The Big Piñata

Episode Info

Transcript

Gallery

The Big Piñata
Airdate	Thursday, September 19, 2002 (Nickelodeon) Tuesday, May 3, 2005 (VHS and DVD) Tuesday, May 18, 2010 (Nick Jr.)
U.S. Premiere Time (est.)	{{{premiere}}}
Season	2
Episode	10 (aired) 14 (produced)
Written by	Leslie Valdes Storyboard by: Dominic Orlando Eric Sanford
Directed by	Sherie Pollack
Previous	Pinto, the Pony Express
Next	The Happy Old Troll

The Big Piñata is the 10^th episode of Dora the Explorer from Season 2.

In production order, it's the 14^th episode of Season 2.

Characters

• Dora
• Boots
• Backpack
• Map
• Fiesta Trio
• Swiper
• Benny
• Isa
• Tico
• Big Red Chicken
• Señor Tucán
• Pirate Parrot

Summary

Step right to the carnival with Dora and Boots! Help them win the Big Piñata by collecting 10 yellow tickets when they play carnival games. Just don't forget about Swiper!

Plot

Dora & Boots are about to go to a carnival. They see Big Red Chicken and he was about to announce that someone could open the big piñata. Dora mentions that inside the piñata is goodies, toys, presents, and caramels for everyone. Dora & Boots wanted to go to the carnival and open the big piñata but they didn't know how to get there. They ask Map for help and he says that Dora & Boots have to ride the Ferris wheel and the merry-go-round to get to the big piñata. Dora & Boots were ready to go to the big piñata. Along the way, then they saw the fiesta trio all dressed up in carnival costumes. They told Dora & Boots that if they want to open the big piñata, they'll have to collect 10 yellow tickets. To do so, they have to go on certain rides and play carnival games. Dora & Boots know they can do it, but they are going to need the viewer's help. Suddenly, they saw Pirate Parrot with the Thirsty Dolphins carnival game. All Dora and Boots had to do is squirt water into each dolphin's mouth. After squirting the thirsty dolphins, they win 2 yellow tickets. Dora & Boots had to earn 8 more yellow tickets before going to the big piñata. Their next stop takes them to the Ferris Wheel. They see Señor Tucán. Dora & Boots wanted to ride the Ferris Wheel to win yellow tickets. Señor Tucán explained that the Ferris Wheel is broken and has to be fixed first. Dora & Boots decided to help out Señor Tucán which pieces to use. They find one long piece near the right, a short piece to complete the circular shape and one more long piece near the left. In no time, the Ferris Wheel was fixed. Señor Tucán told Dora & Boots "buen trabajo" which is Spanish for "good job" or "good work". Dora and Boots hopped into a Ferris Wheel car and a safety bar was put down into place for safety. They went up high and then when they got to the top, the Ferris Wheel stops. Dora and Boots wanted to know if they are high enough for them (and the viewer) to spot the merry-go-round. They find it and then the Ferris Wheel restarts and they come all they down. They went for a second time and they went in a complete circle. Dora & Boots thought that was fun. Dora & Boots get off the Ferris Wheel and Señor Tucán awards them with 2 yellow tickets. So far, Dora & Boots have a total of 4 yellow tickets. They needed 6 more yellow tickets before going to the big piñata. After riding the Ferris Wheel, Dora & Boots were hungry. They stop by a toy stand (where Swiper watches them in camouflage) and checked inside Backpack. And this time, instead of taking the objects out of choosing the correct item, she stands behind a wheel of different colored shapes. The wheel gets spinning around. The goal is to pick out the 2 shapes that match. The viewer figured out that the two squares matched and behind them were bags of popcorn. Dora & Boots get their popcorn and were about to snack on them when they heard Swiper the Fox. They though he would swipe their bags of popcorn. Swiper hid behind some toys in the toy stand while pretending to be a toy and then suddenly he comes out of hiding. Dora & Boots stop Swiper and he runs away. Dora and Boots finish their popcorn and threw away the empty bags in the waste bin. After their snack, they continue down the path and saw Isa the iguana at the merry-go-round. Isa told Dora & Boots that there is a brass ring and if they can grab it, they'll win yellow tickets. Dora & Boots got on a horse and started riding the merry-go-round. Dora & Boots stretched out their arms but couldn't reach high enough to grab the brass ring. They needed help from the viewer. The viewer helps out Dora & Boots by stretching their arms up high, they stretched even higher and at last they grab the brass ring that was hanging on the hook. Isa congratulates Dora & Boots for grabbing the brass ring and awards them with 4 yellow tickets. Dora & Boots counted their yellow tickets. So far, they had 8 yellow tickets. They just need to earn 2 more yellow tickets for the big piñata. They see Benny the bull. He had a game for Dora & Boots called the ducky game. Benny said to Dora & Boots that they can win yellow tickets. All they had to do is figure out which door the duck was hiding behind. They listened closely. They heard a chirp-chirp, tweet-tweet, a long hum and a quack-quack. They listened again. The viewer found out that the duck was behind the red door. The other doors were opened to figure out what bird made what sound. Benny awards Dora & Boots 2 yellow tickets. Dora and Boots counted their yellow tickets to see if they have enough yellow tickets for the big piñata. Sure enough, they got a total of 10, which means that they had enough for the big piñata. As they walk to the gate to the big piñata, the Fiesta Trio appear once again to announce that Dora & Boots need 10 yellow tickets in order to win. They told them that they have 10 yellow tickets in their hands. They gave them to the Fiesta Trio and the Frog opens the gate. The Fiesta Trio played a special fanfare to everyone. After that, the Grasshopper from the Fiesta Trio makes an announcement by saying: "step right up everyone to help open the big piñata." Dora, Boots and their friends had to grab a string to open the big piñata. Now, they had to pull. After that, the big piñata broke open. There was toys, treats, goodies and presents for everyone.

Places in this episode

1. Ferris Wheel
2. Merry-Go-Round
3. Big Piñata

Sub-Places

• Entrance booth
• Thirsty Dolphins
• Toy Stand
• Duck Game

Listen to the Sounds

• Bird chirping behind blue door
• Cuckoo tweeting behind green door
• Hummingbird humming behind yellow door
• Duck quacking behind red door (correct door)

Releases

This episode can be found on the VHS and DVD release, It's a Party!

Trivia

• The setting takes place at a carnival.
• Dora and Boots didn't even know that Swiper was watching them from standing in front of the toy stand but they still however had their chance to stop him from swiping their popcorn. Also, it is unknown how he and the Fiesta Trio got to the carnival.
• This is the only time where certain objects do not come out of Backpack.
  • Instead, there was a spinning wheel with shapes all around and the viewers had to find two shapes that were the same (the red squares). Inside the squares were some popcorn for Dora and Boots to have.
• This is the 36^th episode of the show.
• At the Carnival! was the name of the book.
• This episode could be Dora’s version of Diego and Porcupine Save the Piñata.
• However, Go, Diego, Go! didn’t air on Nick Jr. until 2005.
• When Dora and Boots are singing the Travel Song, this is the first episode they say the places they're going by their full names (excluding any episodes with locations that have single word names).
  • The places are also listed twice instead of four times.
• This is one of few episodes where the Fiesta Trio did not play its fanfare.
  • However, it does play a fanfare when it announced Dora, Boots and the viewer how to win the Big Piñata and announce everyone that it is time to open the big piñata. It is the same "special announcement" fanfare from Call Me Mr. Riddles.
• Pirate Pig and the Pirate Piggies do not appear in this episode.
• Dora asks the viewer if he/she sees the merry-go-round twice, once while riding the Ferris wheel and the other after the second picture pop-up sequence.
• At the end of the Backpack segment, Backpack does not say, "Yum-yum-yum-yum-yum!" before saying, "¡Delicioso!" due to the others not holding anything at all. Though, instead she could have said "Smart looking!".
• After Dora teaches how to say "larga" and "corta", she does a "repeat after me" bit like how she did in The Legend of the Big Red Chicken.

Goofs/Errors

• In real life, things inside a piñata can't fall out for a couple minutes (or even as long as the We Did It! song). In real life, it takes a couple seconds for treats to come out of a real piñata (Although here it does not apply due to cartoon logic).
  • It could be a magic piñata.
  • However, at Boots' birthday party in Surprise!, there was a piñata, and when Boots hits it, the candy actually falls out for a couple seconds, like a real piñata would.
• If Swiper were to swipe popcorn, it would be impossible to get it back in.

Character Find

Señor Tucán