Western Animation / Blue's Clues & You!

Josh with Blue, Magenta, the Salt and Pepper family, Shovel and Pail, Slippery Soap, Tickety Tock, Sidetable Drawer and Mailbox.

Everybody's lookin' for Blue's Clues
Come on in, come on in, it's Blue's Clues!
Step-by-step, yes!
Clue by clue, let's
Think it through, it's
What we do, so let's get to it!
It's Blue's Clues & You!

Blue's Clues & You! is a 2019 reboot of the series Blue's Clues. The show has a new host named Josh, who is the cousin of Steve and Joe, played by Joshua Dela Cruz, known for playing Aladdin and Iago in the Broadway adaptation of Disney's Aladdin, and now has the main characters done in CGI animation.

The show premiered on November 11, 2019, on Nickelodeon, but the first three episodes were released early to Vudu on September 27 for free. The third episode was also released online to YouTube and the Nick Jr. app and website on October 28, 2019, with the second episode being released on March 28, 2020.

The show was renewed for a second season of 20 episodes on November 19, 2019, a third season of 20 episodes on February 19, 2020, a fourth season of 26 episodes on February 18, 2021, and a fifth season of 26 episodes on March 24, 2022, for a total of 112 episodes ordered so far.

In commemoration of the 25th Anniversary of Blue's Clues, the show also received a film, Blue's Big City Adventure, which have Josh and Blue audition for a big Broadway musical in New York.

A podcast associated with the series - Story Time with Josh & Blue - was also introduced on July 8, 2020, with the first actual installments released on August 4, 2020. These feature bedtime stories ranging from about 5-9 minutes in length.

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Blue's Clues & You! contains examples of:

• Affectionate Parody: "Into the Blueniverse" is one for Star Trek.
• All-CGI Cartoon: How the non-human characters are done in this show, as opposed to the traditional animation of the original. However, the original was already clearly using at least some computer-generated elements in its later seasons, specifically Adobe Flash. A lot of the characters really don't look all that different from how they did on the original show.
• Art Evolution: The original show was already heavily done using computer animation but it manifested as akin to paper cutouts scanned into the computer and given simplistic movements, only Blue was fully animated. This show replicates much of the style of the original while having a refinement of the tools and functions available for the characters and environments, adding more depth with shading (including ones cast by Josh) along with a higher frame rate.
• Bedsheet Ghost: In "The Ghost of the Living Room," said ghost is one of the characters dressed as this. The identity of said character is the subject of the episode's game of Blue's Clues, with the answer turning out to be Periwinkle.

• Chair Reveal: Done at the end of "The Case of the Missing Thinking Chair" with the Thinking Chair, revealing Joe.
• Christmas Episode:
  • "Blue's Night Before Christmas" in Season 2, where Josh needs to find out what Blue want to do for Christmas.
  • "A Blue Christmas With You!" in Season 4, where they need to find out where a missing Santa Claus is before midnight.
• Color Motif: "Meet Josh!" shows us that Steve is green, Joe is purple, and Josh is blue.
• Confetti Drop: Josh, Blue and Magenta get this in "Hide and Seek with Blue" after winning the Snail & Seek game and receiving the Golden Snail trophy.
• Continuity Cameo: Steve and Joe appear in "Meet Josh!" on Josh's phone.
• Continuity Nod:
  • The present store Joe works at was a location in the original series.
  • In "Playdate with Magenta", Mr. Salt says that he was a clue once, a reference to "Blue's News". Funnily enough, one episode later, this happens again in "Big News with Blue", since it's a remake of that episode.
  • In "123s with Blue", Mailbox shows his stamp collection, and also states that Steve helped him start it. The collection itself is also filled with stamps that were on letters in the original series.
  • "ABC's with Blue" reveals that A Really Great Book is about a boy and his dog on a boat paddling as fast as they can to escape a giant wave, a reference to both "Blue's News" and "Big News with Blue".
  • In "The Thinking Squad" Mr. Salt makes ice pops that will be ready at 2:00, a reference to "Blue's Surprise at 2 O'clock".
  • In "Blue's Mystery Present", Mrs. Pepper buys maracas for Mr. Salt, stating he "loves to shake shake shake", a fact previously revealed in "Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper Day".
  • During their rendition of "Old McDonald Had a Farm" in Bluestock, Joe brings out his stuffed duck Boris, which made a couple of appearances during the original show.
  • In "A Blue Christmas With You!" Santa Claus quotes "someone with a striped sweater" who said "Christmas is a special time for giving, and showing that you care". This is a reference to "Blue's Big Holiday", where Steve said this, and also wore a green-striped sweater throughout that episode.
• Cool Old Lady: Lola who is Josh's grandmother.
• Couch Gag: Along with the what's in the Skidoo Frame being different in every episode like in the original, what's in the felt frame (which is now in shot) is also different.
• Crossover: Some of the online shorts have featured other Nick Jr. characters, such as Abby Hatcher and Molly from Bubble Guppies coming over to the Blue's Clues house for Halloween.
• "Down Here!" Shot: Done at the beginning of "Tickety's Big Musical Morning", with Tickety opening the door for the audience.
• Early-Installment Weirdness: At the beginning of the series, Blue and the other characters were animated in a low framerate, giving off the appearance of stop motion. This was quickly dropped after a couple episodes.
• Everything's Better with Sparkles: Blue's paw print leaves sparkles when she first marks it on the screen to start the game of Blue's Clues.
• Everyone Is a Super: The effect of the "Super City" skidoo world where everyone who transports gains the powers of their superhero personas. Josh (or Song Man) gains song powers, Tickety (or Clock Girl) the ability to slow down time, Slippery (or Super Soap) gains the ability to create bubble shields, Blue (or Super Blue) gains the ability to fly and Cinnamon (AKA: Villain Ice) gains the ability to freeze anything.
• Evolving Credits:
  • After "Big News With Blue", Sage and Ginger appear in the opening with the rest of the spice family.
  • After "Getting Glasses With Magenta", Magenta appears in the opening with her glasses.
  • Starting in the third season, Perwinkle appears in the intro.
• Expressive Ears: Blue's ears are all droopy in "Sad Day with Blue" because of her being sad.
• Fake Interactivity: Just like the original, the show gets the viewers to participate in activities with the characters. Also like the original, the voices of children are inserted in case you don't feel like talking to your television.
• Fleeting Demographic Rule: "Meet Josh!" is similar to the plot of "Joe Gets A Clue" from the original series, in which the older hosts teach the new host how to play the titular game. It is also similar to "Snack Time", the original series premiere, as both episodes involve figuring out what Blue wants to eat.
• Follow the Bouncing Ball: Happens at the end of "ABC's With Blue".
• The Glasses Gotta Go: Magenta has somehow ditched her purple-framed glasses from the original show despite needing them in "Magenta Gets Glasses". However, gets them again later in this reboot series in the remake "Getting Glasses with Magenta". Also played straight with her first plush toy release for the series, which does not include the glasses. As of September 2020, this remains true, with both her model figure and another plush toy still not having the glasses.
• Halloween Episode: They have one at the first half of every season except the second one.
  • "Spooky Costume Party with Blue", in Season 1, where they throw a costume party but Magenta doesn't know what to wear
  • "The Ghost Of The Living Room", in Season 3, where a ghost apparently haunts their living room and Josh wants to find out who he is.
  • "The Legend of the Jack-o-Lantern", in Season 4, where they try to summon a Halloween spirit during a festival
• Happy Birthday to You!: Sung in "Happy Birthday, Blue!"
  "Happy Birthday, Blue! Happy Birthday to You!"
  • Also sung in "It's YOUR Birthday!"
• I Always Wanted to Say That: Before singing the "Mailtime" song for the first time, Josh comments "I can't believe I get to sing this song."
• I Can't Hear You: Mishearing the voice saying "a clue" returns from the original series. For example, for the final clue in "Meet Josh!", Josh hears "cock-a-doodle-doo" and imitates a rooster.
• Idiosyncratic Episode Naming: Unlike the original show, all the episode titles are named with a theme:
  • Season 1 episodes generally follow the subject "[Episode subject] with Blue" or simply [Episode subject] with [character]" (especially the former). The only exceptions to date are "Meet Josh!" (the first episode), "Happy Birthday, Blue!", "The Thinking Squad", and "Bluestock".
  • Episodes in Season 2 tend to follow the format "Blue's [Episode subject]" or "Blue's Big [Episode subject]".
• Internal Homage: Quite a few episodes pay homage to classic episodes or music from the series, and the ending credits give thanks to the staff that worked on the original episodes. For example, Josh's first Skidoo is into a farm, where there are some rather familiar shots from the first episode of the series.
• The Movie: Blue's Big City Adventure which is a celebration of the franchise's 25th anniversary.
• Musical Episode: "Bluestock" the Reboot version of the episode of the same name from the original series where several iconic songs from the original series are sung.
• Musical Nod:
  • When Josh calls Steve and Joe on his phone, their ringtones play a few notes from their opening themes.
  • When someone calls Josh, his ringtone plays a few notes from the reboot's opening theme.
  • In "Blue's Mystery Present", when Joe gives Josh his old notebook to use (as Josh didn't bring his), the first few notes of Joe's opening theme play.
• Mystery Episode: "Mystery of the Missing Pies" a homage to noir detective films, in which with the help of the "Detective Gopher" They help Mr Salt find out who "stole" his pies
  • Again in "The Mystery of the Missing Thinking Chair" where the Thinking Chair disappears and Josh, with Steve's help, needs to find out where it is. Including Joe as the "villain" of the episode.
• Mythology Gag:
  • In “Meet Josh!”, Steve is revealed to have opened Blue Prints Detective Agency. Blue Prints was the name of the original 1995 pilot of the original series.
  • In "The Thinking Squad" and "Return of the Thinking Squad", Josh refers to the Handy Dandy Notebook as the "Super Duper Notebook", which may be a reference to the UK adaption of the original show.
• Negative Continuity:
  • In the original series' episode "Blue's Birthday", Blue gets a pet turtle named Turquoise. In the reboot's remake "Happy Birthday, Blue!", she gets her again.
    • The episode "The Mystery of the Missing Thinking Chair" reveals that the original turquoise is currently in Steve's Storybook World office.
  • In the original series' episode "Magenta Gets Glasses", Magenta gets her purple-framed glasses and wears them for the rest of the original series. In the reboot's remake "Getting Glasses with Magenta", she gets them again.
  • In the original series' Season 1 episode "Blue's News", Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper stay at home when Paprika was born, while in the Season 4 episode "The Baby's Here!", they go to the hospital when Cinnamon was born. In the reboot's remake "Big News with Blue", they stay at home again when Sage and Ginger were born.
  • In the original series' episode "Imagine Nation", Mr. Salt didn't understand about everyone imagining. In the reboot's remake "Blue's Big Imagination", he didn't understand about it again.
  • In the original series' episode "Blue's Big Mystery", Periwinkle moved to the Blue's Clues neighborhood for the very first time. In the reboot's first third season episode "Our New Neighbor", he moved to the Blue's Clues neighborhood again. It is unknown if he briefly moved back to his old home for a while, then came back to the Blue's Clues neighborhood.
• New Baby Episode: "Big News With Blue" has Josh play Blue's Clues to figure out the big news about Mr. Salt and Mrs. Pepper. The clues are Mr. Salt, Mrs. Pepper, and a bottle. The news is that the spice family has new twin babies, Sage and Ginger. This premise is very similar to the episode of the original series about Paprika's birth, right down to having the same clues.
• Not Allowed to Grow Up:
  • Once again averted with Paprika and Cinnamon, the latter now wearing a snapback shaker cap to reflect that he's gotten a bit older.
  • On the contrary, Blue's had how many birthdays by now and she's still considered a "puppy"?^note It's unknown how long the Time Skip is, but assuming it's going by the year Blue's Clues left off, the gap was definitely a lot more than just a few years.
• Pajama-Clad Hero: Both Josh and Blue are in their pajamas throughout "Pajama Party with Blue" naturally.
• Private Detective: Steve is now the founder of the Blue Prints Detective Agency and even dresses up like one and also Gopher the groundhog that lives in their backyard.
• Revisiting the Roots: Downplayed. There were a few things that were brought back from the early seasons of the original series.
  • "We Just Figured Out Blue's Clues" song returns from the first 4 seasons of the original series after its absence from the last 2 seasons of that series.
  • "The So Long Song" returns from the first 5 seasons of the original series after its absence from the final season of that series.
  • The full version of "Play Blue's Clues" returns from the first 5 seasons of the original series.
  • Standing up in the striped background before singing "Play Blue's Clues" returns from the first 2 seasons of the original series.
  • Guessing wrong answers to the Blue's Clues game returns from the first 2 seasons of the original series
  • The music clues return from the first 5 seasons of the original series after their absences from the second half of the fifth season and final season of that series.
• Screen Tap:
  • Blue licks the screen at the end of "Laugh With Blue." She also did it in "Happy Birthday, Blue!", "Bluestock", "Blue's Night Before Christmas", "Blue's Show and Tell Surprise", and "Our New Neighbor."
  • Blue and Magenta both lick the screen twice in "Getting Glasses With Magenta."
  • Blue licks the screen in the show's intro sequence.
• Shout-Out:
  • Josh sings a parody of The Romantics' "What I Like About You" in "What I Like About Blue".
  • In "Into the Blueniverse", Josh gets an email from Sidetable, appearing as a hologram telling them to hurry because they're their only hope.
  • One episode is titled "Night at the Blueseum".
  • "Return of the Thinking Squad" introduces a character named "Villian Ice", who in the same episode, gets a rap number. When he's revealed to be Cinnamon, he changes the name to Ice Spice.
• Sick Episode: "Getting Healthy with Blue" where Josh is sick.
• Special Edition Title:
  • In "Pajama Party With Blue", the sun sets halfway through the intro, and it becomes night. "Spooky Costume Party With Blue" does the same, except jack-o-lanterns can be seen briefly near the end.
  • "Blue's Night Before Christmas" and "A Blue Christmas With You!" have the entire intro set in Winter, complete with Josh wearing a scarf.
  • "Thankful With Blue" has the intro set in Fall.
• Special Thanks: In the remake episodes, the credits give thanks to the crew who worked on the episode of which it's based on.
• Studio Audience: Just like the original show, offscreen children's voices would shout out the answer or point out a found clue.
• Suddenly Voiced: Gopher talks in "Mystery of the Missing Pies", where he is voiced by John Cleland doing a mid-Atlantic accent.
• Superhero Episode: "The Thinking Squad" and again the "Return of the thinking squad" which is also the first time the series has an actual antagonist named "Villain Ice"
• Surprise Party: In "Our New Neighbor," the question of Blue's Clues is what to do in order to make Periwinkle feel better about moving to the neighborhood. The answer is to throw him a party, which turns out to be a surprise party, as they don't tell him about in advance, then call him over and pop up out yelling "Surprise!"

• Theme Tune Roll Call: In the extended theme. "Tickety Tock, Slippery Soap, Shovel and Pail, Mr. Salt, Mrs. Pepper, and Cinnamon, Paprika... and, oh hey, Magenta!"
• Third-Person Person: Polka Dots almost always refers to himself in the third person.
  Polka Dots: "Polka Dots needs something else."
• Time Skip: 13 years after the original series ended, Steve has graduated college and now runs a detective agency, and Joe works at the Present Store.
• Title Theme Tune: Quoted above.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: In "Sad Day with Blue", Magenta replaces Green Puppy as the character who Blue had a falling out with at school, though it's more played out as being oblivious to her actions than being a bully.
• Trailers Always Spoil:
  • Most promos for the show usually end up spoiling the answer to Blue's Clues for eagle-eyed viewers.
  • Steve and Joe's guest appearance in "Blue's Night Before Christmas" was played out to be a surprise for the viewers in the episode itself. However, promotional material for the episode focused on this heavily, and the surprise factor was lost for many because of it.
• Treasure Hunt Episode: "Blue's Treasure Hunt". Which also marks the first time in the series that Rainbow Puppy participates in a game of Blue's Clues.
• Valentine's Day Episode: "What I Like About Blue" that brings back the "Love day" from original series.
• Wham Line: When Josh doesn't know what Blue wants with her snack:
  Josh: Maybe, I should call my cousins!
• Wham Shot: When Josh shows off his notebook/phone he shows two icons...of Steve and Joe.

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Now it's time for so long!
But we're gonna sing one more song!
Thanks for doing your part!
You sure are smart!
You sure worked hard!
When you use your mind,
Take a step at a time,
You can do anything
That you wanna do!

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