Dora and Friends: Into the City

Dora and Friends: Into the City
You thought Seasons 6 to 8 of the original show were horrendous enough? Think one last time.
Genre: Family Adventure Running Time: 23 minutes Country: United States Release Date: August 18, 2014 - February 5, 2017 Network(s): Nickelodeon Nick Jr. Created by: Chris Gifford Distributed by: ViacomCBS Domestic Media Networks Starring: Fátima Ptacek Eduardo Aristizábal Mateo Lizcano Alexandria Suarez Ashley Earnest Kaya Thomas Isabela Merced Marc Weiner Seasons: 2 Episodes: 40 Previous show: Dora the Explorer Go, Diego, Go!

Dora and Friends: Into the City! is a Flash animated series created by Chris Gifford that first premiered on Nickelodeon and Nick Jr. on August 18, 2014, and it ended on February 5, 2017. It is the second spin-off of Dora the Explorer with the first being Go, Diego, Go!.

Plot

It follows the adventures of a grade school-age Dora and her five best friends. The show's focus is on community service, friendship, and solving problems, all of which play out in stories that show the kids as valued and hard-working members of their vibrant hometown.

Why It Should Go Out of the City

1. Explorer-In-The-City: Dora and her friends are middle-schoolers and are 10, 11, even 12-year-olds in this show, which is a huge "Jumping-The-Shark" moment that takes away the charm of the original Dora the Explorer series when that show was all about kids, and is also quite jarring.
   1. While there's nothing wrong with making the main cast older in later/new installments of a series, those shows that have these moments (E.G Dragon Ball Z of Dragon Ball,The legend of Korra of Avatar, Ben 10: Alien Force of Ben 10, All Grown Up! of Rugrats and even Steven Universe Future of Steven Universe) are from shows that are more story driven and are towered for an older crowed, but in the case with Dora the Explorer, that was a series that is episodic and was for a younger crowed.
   2. This is also kind of pointless, as Dora the Explorer (as in the original series) was still going when Dora and Friends: Into the City! was created, and even in the United States version, it didn't end until 2019, which is two years after Dora and Friends: Into the City! ended.
2. Almost all of the characters have poor characterization.
   • Dora Marquez is an awfully annoying 10- or 11-year-old girl here.
   • Naiya is also a completely unnecessary character for this show as she tries to help Dora and her friends to solve problems and have solutions.
   • Kate looks like a Mary-Sue who acts like a Karma Houdini when she practices theater.
   • Alana is completely sassy as she cares about nothing but soccer.
   • Emma is a loud girl who plays music that is ear-piercing to kids.
   • Pablo is the big punching bag when he obsesses himself with sports.
3. The Flash animation in the last half of Season 2 looks very cheap and lazy. Not to mention that it is almost the exact same animation as seasons 7 and 8 of Dora The Explorer.
4. It also has poor grammar/material stolen from the original 2000 series.
5. Like the original show, Dora's forth-wall breaking can be annoying to older audiences.
6. The voice acting, while it isn't that bad, it is kind of annoying and bland at times, especially for Dora herself.
7. The theme song, while decent, can get obnoxious at times.
8. Map looks very weak as an app for Dora's cellphone.
9. Because Dora and her friends are middle-schoolers and are 10, 11, even 12-year-olds in this show, it should have been rated TV-Y7 instead of TV-Y and should not be allowed on a channel that is called "Nick Jr." since most of this show doesn't even feel like a preschool show similar to Sunny Day at all!
10. It even worsens up the problems that the last three seasons of the original show started.
11. There are some characters from the original show and Go Diego Go who do not appear in this show, these include Val the Octopus, The Explorer Stars, Diego's camera Click, Linda the Llama, The Bobo Brothers, etc. Not even Boots (the second Protagonist of the series) makes an appearance.
12. Diego's rescue pack redesign in the episode "Dora's Rainforest Reunion", is very tawdry as it no longer has a face.
13. Overall, because of Dora and her friends being older, the lack of Boots and no appearances of some characters from the original show and Go Diego Go, Dora and Friends: Into the City! feels more like one of those generic girl sitcom that has been overdone (E.G Barbie/Bratz, iCarly, and Sabrina Witch), except with Dora the Explorer cast.

Redeeming Qualities

1. As mentioned earlier, the theme song is decent, despite that it can get obnoxious.
2. There are a lot of good morals, similar to the original show.
3. Some episodes can be very entertaining to watch.
4. The animation in the first and first half of the second season are passable.

Reception

Dora and Friends: Into the City! received overwhelming negative reviews by fans and critics alike, with fans criticizing the design choice of making Dora and some of the other characters older which takes away the original charm that the show previously had and the lack of any major characters from the original series. The series currently holds a 3.6/10 on IMDb.

Trivia

• The complete series is available on Paramount+.

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