From left to right: Emma, Alana, Dora, Kate, Naiya, and Pablo.
"D-O-R-A
Dora and friends, into the city
Tall buildings and so much more
An adventure behind each door (¡Vámonos!)
Come on, let's explore con todos mis amigos
Make a difference, take a chance (Let's go!)
Come and lend a helping hand
Hold on tight... (¡Canta conmigo!)"
Dora and friends, into the city
Tall buildings and so much more
An adventure behind each door (¡Vámonos!)
Come on, let's explore con todos mis amigos
Make a difference, take a chance (Let's go!)
Come and lend a helping hand
Hold on tight... (¡Canta conmigo!)"
— The show's "Do It Yourself" Theme Tune
Dora and Friends: Into the City! is a 2014 Spin-Off of the Nick Jr. cartoon Dora the Explorer. A now preteen aged Dora has moved with her parents to a city. Along with her new friends, the Explorer Girls (consisting of Alana, Naiya, Emma, Kate, and Pablo), they do things around the city.
The show originated from Dora's Explorer Girls, a spinoff of the original series that never got off the ground (only a Pilot Movie, some merchandise, and an online game were produced). The pilot featured Dora and the Explorer Girls having to search for and find the tickets for a Shakira concert after Alana accidentally leaves her jacket in the donation bag she brought.
The show still keeps its theme of teaching Spanish as well as being a part of the community. However, the Spanish curriculum on the show is expanded to include phrases and commands rather than just the single Spanish words on the original show.
The show ended in 2017.
This show provides examples of:
- And Knowing Is Half the Battle: The premiere ends with a segment like this, based on the premiere's theme of being helpful and working together. Boots makes a special appearance during this segment.
- The Artifact: Almost nothing from the original Dora is retained in this series.
- Animate Inanimate Object: While not as common as the original series, it still occurs. Lampshaded in one episode when Dora starts talking to a food truck, causing Alana to ask "Why are you talking to a truck?". The truck comes to life a few seconds later.
- Ascended Extra: Pablo originally appeared as a guest character in 3 episodes of the original Dora the Explorer series. In this series, he has been upgraded to a main character.
- Balloonacy: Happens in the premiere, with a hot air balloon parade float.
- Breaking the Fourth Wall: Yep. They still do it, but not as much as the original show.
- Continuity Nod: Dora has memories of her childhood with Boots while talking about maps.
- Covers Always Lie: Several promotional artworks of Dora featured her wearing a purple headband with her everyday outfit (see the image at the top). In the show however, she doesn't wear it.
- Early-Installment Weirdness:
- In 2009, tweenage Dora appeared in a main series episode, depicted as still being an adventurer living in the rainforest with a similarly tweenage Boots. Into the City, as the title suggests, removed the explorer aspects, having Dora live in a metropolis instead. Boots got Demoted to Extra, and when he does appear he is the same age as in the original series.
- The show has a noticeable animation devolution from the Explorer Girls pilot, and is now in the style of the main series.
- Edutainment Show: According to Nick Jr itself, the show teaches "problem solving", "Spanish language", and "learn(ing) to be helpful part of their community"
- Everything Talks: Actually averted.
- Fantasy Helmet Enforcement: Dora still puts a helmet on whenever she rides a bike, but now that she's in a big city, she now endorses "following the rules of the road".
- Five-Token Band: Dora and her friends are these. Dora is Latina, Alana is blonde, Emma is African-American, Kate is redheaded, and Naiya is somewhat Dominican. Pablo joins in the series, as a somewhat Mexican-American.
- Free-Range Children: Dora's parents still let her go off on her own. After all, a large city can't be much worse than a rainforest.
- Friend to All Living Things
- Girliness Upgrade: Big time. Think Bratz meets Winx Club without the magic.
- Gratuitous Spanish: It is Dora, after all.
- Growing Up Sucks: Debatably averted. Dora still very much adventures; she just simply has more friends and a new place to explore.
- Introductory Opening Credits: The theme song features a roll call sequence of Dora and each of her adult friends with their names displayed aside them.
- Local Hangout: The Arco Iris Café, which serves as a common hangout location for Dora and her friends when not exploring.
- Meaningful Rename: Baby Jaguar, now a fully grown jaguar and obviously not a baby anymore, now goes by just "Jaguar".
- The Musical: The premiere. It was even billed as a "musical adventure" in the ads.
- No Antagonist: Averted, because while Swiper isn't in this show, some of the episodes' plots have antagonistic individuals, even if they're aren't outright villainous, including Swiper as of Season 2. Played Straight in the special.
- Not Allowed to Grow Up: Boots and Jaguar (alongside Dora's other animals friends like Benny, Isa and Tico) have apparently barely aged despite Dora aging a few years. In the original series it was shown that animals aged more-or-less according to their lifespans, which is why Swiper was elderly when Boots was still a child, so Baby Jaguar's (here now known as just "Jaguar") lack of aging is even more noticeable.
- Odd Name Out: The Explorer Girls consist of Dora, Naiya, Alana, Emma, and Kate.
- The Power of Friendship: The premiere constantly
beats viewers over the head with "doing things together" and how important friends are. - The One Guy: Pablo is the only boy among Dora's friends.
- Put on a Bus: Every non-human character from the original series.
- The Bus Came Back: There are a few episodes where Dora visits her old home back in the rainforest, which have Boots and Swiper both make appearances. Loads of other original series characters cameo along with them, as well.
- Setting Update: Dora is a few years older and technology has changed. She has a smartphone with Map on it, instead of a physical map.
- Spin-Off: Of Dora the Explorer.
- Take Your Time: Averted once again.
- Time Skip: The series takes place a few years after the original, where Dora is a preteen.
- Where the Hell Is Springfield?: Playa Verde is somewhere in either North America or Latin America. It has a diverse population with a strong Latin American influence and is close enough to a rain forest, but the characters speak English (but they're all bilingual).
- Wrap-Up Song: Dora and her friends sing "All For One" at the end of their adventure for the day, before they say goodbye.
- Younger and Hipper: Inverted. Dora is older now.
The 2011 pilot consists of:
- City with No Name: Until it was revealed to be Playa Verde in the series, at least.
- Early Installment Character-Design Difference: Some character designs were changed between the Explorer Girls pilot and Into the City:
- Dora has a necklace, her shirt's collar is different, the flower on her shirt is more elaborate, and her bracelet is pink.
- Emma's skin is a bit darker, her hair is braided instead of loose and wavy, and she's wearing a yellow dress instead of a yellow blouse and pink skirt.
- Kate's eyes are a different shade of blue and her clothes are different.
- Naiya's skin is lighter, her headband is yellow instead of pink, and her clothes completely changed. Her main colour is purple, not white.
- Alana's clothes changed colours and design. She has an orange palette, not a green one, and she's wearing a scarf.
- Earn Your Happy Ending: The girls have to chase their concert tickets all over the city. It pays off big time in the end, though.
- "Sesame Street" Cred: Shakira guest stars As Herself.
- Singing Voice Dissonance: In the special, all 5 of the girls have a separate voice actress for singing. Dora and Alana's sound like close enough matches, but Emma and Kate's singing voice actresses sound absolutely nothing like their speaking voices.
