38 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A show for children that parents can actually enjoy, December 27, 2005
Don't let this brightly colored CGI cartoon fool you into thinking it's only for kids. This is one you can watch for the umpteenth time without rolling your eyes way up in your head, and is one of the most entertaining shows to come out recently.
Each adventure takes place in the imagination of five young friends who turn their shared backyard into different fantasy worlds, each episode full of song and dance numbers of various music genres. Imagine hearing your kids singing `20s Jazz tunes while cartoon characters tap dance across the screen, and you'll pretty much get the idea.
This DVD has four episodes:
1. It's Great to Be a Ghost: This is the `20s Jazz episode, where Pablo (the blue penguin), Tyrone (the brown moose) and Uniqua (the pink spotted female of indeterminate species) pretend to be ghosts haunting an old house, and do their best to scare Tasha (the yellow hippo) an "unsuspecting stranger" who drops by the house.
2. Monster Detectives: This one has an early rock n' roll theme, and features Tyrone as a detective and Uniqua, who has lost her soccer ball, as they go to the castle of Pablo the Soccer Monster to get it back.
3. The Key to the Nile is another musical adventure, where Queen CleoTasha and her attendants Pablo, Tyrone and Austin (the purple kangaroo) seek three treasures of the Nile to present to the sphinx Uniqua.
4. Pirate Treasure is my favorite, set to a reggae beat, as the friends learn to work together to uncover buried treasure. Arrrr!
Janice Burgess has created a truly enjoyable, educational and fun series for all ages.
Amanda Richards, December 27, 2005
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15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Your Backyard Friends, The Backyardigans!, November 14, 2005
"The Backyardigans" is a fairly new series now airing in the United States and Canada about a group of five friends who get together and have adventures in their backyards. There's a lot of singing (all really quite good) and the animation is crisp CGI. The characters each have different and interesting personalities and the stories are strong. This is a Nelvana production and includes many staff that have worked on shows such as "Franklin." You'll also find if you check the credits that many former members of the "Blue's Clues" crew write for this show as well. So if you like either of those shows, or even if you don't, there's a good chance you or your kids will like this!
This DVD has four complete episodes of the show --- "It's Great To Be a Ghost!," "Monster Detectives," "The Key to the Nile," and "Pirate Treasure." These episodes have things to teach about bravery, politeness, facing your fears, speaking up and other important themes. So not only will you / your kids learn a lot, but you'll be entertained too.
The special features are as follows:
Promos --- These included promos for "Dora's Dance to the Rescue,"Blue's Room" on video and DVD, full length Dora specials and "My Little Pony's A Very Minty Christmas." You can't skip the promos at the start on the DVD version, although you can fast-forward through them.
"A Pirate Says Arr" Music Video --- The best special feature on the disc. A music video version of one of the best songs from the included episodes.
Meet the Backyardigans --- Each Backyardigan is shown while an instrumental version of the main show theme plays. Facts about the characters are displayed on the screen, but aren't read out loud.
How to Be a Backyardigan --- Tips on how to dress up and stuff to become various things that the Backyardigans become, such as ghosts or pirates.
While the special features weren't thrilling, they were kind of nice. That's why I've given this four stars and not five --- I believe that in order for DVDs of this type to really stand out and be deserving of five stars, they must include great special features.
The audio does not have any subtitles available, but you can turn on close-captioning. Audio is English only, there are no options for other languages.
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