Original air date: 3/21/2010 (produced in 2003)note
To help a lost baby fox get back to his fox hole, Dora and Boots get help from an unlikely hero… Swiper! Help them past a Volcano, through Diego's rainforest, and more!
Tropes:
- Ambiguous Situation: How the baby fox even managed to get separated from his parents far, far away remains a mystery.
- Chekhov's Volcano: Once Swiper says that they're going to run past the volcano, it erupts.
- Cuteness Proximity: After failing to swipe from Dora and Boots yet again, Swiper is about to retreat when he suddenly catches a glance of the lost baby fox and almost immediately gushes over him, upon which he forgets about his unsuccessful swipe earlier.
- Does Not Speak Common: The baby fox and his family can only speak Spanish. This was played with when the baby fox told Swiper he's thirsty and didn't understand a single thing he said; thus Dora, who speaks English and Spanish, had to translate.
- Five-Second Foreshadowing: Once Swiper tells the baby fox that they're going to make it past the volcano, the volcano erupts.
- Hostile Show Takeover: While the VHS, DVD, and digital releases use the normal title card, the TV airing and Paramount+ release both have a special gag at the end of the intro where Swiper steals... er, swipes the spotlight from Dora by swiping her name from the logo and replacing it with his.
- Language Barrier: Lampshaded where the baby fox can only speak Spanish and Swiper can't understand him. So when the baby fox starts saying "Tengo sed! note " nonstop, Swiper has to ask Dora, the only one who understands him, for help deciphering. Dora quickly translates for him.
- Non-Standard Character Design: The show has never been consistent with the designs of the many animals seen throughout the series (like for example, the bear in "Berry Hunt" having lavender fur unlike the other brown-furred bears seen in later episodes), but this episode takes it to a whole new level with the baby fox, which also applies to his parents. Unlike the orange, almost weasel-like Swiper and his grandmother, the baby fox is drawn in a more quadrupedal, less anthropomorphic manner, has more reddish fur and also visible strands of fur slightly sticking up from his body.
- Special Edition Title: The TV airing has Swiper appear in the title card to make it say "Swiper the Explorer".
