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The Legend of the Big Red Chicken (or simply just "The Big Red Chicken") is the first episode ever of Dora the Explorer from Season 1, as well as the series premiere.

Characters present

Summary

Dora and Boots set out in search of the "Big Red Chicken", after reading a story about him, to find out if he is real.

Plot

The series premiere opens with Dora introducing herself to the viewer, and then asks the viewer what his/her name is and how old. Then, Dora though his/her age is big and asks "guess what?" to him/her and then she said that it is storytime. Dora and Boots settle down and read a picture book. First, they had to get it out from Backpack. She explained that the kind of book Dora and Boots wanted to read was a big red book. A blue cursor hovers around different books of different colors and sizes while Backpack keeps asking “Is this a red book?” to the viewer. It finds a big green book, small purple book, and small red book and a big red book. After finding the big red book, Dora can now read it to Boots. Dora opens the book, titled "The Legend of the Big Red Chicken." Dora starts reading. The story started with a little red chicken who lived on the big red hill. The little red chicken was very little, so little that he could not run as fast as his friends and had to watch out or could get stepped on, which leads him to not like his own size. When night fell, the little red chicken saw a group of stars shaped like a big chicken, wishing that he wanted to be big. When he woke up, he had grown to be a big chicken who was as big as a house. Big Red Chicken did his own chicken dance by flapping his arms and stamping his feet. Boots then tells Dora that he wants to find the big red chicken, but Dora is convinced that the story is just a story and is not real.

They then set out in search of the Big Red Hill so that Boots can see the Big Red Chicken. Boots wondered where the big red chicken was. Dora reminds Boots that they can find him on the big red hill. Dora and Boots check Map for directions on how to get there. The map tells them that they had to go across the puzzle bridge, through the gate to get to the big red hill to find the big red chicken. Dora and Boots got going and then Boots scampers up a tree and gets out a banana for himself and one for Dora. After that, they heard Swiper. Dora does not want Swiper to swipe their bananas. They keep a sharp lookout. Dora and Boots find Swiper and said "Swiper no Swiping" 3 times. Swiper snaps his fingers, says “Oh Man”, and runs away. After their banana snack, they threw the peels away in the waste bin. Boots still wonders if the Big Red Chicken will be at the big red hill. Dora hopes so and asks the viewer for predictions. After that, they got going until they reached to the puzzle bridge. They were about to go across when they saw some pieces missing. The missing pieces for the puzzle bridge were down in the water. Suddenly, they see a toucan. Dora tells the viewer that his name was Señor Tucán. Boots tries to ask in English but did not understand. Dora explained to Boots that Señor Tucán speaks Spanish. Dora asks in Spanish and Señor Tucán replies "Sí" for yes. Dora teaches the viewer 2 Spanish words that will help them fix the puzzle bridge. The Spanish words were "Grande" for big and "Pequeño" for little. The viewer tells Señor Tucán "Grande" for the first hole, "Pequeño" for the second hole and "Grande" for the third hole. After fixing the bridge, Dora and Boots slowly go across and thanked Señor Tucán for fixing the puzzle bridge for them and said goodbye to Señor Tucán.

Dora and Boots continue down the winding path until they reached the gate. Boots tried to open the gate but it was locked. Dora and Boots stopped and had a thought. The gate was locked and wondered what they should use to open a lock, and Boots knew the answer which was a key. Sure enough, there was a key hanging on a hook. Dora picks it up. Dora counts out the points on the lock and it had 4 points. She then counted the points on the key and there was four. Boots wanted to try opening the lock. It was heavy but managed to get the key into the lock. They were about to open the lock on the gate when Swiper returns for some vengeance, sneaks up behind Dora and Boots and swipes the key. He then throws it in the pile of keys and runs away. Dora told Boots not to worry and are determined to find the key. All they knew is it was big and had 4 points. Dora and Boots decided to count the points on the keys until they find the right one. After multiple attempts, they finally find a key that had four points. They put the key into the lock. Boots struggles with the key but then it starts turning around slowly. After the key turned around in a complete circle, the lock opened and then Dora and Boots go through the gate.

So far, Dora and Boots went over the bridge and through the gate. They were getting closer to figuring out if the Big Red Chicken was still at the big red hill. Dora and Boots held hands and started walking up the hill saying "I hope he's there" many times. The viewer joins in. After Dora and Boots got to the top, they did not see him. Dora had an idea, the big red chicken loves the chicken dance. Boots joins in and together they start the chicken dance by flapping their arms. Dora encouraged the viewer to join in by standing up for the next part. Now, they had to stamp their feet and flap their arms at the same time. Then, they said "cluck-cluck-cluck". But as they were still doing the chicken dance the big red hill moves. Dora and Boots realized the big red hill was really the big red chicken. They soon realize that it is not just a story, but that the Big Red Chicken is indeed real. Dora and Boots introduced themselves to Big Red Chicken. Boots remembered that he saw him in the big red book. Big Red Chicken was glad to meet Dora and Boots. Soon after celebrating, Boots talks about his favorite part and Dora talks about her favorite part. Dora says "Thanks for helping!" as the episode ends.

Songs

Places in this episode

  1. Puzzle Bridge (referred to as just "bridge")
  2. Gate
  3. Big Red Hill

Sub-Place

Items in Backpack (clockwise starting from the top)

  • Small yellow book
  • Big red book (correct item)
  • Small blue book
  • Small purple book
  • Small red book
  • Big green book

Trivia

  • This is the 1st episode of the entire series.
  • This episode premiered on Nick Jr at 11:00am ET and encored on Nickelodeon at 8:00pm ET. At the time the show premiered, it instantly became the highest rated show in Nick Jr. history.
    • It premiered on Nick Jr. on CBS when the channel first launched. Not only that, but it also premiered on Noggin on April 7, 2003 when it first aired on the channel.
  • This is the first episode in which Dora and Boots don't clap when they ask "Where are we going?" during the Travel Song until the Season 2 episode "The Magic Stick" and to just say the place immediately after that question.
  • There are some differences in this episode compared to not only the rest of Season 1, but the later episodes of the show:
    • In the opening theme for this episode, the lyrics "Boots and super cool exploradora" and "¡Vamanos!" use different vocals. This is the only episode to use these vocals and it is unknown why. It was most likely a prototype or demo version of the theme song.
    • Since this is the series premiere, After Dora introduces herself, she asks the viewer what his/her name is. She then asks for the viewer(s)' age.
    • After finding the big red book in Backpack, instead of the object in question flying away to Dora, it goes inside Backpack with the other objects. After the Backpack segment, it's only then thrown outside of Backpack to Boots. Starting with the next episode, the correct item with fall from the sky to Dora.
    • The sky in this episode looks like how it is during sunrise or sunset, but starting with the next episode, the sky will be blue and look like daytime.
    • When the Fiesta Trio played their fanfare, the frog played a horn, the grasshopper played the drum, and the snail played the cymbals. This happens again in some other episodes, but starting with the next episode, the frog plays the drum and the grasshopper plays the accordion. But the snail still plays the cymbals.
    • When the 3 square pictures appear in front of Dora, the blue cursor does not click on the first square to the first place Dora and Boots are going, Dora instead reviews what they have to do to get to their goal. This will happen until León, the Circus Lion.
    • All 3 pictures popped up at the same time just after Dora and Boots went past the first two places.
    • Dora does not yell "Come on, say it with us!" to start the travel song.
    • During the travel song, Dora and Boots sing the places four times (first time) and twice (second and third time) in warp speed. In later episodes, they sing the places four times (or sometimes just twice) in normal speed.
      • Also, when it was sung the first time, Dora lists the places by herself first, then Boots does the same. After that, Dora and Boots together list the places the third and fourth time.
    • At the end of the chicken dance, Dora said, "You can sit down now!". She says that again once more time in Lost and Found after doing Boots' monkey dance to cheer up Baby Blue Bird. After that, she no longer says that anymore because the viewers already know when to sit back down.
    • During the favorite parts, the theme music was heard. This happens in the next episode. In later episodes, that starts at the beginning of the character find/credits.
    • Dora doesn't say "We couldn't have done it without you.", she instead says "We couldn't have made it without you."
    • When Benny is found at the end of the credits, he laughed. In later episodes, he yells, "Yay! Woo hoo!"
  • Benny, Isa, and Tico did not appear in this episode, but did in the "Dora The Explorer Theme Song".
  • This is Dora, Boots, Backpack, Map, Swiper, Fiesta Trio, Señor Tucán, and Big Red Chicken's debut.
  • This is the first time the show uses the 1999-2005 Nick Jr. Productions Logo.
  • This is the first episode for the end credits to have the Comic Sans MS font style. Beginning with the episode "Surprise!, a new font style will debut.
  • The voices of Benny, Tico, and Isa appeared in the end credits, but Benny, Tico, and Isa don't appear in this episode.
  • This is the first to be broadcast in 4:3 standard definition.
  • Even though Benny appeared at the end of the show's credits, he will later appear on third episode "Hic-Boom-Ohhh!".
  • This is the first episode where Boots tried pulling a locked gate or door, which becomes a running gag throughout the series.
  • This is the 1st episode where Dora tells the viewer what to say by using her frown mouth. It was used on later episodes.
  • This is the first episode to technically have four places, although there are actually three, as the Banana Trees are not on the map and it may not count. However, the actual first episode with four places is Dora's Fairytale Adventure.
  • This is the first episode to find Benny.
  • This is the first episode to have a Character Find.
  • After Dora and Boots sing We Did It! at the end of the episode, the blue cursor does not click on Dora at the end, it instead clicks on Boots' hand.
  • When Dora and Boots arrive at the puzzle bridge, Boots tries asking Señor Tucán to fix it in English and he responds "¿Que?" which is also a question in Spanish because Dora tells Boots that he speaks Spanish and "¿Que?" is the Spanish word for "what." Dora didn't translate to Boots that "¿Que?" means "What?" in Spanish to avoid rudeness.

Goofs/Errors

  • Although the book that Dora reads to Boots is a Spanish book, she reads it to him in English. The actual Spanish words in the book can be heard in the Spanish version of Dora the Explorer.
  • When Dora and Boots prevent Swiper from swiping the key, Dora's audio is misplaced and her mouth is frozen.
  • On streaming providers, such as Amazon or iTunes, this episode is titled as "The Big Red Chicken". The words "The Legend of" is left out.

Availability

This episode doesn't air on television anymore. However, it is available on YouTube and streaming providers like Amazon Prime, iTunes, etc.

Character Find

Benny the Bull

Watch Episode

This episode is available on the NickJrPlay YouTube channel. Watching this episode needs payment or a subscription.
The_Big_Red_Chicken

The Big Red Chicken

Video

Nick_Jr._Say_Hello_to_Dora_the_Explorer_Promo_(Coming_Soon_Version)

Nick Jr. Say Hello to Dora the Explorer Promo (Coming Soon Version)

Dora the Explorer Season 1
The Legend of the Big Red Chicken | Lost and Found | Hic-Boom-Ohhh! | Beaches | We All Scream for Ice Cream | Choo-Choo! | Three Little Piggies | Treasure Island | Big River | Berry Hunt | Wizzle Wishes | Grandma's House | Surprise! | Sticky Tape | Bouncing Ball | Backpack! | Fish Out of Water | Bugga Bugga | Little Star | Dora Saves the Prince | El Coquí | Te Amo | Pablo's Flute | To The Treehouse | Call Me Mr. Riddles
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