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Dora's Fairytale Adventure

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Dora's Fairytale Adventure
Dora's Fairytale Adventure
Airdate Friday, September 24, 2004 (Nickelodeon)
Tuesday, October 5, 2004 (VHS and DVD)
Sunday, October 4, 2009 (Nick Jr.)
U.S. Premiere Time (est.) {{{premiere}}}
Season 4
Episode 1 (aired)
21 (produced)
Written by Eric Weiner
Storyboard by:
Carol Datuin
Miyuki Hoshikawa
Dominic Orlando
Alex Que
Jose Silverio
Janice Tolentino
Arthur Valencia
Ysty Veluz
Directed by George Chialtas
Sherie Pollack
Previous Whose Birthday is It? (TV airing order)
To the South Pole (TV airing order; Noggin premire)
Dora and Diego to the Rescue! (production order)
Next Daisy, La Quinceañera (airing order)
Dora's Dance to the Rescue (production order)
Dora Saves the Three Little Pigs (chronologically)
Go, Diego, Go!: Chinta the Baby Chinchilla (production order in general)

Dora's Fairytale Adventure (or simply known as "Dora II: The Fairytale Adventure") is a Dora the Explorer TV special. It is also the 1st episode of Season 4.

If one counts the previous episode in airing order ("Star Catcher", which was originally produced in Season 4, but originally intended for and premiered during Season 3), then this would be the 2nd episode of Season 4.

In production order, it is the 21st episode of Season 4 and was the last episode of the show produced before the spinoff series, Go, Diego, Go! went into production. This was also last overall episode in production order to feature star-catching, which (at the time) had become infrequent throughout this season before being retired in full by Season 5.

Although this is the second double-length episode of the series, it is actually the first to premiere on TV, as "Dora's Pirate Adventure" was released on VHS and DVD on January 27, 2004, but it did not premiere on TV until January 17, 2005 (3 months and 25 days after this episode's TV premiere).

Characters[]

Summary[]

In this enchanting episode, Dora and Boots venture into Fairytale Land, where Boots inadvertently falls under a sleeping spell cast by a mischievous witch. To awaken him, Dora embarks on a quest to become a true princess by passing four magical tests: finding a red ring in a dragon-guarded cave, teaching giant rocks to sing using a prince's magic music box, transforming winter into spring with a bag of sunshine, and bringing the moon to the King and Queen with the help of both a magic hairbrush and friends Benny, Isa, Tico, and the Explorer Stars. Can Dora complete those tests and become a true princess? She's really going to need the viewer's help!

Plot[]

Act 1[]

The episode starts with Dora and Boots are playing in the forest when they hear a trumpet sound from the distance. They follow it and find out it was coming from a gate to Fairytale Land. Dora invites the viewer to come along with them. The gate explains to enter Fairytale Land, they must say the password, which is "Once Upon a Time!". Dora, Boots, and the viewer do so, and the gate opens. They find lollipops, the Three Little Pigs, the Gingerbread Man, and many other fairytales as they sing the Fairytale Land song.

At the end of the song, Dora and Boots lay down in the grass and rest under a tree with the Seven Dwarfs. Boots gets offered an enchanted banana by the tree and when he eats it, he suddenly falls asleep. The Seven Dwarfs explain he's turned into Sleeping Boots and is under a sleeping spell by the witch. The tree transforms into the witch, who explains she put a spell on Boots and says that Dora will never find out how to wake him up. She then gets on her silly broomstick and flies off. However, as she flies off, her broomstick ends up accidentally going through lots of trees. The witch keeps telling him "Cuidado", which means “Be careful” or “Watch out” in Spanish, but the broomstick is too clumsy that he keeps going through the trees.

Dora tries to convince Boots to wake up by yelling "Wake up!". Unfortunately, it didn't work. Then, she tries to tickle him, but to no avail. Luckily, the dwarfs know how Dora can break the spell. Sleeping Boots must get a hug from a true princess. The problem is that there aren't any true princesses in all of Fairytale Land, and many have tried to pass the tests to become one, but it’s very hard. One of the dwarfs suggested to Dora that she can become a true princess and save Sleeping Boots. Dora and the other dwarfs agree. Backpack and Map agreed too. There are four tests: First, Dora must find the red ring. Second, she must teach the giant rocks to sing. Third, she has to turn winter into spring. Finally, she must bring the moon to the Queen and King. Dora was surprised because that is a lot of tests. The Seven Dwarves, Map, and Backpack cheer for her thinking that she can do it. "¡Si se puede!" said Backpack, which is Spanish for "We can do it!". She asked the viewer if he/she wants to help her become a true princess and the viewer accepted the request.

Dora hears a voice calling her shortly before she goes off. It was the Ivy Vine Wall, who tells her that her rainbow leaves are falling off. Dora has to hurry because if she does not become a true princess and wake up Sleeping Boots before the last leaf falls, Sleeping Boots will be asleep forever!

Dora does not know where to go to pass all the tests, so she asks Map for assistance. Map tells the viewer that in order for Dora become a true princess, they have to go to the Dragon’s Cave to find the red ring, to the Giant Rocks to teach them to sing to Winter Valley to turn winter into spring, and finally to the castle to bring the moon to the King and Queen. Dora then proceeds to go to the Dragon's cave for her 1st test. She comes upon a hungry dragon, who is the guard of the cave. With help from the viewer, Dora tiptoes past the dragon and goes inside. She steps on a twig and stops. She continues to tiptoe and in no time, made it to the Dragon's cave. She finds the red ring in a fish tank, but this causes the dragon to come towards her. The ring tells Dora that he has to get on her finger, but she has to point her finger first. Dora does so, and not only did the entire inside of the Dragon's Cave turn into a palace, but the dragon turns into a prince. The prince explains to Dora that he was turned into a dragon to guard the red ring for many years, and she saved him. As a reward, he gives her a magic music box. It will help Dora become a true princess. When the box is wound up, it plays music so beautiful, it can make anything sing. Dora started to wind the box up, but the prince warns her that she can only play it once, so she cannot play it unless she needs it. Dora kept her promise and she and the prince shook hands. The prince tells Dora "Buena suerte" which means "Good luck" in Spanish as the two waved goodbye. The witch is seen hiding in a tree and sees that Dora found the red ring. She reminds herself that she ‘ll have to work harder to prevent Dora from becoming a true princess. Her wand remarks that Dora’s really good while the broomstick remarks that she is one smart girl, but not after the witch tells them “Silencio! Be Quiet!”. The witch then gets on her silly broomstick again and flies off. She first ends up upside-down in the process and then goes down. "Cuidado, cuidado, ¡CUIDADO!", the witch yelled, and just like earlier, her broomstick goes through a tree but got out. "Sorry boss!" says her silly broomstick.

The Fiesta Trio congratulates Dora for passing the 1st test. She now has 3 more tests left to go. She has to check Map to figure out where to go next. Map places a checkmark on the Dragon’s Cave (now the Prince’s Palace). The path traces to the Giant Rocks. Before, Map tells the viewer to tell Dora that next they have to go to the Giant Rocks, he warns the viewer that the Giant Rocks are guarded by the Giant-Giant.

Suddenly, Dora sees an oval shaped glass mirror containing a message from the Seven Dwarfs. The Dwarfs tell Dora that Sleeping Boots is snoring louder and that more leaves are falling from the Ivy Vine Wall. They remind her that she has to hurry to become a true princess before the last leaf falls. Dora tells them she's hurrying.

Dora's 2nd test is to teach the giant rocks to sing. When she got to the Giant Rocks, she remarks that those rocks really are giant. Suddenly, the ground starts to shake which causes Dora herself to shake, and as expected, she hears the Giant-Giant. "Fee-fi-fo-fum, fumpty-dumpy-dumpy-dum!" he went. He was grumpy as he showed Dora a photo of his puppy that he could not find. Dora decides to help the Giant-Giant find his lost puppy, in which he pleasurably allows her to help. She hops on his hand as he says that his puppy goes "Woof woof." She plays a listening game to find the puppy. There are three locations that the viewer needs to listen. There was a windmill, a gingerbread house, and a small farm. The correct location was in the center behind the gingerbread house. Dora was off his hand when the puppy came up to him. Now, she had to teach the giant rocks to sing. The Giant-Giant tells Dora that teaching the rocks to sing is a toughy. "Eso es muy dificil" he said. Dora had an idea and gets out the magic music box that the prince gave her. Dora tries to wind the handle but stuck. She had help from the viewer by winding the handle together. After that, the lid opened, and music starts playing. With help from the viewer, Dora and the Giant-Giant sang "Boingy, boingy, boingy bing, we'll get these rocks to sing!" multiple times. As the music continues to play, faces appeared on the giant rocks, and they started singing. The witch is seen again hiding behind a bush and is in shock that both Dora and the Giant-Giant have taught the rocks to sing. Her silly wand and broomstick are cheering at them, but not long before the witch tells them “Silencio!” which means "Be quiet!" in Spanish. Once again, the witch then gets on her silly broomstick and flies off, and she starts to feel dizzy in the process. After Dora passed her 2nd test, she was rewarded with a bag of sunshine and had to stand on Giant-Giant’s hand to get it. The Giant-Giant warned Dora to be very careful with the bag of sunshine because if she opened the bag, the sunshine would escape. So, Dora kept her promise and puts the bag of sunshine in Backpack for safekeeping until she needs it. Dora then hugged the Giant-Giant and waved goodbye to him.

The Fiesta Trio congratulates Dora for passing the 2nd test and now she has 2 tests left. She checks Map again to figure out where to go next. Map places a checkmark on the Prince’s Palace (formerly the Dragon's Cave) and Giant Rocks. The path traces to Winter Valley. Map tells the viewer to tell Dora that next they have to go to Winter Valley.

Suddenly, Dora sees a rectangle shaped glass mirror containing another message from the Seven Dwarfs. The Dwarfs tell Dora that there aren't many leaves left on the Ivy Vine Wall. The Wall once again reminds her that she has to become a true princess before the last leaf falls. Dora once again tells them she's hurrying. And now, Dora tells the viewers that the fairy tale adventure will be continued after these messages (obviously cut from both Paramount+ and the VHS/DVD version).

Act 2[]

(Cut on home video and Paramount+) Dora recaps the adventure from where she began.

Dora's 3rd test is to turn winter into spring. She got cold when she got to Winter Valley. The witch remarks that Dora will never be able to turn winter into spring as she decided to make it even colder by having snowmen, snowballs, and storm clouds come by. When Dora saw the snowmen, snowballs, and storm clouds, she got even colder. Luckily, Dora remembered about the bag of sunshine given to her by the Giant-Giant in which she put in her Backpack. Dora gets the sunshine out of the bag. Now, it was time to make things hot. They had to sing "Caliente". As the singing continued, the snow melted everywhere by the trees, the hills and by the river. The witch got angry and walked away. Dora was proud to turn Winter Valley into Spring Valley. The animals came up to Dora and gave her a present. Dora saw a magic hairbrush inside the present. It can make her hair really long. The animals warned Dora to be careful because the magic works only once and told her not to use the magic hairbrush until she needs it. Dora kept her promise to be careful and waved goodbye to the animals.

The Fiesta Trio congratulates Dora for passing the 3rd test. She only has one test left. Dora checks Map one more time to figure out where to go next. So far, she found the red ring at the Dragon's Cave (now the Prince’s Palace), taught the Giant Rocks to sing, and turned winter into spring at Winter Valley (now Spring Valley). Map places a checkmark on those places. The path traces to the castle of the king and queen. Map tells the viewer to tell Dora that next they have to go to the castle of the king and queen. 

So far, Dora found the red ring, taught the giant rocks to sing, and turned winter into spring. The 4th and final test that Dora has to do now bring the moon to the Queen and King. They were at the castle. Dora enters the castle and then she had to go up a long spiral staircase. The Queen and King were proud of Dora to have come so far. She has passed many tests, but this test was the hardest of all. Dora has to bring the moon to the Queen and King. The witch is seen hiding behind the castle and she has an evil feeling that Dora is going to give up. Dora is going to prove her wrong. The witch was in shock and her wand remarks that Dora is really something. Dora then had a plan. She was going to call on Isa the Iguana, Tico the Squirrel and Benny the Bull. They all came riding on horses. Isa, Tico, and Benny entered the castle but when they got there, the witch made the long spiral staircase disappear and she tells them that now there’s no way they can climb up and help Dora. They had to figure out how to get up the tower without using the long spiral staircase. Dora remembered about the magic hairbrush given to her by the animals in spring and how she can use it to make her hair really long, which would provide a detour for her friends to still climb up to the top of the castle. She grabs the magic hairbrush and starts brushing her hair really, really long. The hair stretched all the way down, and Benny, Isa, and Tico used Dora's really long hair as a detour to climb up to the top of the castle. After that, they got a group hug and as the magic wore off, Dora‘s hair was shorter again, but still longer than usual. Now, that Benny, Isa, and Tico are up to the tower, they can help Dora pass her 4th and final test by bringing the moon to the Queen and King. Suddenly, they saw stars in the sky of red, orange, yellow and purple. Dora, Benny, Isa, and Tico each took a turn catching a star in their special way. Tico catches a star by climbing up a pole and catching it. Isa catches a star using her tail. Benny uses his strength by pushing heavy barrels and then catching the star. Dora super jumped up high to catch a star. After a star is caught, it creates a staircase. Four stars were caught, but the staircase was not quite high enough. They needed one more star. All of a sudden, another star appeared, and it was an explorer star. It was Fairy Star. The viewer caught Fairy Star and she went up to the top of the night sky to the moon. Dora climbs up the staircase the stars made so she can climb up to the moon. Dora asked the moon to come down and see a Queen and King. The moon accepted the request and came down with Dora. The witch comes back and was very shocked. She wondered how Benny, Isa, and Tico got up the tower after she made the steps disappear. The witch also wondered where Dora was. Dora came down and hopped off the moon. The Fiesta Trio congratulates Dora for passing her 4th and final test. The witch then reviewed what Dora and the viewer did. They found the red ring, taught the giant rocks to sing, turned winter into spring, and brought the moon to the Queen and King (she gets even angrier while reviewing everything). Dora broke the witch's spell, and all of her powers are gone! The Queen told Dora that she was flying far far far away and will never be seen again.

The king, come forward, and Dora go forward, the King change her clothes, her into a true princess. She now wears a floor-length princess gown. The gown is golden with a pinkish-white petticoat underneath. It has a V neckline. The sleeves are long and straight and puff up at the shoulders. There are small pink stripes on the cuffs of the sleeves. The skirt is flowy and has pink and purple stripes on her legs hem. Her high heels are golden with pink flowers on them. Her hair is longer and curly and hangs down along her back from a long golden headdress with a pink flower. Dora has transformed into La Princesa Dora. But a diamond shaped glass mirror has another message from the seven dwarves. Dora had to hurry. There is only one leaf left on the Ivy Vine Wall. Dora has to hug Sleeping Boots to wake him up before the last leaf falls, or else Boots will be asleep forever! The King quickly calls in the unicorns. The unicorns came with a carriage for La Princesa Dora to ride on. To take off, she had to say "Vuelen" which is the Spanish word for "Fly". La Princesa Dora took off with the flying unicorns. Benny, Isa, Tico, the Queen, and King wished her good luck. As La Princesa Dora was on her way back to try and wake up Sleeping Boots, she had to fly over Spring Valley (formerly Winter Valley), the Giant Rocks, and the Prince's Palace (formerly the Dragon's Cave). After she got over all the places, the unicorns and carriage land on the grass and La Princesa Dora scurries off the carriage and hurries over to Sleeping Boots. She had to hug Sleeping Boots as tight as she could with some help from the viewer. But as soon as the last leaf touched the grass, Sleeping Boots woke up and is not sleeping anymore. He stretches his arms and opens his mouth wide and yawns. Boots told Dora that he had an amazing dream. He dreamed that Dora was a true princess with really long hair and his dream came true. And so, Sleeping Boots fell into a deep sleep but awoke at last. After the spell is broken, the ivy leaves magically return back on the wall. La Princesa Dora, Boots, the Seven Dwarfs, and the Ivy Vine Wall all celebrate their victory, with the prince, the Giant-Giant and his puppy, King Lion, Queen Lioness, Benny, Isa, and Tico all joining them. Thanks to Dora becoming a true princess and waking up Sleeping Boots in the nick of time, the mean witch was never seen again and everyone in Fairytale Land lived happily ever after.

Songs[]

Listen to the sounds[]

  1. Owl behind the windmill
  2. Giant-Giant's puppy behind the gingerbread house
  3. Mouse behind the small farm

Places in this episode (not repeated by Map during his segment)[]

  1. Dragon's Cave/Prince's Palace (to find the red ring)
  2. Giant Rocks (to teach them to sing)
  3. Winter/Spring Valley (to turn winter into spring)
  4. King Lion and Queen Lioness' Castle (to bring the moon to the Queen and King)

Sub-Places[]

Items in Backpack (clockwise starting from the top right)[]

List of tests for Dora to become a true princess[]

  1. Find the red ring
  2. Teach the Giant Rocks to sing
  3. Turn winter into spring
  4. Bring the moon to the Queen and King

Trivia[]

  • This episode was later had two sequels: "Dora Saves the Three Little Pigs" in 2009 (a standard 30-minute episode), and "Dora Saves Fairytale Land" in 2015 (aired on TV in 2019).
  • There are a lot of firsts in this episode:
    1. This is the first official episode for Season 4 in airing order.
      • While the previous episode "Star Catcher" was produced for Season 4, it was originally intended for and premiered during Season 3.
        • In any case, however, this episode is the 21st for Season 4 in production order, as well as the last episode of the show produced before Go, Diego, Go! went into production.
          • Starting with this episode, the copyright year reads "2003" instead of the actual year it premiered in. This is because this season was produced in 2003 (with the exception of 2005's "Dora's Dance to the Rescue", 2006's "Dora's World Adventure!", and 2007's "Dora Saves the Mermaids". This means that only 21 out of all 24 episodes of Season 4 (or 88%) were made in 2003.
      • This is also the first Season 4 episode to use its own art style.
    2. Due to Boots being under a sleeping spell, this is the first double-length episode (and the first episode overall) where Dora travels alone without him, but still has Map, Backpack, and the viewer at home to help her out on her quest. She also has the Giant-Giant to help her out on the 2nd test, as well as Benny, Isa, Tico, and even the Explorer Stars to help her out on the 4th test.
      • Dora tries to wake up Sleeping Boots by yelling "Wake up!" and tickling his foot but fails because of the spell.
      • In the show's production order, however, it's third time Dora travels without Boots after Best Friends (in which Dora travels alone like in this episode) and Dora and Diego to the Rescue! (in which Diego takes Boots's place due to Boots being blown away by his kite).
    3. This is the first double-length episode (and the first episode in general) to have four places instead of the usual three, excluding any episodes with sub-places.
    4. This is the first double-length episode where the Fiesta Trio play their regular fanfare 4 times.
      • After they play their regular and extended fanfares, they make an announcement to congratulate Dora for each test she passes, and for waking up sleeping Boots.
    5. Aside from "Lost Map" where Dora checks the replacement map after each location, as well as not being used at all in "Rescue, Rescue, Rescue!", this is the first episode in which Dora does not use the picture pop-up sequence of the places to go at all. She instead checks in on Map each time she passes a place, and he tracks her progress by placing a red checkmark for every place Dora passes.
      • In production order, however, the first episode with this concept would be Star Mountain.
        • However, the picture pop-up sequence will temporarily return within a double-length episode in the one after the next, and will eventually return permanently in the one after that.
    6. This is the first episode where Map does not zoom wipe at all.
      • In production order, however, it would be Star Mountain, once again.
    7. This is the first double-length episode where Map and Backpack sing their standard and shortened songs, as well as the first double-length episode where Map does not wear anything on his head.
    8. This episode introduces a new audio where Backpack says, "Yum yum yum yum yum, delicioso!".
    9. This is the first episode where Dora asks the viewer which path (For example: first, second, third, fourth) she needs to take to get to a location.
    10. This is the first episode where Dora and Boots visit Fairytale Land.
    11. This is the first double-length episode where Swiper is absent, but he will make his appearance and visit Fairytale Land in "Dora Saves the Three Little Pigs" and "Dora Saves Fairytale Land".
    12. This is the first and only episode in which Map does not ask the viewer to repeat the places to go with him. Instead, he skips that part and tells the viewer to tell Dora what the first challenge is and the first place to go (Dragon's Cave) immediately after showing the route. However, the first actual time he did not repeat the places at all was "Rescue, Rescue, Rescue!" when he gave Dora and Boots the secret shortcut to get to Baby Jaguar.
    13. This episode marks the return of Map saying, "So you tell Dora" since Season 2, but only in a different way (as a reminder to tell her what location to go to). He would still say, "So remember" before reviewing the places (but not in this episode). In production order, it would be, once again, Star Mountain.
    14. This is the first time someone undergoes a transformation; in this case, Dora transforms into a true princess.
    15. This is the first time Dora wears a dress or skirt.
    16. This is the first time Dora does not wear Backpack with her final outfit; Backpack magically disappears when she turns into a true princess.
    17. This is the first and only double-length episode to use the standard version of the "We Did It!" song without the extended version.
    18. This is the first episode in which the star pocket no longer disappears and reappears or changes its direction on Backpack; instead it is always visible on Backpack whenever Dora is facing left.
      • This however could be an odd contradiction due to both the star-catching segments and the stars' overall presence being greatly reduced throughout Season 4 (before being fully retired in Season 5), but the star pocket will always be visible for the rest of the season, whether or not there are stars present.
      • This is also the first episode in which Backpack has only one side pocket (on her left side), with the other side pocket mysteriously missing and taken over by the star pocket. The opposite side pocket won't return until Dora's appearance on Go, Diego, Go!.
      • Starting with this episode until "Baby Crab", Backpack can be seen with the star pocket attached to her during the Backpack segments, despite the fact that star-catching became infrequent in this season, it would be retired in full starting with Season 5.
    19. Despite being the second double-length episode of the series, it is actually the first one to premiere on TV, as "Dora's Pirate Adventure" was released on VHS and DVD on January 27, 2004, but it did not premiere on TV until on January 17, 2005 (3 months and 25 days after this episode's TV premiere).
    20. This is the first episode to premiere on the Nick Jr. Channel after the rebrand from Noggin to Nick Jr. on September 28, 2009.
    21. This marks the first time in a Nick Jr. series where the protagonist becomes royalty. This also happens in the Ni Hao, Kai-Lan special "Princess Kai-Lan", and the Blaze and the Monster Machines episode "The Great Animal Crown".
  • This is the 76th episode of the show (77th if counting the Noggin premiere of "To the South Pole").
  • This episode holds the record of the most times Map was called upon being four. This would happen again in "The Mixed-Up Seasons".
  • This episode premiered exactly 3 years after "Call Me Mr. Riddles" premiered and 2 years after Dora's Christmas! was released on VHS.
  • This is one of the few times prior to Season 5 where Boots speaks Spanish.
  • It is unknown how Benny, Isa, Tico, Baby Blue Bird, the Fiesta Trio, and the Explorer Stars got to Fairytale Land.
  • This episode aired on Nickelodeon and then was released on home media 11 days later, with the DVD release later being reissued on March 6, 2012. Additionally, this episode premiered just 17 days (or 2 weeks and and 3 days) after the book was adapted.
    • It also premiered on the same day that Hurricane Ivan degenerated into a remnant low. The hurricane eventually dissipated the next day.
  • This is the last double-length episode to use the 1999-2005 Nick Jr. Productions logo's visual, but it's not the last episode to use its usual music.
  • Dora's ears are seen for the second time when she is wearing her princess outfit; the first time her ears were seen was in "Dora Had a Little Lamb".
    • If one goes by airing order, it's the other way around.
  • This is the 13th episode in which Dora returns to where she has started after reaching the last place on the map, something that also occurred in "Three Little Piggies", "Berry Hunt", "The Chocolate Tree", "El Día De Las Madres", "Click!", "A Present for Santa", "School Pet", "Save the Puppies!", "What Happens Next?", "Journey to the Purple Planet", "Dora's Pirate Adventure", and "Boots' Cuddly Dinosaur".
  • There are a lot of facts regarding both the Explorer Stars and the star-catching segments:
    1. This is the second and last double-length episode to feature both the Explorer Stars and the star-catching segment after "Dora's Pirate Adventure", but they will still be in the intro for the next three double-length episodes.
      • In production order, this is also the final episode overall to feature star-catching and the Explorer Stars.
      • This is also the second and last double-length episode to feature an Explorer Star minigame in the credits, as the following three will use a Character Find.
    2. Because of Dora traveling solo for the first time, this is also the first instance where she catches stars without Boots. This happens again in "Best Friends".
    3. Unlike most other star-catching episodes, for reasons unknown, Dora doesn't put the stars in the star pocket. Instead, the stars just flew away and never came back.
      • Despite this, the star pocket is still visible on Backpack.
      • It is unknown where the stars went when they flew away, but it is most likely their home of Star Mountain, which would be revealed in a later episode.
      • Because the stars flew away as opposed to them going inside the star pocket, Dora and Boots do not count how many stars Dora caught after asking the viewer about their favorite part of the trip.
    4. This is also the third and final instance where the stars did not appear until Dora reached the last place, first being "What Happens Next?" and second being "The Super Silly Fiesta".
  • When Boots is sleeping throughout the whole episode and called Sleeping Boots, he is technically similar to Sleeping Beauty. The name sounds a lot similar, too.
  • The late Chita Rivera, the first Hispanic woman and the first Latino American to receive a Kennedy Center Honors award and a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom was a guest voice actress for the Witch of Fairytale Land.
  • Under the spell, Boots sleeps on a pink cloud and wears his red pajamas.
  • This is one of the few double-length episodes without the Travel Song.
  • When Dora brushes her hair really long with the magic brush, and Isa, Benny, and Tico all climb up her hair, she is like Rapunzel.
    • The hairstyle of Dora's long hair is also sort of reminiscent to that of Kathleen Herles (Dora's voice actress between Seasons 1-4).
  • The Ivy Vine Wall does not give a reason to hurry before the last rainbow leaf falls, but it is confirmed that if the last leaf fell before he gets a hug from a true princess, Sleeping Boots would be asleep forever.
    • However, Boots wakes up just as the last leaf touches the ground while La Princesa Dora is hugging him.
  • This is the double-length episode of the series with the least number of songs at four, including "We Did It" but excluding the theme song, "I'm the Map", and "Backpack, Backpack".
  • After Dora asks the viewer what their favorite part of the trip is, she says, "That was a very good part" instead of her usual line, "I like that, too." Also, despite this episode featuring star-catching, Dora and Boots do not count how many stars Dora caught, most likely because of the fact that the stars flew away and never went into the star pocket.
  • The Blue Cursor does not click on Dora after singing We Did It, it instead clicks on the magical gate as it closes and finishes the story of how it ends.
  • Although this episode premiered in 2004, it was produced in 2003 according to the end credits.
  • This episode was most likely produced in late 2003, before or after the last few episodes of Season 3 (from that year) aired. Out of all the four double-length episodes in this season, this is the only one to be produced in 2003.
    • Additionally, this is the last episode of Season 4 (in production order) to be produced in 2003.
  • Dora does not turn back into her normal self until the beginning of Fairy Star's minigame during the end credits when she is asking her to turn her back into a princess.
  • In production order:
    • This is the last episode of Season 4 to use the original animation style as well as the Season 4 art style. Starting with the next episode, the Season 5/Go, Diego, Go! art style will be used.
    • This is the last episode of Season 4 where Map sings the short version of "I'm the Map" with the Fiesta Trio, as the next episode will have him sing without them, and the two after will have him and the Fiesta Trio sing the full song.
    • This is the last episode of Season 4 where Backpack does not sing her full song with Sasha Toro's voice, as the next three will have Backpack sing her full song.
  • Originally, this episode was actually scheduled to air October 11, 2004 during primetime on Nickelodeon when Piper O'Possum replaced Nick Jr.'s Face, but it aired on September 24 of the same year at 11:00am (eastern time) on Nick Jr. instead. However, it still aired on October 11 (six days after its release on home media), but on Nick Jr. at 10:00am eastern time.
    • Coincidentally, October 11, 2004 was the same day as the series premiere of The Backyardigans, with the episodes "Knights Are Brave and Strong" and "The Yeti".
      • It is also Columbus Day of that year.
      • This was also the same day that Nick Jr. received a rebrand containing interstitials featuring the block's new mascot, at the time, Piper O'Possum (which replaced Face and all his interstitials respectively after a near-decade long run), and the new slogan "We Love to Play!" (which replaced the "Play Along" slogan, including the station IDs).
      • Going beyond Nick Jr. and into the main Nickelodeon brand, this was also the same day that the Season 3 finale of SpongeBob SquarePants premiered, with the episodes "SpongeBob Meets the Strangler" and "Pranks a Lot", which were also the last SpongeBob episodes produced and aired before the production and release of The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie.
  • The storybook adaption of this episode has some noticeable differences when compared to the actual episode.
    1. The scene with Dora and Boots going through the Fairytaleland Gate, and the gate itself, is withdrawn from the book.
    2. The Witch never starts off as a tree when turning Boots into Sleeping Boots. Instead, she's hiding behind a bush whilst casting the spell.
    3. Silly Wand is colored light violet in the episode and golden yellow in the storybook adaption. Similarly, the Prince as a dragon is colored lime green in the episode and magenta in the storybook adaption.
    4. Just like with the Fariytaleland Gate, Silly Broomstick, Fairy Star, the Magic Mirror, the Giant-Giant and his puppy are togetherly withdrawn from the storybook adaption.
      • Because Silly Broomstick is withdrawn from the storybook adaption, the Witch is hiding behind a bush whilst making the castle's long spiral staircase disappear.
    5. Dora brushes her hair really long whilst the Witch makes the steps on the castle disappear, as opposed to brushing it after the spell is casted in the episode.
    6. King Lion is seen without his glasses and also with an all red royal jacket in the storybook adaption.
    7. Queen Lioness is seen with an all red cape in the storybook adaption. Additionally, the center of her dress is pink in the episode and purple in the storybook adaption.
    8. The very top of the castle is indoors in the storybook adaption.
    9. The storybook adaption recycles the Dwarves' character models from "What Happens Next?", whereas the episode features brand new character models for the Dwarves.
    10. Aside from Fairy Star not appearing in the storybook adaption, the neutral stars were each in a different color in the episode; whereas in the storybook adaption, all the stars were colored in a light shade of yellow. Additionally, there were eight neutral stars featured in the the storybook adaption, but only four seen in the episode.
    11. The storybook adaption never mentions the Witch losing her powers, but still mentions that she flew far away and would never be seen again.

Goofs/Errors[]

  • Although there was star-catching in this episode, Map mentions nothing about it (for an unknown reason), just like in Save the Puppies!.
  • In real life, one can't turn winter into spring. Winter turns into spring on its own when spring starts on March 20, or March 19 in leap years (although here it does not apply due to cartoon logic.)
    • However, it is also unknown how sunny warmness and snowy coldness happen at the same time, although it does not apply here due to cartoon logic.
  • It is impossible to bring the Moon down to the ground, although it does not apply here due to cartoon logic.
  • For reasons never explained, Backpack disappears when as Dora turns into a true princess. However, she appears during the We Did It! song.
    • It's possible that she (along with Map) could've been teleported to where Sleeping Boots, the Seven Dwarves, and the Ivy Vine Wall were all at.
  • When Dora arrives at Winter Valley, her face design changes but returns back to normal during the scene where she gets the magic hairbrush.
  • iTunes lists this episode as "Fairy-Tale Adventure". "Dora's" in the title is left out and there is a dash between "Fairy" and "Tale".
  • When Dora is in the end credits, Her lip-sync was out of sync.
  • This episode was supposedly uploaded to YouTube on June 27, 2023, however, Star Catcher was uploaded to YouTube instead.

Older Episode Reference[]

  • Each time Silly Broomstick and Wand are either interrupting the Witch or cheering too loud for Dora, the Witch says "¡Silencio! Be quiet!" to shush them, which is exactly what Señor Shush says in Dora, La Música.

References[]

  • The scene where the Fairytale Land Gate imitates a three-note trumpet sound may be a reference to Nick Jr. Face when he goes "Brr-Brr-Brr!" after mentioning "Nick Jr.", and especially for one of Nickelodeon's newest shows in 2022 "Face's Music Party".

See also[]

Dora's Fairytale Adventure/Transcript

Number of stars[]

5

Explorer Star[]

Fairy Star

Dora the Explorer Season 4
Star Catcher | Dora's Fairytale Adventure | Daisy, La Quinceañera | Big Sister Dora | Super Babies | Catch the Babies | Dora's Got a Puppy | Dora and Diego to the Rescue! | A Crown for King Juan el Bobo | The Mixed-Up Seasons | Dora's Dance to the Rescue | Dora's First Trip | Baby Jaguar's Roar | Boots to the Rescue | Dora's World Adventure! | Star Mountain | Baby Crab | La Maestra de Música | Dora Saves the Mermaids | The Shy Rainbow| Super Spies 2: The Swiping Machine | We're a Team! | Save Diego! | Swiper the Explorer
* - Denotes held-up episode
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