The Backyardigans is a 2024 preschool animated web series based on the Nickelodeon series of the same name that aired on YouTube, created by Janice Burgess, who died four months before the series' first episode, which premiered on July 12, 2024.
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.jpg) Nick, this is the best you could give out for a Janice Burgess tribute? If anything, this isn't a good way to pay tribute to her.
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Why They Deserve to Be Castaways
- The main problem with the series is the awful redesigns and mediocre animation quality that look like they were suspiciously done with AI and look like something out of Cocomelon (which ironically enough has animation that looks artificial), with the voice acting also sounding suspiciously artificial, or that the voices were remixed with AI-generated voices.
- The biggest offender of all three of the awful redesigns would have to be Tyrone as he looks nothing like his original counterpart, especially when he was given toes on his feet, a very big head, and his hair has been drastically changed.
- Not to mention, their eyes have gotten quite big compared to the original series.
- On the topic of the animation, many believed that it was used to cash in on Cocomelon's popularity. Plus, when you look at the characters dance, they just look weird.
- For some reason, Tasha and Austin are completely absent.
- The most infamous and obvious examples of this are the remakes of "Rockabilly Lullaby" and "Like a Robot", originally from the episodes "Viking Voyage" and "Robot Rampage" respectively.
- In "Viking Voyage", vikings Pablo, Uniqua and Tyrone sing a lullaby to Tasha as a mermaid. In the remake, Uniqua replaced Tasha as the mermaid and only Pablo and Tyrone sing to her.
- In "Robot Rampage", Austin's robot Roscoe teaches him, Tyrone, Uniqua and Tasha to act like robots to get into Professor Bug (played by Pablo)'s lair. In the remake, Pablo replaces Roscoe, and Tasha and Austin are removed. Even worse is that Austin had a huge role in said episode, so removing him is just unnecessary.
- At least the first remake "Castaways" is more justifiable since it was only those three characters who sang that song anyway.
- The most infamous and obvious examples of this are the remakes of "Rockabilly Lullaby" and "Like a Robot", originally from the episodes "Viking Voyage" and "Robot Rampage" respectively.
- The backgrounds also don't look very good as they look like a cutscene you would see in a PS2 or Xbox video game.
- The songs, which are remakes of those seen in the original series, sound terrible and artificial.
- The whole existence of this reboot could likely just be Nickelodeon cashing in on the fact that the songs "Castaways" and "Into the Thick of It" went viral on TikTok in 2021, three years before Burgess' death, and this "reboot".
- The theme song barely sounds anything like the original, it's bland, awful and also sounds like they didn't put any effort into it. For some reason now it only features just Pablo, Tyrone and Uniqua.
- Overall, it barely, if ever, feels like the "tribute to Janice Burgess" that this was meant to be, but rather a cash-in of her works.
Qualities That Are Your Backyard Friends
- Nickelodeon at least tries to pay tribute to the late Janice Burgess as much as they can, and that's sweet despite the reboot being generally awful.
- It's nice to see the Backyardigans return after 11 years.
- Pablo's redesign does look pretty accurate and the most passable, with the only changes being his bowtie, giving him blush and having bigger pupils, unlike the other characters.
- The songs can be admittedly catchy to some people, and they could give off a "so bad, it's good" vibe into it.
Reception
The reboot received mostly negative reviews, particularly from fans of the original series, mainly for its animation being similar to that of Cocomelon, and attempts to "modernize" The Backyardigans. The episodes were heavily disliked on YouTube.
On IMDb, it has a very low score of 3.3/10.
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