I’ve mentioned before that my children watch far too much television, so it should come as no surprise that The Girl has a favorite show. It is hands down The Backyardagins. She will get up and run to the television when she hears even a hint of the theme music so she can be closer to her beloved little singing and dancing fools. She screams “Pa boh” and gets giddy with anticipation. The show is okay as far as kids shows go. I get a little too excited over new episodes, simply because you can watch the "Snow Fort" only so many times before your head threatens to explode. All of the Grandparents have witnessed The Girl’s reaction to Backyardigans, so it came as no surprise that she got not one, not two, but all five of the funny little creatures for Christmas. Thank you Mom, for sending the Beanie Baby characters in favor of the more annoying talking/dancing ones we’ve seen at Target!
*If you are not familiar with the Backyardigans you should probably just skip this entry, no worries.*
The characters are as follows: Pablo, who upon examination reveals himself to be a penguin. Pablo is in nearly every episode, and he generally is a happy-go-lucky guy. Tasha, whom is almost always wearing a dress and some maryjane style shoes, is a hippo. Tasha is annoying. She is the prissy friend in the neighborhood who likes to boss everyone around, and has to control most interaction. She never participates in physical challenges, this is magnified in the Egypt episode where she sings over and over again about how she “likes being a Prin-cess.” As a tom-boy myself, I find Tasha hard to relate to, and might just barf a little in my mouth if The Girl develops princess envy at some point. Tyrone is a moose. He is a good friend to all of the Backyardigans and doesn’t complain too much. My favorite Tyrone episode involves Tyrone as the “Moose of the Mist,” something to be feared, but Tyrone isn’t even aware that He is the Moose of the Mist until Uniqua points it out to him. Austin is not in every episode, but he is a cool little guy. I waver a bit on what exactly Austin is supposed to be, sometimes I think rabbit because of the tall ears on his head, but his tail is not so rabbit-ish so I sometimes think he is some kind of lizard.
This brings me to the enigma of the group, and that is Uniqua. Her name and species is listed as Uniqua, whatever that means. She is the fearless little tomboy of the group. Before checking out the character bios on the UK Nick Jr. page, DH and I went back and forth about what exactly Uniqua was. He insisted she was a salamander, and I kept thinking pig because she is pink. Our babysitter sided with DH the other night though, so perhaps I am overruled. I find it a bit curious that the tomboy of the group, the girl who doesn’t fit girl stereotypes is labeled as her own species. It is as if *gasp* girls don’t play sports. What century are we living in anyway?
Yes, I have put far too much thought into this.
*If you are not familiar with the Backyardigans you should probably just skip this entry, no worries.*
The characters are as follows: Pablo, who upon examination reveals himself to be a penguin. Pablo is in nearly every episode, and he generally is a happy-go-lucky guy. Tasha, whom is almost always wearing a dress and some maryjane style shoes, is a hippo. Tasha is annoying. She is the prissy friend in the neighborhood who likes to boss everyone around, and has to control most interaction. She never participates in physical challenges, this is magnified in the Egypt episode where she sings over and over again about how she “likes being a Prin-cess.” As a tom-boy myself, I find Tasha hard to relate to, and might just barf a little in my mouth if The Girl develops princess envy at some point. Tyrone is a moose. He is a good friend to all of the Backyardigans and doesn’t complain too much. My favorite Tyrone episode involves Tyrone as the “Moose of the Mist,” something to be feared, but Tyrone isn’t even aware that He is the Moose of the Mist until Uniqua points it out to him. Austin is not in every episode, but he is a cool little guy. I waver a bit on what exactly Austin is supposed to be, sometimes I think rabbit because of the tall ears on his head, but his tail is not so rabbit-ish so I sometimes think he is some kind of lizard.
This brings me to the enigma of the group, and that is Uniqua. Her name and species is listed as Uniqua, whatever that means. She is the fearless little tomboy of the group. Before checking out the character bios on the UK Nick Jr. page, DH and I went back and forth about what exactly Uniqua was. He insisted she was a salamander, and I kept thinking pig because she is pink. Our babysitter sided with DH the other night though, so perhaps I am overruled. I find it a bit curious that the tomboy of the group, the girl who doesn’t fit girl stereotypes is labeled as her own species. It is as if *gasp* girls don’t play sports. What century are we living in anyway?
Yes, I have put far too much thought into this.
6 comments:
if you ever figure out what uniqua is, please enlighten me. i would love to know! miss you!!!
Austin is a kangaroo and Uniqua is just...well...unique. It is not really known what she is. My daughter loves the show as well.
Uniqua is actually an insect species found in Canada. They really call the insect a uniqua. Austin is definately a Kangaroo! Our favorite is Tyrone! We have the stuffed mounty, we had to turn the music off though!! It would wake her up in the night! LOL! We call him her disposable sibling!
If you don't know what the characters are supposed to be, just ask your kids! My 4 yr old informed quite condescendingly that Austin was a kangaroo when i asked! Just for the record though, in a tv world full of ballerinas and fairies, I find Tasha to be refreshingly non-girlie, she may like to be a princess, but thats becuse she gets waited on hand and foot! She sounds more like a guy to me! And she has to be the toughest mermaid I have ever heard of! Maybe you should watch some more of the show!
You know what?! I don't like your attitude when you talk about the show. Tasha is most definetely not how you think she is. Have you ever heard not to judge someone before you know them? Well, maybe you should try to! Uniqua is my favorite character, so don't say she's a pig! She's a bug! Haven't you ever seen the episode where Tyrone, Pablo, and Austin are Tarzans? In that episode they were talking about how how scary can'tseeums are. Then Uniqua said that she wasn't afraid of any bugs. That was some humor being thrown into the show. I hate how parents talk about shows, acting like they know all about them. So stop acting!!!!
Tasha isn"t as bad as you make her out to be but I understand your point. My son is watching "whats buggin you" episode right now and she is kinda Prissy in that one too. I have seriously 22 episodes on my DVR right now and my kids cannot get enough. The only other show they will watch is Wonder Pets and thats only if I refuse to see another Backyardigans since we've watched 3 episodes in a row. Have a great time raising your kids...I certainly will.
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