glen — it/its, adult — i follow back from @humblemediagenius
Please be normal when interacting with this blog. No NSFW, proship or bigots will be tolerated. I will block anyone I find out to be weirdos.
anyway umm ok Backyardigans sideblog. let’s have fun and play toys!
Tag List:
my posts - #txt
my art - #the art is on the loose!
NOT my art - #others art
my gifs - #my gifs
asks - #singing telegram
images of plushes, toys, and misc merch - #irl
stuff that makes me think of the show / blog - #relevant
stuff that makes me think of characters - #vibes
all characters are tagged individually!
Askbox is always open for requests and general chatting :-]
Also, I love thinking about how in the opening of "Secret of Snow", Uniqua talks to "the narrator" (Austin) asking about the ice ladyand seeing how at the end, when it zooms out to him as he says "And I- Well I like snow too", I can imagine he actually was right there in front of her XD
Ok I'm actually obsessed with this idea I had to draw it
No doubt that in "Scared of You", Pablo, Uniqua, and Tyrone were pretending to be scared of eachother to keep Austin from coming back too early. They were definitely in on it even before they got the letters X3
I CAN SEE THE VISION the gang is smarter than they act sometimes, it wouldn't be too shocking if they were in on it. They definitely would have known it's Austin's birthday though
im gonna go to bed soon and this is completely unrelated to my previous posts but i need someone to see my vision. pablo to me is like the videos with the guy who puts on a cowboy hat and then becomes an insanely stereotypical american. pablo would do this
Did this in celebration of Me And My Friends (the 90s backyardigans pilot) being found! I've been keeping up with this search since last year and it's so surreal seeing it finally surface after everything. Big year for lost media nerds (me)
the moment you’ve been waiting for… my totally non-biased completely objective ranking of all 80 episodes of the backyardigans!
none of these are ranked in any numerical order, just in the order of when i rewatched them! because i watched the show out of order lol
feel free to send me an ask if you want me to elaborate on my thoughts about a specific episode— i would love to talk about my opinions, cuz i have a LOT of opinions.
below the cut is a very long explanation of some thoughts regarding what i put and why. tldr: i don’t think any episode of the show are downright bad, and also the “best of the series” category is based moreso on what episodes i think represent the show the best rather than being my personal favorites (though there is overlap).
anyway, this was four months in the making, and i gotta say it was worth it. i love this show so much. i’m gonna rewatch mighty knights for the billionth time now
Alright i have a LOT of thoughts. i wrote some of these like a few days in advance cuz i knew my list wasnt gonna change much with the episodes i had remaining LOL
i don’t think any episode of the show is “bad”. if the worst crime this show has committed is having a handful of mid episodes, then i say it’s a win. even my least favorite episodes, i can find something i enjoyed about them. not to mention, i’m Not the target audience for the show, and i’m obviously taking this rewatch way too seriously. but i really had a good time with the rewatch… i remembered a majority of the episodes but for the ones i didnt i was pleasantly surprised by how many i enjoyed.
a lot of factors influenced my rankings, and i tried very hard to not let my nostalgia dictate the placement of every episode. i placed episodes based on how well i thought they represented the show’s concept and characters, how engaging their plot was (or how funny it was lol), and if i enjoyed the soundtrack. i’ll be honest, a LOT of episodes are ranked higher than i think they should be due to their soundtracks. i also considered how well some of these episodes held up to what i remembered as a kid (i.e. i used to love heart of the jungle as a kid, but now i didnt like it so much)
i chose the “best of the series” episodes not necessarily because they’re my favorites (though i love all of them of course) but i think they encapsulate the show the most. if i only chose my favorites for this section, robin hood and a giant problem would be there too LOL
anyway here’s why each “best of the series” episode is ranked here:
mission to mars: i genuinely think this is the definitive episode of the show. if someone could only watch one episode of this show to decide their opinion on it, i’d probably show them this one. its not double length, but it just FEELS like a special to me. the intro with everyone in the yard, the music, the simple and fun plot… a perfect storm. its not my personal favorite #1 episode but it would for sure be in my top 10. its iconic, its got a really awesome soundtrack, even alicia keys is in it, whats not to love? 11/10, astronauts never give up made me cry when i rewatched it for the first time. i hadnt heard that song in years but as soon as the music picked up i recognized it and just. burst into tears. it was crazy
tale of the mighty knights: god. this episode is what dragged me back into the show, so it’s not a surprise its here… i personally think this is the best of the three specials. It’s got a solid and well paced story, some of my favorite roles in the entire show, and a banger soundtrack. and on top of that, it’s just really funny. I usually am not a huge medieval fantasy person but this episode does it so well that its been one of my favorites even since i was a kid. i love the mighty knights so so so dearly. i legit dont even know what else to say i listened to tweedily dee while working in february and then was like wow this is so good i should rewatch mighty knights and make an OC AU out of it and now LOOK WHERE I AM. ITS JUNE. IM IN THE BACKYARDIGANS TRENCHES!!!!! BECAUSE OF THIS EPISODE!!!
tale of the not-so-nice dragon: okay this is i think a contraversial pick, but in my opinion, the episode hinges on being a sequel to TOTMK— even though the episode reminds you of each character from the original episode, I personally don’t think it would make much sense to someone who hasn’t seen TOTMK. obviously I don’t think TOTNSND is to the same level as TOTMK but i DO think that these episodes should be paired together. And in honesty I genuinely Love this episode. its such a fun send-off to the series. it doesn’t feel like a sappy finale, but it works as a final episode so well. and it very intentionally highlights tasha and austin, which is awesome. I’m this episode’s #1 defender i’m sure
the masked retriever: i was hesitant to put this here cuz its one of my Super Mega Illness All Time Favorite Forever I Have The Script Memorized episodes but… it’s just So GOOD. it’s a neat story and a pretty fun choice for a parody, it’s got a unique setting (compared to the rest of the show imo), and a great soundtrack. a happy ending is literally front and center on my desktop layout, it’s one of my fave songs of the whole show, but i love all of the songs. also did you guys know i love uniqua? i love her. she’s so wonderful as the masked retriever. not to mention the lesson of the episode Did work on me as a kid i never had an overdue library book because of this episode so thanks masked retriever
scared of you: honestly, the soundtrack is mostly what made me put the episode here. it’s got SUCH a good soundtrack, i love love love when this show does jazz. but its also just Such a cute watch. it felt like the concept of cave party but Way More Fun. i love tasha and austin dearly. i’m gonna be real i dont even care about the monster theming or anything i just like how much everyone cares about austin <:) they are all such good friends and such nice sweet people i love this show ouuu
secret of snow: i cried both times i rewatched it within the past few months. i think thats all i need to say. …okay i’ll say more. i’m gonna be real i dont usually like holiday/xmas specials even for my favorite shows because i dont celebrate xmas and its not interesting or nostalgic for me… but secret of snow is a special exception. its got such a cute plot, and thankfully the episode itself isnt xmas themed, just the songs. and secret of snow (the song) being an original song hits SO much harder thanks to the other songs being to the tune of well-known songs. its a great uniqua and austin episode for fans of them (aka me!), and the last five minutes with secret of snow (the song) and then the i love snow / ending song medley? god. brings me to tears EVERY. TIME. i can’t even listen to it without tearing up. such a nostalgic episode for me, i love it to bits. if it wasn’t for the fact that 3/4 songs of the episode aren’t original, i’d say this would also be the definitive episode of the show. maybe the real secret of snow was the friends we made along the way <:)
pablor and the acorns: my other contraversial choice… i just really, really liked this one. it was kind of the most “glen bait” episode — i love aliens and sci-fi and even though the show can be hit-or-miss in my opinion when it comes to sci-fi i just couldn’t help but fall in love with pablor and his shenanigans. im a sucker for the “alien tries to learn to do normal things” trope. but i think this episode really capitalized on the “kids playing pretend” aspect of the show and i loved how much it felt like everyone was “yes, and”-ing pablo the whole time. just a really silly and fun episode to me that i dont see enough people discussing.
its great to be a ghost: i think the simple plots of season 1 can sometimes be a detriment when you compare it to future seasons, but this episode did it RIGHT. i can’t fully explain why, but i had a total blast watching this one. it was just very funny! i liked everyones shenanigans. i didn’t remember much from it (other than the “why aren’t we alive?” meme which isn’t even a line from the episode!!!) so i was basically going in blind but I LOVED IT!!! i love the soundtrack, i love uniqua and pablo playing with each other, i love tyrone’s tap dance solo, the ending made me laugh… god it was really fun. loved it a lot, its definitely my favorite of season 1.
alright… onto everything else…
my runner-up choices for “best of the series” from the “amazing” category would be break out, who goes there, and le master of disguise… but all 3 have something about it that made me choose not to put it there. break out is SOOOOOOOO SO SO SO close. the only thing preventing me from adding it was that the final song was a nothing burger, imo. otherwise its an astounding episode. whodunit i think the soundtrack i didnt like as much as le master of disguise, and le master of disguise i am So nostalgic for so it felt like too biased of a pick
my least favorite episodes were monster detectives and elephant on the run. the former had an interesting concept that i felt just didnt get used correctly— i swear, if it was in season 2, it would have been great. and the latter was just So boring. tbh, i got my hopes up because i really like alt rock so when i saw that as the genre of the ep i was SO excited… but it was mid. alas…
some other notes:
i originally had best clowns in town and catch that butterfly in “alright”, but they grew on me. i just keep referencing best clowns in town and i ended up finding myself returning to the soundtrack for catch that butterfly more than i thought i would, so i put them up higher
los galacticos would have been in “good”… if it wasn’t for the god-awful spanish I’M SORRY it was too egregious for me to ignore. also it’s just a really weird episode. even weirder than ranch hands somehow.
speaking of ranch hands from outer space, that was 100% the hardest i’d laughed at the show this whole rewatch. i cant believe i didn’t remember it pre-rewatch, its definitely one of my faves now. i laughed a lot at save the day as well
season 1 i had been putting off watching because i didnt remember most of the episodes, but i was surprised by how many i ended up actually enjoying. the simpler stories can really be hit or miss
truthfully i was avoiding watching heart of the jungle because i got SO sick of into the thick of it. and i say that as someone who used to listen to it like on repeat as a kid LMAO hearing it again genuinely has been a jumpscare
