Wow, these kids sing a lot. I mean A LOT. They sing about everything and dance a good bit too, but the songs are catchy, I must admit, and they are well done. While I didn't really find that the episodes have a strong teaching message (in fact, some things taught were downright wrong, but more on that later), they are cheerful, fun and something kids would enjoy.
The first episode is called Pirate Camp and has Uniqua and Pablo training under the illustrious Captain Austin in order to become full-fledged pirates. They'll learn important things like how to do the scalawag dance, how to swashbuckle across the ship to get from one side to the other quickly and finally, the most important lesson, every pirate must have Pirattitude! Now, mind you, swashbuckling has to do with sword fighting and not swinging from a rope and last time I checked, scalawag was a scoundrel and not a pirate jig, but I'll let it go. The key thing Captain Austin wants the pirates-in-training to learn is to never, ever touch the red boot in the treasure chest, as it belongs to Captain Red Boots (Tasha), who is a ghost. If you touch the boot, you'll immediately be taken to Red Boots' island where she will tickle you until you become a ghost too. Of course, Austin touches the boot by accident and mayhem ensues.
In Pirate Treasure, Captain Uniqua and Captain Austin decide to set sail in search of a pirate treasure. The main problem is they only have half of the map. Meanwhile, Captain Tyrone and Captain Pablo also have half of a pirate map and go off in search of grand treasure as well. The kids sing tunes about what it takes to be a pirate and here, it's all about saying "Arrr," and having extra parts like a peg leg, a hook for a hand, an eye patch and even a wooden ear. Huh? Ok, the wooden ear was pretty funny, actually. Once the kids, errr, I mean Captains discover that they each hold half of the map, they decide to work together to find the riches and share.
In Sinbad Sails Alone, Sinbad (Tyrone) wants to sail to the end of the rainbow alone, but Pablo, the wanna-be sailor, stows away and causes them to lose their drinking water through one of many mishaps. The only safe drinking water can be found on the Island of the Siren, so the boys are at the mercy of the Siren (Uniqua), who insists they play a tough game of "Siren Says" before getting the water. When the boys beat the Siren at her own game, they once again head towards the end of the rainbow. Pablo then makes a mess of swabbing the deck by making the entire deck slippery, knocking their food and Sinbad overboard! They then have to travel to the Island of Medusa, where Medusa (Tasha) reigns as guardian of the island's fruit. She insists the boys beat her at a game of freeze tag and when Medusa freezes you, it's nothing to sneeze at. Fortunately, the boys turn the tables on Medusa and get her to freeze herself, so they win and get the fruit, although they have some very near misses. Once they are back on their way to the end of the rainbow, Sinbad insists Pablo stay put in a chair so he doesn't cause any more harm. When the boys realize that the end of the rainbow is also the end of the world (they are obviously still operating under the old "flat earth" myth), will Pablo obey and stay put in the chair or will he rise to the challenge and help Sinbad? Turns out, he's pretty sharp and manages to do both!
Finally, in The Tale of the Not-So Nice Dragon, my least favorite of the bunch, a Not-So-Nice Dragon has kidnapped King Pablo and Uniqua, and the Flighty Fairy (Tasha) and the Grabbing Goblin (Austin) have to save them with the help of mini-muffins and a Nice Dragon that they find along the way. Again, this episode didn't fit the theme at all and I actually found the voice of Tasha incredibly annoying, whereas her voice didn't bother me at all in earlier episodes. I think they may have changed voice actors, but I found the voice acting for Tasha here to be very forced and aggravating. Overall, it seemed more like an infomercial for mini-muffins and tea parties than anything else and I didn't like it at all, but it has a nice message where the Not-So-Nice Dragon gets turned into a Nice Dragon by the end.
If you have young kids, they probably already know who The Backyardigans are. At $12.99 for only four episodes and no special features, it seems a little steep, but the first three episodes are really good with fun songs on them that are sure to get lots of repeat play from the young ones in your home. If you aren't sure, wait until it goes down a bit in price, but it would make a fun Easter gift for young fans of the show.
