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The Backyardigans is a CGI-animated television series created by Janice Burgess. It aired from October 11, 2004 to July 12, 2013. It centers on a group of five animal friends (Uniqua, Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, and Austin) who use their imaginations to embark on fantastic adventures in their shared backyard. Uniqua is the only character to appear in every episode. In an interview, Janice Burgess said that Uniqua was based on herself: "Uniqua is me. Or at least who I was as a kid. She's a ringleader. Out of the five, Uniqua is the main character, and we use her in every story." Each episode is set to a different musical genre and features at least four songs. Four seasons of The Backyardigans were produced. A 2009 article stated that the show was planned to continue beyond the fourth season. However, in 2010, the series' creator Janice Burgess decided to move onto a different series: Nickelodeon's revival of Winx Club. Burgess worked as a creative director and writer for Winx Club before eventually retiring from Nickelodeon altogether in 2014. In 2024, the franchise was revived for a series of short music videos on YouTube. PlotIn each episode, the show's main characters rely on their vivid imaginations to transform their backyard into a completely different world. The story always ends just in time for one of them to invite the others to their house for a snack. The show focuses on music and dancing as much as it does on the stories, with each episode featuring a different music genre and four original songs, occasionally with at least one rearrangement of a well-known or traditional song. Characters
The show has five main characters: Uniqua, Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, and Austin. Uniqua is the only character who appears in every single episode. Episodes
The Backyardigans ran for four seasons, each consisting of twenty episodes. The show ended with 80 produced episodes (74 stand-alone episodes and three two-part specials). History An early promotional image The Backyardigans did not become a regular series until 2004. It has roots in a declined pilot from 1998 titled "Me and My Friends". This pilot was not animated (it starred actors in costumes instead of 3D CGI-animation) and did not feature Austin (who would not be introduced for six more years). After Nickelodeon declined to order "Me and My Friends" for a first season, the creators reworked the concept into a more-developed idea titled Backyardigans. In 2001, an animated pilot starring the same four characters was accepted by Nickelodeon. According to Burgess, the series was originally planned to be animated via motion capture, similar to the digital movement translation used in video games. This idea was scrapped because it appeared "too floaty." Janice wanted crisper movement with the animated choreography, so the movement was translated by sending a Leica to the animators. The Backyardigans was first previewed on the Canadian network Treehouse TV on September 11, 2004. The episode "Pirate Treasure" aired as a sneak peek, followed by "The Heart of the Jungle" on September 12. The series made its official debut a month later on Nickelodeon in the United States. The series was successful and continued to air new episodes until mid-2013. The first 73 episodes were aired on the main Nickelodeon network. The last seven episodes of season four premiered exclusively on the Nick Jr. channel (one in November 2012, one in December 2012, and five in July 2013). From 2015 onward, reruns sporadically returned to Nick Jr. at early-morning timeslots, but the show was removed by August 30, 2018.
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The Backyardigans
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