 23 months and she loves it to death. She has All 6 DVD’s, about 15 stuffed Backyardigans (which most of them sing),the chair the makes music and the computer game which I play cause shes still to little. She would have some of the outfits but they start in 2T but shes little for her age. But my personal fav. is Mission to Mars. Boinga, Boinga. LOL. O and I don’t think Uniqua is a ladybug I think she some kinda of UNIQUE thing. Well I give it 5 stars!!!!!!!!!!!

  28. Hi, I have a 23 month old son who loves the Backyardigans, over here in the UK they have dubbed the voices and i just Love Austin. BUT my biggest problem is WHy do they not sell any merchandise here in the UK?? my friend brought some DVD’s for my son over the net which have american voice overs which is great.. i love Uniqua! and Austin still sounds cute!, BUT i want some buy some items here, can anyone tell me when its going to be stocked in UK stores please!

    the New mission to Mars is the best episode with the soca music! LOve it!

  30. MY 3 Beautiful Daughters LOVE Backyardigans. My oldest who is autistic is in awwww just like when Dora Was new. The thing is I would love to have figures like the dora ones that move and all. the only thing I see out is this new bath tub pirate ship that has unigua and paublo and that is it. We realy want the whole team in the same type of figure style. I will never understand why that is not the first thing to Come out. Pretend play is much easier for small children when they can fit a character in each hand. It is almost as if they wait until the child grows out of the darn fixation to actualy come out with toys that are good. Nick JR. Realy needs to catch the wave while it’s still thier u know. It doesen’t last forever and that has been proven by Blues clues. I still love the show but now that backyardigans has come out it has totaly over shadowed it. But backyardigans can never take the place of Blues Clues. For one it is more about social education than it is about Preschool u know anyway if only Nick Jr. would just get a clue.

  31. My son loves The Backyardigans. He turns 1 year tommorow, the 10 of January! We are having a big birthday party coming up for him and it will be all BACKYARDIGANS. 🙂 He loves them sooo much. When he is running around and I decide to put them on for him he stops, hears the music, and starts dancing away!!! AMAZING how kids react right away with these little characters. I have found party supplies for the birthday party, but want to know if anyone knows where I can find little figurenes for the cake. I have looked some places but I know not everywhere. I hope someone does know of a suggestion. I want it to be the topping for the cake. Please let me know if anyone knows anything. ALSO please more backyardigans!! I love Austin, even though he is not in all of the episodes. My son loves the episode “Cave Party”! 🙂 Well enjoy!

  32. I have a 2 year old that also loves these little creatures that have the most beautiful voices and so full of talent. It would be so cool to have a fan club. I would really like the kids to know how much we the parents and kids love what they are doing. Thanks to all of you who shared information I have added this site to my fav’s because I have gotten more info from you. I am searching your comments to find out where to purchase toys. etc. I am a brand new parent. Thanks keep the comments coming and thank you NOGGIN!! Bonga,Bonga!!

  33. HI: MY SON RECEIVED THIS CHRISTMAS A BEAUTIFUL TYRONE DOLL, THAT SINGS THE SONG “RIDING THE RANGE”. i´VE BEEN LOOKING FOR THE LYRIC, BUT IT´S BEEN NOT POSSIBLE. CAN U HELP ME, PLS ¡¡¡?
    THANKS A LOT ¡¡¡

  34. Hi!

    We love the Backyardigans too! I found this page because I was looking for Backyardigans sheet music for the piano– I haven’t found the post that asks about it. Does anyone know if there is piano music for Backyardigans songs? There should be! The songs are fabulous! I’ve gotten really hooked on this show thanks to my 4 and 2 year-old kids. It’s fun to know it’s popular with so many other grownups!

  36. We have a whole family of fans here – running the range from age 3 – 60 (my daughter and my mother)! The kids love the songs and adventures and the adults — oh, who am I kidding, we love that too! But we also like the vocabulary and kind behaviour that the show teaches. And my three year old daughter uses the word “certainly” in context, so how bad could this show be!!

    My only problem is that I can’t watch Race Around the World more than once per week, otherwise I spend every waking hour singing “Racing Day” and “Go! Go! Go!”.

    I love this show.

  37. My son is 11 months old and has been watching the Backyardigans since he was 5 months. He LOVESSSSS these guys. His face just lights up when he hears the theme song or any song for that matter. His first birthday is next month and yes the Backyardigans party supplis have been ordered:) I to find myself singing the songs daily. They just do something to you:)
    THANK YOU,THANK YOU,THANK YOU Backyardigans…. We love you all:)

  38. My 16 Month old son loves this show!!! He can be screaming and I turn on the DVD and instant quiet and his eyes glued to the TV. I must admit I also love to watch the show, and sing along. “Come and get your oats, before I give them to the goats.” I am having trouble finding things in stores. I heard there are sneakers somewhere out there. If I had them maybe my son would keep his shoes on!!

  39. We LOVE the Backyardigans and used to be my children’s favorite show — until we moved to the UK 🙁

    They dubbed the voices, which I totally understand because they want their little ones to learn their accent.

    HOWEVEr… they picked THE WORST SINGING VOICES EVER!! It is PAINFUL to listen to! Specially Tyron and Tasha’s voice are awful 🙁 They sing out of tune, wrong pitch and sometimes it sounds like it is adults making kids voices. It is truly a shame that they manage to ruin the songs of a cartoon like the BAckyardigas which SHINES in its music!

    UK parents — you really should try listen to Backyardingas from the US!

  40. I have a 1 year old son who has been watching backyardigans since he was about 2 months old I am running out of DVDS LOL we have them all and cant wait till feb 6th to get the newest one Legend of the Volcano Sisters.. You never know how good your childs attention span is until you pop in a DVD and dont see them for HOURS.. Now i am looking for backyardigans Bed room stuff and i am having allot of trouble trying to find stuff we are also looking for fabrics so if any of you come across anything can you send a link PLEASE… thanks

  41. My son who will turn 1 in a couple days loves the backyardigans. Once he hears the theme music he stand up in his pack and play and just stares at the tv till its over. And when he sees one of the characters in the toy isle at Walmart he screams. I think I love the Backyardigans just as much as he does. I’m constantly sing with the tv. To the lady looking for bedding go on ebay i just saw some bed sets on there. I wish they would come out with a cake pan for them. I bought my son a set from AVON.

  42. My nearly 2 year old son is a huge fan and my nearly one year old daughter is totally starting to pick up on them too! For christmas I bought him the sing and spin Pablo and he saw it before I could wrap it and would not let it go so I had to give it to him early. Then he tried to take it to bed with him too so I got him the bedtime pablo.He’s got all the D.V.Ds I can find and even C.D. to liosten too in the van. LOVES LOVES Them And it’s probaly the only kids show I actually enjoy to watch too!

  44. I like the backyardigans a lot and I am 15. My favorite episode in the second season so far is The cops and robots one. I like it because Pablo and Tasha are bad robots.

  45. We love the Backyardigans too!!! We discovered it about a year and a half ago and have loved it since day 1! My two year old sings all the songs. We have 3 of the dvd’s (Surfs up, Mission to Mars and Cave Party) and they are in constant rotation in the DVD player we got installed in the van.

  47. First of all, this show makes my day. I know all the songs by heart and all 4 of my kids love them. ages 9, 4, 2 and 7 months. a few weeks ago, we ran into Mission to Mars, the new one, at the store, and the kids have watched it over and over and over. Samurai Pie is just so cool. And they’re all so educational in introducing children to history, liturature, music, and just in getting them basically well roundedly smart. Best is, and Dora is great don’t get me wrong, they have lovely voices, both singing and speaking, and they are friendly to eachother but not overbearingly friendly, like in a cheesy way which so many kids shows tend to be. And there is no fighting, death, evil to defeat, gossip, and all the other demented crud that’s in so many cartoons. It’s jsut plain and simple great entertainment. My husband’s in the army and he had a couple buddies stop in for a minute. the kids were watching Backyardigans and he was so excited to share the show with someone that he tried to get his friends to watch the introduction theme song . They thought he was crazy, I could tell; but I was more surprised that he would be so bold to make a move like that to his buddies from work. I would really like to know more about the Backyardigans though. When we got our first DVD of them, I thought we’d be able to see some behind the scenes or an introduction to the people doing their voices because of their great talent. If these are truely kids voices, I want to meet them! Big time Fans,
    Heather, Geoff, Kathryn, Avery, Owen and Chloe

  48. how about this one. crusty old tyrone says at the end of “Eureka”, “Yea, I got a powerful hankerin for some snackage!” so funny. big time fans

  49. OMG!!! I just saw my first 2 episodes! And neither of them showed Tasha!!! My friends and I are the BACKYARDIGANS at school and each of us are a different charector.(Uniqua, Tyron, Pueblo, Tasha, Austin,) I’m Tasha and they almost never show her! Why is that?!

  50. Well, I’m crazy about the Backyardigans! my baby loves them too, but We live in Venezuela and here it’s a little bit difficult to find dvd’s and other products. I have some of the songs but I’d like to get them all. Please, if you know about any web page where I could find them I’d really appreciate you let me know. my e-mail: gabymiau@hotmail.com. Thanks!!
    Gaby