Dora the Explorer | |
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Genre | Children's adventure |
Created by | Chris Gifford Valerie Walsh Valdes Eric Weiner |
Directed by | George S. Chialtas Gary Conrad Henry Lenardin-Madden Sherie Pollack Arnie Wong Jyllian Gunther (Voice) |
Voices of |
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Theme music composer |
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Opening theme | Dora the Explorer Theme |
Ending theme | various closing themes |
Country of origin | United States |
Original language(s) |
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No. of seasons | 8 |
No. of episodes | 172 (aired) (list of episodes) |
Production | |
Executive producer(s) | Chris Gifford |
Producer(s) | Valerie Walsh Valdes |
Editor(s) |
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Running time | 22 minutes approx., 45 minutes (specials) |
Production company(s) |
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Distributor | CBS Television Distribution |
Release | |
Original network | Nickelodeon |
Picture format | |
Original release | August 14, 2000 | – June 5, 2014
Chronology | |
Followed by | Dora and Friends: Into the City! |
Related shows | Go, Diego, Go! |
External links | |
Website | www |
Dora the Explorer is an American educational animated TV 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. The series is co-produced by Nickelodeon Productions and Nickelodeon Animation Studio. Dora the Explorer is one of the longest-running shows of Nick Jr. During the sixth season, the show became the Nick Jr. series with most episodes, surpassing Blue's Clues with 143 episodes, having 144 after it had completed broadcasting on television. It won a Peabody Award in 2003 "for outstanding efforts in making learning a pleasurable experience for pre-schoolers." It ended on June 5, 2014 after 8 seasons and 172 episodes.
The series centers around Dora, a 7 (Later 8) year old American girl of Indigenous Mexican heritage, with a love of embarking on quests related to an activity that she wants to partake of or a place that she wants to go to, accompanied by her talking purple backpack and anthropomorphic monkey companion named Boots (named for his beloved pair of red boots). Each episode is based around a series of cyclical events that occur along the way during Dora's travels, along with obstacles that she and Boots are forced to overcome or puzzles that they have to solve (with "assistance" from the viewing audience) relating to riddles, the Spanish language, or counting. Common rituals may involve Dora's encounters with Swiper, a bipedal, anthropomorphic masked thieving fox whose theft of the possessions of others must be prevented through fourth wall-breaking interaction with the viewer. To stop Swiper, Dora must say "Swiper no swiping" three times. However, on occasions where Swiper steals the belongings of other people, the viewer is presented with the challenge of helping Boots and Dora locate the stolen items. Another obstacle involves encounters with another one of the program's antagonists; the "Grumpy Old Troll" dwelling beneath a bridge that Dora and Boots must cross, who challenges them with a riddle before permitting them the past that needs to be solved with the viewer's help. Known for the constant breaking of the fourth-wall depicted in every episode, the audience is usually presented to two primary landmarks that must be passed before Dora can reach her destination, normally being challenged with games or puzzles along the way. The episode always ends with Dora successfully reaching the locale, singing the "We Did It!" song with Boots in triumph.