The Backyardigans

Did You Know?

• Slate named the Backyardigans episode The Swamp Creature one of the best episodes of children's television.
• Janice Burgess won the 2008 Daytime Emmy for Outstanding Special Class Animated Program.

Plot

Five animal pals—Uniqua, Pablo, Tyrone, Tasha, and Austin—live next door to each other and share a big backyard. In every episode, they gather there and dream up a wild, make-believe journey. These imagined adventures can take them anywhere: different countries, the past or future, or places where magic and supernatural abilities exist. Depending on the story they invent, the characters take on roles like detectives, knights, or scientists. Starting with the second season, many episodes spoof famous action-adventure movies, including James Bond, Star Trek, Indiana Jones, and Ghostbusters. Each episode opens with the friends in the backyard, where they introduce themselves and describe the scenario they’re about to pretend. As they do, the backyard magically changes into a setting that matches their fantasy. When the adventure ends, their stomachs rumble, so they decide to get a snack at one of their houses. Walking back home, the fantasy fades and the backyard returns to normal. They sing a goodbye song, wave to the audience, and go inside the house of whoever invited them for snacks, shutting the door. Just before the episode ends, at least one character pops the door back open and yells a phrase tied to their adventure. The show is structured like a stage musical. Each episode uses a different music genre and includes four songs, with original choreography for the singing and dancing. These musical numbers often introduce a character’s imaginary job, move the plot forward, or explain a problem. The background music also shifts to match the genre, scoring everything the Backyardigans do.

Characters

In the American version of the show, the five main characters each have two different voice actors: one for their spoken lines and another for their songs. In the British version, a single actor handles both speaking and singing for each character. The dance sequences were created by filming live human dancers, and then animators used that footage to guide the characters' movements. Choreographer Beth Bogush explained that the live footage was recorded, turned into a storyboard, and sent to animators, who followed it closely so the final animation matched the original performance.

Uniqua is a pink, spotted creature whose species is never defined. She is curious, self-assured, and loves adventure. She enjoys telling jokes to make her friends laugh, and the show uses her name to refer to both her and her kind. She often imagines herself in roles that require intelligence and bravery, like a scientist or a pirate captain. Creator Janice Burgess said Uniqua was the child she wished she had been. Uniqua is the only character to appear in every episode. Her speaking voice is LaShawn Jefferies, her singing voice is Jamia Simone Nash for the first three seasons and Avion Baker for the fourth, and Lizzie Waterworth provides her voice in the UK dub.

Pablo is a blue penguin who is easily stressed, frantic, and prone to overreaction. When faced with a problem, he often panics by running in circles and telling everyone not to worry until someone calls his name three times to get his attention. These panic attacks became less common after the first season. He is best friends with Tyrone and appears in every episode except for the third-season episode "Chichen-Itza Pizza." His speaking voice is Zach Tyler Eisen in the first season and Jake Goldberg from seasons two through four, with Sean Curley handling his singing. Janet James voices him in the UK dub.

Tyrone is an orange moose with red hair. He is relaxed, calm, and the opposite of his best friend Pablo in personality. Known for his dry, sarcastic remarks, one of his frequent lines is "That certainly was convenient." At the end of most episodes, he says, "That was an excellent adventure, don't you think?" Even though he does not appear to wear pants, he somehow still manages to put his hands in his pockets.

Production

The show's creator, Janice Burgess, looked to action movies for story ideas, aiming to give young children the thrill of epic adventures. She cited films like "Die Hard," "Star Wars," and the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy as influences, believing it would be exciting to bring that scale of storytelling to a preschool audience. The character Uniqua was modeled after Burgess's own childhood self, which is why she was written as the group's leader and appeared in every single episode. The visual designs of the main characters came from children's book author and illustrator Dan Yaccarino, with additional work from Nick Digital artist Michael Lennicx. Before the series was picked up, two test episodes were produced. The first, a live-action pilot called "Me and My Friends," was filmed in September 1998 at Nickelodeon Studios using full-body puppets dancing on a stage. Nickelodeon turned it down, so Burgess reworked the idea into an animated format. That original pilot was thought to be lost until it surfaced online in June 2025. A second pilot, a computer-animated short made at Nickelodeon Digital between 2001 and 2002, was approved by the network to become a full series. Nickelodeon described the show as a home-grown property, noting that the entire creative team had long been part of the Nick Jr. family.

Related media

The Backyardigans had several stage adaptations, including Tale of the Mighty Knights in 2008 and Storytime Live! in 2010, the latter of which brought together characters from Dora the Explorer, Wonder Pets!, and Ni Hao, Kai-Lan, along with hosts Moose and Zee. In Canada, two separate live shows were produced: Quest for the Extra Ordinary Aliens in 2008 and Sea Deep in Adventure in 2009. A PC game titled Mission to Mars came from Activision in October 2006. Interactive games for the LeapPad and VTech's V.Smile consoles were also made, plus a LeapFrog ClickStart game called Number Pie Samurai that taught basic computer skills. Kohl's ran a dedicated merchandise section from 2005 to 2007, offering exclusive clothing and toys. More than one hundred storybooks were published during the show's run, including both original tales and episode adaptations, with most available in Canada and the United States. A 2006 series of educational books, however, was sold only in Canada under a Treehouse TV license. Fisher-Price created many plush toys and interactive character toys, mainly featuring Uniqua, Pablo, and Tyrone, and Beanie Babies of the main characters were also produced. Nelvana managed worldwide distribution and marketing outside the United States, while co-producer Nickelodeon handled it domestically. In the U.S., all 80 episodes appeared on 21 DVDs, and five VHS volumes covered ten first-season episodes. Paramount Home Media Distribution, under Viacom, released all video content. Outside North America, Paramount worked with Nelvana on DVDs, and later Fremantle Home Entertainment took over that global deal. All four seasons are on the iTunes Store in both Canada and the United States, though the U.S. store lacks three first-season episodes: Secret Mission, It's Great to Be a Ghost!, and High Tea. Three albums came out in North America, plus one in Europe. The first album, released on July 12, 2005 under Nick Records, entered the Billboard 200 at number 32 and sold 46,000 copies in its first week.